Company of Heroes 2 Graphics bug

[NagyAkos512]

Dear Intel Arc support team!

When i'm playing Company of Heroes 2, after 15-30 minutes, the textures stretch on random parts of the map. Several Arc users reported this months ago, and looks like its still not fixed. I would like to ask the support to investigate this issue, and try to help us Company of Heroes 2 players to fix this, because this is really annoying.

Since people already reported this issue earlier, i'm going to link that post: https://community.intel.com/t5/Intel-ARC-Graphics/Game-objects-stretch-and-cover-the-whole-screen-using-Arc-B580/m-p/1692339

I have exactly the same issue, i have the newest drivers, tried different graphics settings, nothing helped, i'm sure its a software side problem. 

I'll attach the SSU, and a picture of the problem. As the other Arc users who suffer from this graphics bug, i tried all the troubleshoot methods, for example lowering graphics settings, updating bios, updating graphics driver, lowering FPS, basically everything that might have helped, but the bug still occurs after 15-30 minutes. 

Please help us Arc users, who would like to play this old, but amazing game!

Thank you very much for your help! 

[NagyAkos512]

Little update:

Now i played 4 matches. In one of them, i managed to get to 41 minutes before the graphics glitch started happening. Keep in mind that this was happening only at one side of the map, while when i looked at the otherside, everything was okey. 

I noticed that if i press alt+tab, that might help to reduce the glitch, but it won't fix it permamently, only temporiraly, and only at some parts on the map. I attached a picture about this too.

[VonM_Intel]

Hi NagyAkos512,

Thank you for posting in our Community and for providing detailed information regarding the graphics issue in Company of Heroes 2 and for including the SSU report and screenshots. To help us replicate and analyze the problem more accurately, could you please provide a few additional details:

• Are you running the game in fullscreen, borderless windowed, or windowed mode?
• Are any background applications, overlays, or recording software running while you play?
• Does the issue occur on all maps or only specific ones? If specific, which maps have you noticed it on?
• Could you provide a short video capturing the glitch in real-time, if possible? This will help our engineering team observe the behavior in motion.
• Have you tried any graphics API settings within the game (DirectX 11/12, Vulkan, etc.), and does switching these affect the occurrence of the issue?

For FPS and performance issues, I kindly request that you provide CapFrameX data for this game. This will help us analyze performance metrics more thoroughly and identify any issues. However, please share a CapFrameX file that captures at least 2-5 minutes of gameplay.

Have a nice day!

Best regards,

Von M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[monkiemurdie]

Just picked up a b580 a few days ago. currently testing a few titles. BF6, Age of darkness

But i can confirm the same issue as well PLUS dreadfull FMV problem and lip sync audio at start of a new campaign.

I posted a thread on the steam CoH2 discussion page to highlight B580 does run this game with some problems i.e promotion to other users who read forums. as i taken the risk on this product and want to help its competitiveness for support. 

https://steamcommunity.com/app/231430/discussions/0/664963107066776359/

I am only 2 hours and have had issues with game campaign start (black screen of nothing after the train passes through snow.) 

I am currently trying to recreate the 1 time I got the fmv to load correctly out of 4 attempts. and move to the mission breifing screen.

the graphical artifacts by another user I can confirm, i have recorded footage of also, and i grabbed a dxdiag of my system. i didnt relaise this game had camera rotation i though it was isometric, the artifact is worse when using camera rotation, also when zoomed out to max. the zooming out too max ididnt see it for about 25mins. than it just happened it disappears as i zoom down to characters, but reappears at only specific places on the map. 

to induce quicker  use camera rotation....

will upload later when i figure out how.   

10600K 32gb+rebar, z490 ITX, B580, 1080p 100hz big tv

running intel graphics software app  with the most recent drivers 32.010.6869 aug2025

was running default profile in intel software but changed out of that for 1080p 120hz instead of 29.97hz 4k. I forces vsync off. 

Was lucky enough that my mb manufacturer did issue a uefi bios flash enabling rebar on my chipset which is installed. 

PS i go by the same user name on steam i posted in a few game steam forums as when i search for intel arc or b580 basicly no one posted there . Trying to give confidence to forum readers speculating on b580 on the games they play.. 

[NagyAkos512]

Hey monkiemurdie!

Thank you for confirming that the issue is global for all Arc B580 users, sadly this issue got reported back in early spring, and there is still no fix from the game/driver side. Hopefully Intel or Relic can somehow solve this issue.

