BG3 possibly "corrupted" my AMD GPU drivers or card breaking?

[herbiehanx]

I have an old PC setup that ofc could be at the end of its era, but before this I haven't had any problems with other games.

Specs:
i7-4770
Radeon RX 5500 XT 8GB
16GB RAM
AMD Adrenalin Edition drivers (up to date)
Win 10

I have been playing BG3 with medium settings 1080p locked 30 FPS for about 30 hours using Vulkan API. I've been monitoring CPU/GPU temps with MSI Afterburner and they have been great, though Afterburner wasn't running when this happened. Game has crashed about six times during my play, and all the crashes have seemed to be game related (no AMD crash reports).

Today I was exploring the area where you recruit Karlach, when suddenly the game froze for a few seconds, and then crashed to desktop. This time AMD software gave an error message, not BG3 crash feedback. I launched the game again with Vulkan and the main menu background was showing "spiky colorful moving waves", only the menu buttons were normal. I tried to launch the game again with DX11 but I got an error message right away, and the game crashed before getting even to the loading screen.

Then while in desktop, I started getting several black screens like my GPU would turn on and off or lose connection to my monitor. I restarted my PC on safe mode, uninstalled AMD drivers & Adrenalin software with DDU, restarted PC and installed Adrenalin with drivers again. Now my GPU seems to work without any problems. I tested Vulkan with Valheim, DX11 with Kingdom Come: Deliverance and DX12 with Elex 2 with no hiccups. Haven't launched BG3 after reinstalling drivers though, as I don't want to experience this again.

Is it possible that BG3 somehow "corrupted" my drivers or do you think my GPU is breaking? Unfortunately I can't remember the error messages AMD gave, but it was something about Vulkan and then DX11 when I tried to launch with that.

Also, seeing my specs (CPU): I could get second hand GTX 1070 8GB pretty cheap from a friend, if in fact my GPU is breaking, but I guess I couldn't utilize 1070 to the fullest as my old CPU would be a bottleneck? I will buy new PC coming months, but I still need to hold on to the old one until then, if I want to play.

Any help would be appreciated and thanks in advance!

Edit. Would GTX 1070 be a good replacement for a few months?

[AlienJesus]

Weird, this just happened to me as well. It was the kind of visual errors you get when your GPU gets fried also, which scared tf out of me.

Had a hardware lock sound error then screen went black. Quickly shut off PC and on reboot my drivers were corrupt, hardware monitor stopped reporting temps and voltages for GPU and reinstalling drivers didnt work until I rebooted in safe mode and removed the broken ones.

I redownloaded latest drivers, installed drivers only, and it hasnt happened since. Hell my hotspot is even under 100c now, which is unheard of.

It was most def a hardware level lock up though. Maybe the drivers exploding locked it up, but that was most def a "Oh ♥♥♥♥ my GPU is fried" kind of lock up and black screen. Luckily it displayed on reboot, and works fine on driver reinstall WITHOUT adrenaline.

Hasnt happened in any other games.

X5800 CPU
X6700XT GPU
32GB RAM

PC is new build like 2 months old. Amazing performance up until the BG3 issue.

[herbiehanx]

Originally posted by AlienJesus:

...

Very weird indeed. I googled about my problem and Reddit had at least one thread that had similar symptoms as I had, but reinstalling drivers fixed it. Would be curious if anyone else has had this problem?

[AlienJesus]

Did you reinstall with adrenaline? or just the drivers. Also, AMD not known for their good drivers unfortunately. But bg3 and new redeployed update and no issue in anything else is making me think hasty patch issue.

Also, were you undervolting to deal with the AMD hotspot issue?

[herbiehanx]

Originally posted by AlienJesus:

Did you reinstall with adrenaline? or just the drivers.

Actually, I first reinstalled latest Adrenaline package from the AMD main page, but it gave me dll error when my PC restarted. It was for some reason Adrenaline PRO Edition (?) version. Again I used DDU to uninstall and this time chose my GPU from the AMD page and installed the drivers with Adrenaline and now it works fine.

[アンジェル]

Originally posted by herbiehanx:

BG3 possibly "corrupted" my AMD GPU drivers or card breaking?
I have an old PC setup that ofc could be at the end of its era, but before this I haven't had any problems with other games.

Specs:
i7-4770
Radeon RX 5500 XT 8GB
16GB RAM
AMD Adrenalin Edition drivers (up to date)
Win 10

I have been playing BG3 with medium settings 1080p locked 30 FPS for about 30 hours using Vulkan API. I've been monitoring CPU/GPU temps with MSI Afterburner and they have been great, though Afterburner wasn't running when this happened. Game has crashed about six times during my play, and all the crashes have seemed to be game related (no AMD crash reports).

