Dishonored 2 and RX 6800 XT - weird texture flicker on ocean surface

[TomasK]

Hello

About a month ago I bought a MSI Radeon RX 6800 XT Gaming X Trio. I am very happy with the card, just except for a little visual glitch in Dishonored 2.
Link to a video I captured showing the problem:

Look at the surface of the ocean and you can see something flickering on there. I do realize that this is not a huge issue but still it kinda distracts me in places where the ocean is visible while playing the game.

Upon closer inspection it appears that those tiny things are hexagonal "openings" on the surface of the ocean through which the ocean floor can be directly seen as if there was no water over it.
This issue does not exist on computers with a Geforce GPU. Tested on my laptop with an i5-9300H and a GTX 1650, also don't remember seeing it when I played the game on my previous PC with an i9-9900K that went through several different Geforce GPU upgrades before I sold it last year (GTX 1080, 2080, 2080 Ti).
I tried the following things to fix this:

- All available graphics quality presets in the game, from very low to ultra. Issue present on all of them. The lower the "water quality" is set to, the fewer but bigger those hexagonal spots are.
- Enable/disable Vsync, lowering FPS limiter to 60, setting my monitor to 60Hz - no change
- Installing the oldest radeon driver I could find on amd.com that supports my GPU - 20.11.2 - no change (used DDU to clean current driver before installing the older one)
- Uninstalling the game, deleting the folder with game settings and AMD shader cache, re-installing the game onto a different drive - no change
- Raising a support ticket with Bethesda. We went through most of the above troubleshooting with them after which they advised they cannot help fixing this and will pass this issue along for further review noting it might be an issue with AMD drivers and DX11
- Downclocking my GPU to the lowest possible clock in the AMD drivers - 700 MHz - issue still present
- Testing on a friend's PC that has a Ryzen 5 3600 and a Radeon RX 6800 in it - issue present on his PC as well
- Updating GPU driver from 21.5.2 to 21.6.1 - did not fix the issue

I could not find any mention of this issue when googling it, so maybe people don't care about such a small thing, maybe it only exists on the RX 6000 series and people with these don't play Dishonored 2 much or maybe my googling skills are not the best.

Anyone got an idea what the cause of this thing might be? What else I can try to get rid of it?

 

[TomasK]

Could someone with a Radeon GPU who owns Dishonored 2 try if they see the same thing in the game? To see if maybe only RDNA 2 cards are affected or older cards as well?

 

[GerKNG]

there are plenty of games with visual glitches on RDNA2.
Battlefield V every reflective surface like Water and metal.
Rainbow Six siege in vulkan (blood is a pixelated blob that moves with your aim)
Black Ops Cold War has many different textures across all maps that have weird square artifacts.

if you have one of these games you could check them to compare (i don't own dishonored 2) but that looks "familiar".

 

[Lindatje]

No problems here with this game (or any game) and a 6900XT.
So the problem it not RDNA2 or the drivers or the game.

maybe your RAM or MB or Drives…?

 

[GerKNG]

No problems here with this game (or any game) and a 6900XT.
So the problem it not RDNA2 or the drivers or the game.

maybe your RAM or MB or Drives…?

so you own the only 6900XT on the planet that has not these well known issues?

 

[Lindatje]

so you own the only 6900XT on the planet that has not these well known issues?

It are not “well known issues”, maybe some ppl has some problems but the most has not those problems at all.
As i said, maybe it are the MB or RAM or drives (HDD, SSD, M.2)

 

[jesdals]

Tomas can you show your settings in the menu

It might be one of these - sorry for my danish picture

 

[TomasK]

No problems here with this game (or any game) and a 6900XT.
So the problem it not RDNA2 or the drivers or the game.

maybe your RAM or MB or Drives…?

