Odd AA/RT (Unsure as to cause) Artifacts in DOOM: The Dark Ages

[x6568tank]

System Description
- Ryzen 5 9600X CPU
- 32 GB DDR5-6000 CL38 Ram
- Onix ODYSSEY Intel Arc B570
-Driver version: 32.0.101.6793

- ASUS B650M-A Prime AX II Motherboard
- HP OMEN 27q 27" 2K QHD 165 Hz

DOOM TDA Game Settings (Digital Foundry's recommendations for low-end 10 GB GPUs at 1440p):
1440p, XeSS Quality Upscaling
Shadows: Low
Reflections: Low
Lights: High
Particles: Nightmare
Decals: Ultranightmare
Water: Low
Volumetrics: Low
Texture filtering: High
Geometric: High
Shading: Medium
Directional Occlusion: Low
Texture Pool: 3584 MB

Problem:

I've been playing Doom TDA since the day it came out for pre-release with no complaints as to the gameplay experience--I've rather consistently hit 60 - 75 FPS with XeSS Quality upscaling using Digital Foundry's medium settings. However, the cutscenes have odd graphical artifacts--very pixelated metallic reflections, odd flickering shadows, and so on. I assume this is an issue somewhere with my system as I haven't seen reports of this anywhere else online, but it is very odd.

I've attached a small clip of a cutscene to demonstrate what I mean.

Any help would be appreciated--although it isn't a gamebreaker, it is incredibly noticable.

[VonM_Intel]

Hi, x6568tank.

Thank you for posting in our Community and for providing such a detailed breakdown of your system configuration and game settings. It's great to hear that your overall gameplay performance in Doom: The Dark Ages has been solid. However, I understand how distracting graphical artifacts during cutscenes can be especially when the rest of the game runs well. These kinds of visual anomalies such as pixelated reflections and flickering shadows may stem from how the game engine handles pre-rendered sequences in combination with the GPU driver or specific hardware features. Since you're using an Intel Arc B570 GPU on a Ryzen-based platform, it's possible that the issue may be rooted in driver behavior or compatibility under certain game workloads. 

To better assist you, could you kindly answer the following:

• Are the graphical artifacts only present in cutscenes, or do they occasionally appear during gameplay as well? This will help determine if the issue is isolated to cinematic rendering pipelines.
• Does the issue persist if you disable XeSS (or switch to another scaling method like FSR or native resolution)?
• Can you confirm whether the artifacts occur consistently in the same cutscenes, or are they random?
• Have you experienced similar visual issues in any other titles using Intel Arc with the same driver version (32.0.101.6793)?

Have a nice day!

Best regards,

Von M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[x6568tank]

They're present in the whole game, although not as apparent in regular gameplay. This makes sense as the game is entirely rendered live in-engine.

The issue persists using TAA and FSR.

I have not, but they've occurred in every cutscene so far so I assume they do.

I have not experienced similar visual issues in other titles.

[TheExpertGuy]

hey mate

...it’s likely the issue stems from a driver-level shader compatibility or real-time lighting rendering pipeline anomaly particularly with xess and directional occlusion interactions in scripted scenes. here targeted considerations

Try disabling XeSS or setting it to “Balanced” or “Off” temporarily to determine if the artifacting is tied to the upscaling engine. Cutscenes often use different LODs or asset pipelines. Set Texture Pool to “Ultra” or reduce Shadow settings to observe behavior changes. If you are using a launcher Steam or Epic verify the integrity of game files to ensure no corruption is contributing to the issue.

*in some cases, newer drivers introduce regressions. Rolling back to a slightly older driver version as 32.0.101.6709 may yield improved results if the issue is recent

hope you find this useful,

[AlphaTop89]

Absolutely, I agree with theExpertGuy’s assessment The artifacting you encountering could very well be related to driver-level compatibility particularly how the current driver handles XeSS, directional occlusion, and shader interactions in cutscenes or scripted sequences. Testing with XeSS set to Balanced or completely Off is a solid first step, as is adjusting Texture Pool and Shadow settings to see how the system responds and verifying game file integrity via your platform's launcher (Steam/Epic) is also a smart move to rule out any local corruption, and yes rolling back to a more stable driver version like 32.0.101.6709 could mitigate newly introduced regressions, especially if this behavior has only started recently

[x6568tank]

Changing XeSS settings did not change the odd artifacts--that are present in normal, in-gameplay scenes as well. Adjusting texture pool and shadow settings similarly did not affect the reflections. Verifying game files also did not do anything. I updated drivers to the newest 32.0.101.6795, and artifacts are still there.

I don't know what either of you are referring too with 32.0.101.6709 since that driver version doesn't exist, but I'll assume you mean 6790. This did not fix the issue.