Today I was exploring the area where you recruit Karlach, when suddenly the game froze for a few seconds, and then crashed to desktop. This time AMD software gave an error message, not BG3 crash feedback. I launched the game again with Vulkan and the main menu background was showing "spiky colorful moving waves", only the menu buttons were normal. I tried to launch the game again with DX11 but I got an error message right away, and the game crashed before getting even to the loading screen.

Then while in desktop, I started getting several black screens like my GPU would turn on and off or lose connection to my monitor. I restarted my PC on safe mode, uninstalled AMD drivers & Adrenalin software with DDU, restarted PC and installed Adrenalin with drivers again. Now my GPU seems to work without any problems. I tested Vulkan with Valheim, DX11 with Kingdom Come: Deliverance and DX12 with Elex 2 with no hiccups. Haven't launched BG3 after reinstalling drivers though, as I don't want to experience this again.

Is it possible that BG3 somehow "corrupted" my drivers or do you think my GPU is breaking? Unfortunately I can't remember the error messages AMD gave, but it was something about Vulkan and then DX11 when I tried to launch with that.

Also, seeing my specs (CPU): I could get second hand GTX 1070 8GB pretty cheap from a friend, if in fact my GPU is breaking, but I guess I couldn't utilize 1070 to the fullest as my old CPU would be a bottleneck? I will buy new PC coming months, but I still need to hold on to the old one until then, if I want to play.

Any help would be appreciated and thanks in advance!

Edit. Would GTX 1070 be a good replacement for a few months?

First, you deserve some praise. Good job! You dealt with the situation correctly. No offense, but after reading so much crap when it comes to troubleshooting I am relieved to see someone who did not become a victim of Intellect Devourers.

Second, you can be at ease. A driver corruption is unlike and I do not see such in your very detailed description (good job!) of the situation. It is more a shader cache "corruption" if you will, and having you use DDU cleared up all defective files in that cache, including those who got affected despite they are not related with the game. You should be good to go now.

When I was in a similar situation, it was for my GPU simply too much of a demand. First when it comes to performance and then to temperature. You should be able to continue as normal for a few months, when you tread carefully by reducing the game's graphics accordingly. I also recommend running the fans at 100% all the time while you play the game, using MSI Afterburner. A short explaination to that from my guide
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3016159305

(...)
This is a common problem, and it's not solely the game to blame as multiple factors come into play. In short, certain rendering processes only render a part of what you see, and the graphics card's cooling component adjusts automatically. However, there are instances where, for example, the demand on your graphics card suddenly spikes from one scene to another, making it unable for graphics cards with weaker cooling apparatus to keep up with the sudden cooling demand.

To address this issue, adjusting the fan reaction curve can be an easy-to-apply and quick solution.(...)

Lastly the GTX1070 8GB would be an adéquat replacement, but probably not necessary unless you notice long lasting effects on your graphics card. A safety measure is to prevent any actual hardware damages and kicks in before the worst case. I would instead save the money for your upcoming PC buy. I do not know your relationship with your friend. The last time I just gifted my friend such a used GPU which was still worth 300 EUD if bought new. But it was used and a hassle trying to sell it properly, and helping a friend in need is helping without asking anything in return. Just an "anecdote". Nothing to compare as I do not know your friend's situation. All I see is that GTX1070 8GB is not worth much anymore. Used even less. I guess I would compensate it with two dinners for a price.

[pascal.difolco]

Well on my beefy recent system (5900X/7900XTX) game crashes/hangs every minutes but only in the Grymforge.. I suspect some low level rendering bug in last hotfix

[Fumbles]

Similar issue, I've crashed a few times and had my GPU blackscreen, was forced to restart my PC. I've also had crashes with RDR2 but no blackscreen.

Also used DDU and installed drivers only, haven't had the issue repeat again yet. I reset bios aswell, incase xmp was a problem.

I am noticing black square artifacting while in some dialogue however, only seems to happen with Vulkan.

Might just be an AMD issue their drivers always seem to be lacking.

[herbiehanx]

Originally posted by AlienJesus:

Also, were you undervolting to deal with the AMD hotspot issue?

I haven't made any changes to my GPU settings (so probably factory settings), also haven't heard of the hotspot issue. What does it mean?

[herbiehanx]

Originally posted by Fumbles:

I am noticing black square artifacting while in some dialogue however, only seems to happen with Vulkan.

I haven't tested DX11 as I was assuming (according to many threads) that Vulkan would be better for AMD cards. I have the same issue with the black square "boxes" during dialogues, but so far it has been only minor annoyance, should I test DX11 instead of Vulkan?

[herbiehanx]

Originally posted by アンジェル:

Originally posted by herbiehanx:

BG3 possibly "corrupted" my AMD GPU drivers or card breaking?
I have an old PC setup that ofc could be at the end of its era, but before this I haven't had any problems with other games.

