{"id":2331,"date":"2026-09-30T08:34:31","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T08:34:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/2026\/09\/30\/witcher-3-remastered-amd-driver-glitches\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T08:34:31","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T08:34:31","slug":"witcher-3-remastered-amd-driver-glitches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/2026\/09\/30\/witcher-3-remastered-amd-driver-glitches\/","title":{"rendered":"Witcher 3 Remastered launch marred by AMD driver glitches"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- Quick Adsense WordPress Plugin: http:\/\/quickadsense.com\/ -->\n<div class=\"9fece8afa224fd09e54b043d0febfb58\" data-index=\"1\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- NR ATF -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8898941184964366\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"4839033563\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt \u2013 Remastered arrived as a free upgrade on September 29, 2026 for PC, PlayStation\u202f5 and Xbox Series\u202fX\/S. Within hours of release, owners of AMD Radeon graphics cards began posting screenshots that showed solid\u2011black grass, glowing hair artifacts and large sections of terrain devoid of vegetation. By contrast, players using Nvidia GeForce GPUs reported a largely functional game out of the box.<\/p>\n<h2>Scope of the AMD visual failures<\/h2>\n<p>Multiple technology outlets documented a wide array of visual defects on AMD hardware. The Croatian site virus.hr listed missing trees, black texture artifacts spreading across terrain and character models, flickering and corrupted textures, incorrect level\u2011of\u2011detail rendering and environments that failed to load fully. IGN echoed the same pattern, noting that the missing\u2011vegetation and black\u2011artifact symptoms were reproducible across review units, suggesting a systemic issue rather than isolated configuration quirks.<\/p>\n<p>Community reports added further detail. A discussion on GOG described the remaster as \u201ccompletely broken\u201d on Radeon\u202fRX\u202f9000\u2011series cards before a driver update arrived. Tech creator NikTek posted video from an RX\u202f9070\u202fXT, pointing out water glitches, off\u2011color hair and skin textures, and black grass. Some users also highlighted a distinct glowing\u2011hair problem that, in a few cases, disappeared when an older AMD driver (version\u202f26.3.1) was used, though the newer recommended driver (26.9.2) introduced the black\u2011texture issue.<\/p>\n<h2>Which cards are impacted<\/h2>\n<p>The remaster ships with AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 4 (FSR\u202f4) support, including Frame Generation and Anti\u2011Lag\u202f2, for Radeon\u202fRX\u202f7000\u2011series cards and newer. For older GPUs the game falls back to FSR\u202f2. Because the newest and most expensive Radeon hardware\u2014such as the RX\u202f9000 series\u2014targets native or near\u2011native resolution, the driver mismatch affected the segment most likely to run the game at its highest visual settings.<\/p>\n<p>While reporting does not provide a complete card\u2011by\u2011card failure list, every source consistently identifies AMD Radeon GPUs as the class generating bug reports. Nvidia GeForce cards, by comparison, displayed only occasional path\u2011tracing glitches that were described as limited rather than systemic.<\/p>\n<h2>Driver timing mismatch identified as root cause<\/h2>\n<p>CD\u202fPROJEKT\u202fRED\u2019s own pre\u2011launch guidance highlighted a driver gap. The studio\u2019s support account advised players to update to driver versions NVIDIA\u202f617.14, AMD\u202f26.9.2 and Intel\u202f32.0.101.8993, noting that the AMD driver \u201cnot released yet, coming later.\u201d At launch, the latest publicly available AMD driver was Adrenalin\u202f26.8.1, released on August\u202f20, creating roughly a six\u2011week gap between the driver and the game\u2019s release.<\/p>\n<p>After launch, CD\u202fPROJEKT\u202fRED posted an update urging AMD users to install the newly released driver: \u201cAMD users: the latest GPU drivers are now available! If you\u2019ve been experiencing visual issues \u2026 please make sure to download and install the latest drivers.\u201d The studio\u2019s response therefore focused on driver updates rather than releasing an emergency game patch.<\/p>\n<p>TechSpot\u2019s benchmark testing confirmed the driver problem. Using the publicly available Adrenalin\u202f26.9.1 driver, the outlet observed \u201cnumerous rendering glitches\u201d and concluded that Radeon GPUs were encountering a performance limitation likely tied to driver compatibility, evident even on the Medium graphics preset.<\/p>\n<p>When AMD finally released the WHQL\u2011certified 26.9.2 driver after launch, many users reported noticeable improvements. However, the interval between game release and driver availability left AMD owners with legitimate copies effectively locked out of a clean experience for several days.<\/p>\n<h2>Contrast with Nvidia experience and broader implications<\/h2>\n<p>Outlets such as virus.hr and IGN consistently reported that Nvidia GeForce owners could launch the remaster without the widespread corruption seen on Radeon cards. Some GOG forum posts mentioned occasional path\u2011tracing glitches on Nvidia hardware, but these were framed as isolated issues rather than the systemic failures affecting AMD users.<\/p>\n<p>This asymmetry is notable given the earlier performance discussion surrounding the RTX\u202f5090, where the flagship Nvidia card fell short of a locked 60\u202fFPS target. While Nvidia owners still have a performance conversation, AMD owners faced a playability conversation during the launch window.<\/p>\n<p>The episode underscores a recurring friction point in the PC gaming ecosystem: mismatches between major game launch dates and GPU vendor driver cycles. When a publisher\u2019s schedule outpaces a driver team\u2019s release cadence, the vendor whose driver lags can see its users experience severe compatibility problems, as demonstrated by this launch.<\/p>\n<h2>CD\u202fPROJEKT\u202fRED\u2019s communication strategy<\/h2>\n<p>Beyond the driver\u2011update advisory, CD\u202fPROJEKT\u202fRED has not issued a dedicated emergency patch targeting the AMD rendering bugs. A GOG discussion thread cited the studio\u2019s promise of forthcoming patches to address incorrect vegetation rendering, but no formal patch notes have been released that specifically enumerate AMD\u2011related fixes.<\/p>\n<p>Given the studio\u2019s reputation for aggressive post\u2011launch support after the troubled launch of Cyberpunk\u202f2077 in 2020, the reliance on a driver update rather than an immediate game patch marks a different approach. The company appears to be leveraging the expectation that GPU manufacturers will resolve driver\u2011level issues, while focusing internal resources on broader game stability and performance improvements.<\/p>\n<p>In summary, the Witcher\u202f3: Wild Hunt \u2013 Remastered launch highlighted a stark divide between AMD and Nvidia hardware experiences. AMD Radeon owners encountered black\u2011grass artifacts, missing vegetation, texture corruption and occasional crashes, all traced back to a missing driver release at launch. Nvidia GeForce users largely enjoyed a functional game with only minor rendering quirks. The incident reinforces the importance of synchronized driver rollouts for major releases and adds a new chapter to the ongoing dialogue between game publishers and GPU vendors.<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The September 2026 launch of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt \u2013 Remastered left AMD Radeon owners facing black grass, missing vegetation and crashes, while Nvidia users reported a functional experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2332,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[299],"tags":[2539,477,2540,2541,2538],"class_list":["post-2331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-amd","tag-gaming","tag-gpu-drivers","tag-pc","tag-witcher-3","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}