[BUG] Problem on flickering textures on latest drivers

[bunkbedbug]

I've read about some problems with Nvidia drivers and Witcher 3.
Somehow I cannot find any way to resolve a flickering issue that makes the game almost unplayable. As can be seen in the attached image the textures are heavily distorted and flicker multiple times a second.



I've already tried changing settings to low, disabling every graphics feature and trying multiple drivers.

I'm running:

Windows 10 64-bit
Version 10.0.18362 Build 18362
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700HQ
RAM 8,00 GB

Graphics:
Onboard Intel(R) HD Graphics 530
Dedicated NVIDIA Quadro M1000M

On a HP Studio G3 15 Notebook

Drivers I've tried:
392.58-quadro-desktop-notebook-win10-64bit-international-whql
436.30-quadro-desktop-notebook-win10-64bit-international-whql
441.66-quadro-desktop-notebook-win10-64bit-international-whql


Anyone any suggestions on what else to try?

 

[devivre]

Make sure the game is using the Nvidia card and not the integrated intel 530 GPU (integrated gpus are not supported).

Also maybe check out some of the old threads regarding similar issues:

Strange flickering

Strange flickering Hello! I have a strange problem with the Witcher 3. Iam playing this game on my LG TV (50 zoll) that is connected to a pc with this stuff: AMD Phenom X6 1055T Gigabyte Geforce GTX 960 Random Gigabyte mainboard 12GB DDR3 RAM Windows 10 Pro x64 Resolution: 1920x1080 As soon...

forums.cdprojektred.com

Full Screen Flickering Witcher 3:

Full Screen Flickering Witcher 3: No matter what settings, I get full screen white flashing on my screen. Occurs often in dense forests. Does not happen often inside. Latest nvidia drivers. Specs: CPU: 5820k @ 4.4ghz GPUS: 2x 780ti's RAM: 16 gig DDR4 2400mhz OS: Windows 8.1 64 bit...

forums.cdprojektred.com

 

[bunkbedbug]

I tried forcing the graphics card, disabled all the ingame optimizations and all optimizations in Nvidia Control panel. Still no results.

Here is a screen capture:

However, during screen capture I noticed the CPU was running high (around 60%) whilst the GPU remained almost idle (around 15%). Could that indicate the game completely ignores the Nvidia settings? Is there another way to force this? This happens both when I run the game through steam and when I run it directly from the folder.

 

[SigilFey]

Oh, bother...(in the Whinniest of Poo sense.)

I'm afraid that looks like an overheating / damaged video card. Based on the arrangement of textures that are affected, I'm going to guess it's one of the VRAM chips that's damaged or dying.

Especially if that same issue is happening over multiple driver versions, that's evidence of a hardware issue. It's not impossible that it could be something else...but I've seen exactly that type of thing quite a few times before. If you're overclocking, return all clock frequencies and voltage levels to factory defaults and try running the game again. That may rectify it. However, the glitch seems very uniform. My guess is it is a specific part of the GPU that's toast.

Let us know how it goes. On the upside, even if it is the card, the 2D functionality should be perfectly fine. (I'll have my list of suggestions standing by!)

 

[bunkbedbug]

Hmmm, I never overclocked my notebook. But did take it to some tropical countries (and I think a notebook doesn't get treated that well overall either as a desktop tower). Either way, how do I find out this is causing issues?

After your post I tried downloading and running OCCT with the following configuration.

It couldn't find any errors.

But here I see again that only the CPU seems to take the load (would be the onboard chip instead of the quadro?)

The reason the GPU stays idle is a mystery to me. Or is there a better test for the VRAM?
I even tried connecting a second monitor to the HDMI port to see if that forces the use of the GPU. But still no result.

Post automatically merged: Jan 10, 2020

Also tried forcing the dedicated card through the BIOS, didn't work

 

[SigilFey]

But here I see again that only the CPU seems to take the load (would be the onboard chip instead of the quadro?)

The reason the GPU stays idle is a mystery to me. Or is there a better test for the VRAM?
I even tried connecting a second monitor to the HDMI port to see if that forces the use of the GPU. But still no result.

No. The onboard chip should be an Intel HD Graphics or something like that.

(Also, your laptop has a Quadro! I was totally not processing that yesterday. In general, games should run on them, but there are differences with their architecture and drivers that can create some odd results. That could be it right there.

I'd contact Nvidia Tech Support with the issue, a link to the video, and the results of the test. I'm not familiar OCCT myself, but yes, that seems like everything is just fine. So that's hopeful.

Also tried forcing the dedicated card through the BIOS, didn't work

Totally shouldn't be necessary. I wouldn't muck with BIOS, as that could complicate things. I'm pretty sure the problem is going to be hardware or drivers. You could ask Nvidia if there's a specific version of BIOS you should be using, though. That's another possibility.

Well, hopefully it won't wind up being any damage. Replacing a Quadro would not be on my list of things to look forward to.

 

[bunkbedbug]

Thanks for the help SigilFey. I've forwarded this problem to both HP and NVidea.