Warning for OpenMW / AMD users

[Helios]

"OpenMW causes AMD Adrenalin driver to freeze and crash."
https://www.reddit.com/r/OpenMW/comments/1au88ja/openmw_causes_amd_adrenalin_driver_to_freeze_and/
(Rewrote this whole post so people would stop sperging out)

My specs:
OS: Windows 10 x64
video card: AMD RX 6700
driver version: Adrenaline 24.3.1

I'd been playing with OpenMW previously for maybe 10+ hours with no problems.
At some point while playing my screen turned black and wouldn't turn back on. After rebooting, I got an error message when trying to launch the Radeon Dashboard. Rebooting didn't fix this, I had to reinstall my drivers. I kept playing OpenMW and again, after a while I got a black screen. After rebooting I found out my user profile had been turned into a "temporary profile" meaning that all my appdata folders and app settings couldn't be accessed. Rebooting multiple times did not fix the issue. I had to go into the registry and edit/delete some entries to be able to log in properly into my profile. Since then I have experienced some instances of visual glitches only in games running OpenGL like OpenMW does, but never any crashes.
I don't know how rare this problem is, what causes it, I don't care. I am not asking for advice, a lecture in how drivers work, life advice, counseling or a hug.
I am making this post so people with the same hardware software combo know that, yes this can happen and decide if they want to go ahead anyway.

On a side note, I switched to PRO drivers instead of Adrenaline and the issue with the visual glitches seems to have gotten less frequent at least.

That's all, no need to thank me, just trying to help out.

[lammy from um jammer lammy]

Originally posted by SigmaSquadron:

Originally posted by lonetrav:

How would this be possible technically? It would assume that OpenMW is "somehow" directly manipulating / changing the drivers. ???

It isn't. OP clearly does not understand how modern graphics stacks work.

you must have not had bad crashes with AMD drivers before. This isn't unheard of. They can indeed crash so hard in programs they get uninstalled / corrupted.

Heck, sometimes I've just turned on my computer to only the basic display drivers working. This has been across two different AMD GPUs for years.

[theo]

Originally posted by 🅷🅴🅻🅸🅾🆂:

Cause: I run OpenMW on my PC. Effect: I had to reinstall my drivers. Twice.

You didn't mention what "driver corruption" is and what kind of errors did you encounter

[Helios]

Originally posted by theo:

Originally posted by 🅷🅴🅻🅸🅾🆂:

Cause: I run OpenMW on my PC. Effect: I had to reinstall my drivers. Twice.

Except you didn't mention what "driver corruption" is and what kind of errors did you encounter.
Perhaps you arbitrarily reinstalled your drivers for no reason

I forgot what the error message I got was, but for instance AMD Adrenaline wouldn't launch anymore. I am really sorry I don't know the correct terminology for what that means and apparently I am an idiot because "akshually that's not what corruption is".

But I can assure you, it wasn't for no reason.

[lonetrav]

Originally posted by naii_:

you must have not had bad crashes with AMD drivers before. ...

I stopped using AMD graphics cards many years ago since I noticed that new Catalyst drivers weren't fully downward compatible anymore (AMD's business decision at the time).
I didn't ask for reasons why drivers can get corrupted in general (there are many), but how OpenMW would be able to cause these corruptions.

[SigmaSquadron]

Originally posted by naii_:

Originally posted by SigmaSquadron:

It isn't. OP clearly does not understand how modern graphics stacks work.

you must have not had bad crashes with AMD drivers before. This isn't unheard of. They can indeed crash so hard in programs they get uninstalled / corrupted.

Heck, sometimes I've just turned on my computer to only the basic display drivers working. This has been across two different AMD GPUs for years.

I’m pretty sure if I checked my journal, I’d see some DRM/Mesa crash there. It’s worse on Windows, to be sure, but I never disputed that fact. I disputed the fact that an userland program such as OpenMW can corrupt driver packages. This is categorically untrue.

[SigmaSquadron]

Originally posted by 🅷🅴🅻🅸🅾🆂:

Originally posted by theo:

Except you didn't mention what "driver corruption" is and what kind of errors did you encounter.
Perhaps you arbitrarily reinstalled your drivers for no reason

I forgot what the error message I got was, but for instance AMD Adrenaline wouldn't launch anymore. I am really sorry I don't know the correct terminology for what that means and apparently I am an idiot because "akshually that's not what corruption is".

But I can assure you, it wasn't for no reason.