Also, please try what i wrote in the last comment, that might help you! I'm still testing if it fixes this graphics issue completely, but not gonna lie, playing on almost the lowest settings a 2013 game feels bad. Meanwhile this GPU can easily handle newest titles at 1440p, so its for sure a software isssue, which Intel or Relic hopefully will fix.  

Have a nice day!

Ákos

[NagyAkos512]

Hey VonM!

Of course, i'll provide you with whatever you need, in order to fix this issue. We'll solve this together!

1. I tried to run the game in fullscreen mode, which didn't help, also tried windowed mode + alt tab which made it even worse at some point theres nothing visible left on the map.

2. I'm not running any background applications, i have steam overlay and discord overlay disabled, and i'm not recording.

3. I tried on 4 maps, the issue happened on all 4 of them. At somepoint even right after the start, 7 minutes later, the next game after 30 minutes, so its pretty random but its always happening. I tried Budapest map and Lorch assault mostly, both of them had this issue after a certain amount of time. 

4. I attached a video, and i'm sorry for the video quality, i tried to set up the OBS as much as i can, i think the footage is clearly showing the issue now. I also attach the CapFrameX file too. The video footage shows i have like 10 fps, but thats just the recording, i don't have any performance problems. 

5. Yes i even tried to implement DXVK to the game, which changes the Dx11 API to VULKAN, and sadly this didn't help either. 

If you need any more details please tell me, i would like to really help you to fix this problem, because i would like to play with my friends, but now it seems impossible. I love this GPU, because it works so well in modern games, but sometimes in older ones i have to ask for your help.  

Have a nice day and thank you for your help!

Ákos

[NagyAkos512]

Little update:

I removed DXVK, and tried to look into the game's config files. I found out that the shadervalue was 0, and the modelquality was 0, and the terraindetail was -599 (very strange), I changed the shader value to 2, the modelquality to 2, and the terraindetail to 1 in the config file. Also lowered the texture detail to 3, and the physics to 1. and turned off AA.This MIGHT helped, because i ran 2 games, one on the same map, Lorch Assault for 1 hour, and i found no graphics artifacts. Also ran another match on a completely different map for an hour, found no artifacts with these settings. If you want, i can attach my configfile, which MIGHT solved this issue. 

Now my game looks really bad, but atleast it looks like the artifacts are gone, but still don't take it as solved, because i need to further test this. May i ask you to try the game with max settings? I think thats  the settings when these artifacts appear.  This card should comfortably handle the game. 

I suspect VRAM and shader cache related corruption. 

If you need further details, i'm here to help, and thank you very much for your help!

We'll solve this together 100%. 

Ákos

[VonM_Intel]

Hello NagyAkos512,

Thank you so much for the detailed updates, video, and config findings. Your effort in testing different settings is a huge help, and it’s great to hear the adjustments may have reduced the artifacts. Your insights on VRAM and shader cache are very valuable and will be shared for further review. I will need to conduct additional research on this issue and post an update in this thread once I have more information. In the meantime, please continue testing with your adjusted configuration, and if the issue reappears, especially under maximum settings, feel free to share the updated details and config file with us. Every bit of information brings us one step closer to a permanent resolution.

@monkiemurdie 

I empathize with your situation and the issue you are facing. However, I kindly request that you create a new thread for your case. This will allow us to focus on your specific problem and provide you with better assistance.

Best regards,

Von M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[NagyAkos512]

Hey VonM!

Thank you very much for your assistance! Something still doesn't really feel right even after changing these settings i mentioned above. 

On the otherhand, i saw that when you change the settings to low, the game automatically switches to DX9, this somehow runs better than DX11 in terms of graphics issues, but still not flawless. If you turn up the settings, the game automatically switches to DX11, or atleast the game config file says this. However, in the game's document files, theres another configfile, there it mentiones the game is running in DX11, while the game's main folder's configfile says that the game is running in DX9. I switched back my old GPU (RX6600) and the graphics issues went away wether i used max or minimum settings in the game. 

My main suspicion is still the shader cache or something related to VRAM. I think its a broken cache on some parts of the map, which makes these extremely weird graphical artifacts. Would you please test it for yourself? Try to replicate this issue, because it seems like it affects every Arc B580 user i have talked to. Turn up the graphics settings, and try a few games, usually this weird artifacts happen after playing for 15 minutes to an hour depending on the map and the amount of your camera movement. 

Thank you very much for your efforts VonM! 

Ákos

[monkiemurdie]

---

@VonM_Intel 

"I empathize with your situation and the issue you are facing. However, I kindly request that you create a new thread for your case. This will allow us to focus on your specific problem and provide you with better assistance.

