diff --git a/docs/building.md b/docs/building.md
index 0946079d..a7a3bb74 100644
--- a/docs/building.md
+++ b/docs/building.md
@@ -282,7 +282,11 @@ Forest (1.1.1, RTX 4090) that costs about 1 ms a frame (copy-in 0.5 ms, write-ba
 after a frame's first submission covers the write-backs there (`runtime/vk_sync.c`, "the executed timeline"): the game
 rewrites what those passes wrote without a fence, and a write-back that landed after the rewrite left the GPU adding
 light onto its own last output, the whole scene brighter for a frame. `NX2NAVI_SHADOW=1` turns it on under Windows too. The Steam Deck's RADV has `VK_EXT_external_memory_host` as
-well: the shadow copies are chosen for the measured cost above, not for a missing extension.
+well: the shadow copies are chosen for the measured cost above, not for a missing extension. NVIDIA's own driver on Linux
+imports instead (`NX2NAVI_SHADOW=1` brings the copies back): it imports guest memory without that cost, so there the
+copies are only the slower path. In Kokiri Forest on 0.7.1 (RTX 4090, driver 615.78), imports with VRAM mirrors ran at
+51.9 frames a second and the copies at 27.4; on that version the copies also flickered between two looks almost every
+frame, which the wait for the write-backs under shadow storage (`vk_sync_exec_wait`) has since addressed.
 
 The device address table (`runtime/vk_gpa.c`) names a pool's shadow copy as it names an import, so shaders follow guest
 pointers into either. A shader that reads through the table resolves nothing, so the pool it reaches is not queued for
diff --git a/runtime/vk_device.c b/runtime/vk_device.c
index 9780ab94..5a76c791 100644
--- a/runtime/vk_device.c
+++ b/runtime/vk_device.c
@@ -89,8 +89,8 @@ static void mesa_cache_beside_exe(void) {
 // beside the exe, which nothing else writes, with a limit of NV_CACHE_BYTES. The driver makes GLCache inside that
 // folder but not the folder, so it is made here; pointed at a folder that is missing or not writable it caches nothing
 // at all, so when that folder cannot be made or written neither variable is set and the driver keeps its own folder
-// and limit. Without NVIDIA's kernel driver (no /proc/driver/nvidia/version, the test play.sh makes) the variables do
-// nothing and the folder would stay empty, so nothing is done.
+// and limit. Without NVIDIA's kernel driver (no /proc/driver/nvidia/version, the test the AppImage's build makes for
+// DLSS) the variables do nothing and the folder would stay empty, so nothing is done.
 #define NV_CACHE_BYTES "8589934592"   // 8 GiB
 static void nvidia_cache_beside_exe(void) {
     if (plat_fs_kind("/proc/driver/nvidia/version") != PLAT_FS_FILE) return;
@@ -274,6 +274,7 @@ retry:
         }
     free(qp);
     rt_log("vk: using gpu %d: %s", best, g_vk.props.deviceName);
+    vk_caps_driver(g_vk.phys);   // before vk_mem_class_log, which chooses the pools' storage by driver
     vk_mem_class_log(&g_vk.props, &g_vk.mem_props);
     return 1;
 }
@@ -421,7 +422,6 @@ static int create_device(void) {
     // The driver fills the chain with what it supports; the same chain then enables all of it (robustBufferAccess
     // stays on: guest shaders index constant buffers freely and out-of-range reads must stay harmless).
     vkGetPhysicalDeviceFeatures2(g_vk.phys, &c->f2);
-    vk_caps_driver(g_vk.phys);
     vk_caps_features(&c->f2.features);
     if (gpl_link) {
         VkPhysicalDeviceGraphicsPipelineLibraryPropertiesEXT gp = {
diff --git a/runtime/vk_memory.c b/runtime/vk_memory.c
index d9653d29..0a1c1176 100644
--- a/runtime/vk_memory.c
+++ b/runtime/vk_memory.c
@@ -1152,7 +1152,8 @@ static int query_stamp(uint64_t lo, uint64_t hi, uint32_t g) {
 // copy-ins that overwrote a store through the table, per pool; the write-backs that moved bytes into a page the CPU
 // had written since its copy-in (cpu_wrote_since); the bytes both sides changed since their base copy (taken from the
 // CPU at a copy-in, from the GPU at a fence); what the copy-ins cost by kind.
-// NX2NAVI_SHADOW=1/0 forces the mode on or off; the default is on for Linux and Wine.
+// NX2NAVI_SHADOW=1/0 forces the mode on or off; the default is on for Linux and Wine, except for NVIDIA's own driver on
+// Linux, where imports ran about twice as fast on 0.7.1 (mirror_mode).
 #define SB_PAGE 4096ull
 static PlatMutex shadow_lock = PLAT_MUTEX_INIT;   // after pool_lock; before gen_lock
 static PoolRec **stouch;                          // shadow_lock: pools resolved since the last sync
@@ -2003,7 +2004,7 @@ static PlatMutex mirror_stat_lock = PLAT_MUTEX_INIT;
 static volatile int64_t m_live_n, m_live_bytes, m_refused_n[MR_N], m_refused_bytes[MR_N];
 static volatile int64_t m_flush_calls, m_flush_bytes, v_pages, v_skipped, v_mismatch;
 
