Why does having an out-of-date graphics driver cause crashes in older games?

[Atriox]

I notice that whenever NVIDIA release new drivers, old games tend to start having crashes. Is there a reason for this? I never understood why this happens, because surely old games shouldn't be affected by a new driver update?

[C1REX]

Originally posted by Atriox:

I notice that whenever NVIDIA release new drivers, old games tend to start having crashes. Is there a reason for this? I never understood why this happens, because surely old games shouldn't be affected by a new driver update?

Can you confirm that the new drivers cause crashes in these games for everybody? Or just for you?

New drivers should be universally better without any compromises.
Maybe try completely uninstalling the drivers using DDU and installing them again?
Also don't forget new motherboard drivers from their website as chipset drivers may affect stability.

[nullable]

Originally posted by Atriox:

I notice that whenever NVIDIA release new drivers, old games tend to start having crashes. Is there a reason for this? I never understood why this happens, because surely old games shouldn't be affected by a new driver update?

I haven't noticed this, it could be confirmation bias. You've made that correlation and you make note of it whenever you believe it hits, and ignore it any time there isn't an issue. So you end up with this perception because you count the "hits" and not the misses (where everything works)

Although whether a specific driver affects a specific game is going to be a case by case basis. Most of the time I'd say probably not, no affect, but edge cases and exceptions will exist.

So do you have any particular games and driver versions to test and prove this out. Because as is, one persons "feeling" may not be very good data to base the entire premise on.

[Atriox]

Originally posted by C1REX:

Originally posted by Atriox:

I notice that whenever NVIDIA release new drivers, old games tend to start having crashes. Is there a reason for this? I never understood why this happens, because surely old games shouldn't be affected by a new driver update?

Can you confirm that the new drivers cause crashes in these games for everybody? Or just for you?

New drivers should be universally better without any compromises.
Maybe try completely uninstalling the drivers using DDU and installing them again?
Also don't forget new motherboard drivers from their website as chipset drivers may affect stability.

I probably should've worded my post better. What I meant to say is why do old games start crashing when I don't update my driver to the latest version.

I've been getting crashes in old games relating to out-of-date drivers, but I couldn't understand why it should affect old games too.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

That shouldn't be the case as long as you're using a driver version above the minimum that the game calls for. If so then it's probably not the driver at fault but something else.

[A&A]

I don't understand the part why they have to crash. I would love to hear examples of games where this happens.

[Atriox]

Originally posted by A&A:

I don't understand the part why they have to crash. I would love to hear examples of games where this happens.

Not all of them crash, just certain games. It started happening to me whilst playing Mordhau and Batman: Arkham city.

Batman could just be my own fault though because I’m running the game at 240fps, which it probably doesn’t like.

The Mordhau error code I was given says that the cause is likely because of an out-of-date driver.

[Raoul]

Never had this happen not even once and I even test older drivers sometimes with no issues. Some updates have optimisations and fixes for newer game releases but with no difference to older games. You can check driver release notes to see what is different.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Games crashing and pointing to the gpu driver is simply because even when the gpu or gpu driver was not at fault, other real culprits can cause the actual crash. Such as Power Supply, RAM, etc.

[Carlsberg]

Don't just focus on gpu, update all drivers. Chipset, sound etc. 'Out-of-date-driver' is a bit generic.

[_I_]

newer drivers are more optimized for newer gpus
they quit making the driver better for previous gen gpus

it really depends on the gen of the gpu you have
older gpus do better with the latest driver released at the next gen gpus release
newer driver versions will support the older gpu, but also offer more commands and features the old gpu does not support

[Iron Knights]

You don't need "a new driver" unless yours got corrupted and re-installing, still say use the best & most compatible driver with all the games you play. Stop the "update" addiction & frenzy.
There is nothing wrong with the driver that came WITH your GPU.

[_I_]

Originally posted by Iron Knights:

You don't need "a new driver" unless yours got corrupted and re-installing, still say use the best & most compatible driver with all the games you play. Stop the "update" addiction & frenzy.
There is nothing wrong with the driver that came WITH your GPU.

this is completely wrong
the driver shipped on disc with the gpu is older than the gpu
if its a new gpu, always get the latest one from amd/nvidia/intel sites
later drivers from when the gpu is still current gen do have improvements for them

[Bad 💀 Motha]

New Drivers contain everything from all the old ones, but with various fixes along the way being included in the latest drivers. Yes sometimes the latest driver is not always best. But your OS does not store and fetch data from multiple drivers for a single device. The new driver over-writes the old. But again the new has everything the old ones had as well.

[_I_]

never trust windows update for drivers, period

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Anything such as drivers or software that comes with hardware on a disc of any kind will be outdated and useless. Make other uses for such discs, coaster, target practice, or put in a shredder.

For any drivers or software go online yo the official makers sites and download them.

If using NVIDIA GPU and you wish to use an older driver, use this link: https://www.nvidia.com/Download/Find.aspx

If you need to ensure a clean wipe of GPU drivers and software, use the DDU app. Instructions for DDU are in page#1 on my Steam Profile Comments section