As I wrote in the 1st post: On my friend's PC, who has a Ryzen 5 3600 and a Radeon RX 6800, the issue is also present. I also tried installing the game on my 2nd SSD, issue did not go away. I tried the following Radeon Software versions, all have this issue: 20.11.2, 21.5.2, 21.6.1

Tomas can you show your settings in the menu
View attachment 205804
It might be one of these - sorry for my danish picture

Game-specific settings for Dishonored 2:

Global settings:

there are plenty of games with visual glitches on RDNA2.
Battlefield V every reflective surface like Water and metal.
Rainbow Six siege in vulkan (blood is a pixelated blob that moves with your aim)
Black Ops Cold War has many different textures across all maps that have weird square artifacts.

if you have one of these games you could check them to compare (i don't own dishonored 2) but that looks "familiar".

I don't own any of those games, unfortunately

 

[Steevo]

Change your texture filtering to performance.

Also try disabling surface format optimization.

 

[TomasK]

Change your texture filtering to performance.

Also try disabling surface format optimization.

Just went and tried that, both under global and game-specific settings. Issue still exists

 

[eidairaman1]

Is the card crashing yes or no?

If it is not keep on playing your game and enjoy it and if it's such a big problem for you report it on AMD forums/redsit

The problem could be your monitor/cable as well you are using a desktop vs laptop now

 

[TomasK]

Is the card crashing yes or no?

If it is not keep on playing your game and enjoy it and if it's such a big problem for you report it on AMD forums/redsit

The problem could be your monitor/cable as well you are using a desktop vs laptop now

Not crashing. Already reported to AMD via the bug report tool. Yes, it is a problem, I don't want to play the game until it is fixed or until I get my hands on a Geforce card, which could mean a 2 year wait in the current pricing conditions.

Monitor/cable issue unlikely - no issues in other games, issue also present on a friend's PC with a different monitor/cable/entire PC different (see my original post)

 

[ratirt]

Never had that kind of an issue in any game I been playing with my 6900XT. Although I never played dishonored.
I'd check the cable and look over game settings and driver settings for the game. Try (if you have done it) remove card's OC and try.

 

[Outback Bronze]

Looks like Jimmy drivers or too much memory gpu oc.

Try underclocking your gpu memory and see what that does. If it doesn't work you'll have to wait for updated drivers.

 

[ratirt]

Don't play many games but Dishonored is the only one with any visual issues. My card is not OC'ed except for the very slight factory OC only on the core. Radeon software does not allow me to underclock the memory, it's running stock all the time. Also my friend, who has a RX 6800 (non-XT) in his PC, has the reference version, not OC'ed, and his PC shows the same artifacts in Dishonored 2. Exactly the same.

Maybe you should try fiddling with the driver settings and/or game settings?

 

[TomasK]

Looks like Jimmy drivers or too much memory gpu oc.

Try underclocking your gpu memory and see what that does. If it doesn't work you'll have to wait for updated drivers.

Yeah most likely drivers. Not sure if AMD is gonna bother with fixing a minor issue in a 5-year old game though.
My card is not overclocked, only a very slight factory OC on the core. I tried underclocking the core to minimum allowed (700MHz), no change. I am unable to underclock the memory in Radeon software, the slider does not go under 100%. Also my friend, who has a RX 6800 (non-XT) in his PC has the same issue in Dishonored 2, and he has a reference card without any overclock.

Maybe you should try fiddling with the driver settings and/or game settings?

Well I tried all the general graphics presets in the game, from very low to ultra, issue is present with all of them. Tried toggling Vsync, changing monitor refresh rate to 60, FPS limiter 30 FPS - 120 FPS, triple buffering on/off, resolution, etc; none helped. I also tried playing with texture filtering quality, tessellation mode and surface format optimization in Radeon software, none of this made any change. Also I always have all the Radeon "enhancements" like anti-lag, enhanced sync, chill, boost, image sharpening etc off.
Completely removed the game including the settings+save folder, re-installed it on my 2nd drive, cleared shader cache. Did not help. See my first post, I really tried a lot of stuff to fix this. Cannot think of anything else.

