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Intel Releases Starfield-Centric Graphics Driver to Iron out GPU Bugs
Intel has launched a new graphics driver for users of its Arc A-Series and Iris Xe GPUs. This update delivers some highly desirable fixes for Starfield players. Among the improvements users should see with Intel Graphics Driver 31.0.101.4672 include: faster load times, better stability, and fewer visual artifacts.
Last week, Starfield launched in early access and Intel Arc graphics card users were among those gnashing their teeth over glitches, wrinkles and bugs. Sometimes the bugs were hard to ignore, like when the game simply wouldn’t launch, or when it crashed after launch. We were quite surprised that Intel hadn’t prepared a game-ready driver for this highly anticipated game, as it has earned a good reputation for updated drivers and optimizations over recent months.
A few days ago, Intel followed up with an ‘Emergency’ driver update. This beta patch at last allowed Arc GPU owners to start to dabble in the game, which was admittedly still in early access at the time. Intel confirmed that the beta driver would be put through further refinement and tuning stages. With driver version 31.0.101.4672 WHQL, Intel says (PDF) the following issues have been addressed:
Starfield (DX12) Game load duration is significantly reduced.
Starfield (DX12) may experience instability and application crash while launching and during gameplay.
Starfield (DX12) may exhibit texture corruptions and scene flickers during gameplay.
(Image credit: Intel)
Like with the interim driver release, Intel says that the high-preset or below should be selected for the best stability. The above fixes will be welcomed by early Starfield adopters but there remains a list of known issues in the game, released to the masses yesterday, which Intel will be working on:
Starfield (DX12) may experience application instability in some areas of the game.
Starfield (DX12) may exhibit corruption when using Dynamic Resolution Scaling. A workaround is to change the Render Resolution Scale slider value.
Starfield (DX12) may exhibit texture flickering on light sources during gameplay.
Starfield (DX12) may exhibit low texture details on certain objects in the game.
Intel is also working on issues in the following software title: Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, Halo Infinite, Dead by Daylight, Topaz Video AI, and Adobe After Effects. Last but not least unexplained frequent Arc GPU fan speed increases are being looked at.
For further analysis of how Starfield runs on a wide range of graphics cards, covering samples launched between 2017 to the present day, check out our Starfield PC Performance guide.
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Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.
Not a good look for Intel to have such bad drivers for the biggest game release of the year.
The biggest, perhaps, but not the best. And I would not lay the entire blame at Intel's feet, although it is tempting - game developers also have their part to play. I haven't heard what they did to try to avoid this situation.