Specs:
i7-4770
Radeon RX 5500 XT 8GB
16GB RAM
AMD Adrenalin Edition drivers (up to date)
Win 10

I have been playing BG3 with medium settings 1080p locked 30 FPS for about 30 hours using Vulkan API. I've been monitoring CPU/GPU temps with MSI Afterburner and they have been great, though Afterburner wasn't running when this happened. Game has crashed about six times during my play, and all the crashes have seemed to be game related (no AMD crash reports).

Today I was exploring the area where you recruit Karlach, when suddenly the game froze for a few seconds, and then crashed to desktop. This time AMD software gave an error message, not BG3 crash feedback. I launched the game again with Vulkan and the main menu background was showing "spiky colorful moving waves", only the menu buttons were normal. I tried to launch the game again with DX11 but I got an error message right away, and the game crashed before getting even to the loading screen.

Then while in desktop, I started getting several black screens like my GPU would turn on and off or lose connection to my monitor. I restarted my PC on safe mode, uninstalled AMD drivers & Adrenalin software with DDU, restarted PC and installed Adrenalin with drivers again. Now my GPU seems to work without any problems. I tested Vulkan with Valheim, DX11 with Kingdom Come: Deliverance and DX12 with Elex 2 with no hiccups. Haven't launched BG3 after reinstalling drivers though, as I don't want to experience this again.

Is it possible that BG3 somehow "corrupted" my drivers or do you think my GPU is breaking? Unfortunately I can't remember the error messages AMD gave, but it was something about Vulkan and then DX11 when I tried to launch with that.

Also, seeing my specs (CPU): I could get second hand GTX 1070 8GB pretty cheap from a friend, if in fact my GPU is breaking, but I guess I couldn't utilize 1070 to the fullest as my old CPU would be a bottleneck? I will buy new PC coming months, but I still need to hold on to the old one until then, if I want to play.

Any help would be appreciated and thanks in advance!

Edit. Would GTX 1070 be a good replacement for a few months?

First, you deserve some praise. Good job! You dealt with the situation correctly. No offense, but after reading so much crap when it comes to troubleshooting I am relieved to see someone who did not become a victim of Intellect Devourers.

Second, you can be at ease. A driver corruption is unlike and I do not see such in your very detailed description (good job!) of the situation. It is more a shader cache "corruption" if you will, and having you use DDU cleared up all defective files in that cache, including those who got affected despite they are not related with the game. You should be good to go now.

When I was in a similar situation, it was for my GPU simply too much of a demand. First when it comes to performance and then to temperature. You should be able to continue as normal for a few months, when you tread carefully by reducing the game's graphics accordingly. I also recommend running the fans at 100% all the time while you play the game, using MSI Afterburner. A short explaination to that from my guide
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3016159305

(...)
This is a common problem, and it's not solely the game to blame as multiple factors come into play. In short, certain rendering processes only render a part of what you see, and the graphics card's cooling component adjusts automatically. However, there are instances where, for example, the demand on your graphics card suddenly spikes from one scene to another, making it unable for graphics cards with weaker cooling apparatus to keep up with the sudden cooling demand.

To address this issue, adjusting the fan reaction curve can be an easy-to-apply and quick solution.(...)

Lastly the GTX1070 8GB would be an adéquat replacement, but probably not necessary unless you notice long lasting effects on your graphics card. A safety measure is to prevent any actual hardware damages and kicks in before the worst case. I would instead save the money for your upcoming PC buy. I do not know your relationship with your friend. The last time I just gifted my friend such a used GPU which was still worth 300 EUD if bought new. But it was used and a hassle trying to sell it properly, and helping a friend in need is helping without asking anything in return. Just an "anecdote". Nothing to compare as I do not know your friend's situation. All I see is that GTX1070 8GB is not worth much anymore. Used even less. I guess I would compensate it with two dinners for a price.

Thanks for the detailed response, really appreciate! My fan speed has been automatic, but I turned user defined setting on from Afterburner, and set fan speed to 100%. I will also drop the graphics settings to low. Do you think I should try DX11 instead of Vulkan? What is the consensus on that one?

[Martin]

Originally posted by AlienJesus:

Weird, this just happened to me as well. It was the kind of visual errors you get when your GPU gets fried also, which scared tf out of me.

Had a hardware lock sound error then screen went black. Quickly shut off PC and on reboot my drivers were corrupt, hardware monitor stopped reporting temps and voltages for GPU and reinstalling drivers didnt work until I rebooted in safe mode and removed the broken ones.

I redownloaded latest drivers, installed drivers only, and it hasnt happened since. Hell my hotspot is even under 100c now, which is unheard of.

It was most def a hardware level lock up though. Maybe the drivers exploding locked it up, but that was most def a "Oh ♥♥♥♥ my GPU is fried" kind of lock up and black screen. Luckily it displayed on reboot, and works fine on driver reinstall WITHOUT adrenaline.

