Flickering shadow/lighting artifacts on AMD GCN 5 GPUs with Radeon Software 23.7.x

[Someone7272]

Originally posted by Someone7272:

Please only post if you have an AMD Radeon - GCN 5 GPU.
This problem appears to occur on GCN 5 GPUs, with Radeon Software 23.7.x.
Prior driver versions are not affected.
Supported GCN 5 GPUs include:

• Radeon RX Vega 56/64
  
• Radeon VII

I want to see if anyone else here with AMD GCN 5 GPUs can reproduce this problem. I am unsure if it occurs on GCN 4 GPUs (RX 580/590).

Since the recent AMD Software 23.7.x release, I have noticed flickering shadow artifacts. This is most noticeable during cutscenes, where character faces are shown close to the camera. The video below demonstrates this, you need to watch at 720p or higher to see it clearly. It can be seen near the edges of the shadows.

Spoiler for approximately the first 20 minutes of the game.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Pb_nYThNmPQ

This didn't happen with the previous AMD Software 23.5.2 release.
I have found that it is caused by the Screen Space Sub-Surface Scattering setting, which you'll find under the Shading Settings in the advanced graphics menu. This is enabled if you use the high or ultra graphics preset. If you disable this setting, the artifacts stop.

Here's my hardware (blah blah, yes it's old, but it works):

• CPU: AMD FX-8370
  
• GPU: AMD Radeon VII
  
• RAM: 32GB DDR3

I couldn’t reproduce this with a Radeon RX 5500M, so possibly this is specific to GCN GPUs? If anyone can test with a GCN GPU (VII, RX Vega 56/64, RX 5xx), it would be much appreciated.

[docup87]

I have not noticed any graphical glitches with this particular driver so far. The problem I have now is that as of today I can't play for more than 5 minutes before the game crashes with the error code 0x80000003. I can't say with absolute certainty that the driver is to blame, as I haven't touched the game for a few weeks. (I'm still waiting for performance improvements). It may well be that there was a patch in between that triggered the problem.

[Zephyr]

Originally posted by docup87:

I have not noticed any graphical glitches with this particular driver so far. The problem I have now is that as of today I can't play for more than 5 minutes before the game crashes with the error code 0x80000003. I can't say with absolute certainty that the driver is to blame, as I haven't touched the game for a few weeks. (I'm still waiting for performance improvements). It may well be that there was a patch in between that triggered the problem.

Check out this eror code, perhaps. there is something useful. It might not even have anything to do with your GPU.

[Cryiox]

Psst, completely off topic.

You have a Radeon 7.

You can now emulate ray tracing under Linux, if you're curious.

[Someone7272]

Originally posted by docup87:

I have not noticed any graphical glitches with this particular driver so far. The problem I have now is that as of today I can't play for more than 5 minutes before the game crashes with the error code 0x80000003.

This isn’t related, please create a separate topic about this.

Originally posted by Cryiox:

Psst, completely off topic.

You have a Radeon 7.

You can now emulate ray tracing under Linux, if you're curious.

What is Radeon 7? The Last of Us: Part 1 doesn’t have ray tracing, and it doesn’t need it. The game already looks gorgeous.

[Someone7272]

Originally posted by MCNacho:

many peoples with amd/amd combinations have alot problems. and every problem is near different. i have a 7800x3d and a 7900xt and cant run stable fps on llowest settigns. i reach barly 90 fps

I didn’t have any problems with the AMD build shown above. Not even the crashes or lag/stutter everyone else seems to be getting.

I have 1080p, no FSR, mix of high and ultra settings. 45-60 FPS averages. Not bad for a 2012 CPU.

The flickering shadows problem is definitely AMD’s fault, when I downgraded to the 23.5.2 driver, this fixed it. That said, I have not had a chance to try the new 1.1.1.0 patch Naughty Dog released yesterday, but I doubt this will fix it.

[Reinner]

Have similiar issues, it also happens during the gameplay. The entire level starts flickering for couple of seconds, before the newest patch i didn't had this issue.

[asapas]

I personally have white flashing flickering while gaming and on windows. I have 23.7.1 and RX 6900XT It's bothering and I really cannot understand why they messed it up like this, and why they won't proceed to fix this mess. Worthless company

[Zephyr]

Originally posted by MCNacho:

many peoples with amd/amd combinations have alot problems. and every problem is near different. i have a 7800x3d and a 7900xt and cant run stable fps on llowest settigns. i reach barly 90 fps

I have a 5800 X3d and a RX 7900XT. I get 100 FPS+ without issues highest settings... . Before that with an RTX 3070 also no problems (lower FPS of course).

[Someone7272]

Over the weekend, I re-installed Radeon Software 23.7.1, along with The Last of Us: Part 1 - patch 1.1.1.0. To absolutely nobody's surprise, it did not fix the problem, and it was a total waste of time.

I have re-titled this topic:
Please only post if you have an AMD Radeon - GCN 5 GPU.
This problem appears to occur on GCN 5 GPUs, with Radeon Software 23.7.1.
Prior driver versions are not affected.
Supported GCN 5 GPUs include:

• Radeon RX 580(X)/590
  
• Radeon RX Vega 56/64
  
• Radeon VII

Definitely an AMD driver problem, can't blame Naughty Dog or Iron Galaxy for this one. I have reported this to AMD. As definitive proof, when I downgraded again to Radeon Software 23.5.2, this fixed it. I guess I'll have to stick with this driver version for awhile, I don't expect whatever AMD's next driver release will fix it...

[Cryiox]

RX 580/590 are GCN4.

GCN5 is Vega 56/64/Radeon 7 and iGPUs from Ryzen 2000+ APUs.

[Valentine Kiss]

The latest driver version is 23.7.2. No idea if it's flickering with these driver, too. If so, simply use the 23.5.2.

[Someone7272]

Originally posted by Cryiox:

RX 580/590 are GCN4.

GCN5 is Vega 56/64/Radeon 7 and iGPUs from Ryzen 2000+ APUs.

Close enough... ok maybe it only affects GCN 5, I don’t have a GCN 4 card to test. So far, I’ve confirmed it happens on Vega 64 and Radeon VII GPUs.

Originally posted by GONZO:

The latest driver version is 23.7.2. No idea if it's flickering with these driver, too. If so, simply use the 23.5.2.

Thanks for letting me know, I’ll check it out later. I kept a backup of 23.5.2, as it doesn’t seem to be available anymore.

[Someone7272]

Originally posted by GONZO:

The latest driver version is 23.7.2. No idea if it's flickering with these driver, too. If so, simply use the 23.5.2.

Wow, AMD's incompetence is truly impressive in the worst possible way.

Not only did 23.7.2 not fix this problem, it also brought back the "driver timeout" crashes that were previously fixed in 23.5.2! This almost seems like AMD are intentionally going out of their way to break the drivers, it's absolutely disgraceful.

I'm reluctant to try any future drivers from AMD for a while, because it takes a very long time to do this. I have to install the new driver, compile the shaders, find it hasn't fixed the problem and/or created new problems, uninstall the driver, cleanup the driver files, install 23.5.2 and compile the shaders again. The whole process takes around 5-6 hours. Add an additional 2 hours for Uncharted's shaders.

I feel that the best option is to stick with 23.5.2 until at least 2024, cause their drivers seem to be getting worse with each release. Maybe by then they might have pulled their fingers out. I will also disable the AMD Auto Update scheduled task, so it doesn't nag me to update to the latest and "greatest" driver.

[Someone7272]

Fixed with AMD 23.11.1