---

I have had 3 issues

1) the graphical artifact :- 

Actually akos and I have friended on steam I actually thinkk the graphical artifact issue is the same as Akon here. for that reason I like to hang around on this thread. on this topic

2) Issues with the First time load game main menu wrt display settings

3) Pre rendered Full motion video sequence introduction to the campaign (russian campaign), although I do see from a AI answer and from the steam thread people saying this is an issue generally.

So for 2 &3 I will seperate them out in to separate threads from this one.

1) the graphical artifact

actually the impact of this I think you taken as more severe in your reply than I am saying. I guess I didn't state the impact 

Severity of issue to playing the game score (1 little -10 large)= 2 I can play the game. infact getting past 2 and 3 was more of a problem but once in game its not too bad. the game runs smooth 30fps on 1080 or 2160 at high.

Once i am in the campaign (issue 2&3 above)  i can go a while without issue.

I have come to realise this might in fact be a camera object clipping thing. as the height of the camera i can take to ground level. I suspect it might be from buildings behind as you move through the mission. I never played coh2 before is it meant to do this? or does it not on rival gpu's? was it a design choice that camera is not fixed on z axis

From my perspective i rotated the camera 180 degrees to see building structures and i think its the polygons from these, although there are times i am not completely convinced it is just this. 

I upload a video and you see what i mean on slow pan on lower elevations, note did a fast convert to youtube sd format to compress size  but give a longer time duration. however this is changed the aspect ratio but you get the idea of the problem.

Summary via timestamp

7-40secs I do slow pan camera through scenery items? notice the troops are highlighted and animating correctly (red, yellow)

40-53s  I move the camera to near the edge of the map and with lower scenery height and do panning to show game isnt compromised severely.

NOTE this is the first mission of the game on the russian story.

i get alot but as i move up on camera elevation it kinda disappears.

[monkiemurdie]

---

@NagyAkos512 wrote in a private steam message to me
"...I lowered the texture quality to low, this made the game start in DirectX9 instead of 11. Now the game looks terrible, but i havent experienced any weird artifcats. Would you please confirm that his works for you?
Also, there is a RelicCOH2.ini file in the \SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Company of Heroes 2 folder. Check what it says under screendevice. Is it DirectX9 or 11? 

RelicCOH2.ini for me was already on 9, i did click on the autodetect within game/options/display a couple of days ago so it could have been on 11 to startwith. Also autodetect sets antialiasing to low.

Also there is no option in this display menu for windowed borderless or fullscreen for context @VonM_Intel  i have included a screenshot

 

However when I first booted I let intel Graphics software take control as that had a scanned profile. 

I can't say I noticed the terrible nature after I changed the reliccoh2.ini to 11. 

the locale.ini is very brief this is all mines says. 

[locale]
lang=English

[VonM_Intel]

Hello @NagyAkos512 ,

Thank you for sharing such detailed observations and for testing different configurations. Your input is extremely valuable. I completely understand how frustrating it must be to deal with these persistent graphical issues, especially given the difference in behavior between your RX6600 and Arc GPU. To move forward, we will further investigate this and attempt to recreate the problem on our end. To help us narrow it down, could you kindly provide the following details:

• Download source – Can you confirm where the game was downloaded? Was it through Steam, or another platform?

• Game settings – Could you share the specific settings you normally use while playing (resolution, effects, presets, etc.)?

• Maps or modes – Does the issue seem to occur only on certain maps or in specific game modes, or does it happen across all of them?

• Steps to reproduce – If possible, could you outline the exact steps you take in-game before the issue appears? For example, settings adjustments, map loading, or gameplay scenarios where the artifacts usually begin.

Your detailed notes on DX9 vs DX11 behavior, config files, and shader cache suspicions are very helpful. We’ll be sure to keep this in mind during our internal testing. Once we’ve completed further research and replication attempts, I’ll follow up with you here with the next update.

@monkiemurdie , 

Thank you for taking the time to share such a detailed breakdown of your experience, along with the video and observations. I truly empathize with the challenges you’ve faced, and I appreciate the effort you’ve put into describing the issues clearly. To ensure we can provide you with the most focused and effective support, I kindly ask that you create a new thread dedicated to your case. This will allow us to properly track your specific issues, avoid mixing details from different cases, and provide you with more targeted assistance. I completely understand why you wanted to stay in this thread, especially since the graphical artifact appears similar to what another user has reported. Rest assured, we will continue investigating this issue in parallel, but by having your case in its own thread, we can address your situation more directly and thoroughly. Thank you again for your patience and collaboration. Your input is extremely valuable to us. Once you’ve opened the new thread, please feel free to tag me so we can continue working together on resolving this.