Hasnt happened in any other games.

X5800 CPU
X6700XT GPU
32GB RAM

PC is new build like 2 months old. Amazing performance up until the BG3 issue.

Similar to what I have, except my cpu is much older. 5600x.

I started playing using Directx, then switched to vulcan, then hotfix 1 came out and that ruined vulcan, so I switched back to directx and not had any problems at all.

It does get abit laggy after 8-10 hours of gameplay. So I save and restart the game.

[アンジェル]

Originally posted by herbiehanx:

Originally posted by アンジェル:

First, you deserve some praise. Good job! You dealt with the situation correctly. No offense, but after reading so much crap when it comes to troubleshooting I am relieved to see someone who did not become a victim of Intellect Devourers.

Second, you can be at ease. A driver corruption is unlike and I do not see such in your very detailed description (good job!) of the situation. It is more a shader cache "corruption" if you will, and having you use DDU cleared up all defective files in that cache, including those who got affected despite they are not related with the game. You should be good to go now.

When I was in a similar situation, it was for my GPU simply too much of a demand. First when it comes to performance and then to temperature. You should be able to continue as normal for a few months, when you tread carefully by reducing the game's graphics accordingly. I also recommend running the fans at 100% all the time while you play the game, using MSI Afterburner. A short explaination to that from my guide
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3016159305


Lastly the GTX1070 8GB would be an adéquat replacement, but probably not necessary unless you notice long lasting effects on your graphics card. A safety measure is to prevent any actual hardware damages and kicks in before the worst case. I would instead save the money for your upcoming PC buy. I do not know your relationship with your friend. The last time I just gifted my friend such a used GPU which was still worth 300 EUD if bought new. But it was used and a hassle trying to sell it properly, and helping a friend in need is helping without asking anything in return. Just an "anecdote". Nothing to compare as I do not know your friend's situation. All I see is that GTX1070 8GB is not worth much anymore. Used even less. I guess I would compensate it with two dinners for a price.

Thanks for the detailed response, really appreciate! My fan speed has been automatic, but I turned user defined setting on from Afterburner, and set fan speed to 100%. I will also drop the graphics settings to low. Do you think I should try DX11 instead of Vulkan? What is the consensus on that one?

On the topic on Vulkan vs. DirectX I leave it at: whatever works better for you.

Vulkan is sort of a legacy thing, so it might indeed work better on older AMD models if they struggle with DirectX. But it is really hard to say, since latest graphics drivers focus more and more on DirectX and whatever is not legacy, like dropping fullscreen mode altogether.

By the end of the day it is really a case by case decision due to one's individual PC setup. Vulkan used to be better at its peak, but now DirectX put it in shadows and it about to be forgotten.

[Fumbles]

Originally posted by herbiehanx:

I haven't tested DX11 as I was assuming (according to many threads) that Vulkan would be better for AMD cards. I have the same issue with the black square "boxes" during dialogues, but so far it has been only minor annoyance, should I test DX11 instead of Vulkan?

I think I'm still on Vulkan, you'll probably have better FPS with Vulkan but more graphical errors, DX11 will have less issues but probably lower FPS. Couldn't hurt to try.

[raubrey]

People that rush to uninstall Adrenaline, do it at your own peril. (Such others mentioned)

That said, the game is not optimized in areas and hard crashes are a problem for some. You demonstrated you can run some rather demanding games (considering).

You could run HWMonitor to get a glimpse of your set up but it is most assuredly the game from what you wrote. Yes your PC is under stress with those specs but those specs meet the requirements.

Another 8GB card is not a great solution in my opinion. I would save the money for a better upgrade or replacement. If you MUST get a 8GB card (as in can't wait) -- get a TI at least so it has some lifespan.

Might be able to get through the game with some more tweaks (resolution?) or wait for optimizations. Also might need to run full screen and very minimal background process.

Edit: Change to Direct X 11 when you have problems.

[herbiehanx]

Originally posted by raubrey:

People that rush to uninstall Adrenaline, do it at your own peril. (Such others mentioned)

That said, the game is not optimized in areas and hard crashes are a problem for some. You demonstrated you can run some rather demanding games (considering).

You could run HWMonitor to get a glimpse of your set up but it is most assuredly the game from what you wrote. Yes your PC is under stress with those specs but those specs meet the requirements.

Another 8GB card is not a great solution in my opinion. I would save the money for a better upgrade or replacement. If you MUST get a 8GB card (as in can't wait) -- get a TI at least so it has some lifespan.

Might be able to get through the game with some more tweaks (resolution?) or wait for optimizations. Also might need to run full screen and very minimal background process.

Edit: Change to Direct X 11 when you have problems.

Thanks! Will install HWMonitor to see what it shows and try DX11. Also, if my card works from now on, I will save the money for the next setup as you suggested.