-static void mirror_mode(int discrete) {
+static void mirror_mode(int discrete, int nvidia_own) {
     const char *e = cfg_value("NX2NAVI_MEMORY");
     int mode = discrete ? 1 : 0;   // 0 import, 1 mirror, 2 verify
     const char *why = discrete ? "auto, discrete gpu" : "auto, uma";
@@ -2033,7 +2034,13 @@ static void mirror_mode(int discrete) {
 #ifdef _WIN32
     shadow_on = sh && *sh ? strcmp(sh, "0") != 0 : plat_is_wine();
 #else
-    shadow_on = !sh || !*sh || strcmp(sh, "0");
+    // NVIDIA's own driver imports guest memory without the cost shadow storage avoids on amdgpu (re-protecting imported
+    // pages), so there the copies are only the slower path: in Kokiri Forest on 0.7.1 (RTX 4090, driver 615.78) imports
+    // with VRAM mirrors ran at 51.9 frames a second and the copies at 27.4, and the copies hold about 5 GB. What a
+    // shader stores through the device address table into a pool with a shadow copy also does not come back to guest
+    // memory (vk_gpa.c). The pools stay imports unless NX2NAVI_SHADOW asks for the copies. The open driver for the same
+    // cards keeps the copies: it is not measured. The AppImage's play.sh has set the same for this driver since 0.6.0.
+    shadow_on = sh && *sh ? strcmp(sh, "0") != 0 : !nvidia_own;
 #endif
     if (shadow_on) rt_log("mem: shadow storage: CPU-visible pools are host-visible copies of guest memory, not imports%s",
                           sh && *sh ? " (NX2NAVI_SHADOW)" : "");
@@ -3899,7 +3906,7 @@ void vk_mem_class_log(const VkPhysicalDeviceProperties *p, const VkPhysicalDevic
                               f & VK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_LAZILY_ALLOCATED_BIT ? " LAZY" : "");
     }
     rt_log("%s", line);
-    mirror_mode(discrete);
+    mirror_mode(discrete, vk_caps.driver_id == VK_DRIVER_ID_NVIDIA_PROPRIETARY);
 }
 
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------- upload batches and deferred destruction
diff --git a/tools/make_appimage.py b/tools/make_appimage.py
index 571dccd7..c2a2af22 100644
--- a/tools/make_appimage.py
+++ b/tools/make_appimage.py
@@ -153,14 +153,11 @@ else
     ev step dlss '"state":"skip"'
 fi
 
-# play.sh: the environment the game wants on this machine, then the game
+# play.sh: starts the game from its own folder. It sets no storage mode: the game leaves shadow storage off for
+# NVIDIA's own driver itself (runtime/vk_memory.c mirror_mode), by the driver of the device it runs on.
 {
     echo '#!/bin/bash'
     echo 'cd "$(dirname "$(readlink -f "$0")")"'
-    if [ -e /proc/driver/nvidia/version ]; then
-        echo '# NVIDIA: the default shadow storage leaves the 3D world black (issue #72)'
-        echo 'export NX2NAVI_SHADOW="${NX2NAVI_SHADOW:-0}"'
-    fi
     echo 'exec ./ocarina "$@"'
 } > "$OUT/play.sh"
 chmod +x "$OUT/play.sh"