Best regards,

Von M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[monkiemurdie]

OK 

i hear you clear this time will set up my own one tommorow. 

[NagyAkos512]

Hey VonM!

1. Download source: I downloaded the game from Steam, its up to date, and i bought it many years ago.

2. I used maximum settings before, without AA, in 2560x1440, and this caused the artifacts for the very first time.

3. It happens on every map, but keep in mind, only on some part of the map, so let's say there is a river in the map, and two cities, and the artifact only visible in the city. This was just an example, but sadly sometimes it caused the 90% of the map to look like the picture i have attached above before. Mode was annihilation, but this doesn't mean too much in my opinion.

4. Steps to reproduce: Just use the default game settings, or turn everything to the highest, and set the resolution to 2560x1440, 120hz. The game doesn't support more than 120hz, so select this setting. You can reproduce this with max settings, 2560x1440, 120hz, Vsync Off, AA off or on doesn't matter sadly, but try with off please, and select a map, for example Lorch Assault, play for 15 minutes to an hour, keep your camera moving, because from my experience, if you AFK, the glitch won't appear. Looks like camera movement can increase the chance of the artifact happening. Keep the camera moving around the map, eventually after 15 minutes to an hour, you will see the issue on one or more parts of the map, its pretty random.

I've talked to Monkiemurdie on Steam, and we discussed the issue, and sadly we couldn't find a proper fix, only a way to reduce the artifact is tampering in the config files, and lowering the game graphics to the lowest. But this doesn't mean a proper fix, because we are not sure if its fixed the problem permanently or its just a bandaid. 

On the otherhand, the game runs superb, performance is really really good, but this small but very annoying glitch makes the game unplayable. 

If you have any more questions, i'm here to help VonM! We will solve this together! 

Have a nice day and thank you very much for your help and sorry for my bad english!

Ákos

[VonM_Intel]

Hello @NagyAkos512 ,

Thank you so much for sharing these detailed observations. I really appreciate the time you’ve taken to document the issue so thoroughly. Your step-by-step breakdown of the settings, conditions, and reproduction steps is extremely helpful for our investigation. Rest assured, I’ll review the details you’ve provided and work closely with our team to explore potential solutions beyond the temporary workaround you mentioned. If I need any additional information during testing, I’ll reach out to you right away. In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to share any further findings if you notice changes in behavior under different settings or maps.

We’ll keep working together to get this resolved. Thanks again for your patience, support, and clear communication. It really makes a difference

Best regards,

Von M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[VonM_Intel]

Hello @NagyAkos512 ,

Thank you for your patience. We are actively working to recreate the issue, but we’ll need your guidance to do so accurately. Could you please confirm the exact game mode and map where the problem occurs? I wasn’t able to find Lorch Assault in the available modes on my end. Also, may I ask if you’ve tried updating to the latest graphics driver version 32.0.101.7028? In my testing (Theater of War), I was unable to reproduce the issue, so it would be helpful to know if this driver changes the behavior on your system.

Best regards,

Von M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[NagyAkos512]

Hey VonM!

Thank you for your investigation, it means a lot!

Sure, I'll give you a more accurate path to try to recreate this issue. Lorch Assault is not a gamemode, its a map.

Click on Multiplayer from the menu, than custom skirmish, select 4vs4, Lorch Assault (the map) and mode annihilation, add AI to both sides and you are all set. Set your graphics settings to the highest possible but keep in mind Company of Heroes 2 only supports 120hz. Play for 15-45 minutes, move your camera around, play normally, and you should see these artifacts around random parts of the map, sometimes they are near the two spawns, sometimes they are near taller buildings. Budapest map is also affected by this, after 30 minutes the artifacts appeared for me near the right side of the map. I know its hard to reproducate and it takes time, and its one of the worst possible bug, because it occurs randomly, but on the highest settings and 2560x1440 120hz, sadly always appeared.

Monkiemurdie, a fellow Arc user who previously replied to this post and myself are also actively working on a solution. I have changed the ShaderQuality value in the game configfile to 2 from 4, and also lowered texture resolution to the lowest. This seemed to have helped, but not interely. After an hour long match, the artficats arrived again. Changing the config file settings give me some time before these artifacts happen, but to be honest now my game looks terrible with these low settings.