Your original, unedited post was actively telling people OpenMW corrupts people’s drivers. You were also attributing your registry state issues to OpenMW. To make that sort of claim, you are expected to know what you’re talking about, otherwise, you’re just lying about the effects of an open-source program, and that’s far more harmful than you think.

Welcome to the public internet. You’re responsible for the things you say.

[SigmaSquadron]

I don’t see how this is a big issue, though. Your computer clearly has a broken environment, a fact made worse by the presence of the Adrenaline extra software. OpenMW has a public issue tracker, and if this wasn’t just an issue with your computer, other people would also mention it. Don’t assume to tell people to “AVOID OPENMW LIKE THE PLAGUE” when it clearly isn’t a reproducible OpenMW issue.

[Helios]

Originally posted by SigmaSquadron:

I don’t see how this is a big issue, though. Your computer clearly has a broken environment, a fact made worse by the presence of the Adrenaline extra software. OpenMW has a public issue tracker, and if this wasn’t just an issue with your computer, other people would also mention it. Don’t assume to tell people to “AVOID OPENMW LIKE THE PLAGUE” when it clearly isn’t a reproducible OpenMW issue.

I blocked you.
Bye.

[blprice61]

and on that example, I blocked you, because you are spreading misinformation and then blocking people who are trying to help you.

[Boopert]

I have used OpenMW for over 100+ hours on the latest version. It runs completely fine for me, I think it's an issue on your side

[Helios]

Originally posted by Boopert:

I have used OpenMW for over 100+ hours on the latest version. It runs completely fine for me, I think it's an issue on your side

Are you running the game on an AMD card with Adrenaline drivers? If so, which card are you using?

[Helios]

Originally posted by blprice61:

and on that example, I blocked you, because you are spreading misinformation and then blocking people who are trying to help you.

Gaslighting me into believing there is no issue, saying my systems is somehow broken and it's my fault etc. is not helping me.

[lonetrav]

Originally posted by 🅷🅴🅻🅸🅾🆂:

Gaslighting me into believing there is no issue, saying my systems is somehow broken and it's my fault etc. is not helping me.

I'd suggest getting professional IT help - this doesn't sound like an issue for remote support from people who have no access to your PC.

An advice you may not like: Never draw conclusions or lay blame based on incomplete information or lack of skills. Remain in the realm of facts - describe your environment, what you do and what you see. Otherwise you risk not only blaming innocent "culprits", but also misleading people who might be able or want to help you (and provoking unnecessary and pointless debates which don't have anything to do with your problem).

[Helios]

Originally posted by lonetrav:

Originally posted by 🅷🅴🅻🅸🅾🆂:

Gaslighting me into believing there is no issue, saying my systems is somehow broken and it's my fault etc. is not helping me.

I'd suggest getting professional IT help - this doesn't sound like an issue for remote support from people who have no access to your PC.

An advice you may not like: Never draw conclusions or lay blame based on incomplete information or lack of skills. Remain in the realm of facts - describe your environment, what you do and what you see. Otherwise you risk not only blaming innocent "culprits", but also misleading people who might be able or want to help you (and provoking unnecessary and pointless debates which don't have anything to do with your problem).

As for the first, I don't need the IT help because with the exceptions of what I described, most games (that don't run in OpenGL) are working perfectly. Really, so far it's only been OpenMW that has given me trouble.

To the second, I understand why the way I talk can sound like I am trying to point fingers at this or that, but my intent really was to give people a heads-up if they are using the same or similar setup as me. Trust me, the whole losing access to my user account proper was very unpleasant until I realized that my appdata folders hadn't been lost and my profile could be restored (I use the same PC for work and gaming) and I didn't want anybody else to have to experience that. But that's why I rewrote the post to be more to the point with more information so that people i.e. using OpenMW on Linux know that this probably won't affect them and they are not at risk.

[lonetrav]

I understand you, but my post was about putting yourself in the shoes of other people who have no information except the one you provide, and don't know and see what you know, have, do and see. My experience is that chances of success are highest when there is sufficient useful information available. "Useful" depends on the context, but it always means "useful for other people" (not always what you think is useful), it must be as comprehensive as necessary and possible, and must not be misleading.

Actually, the way you rewrote your first post is quite good in my opinion. To be honest, I wouldn't have replied to this post, because it looks like an issue between AMD software and "something else", possibly related with OpenMW (directly or indirectly), and I lack knowledge and excperience in this field. Perhaps one of the other posters re-reads your updated post and comes up with an idea.