 

[ratirt]

Yeah most likely drivers. Not sure if AMD is gonna bother with fixing a minor issue in a 5-year old game though.
My card is not overclocked, only a very slight factory OC on the core. I tried underclocking the core to minimum allowed (700MHz), no change. I am unable to underclock the memory in Radeon software, the slider does not go under 100%. Also my friend, who has a RX 6800 (non-XT) in his PC has the same issue in Dishonored 2, and he has a reference card without any overclock.

Does the dishonored 2 game have a specific water reflections or any specific settings for water only? Have you tried toggling this one? Lowering the quality of water?
never played the game but maybe it's worth to try. Make sure you have the latest drivers.
I looked over the AMD radeon driver notes and there is no mention of that problem in the game.

 

[TomasK]

Also if it were a monitor/cable issue, I would not be able to record it in a video, would I?

Does the dishonored 2 game have a specific water reflections or any specific settings for water only? Have you tried toggling this one? Lowering the quality of water?
never played the game but maybe it's worth to try. Make sure you have the latest drivers.
I looked over the AMD radeon driver notes and there is no mention of that problem in the game.

Yes the game has a "water details" setting. When I set that to the lowest setting, the issue does not go away, but changes--it is no longer many tiny spots but few larger spots. Same shape--hexagon. The higher the "water details" setting, the smaller but in higher numbers those spots are. I can record it if you want to see.

 

[Prime2515102]

Those aren't lightning fish?

 

[ratirt]

Also if it were a monitor/cable issue, I would not be able to record it in a video, would I?


Yes the game has a "water details" setting. When I set that to the lowest setting, the issue does not go away, but changes--it is no longer many tiny spots but few larger spots. Same shape--hexagon. The higher the "water details" setting, the smaller but in higher numbers those spots are. I can record it if you want to see.

I'm willing to get the game and try it myself or maybe one of my friends have and can give me access for some testing.

 

[TPU-User777]

Tested on my RX 5700 with 21.3.1 driver and no issues in that same location from your video. The only other game where I've seen graphical anomalies is in Shadow of Mordor during a thunderstorm. Whenever there is a flash of lightning the ground water reflections briefly light up all rainbow coloured.
You could try running the game with DXVK dlls in the game executable folder. I have found DXVK helpful in some older games that had visual anomalies.

 

[TomasK]

I'm willing to get the game and try it myself or maybe one of my friends have and can give me access for some testing.

Someone else having a look at this as well would be great, thank you! Just FYI, I do not see the issue present in the 1st level of the game, It is present in the 2nd level (Edge of the world) onwards

Tested on my RX 5700 with 21.3.1 driver and no issues in that same location from your video. The only other game where I've seen graphical anomalies is in Shadow of Mordor during a thunderstorm. Whenever there is a flash of lightning the ground water reflections briefly light up all rainbow coloured.
You could try running the game with DXVK dlls in the game executable folder. I have found DXVK helpful in some older games that had visual anomalies.

Thank you for looking at this and the DXVK suggestion, had no idea that something like DXVK existed. Unfortunately, DXVK did not help. First I tried extracting the x64 dlls into the game folder and the game became unplayable, extremely choppy. Then I overwritten the dlls with the x32 versions, the game became perfectly playable but the glitch was still present

 

[claylomax]

Have you tried to disable bloom in the game settings?

 

[TomasK]

Have you tried to disable bloom in the game settings?

Yes, as I was trying all the general presets and "very low" disables everything. Anyway, I tried jumping into the game now and just disabling bloom, restarted the game, flickering on the ocean still present

 

[TPU-User777]

With regards to DXVK, the choppiness or lag normally lasts about a minute or two as DXVK is creating a shader cache. After that it should run without the choppiness. Also the x32 dlls won't actually be used as the game is 64bit and only the x64 files are utilised when loading the game.