I haven't tried the newest driver, I'll give it a try, but since opening this thread I tried with 4 different drivers, 2 previous one, and 2 newer ones, and sadly they didn't solve this issue. Now I am on the latest WHQL driver.

TLDR;
Lorch Assault is the map, not the game mode, go to multiplayer in the menu, click on custom skirmish, select 4vs4, select Lorch Assault, add AI to both sides, and set your settings to highest possible with 2560x1440 120hz, and play for 15-45 minutes. Play normally, move your camera around the map, and the artifacts sooner or later should appear.

Thank you very much for your efforts VonM. It means a lot, i'm sure its frustrating to try and reproducate this graphical glitch, but since not just myself, but other B580 users reported the exact same issue before, and now, i'm suspecting a driver related compatibility issue with the game's engine. Maybe a 3D texture cause this, maybe the shaders get corrupted. A lot of players had very similiar graphical artifact in Hearts of Iron IV years ago when a 3D model wasn't rendered properly, that looked quite similiar but i'm not exactly sure what cause this artficats in Company of Heroes 2.

Thank you for your help and assistance VonM! Thank you Arc team for helping Arc users. If I can help you with more data, tell me, i'm here to help!

Have a nice day,

Ákos

[VonM_Intel]

Hello @NagyAkos512 ,

Thank you so much for the detailed steps and additional context. I’ll follow the path you outlined in Company of Heroes 2 and test under the same conditions (Lorch Assault map, custom skirmish, 4v4, highest settings at 2560x1440 120Hz) to observe the artifacts. I also noted your adjustments with ShaderQuality and texture resolution, as well as the reports from other Arc users, which strengthen the case for a potential driver-related compatibility issue.

Since you’re now on the latest WHQL driver, please go ahead and try the newest version when possible, as it may contain fixes or optimizations that could address this behavior. Once you’ve tested it, kindly let us know the results so we can determine the next best steps together.

Best regards,

Von M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[NagyAkos512]

Hey VonM!

Thank you very much for your quick reply and also thank you very much for your time and effort, I know it will take time to investigate and reproduce it, 15-45 minutes atleast just to test something is not that pleasent, so i'm really grateful for your help.

I'll try to update to the newest driver, but a few Reddit users in /IntelArc community reported bugs with the newest driver, so I'll wait a little before I try, but I might ask Monkiemurdie, maybe he already tried it with the newest driver. I'll keep you updated about this!

I would like to also thank you for being very understanding with us, so far this is far my best experience with a Moderator when it comes to hardware, and software support globally. Respect to you VonM, and thank you really, for your efforts.

If there is anything you need, tell me. I'll also keep you updated if the driver update helps with this issue.

Thank you! Have a nice day!

Ákos

[VonM_Intel]

Hello @NagyAkos512 ,

Thank you so much for the kind words. I truly appreciate it. Please do keep me updated on your driver testing, and don’t hesitate to reach out if you need anything along the way. No worries. I’ll continue investigating this issue in depth while you test and update the graphics driver to the latest version (32.0.101.7028 or newer), so we can move forward smoothly together.

Best regards,

Von M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[NagyAkos512]

Hey VonM!

I just tried the game with the newest driver available, along with the lowest texture detail option possible, and the modified ShaderQuality option in the configfile. I played on 2 different maps, for 1-1 hour each, and I didn't notice any graphical artifacts.

However, when I turned the graphics settings up, sadly I encountered the issue again. Budapest map, exactly after 30 minutes the textures started flickering around the right side of the map, but only on that part of the map. I restarted the game, started another match. On Lorch Assault map, I immediately saw an artifact right after the start, a tree had a piramid like texture, it was glitched. Than 10 minutes later the textures started flickering around the two spawns. I did test further, and lowered the graphics settings to medium, and kept some of them on high. Played 2 different maps, on one of the map I encountered the artifacts again, on the other I didn't for 30 minutes of gameplay. Its so random, so weird, I never seen anything like this before. A 3D model or a texture causes the shader cache to damage itself or i don't know.

For verification, I tried the game with my old RX460 2GB, played on the highest possible settings, and I didn't encounter these artifacts, I tried on 6 different maps, 30 minutes each. Unfortunately this seems like the game engine has a conflict with how the Arc driver cache shaders, but this is just speculation im not sure.

Monkiemurdie and myself will try to investigate this further, maybe we can find a permanent fix. Please VonM, tell me if you need any details or information, I'll try everything to help you out.

Have a nice day and thank you very much for your help! The whole CoH2 Arc B580 community grateful for your efforts!

Ákos