Hollow Knight screen tearing in Batocera, happens with Windows/Proton and Linux port, but not in normal Windows
Hey everyone, I’ve been trying to troubleshoot this for over a day and I’m kind of out of ideas, so I figured I’d ask here.
I’m running Batocera from an external SSD on an HP Victus laptop. In Batocera system info, it shows:
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Laptop GPU NVIDIA driver 590.48.01 Graphics API: OpenGL 3.0 / GLSL UEFI boot: yes Secure Boot: enabled
The issue is specifically with Hollow Knight. I’m getting screen tearing, especially when jumping or moving around in the first area. It happens on the laptop screen, and it also happens when I connect the laptop to a TV through HDMI. It is playable, but the tearing is very noticeable and annoying.
The weird part is that the same Hollow Knight build runs perfectly in normal Windows with no tearing. In Windows, it was using the default settings, basically borderless, VSync on, and frame rate cap off, and it looked smooth.
Here’s what I have tried in Batocera so far:
I first ran the Windows version through Batocera’s Windows/Wine method. It launched fine, but screen tearing happened.
Then I installed Steam through Flatpak, added Hollow Knight as a non-Steam game, and ran it through Proton. It still had screen tearing.
Then I found the newest GOG/Linux version of Hollow Knight, version 1.5.12620, extracted it, and got it running through Ports as a native Linux game. That also launches fine, and it may be slightly better, but the screen tearing is still there.
I’ve tried a bunch of in-game settings:
Fullscreen on Fullscreen off / borderless style VSync on VSync off Frame rate cap 60 Frame rate cap off 1920x1080 at 60Hz
I also tried Batocera Windows options like FPS limiter and DXVK when I was testing the Windows/Steam route. None of that really fixed it.
Since the game works perfectly in normal Windows, and since both the Windows version and Linux port tear inside Batocera, I’m starting to think this is something with Batocera’s display sync, NVIDIA handling, or how Batocera is presenting the frames, not the Hollow Knight files themselves.
Has anyone dealt with this specifically on Batocera with an NVIDIA laptop GPU? Is there some Batocera-wide VSync/composition setting I’m missing, or something I can add to the .sh launcher for the Linux port to force proper sync?
Right now it seems like my only reliable option is to boot into Windows whenever I want to play Hollow Knight, but I’d really like to keep it inside Batocera if possible.
Thanks in advance for any ideas.