Sniper Elite 3 B580 horrible texture artifacts linux only

[-crash-]

I am getting very bad texture/shadow artifacts when attempting to play this game on linux. There are no such issues on windows 11.

Game: Sniper Elite III via Steam

Game settings: Ultra game preset (although this happens under any setting presets and resolutions)

PC: i7-13700 with ReBAR enabled, 32G RAM, NVME drives

Os/Drivers:

- Windows 11 - latest available, as of 2025-10-20

- Mint 22 (Ubuntu 24.04) - Mesa 25.0.7, latest available from Intel PPA (see screenshot for details)

Example videos:

Win 11 

Linux 

[KennethB_Intel]

Hello -crash-,

Thank you for reaching out to the Intel Community Forum. I understand you're experiencing severe texture and shadow artifacts when playing Sniper Elite III on Linux, while the same issue does not occur on Windows 11. I would like to gather more information to help investigate this further:

• When did this issue start happening?
• How often does the issue occur—does it happen immediately upon launching the game or after a certain period?
• Have there been any recent changes to your system, such as OS updates, driver updates, or new software installations?
• Have you tried using different versions of the Mesa driver or switching to a different kernel version?
• Could you please provide an SSU log of your system? You can find instructions on How to get the Intel® System Support Utility Logs on Windows*

Please provide these details so I can further assist you in identifying the root cause of the issue.

Thank you.

Best regards,

Kenneth B.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[-crash-]

It happens immediately when starting the game. This is a new game to me, so I don't know if it's a recent change. As part of the attempts to fix it, I added the Intel PPA and upgraded the drivers from there. I have not tried switching kernels.

Do you actually want me to run SSU on windows?

[KennethB_Intel]

Hello -crash-,

Apologies for the confusion regarding the SSU. Please run the Intel® System Support Utility for the Linux* Operating System so we can further investigate this.

Also, if possible, please try sharing a video of the issue.

Looking forward to your response.

Best regards,

Kenneth B.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[-crash-]

Kenneth, the links to videos are linked in the original post.

SSU is attached.

[KennethB_Intel]

Hello -crash-,

Thank you for providing the SSU logs. Please allow me some time to conduct a more thorough internal investigation to better understand the issue and identify the appropriate steps to take.

I will make sure to provide you with an update as soon as possible once I have more information to share.

Thank you.

Best regards,

Kenneth B.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[KennethB_Intel]

Hello -crash-,

May I kindly ask if you have already tried using different Linux drivers to see if the issue persists?

Additionally, I recommend updating your BIOS to version 7E01vMF. This may help resolve the issue you are encountering.

Please let me know the results after performing these steps so I can continue assisting you further.

Thank you.

Best regards,

Kenneth B.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[-crash-]

Hello.

I have just updated the BIOS and there is no difference.

I had tried playing with one prior driver version, and there was no difference.

[KennethB_Intel]

Hello -crash-,

Thank you for your update and for confirming that updating the BIOS and trying a previous driver version did not resolve the issue.

To help replicate and investigate the texture and shadow artifacts further, may I kindly ask for the following additional details:

• Have you tried launching the game with any specific launch options or environment variables?
• Are you using any third-party tools while running the game?
• Could you please share with us the in-game settings you are using?
• Have you tried resetting the BIOS settings to their default settings?
• Are you able to try different graphics driver versions? If so, could you please confirm which driver versions you have already tried?

I will wait for your response so I can continue assisting you further Once I receive your response, I will conduct further internal investigation.

Thank you.

Best regards,

Kenneth B.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[-crash-]

I've narrowed it down to a shadow problem, because that is the only setting that makes a difference. If I set shadows to "low", they still glitch and flicker terribly, but there are fewer of them.

None of the other display settings make any difference.

- no launch options

- no 3rd party tools

- steam overlay off/on makes no difference

- this happens at all resolutions

- resetting the bios does nothing

- as I said, this happened on the prior driver version, but I don't know the number

Are you able to reproduce this issue?

[KennethB_Intel]

Hello -crash-,

Thank you for your detailed response. Please allow me to perform an internal investigation. I'll get back to you as soon as I have available information.

Thank you!

Best regards,

Kenneth B.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[KennethB_Intel]

Hello -crash-,

Thank you for your patience. To ensure the best performance and compatibility, may I confirm if you have already tested the latest stable versions of the graphics driver and Linux kernel? The most recent stable release of Mesa is 25.2.6, which includes important optimizations and support for newer platforms.

Please also note that the only officially supported Linux distribution is Ubuntu. You may refer to the following documentation for more details: Installing Client GPUs — Intel® software for general purpose GPU capabilities documentation

For Lunar Lake, Battlemage, and the upcoming Panther Lake platforms, it is recommended to use Ubuntu 25.10 (Questing Quokka), which provides full support for these platforms out of the box and includes Mesa 25.2.

Additionally, if you are using Ubuntu 24.04 with Lunar Lake or Battlemage, please ensure your system is running the Hardware Enablement (HWE) kernel to enable proper support.

Please let me know if you have already tested with these versions.

Looking forward to your response.

Best regards,

Kenneth B.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[-crash-]

I am on kernel 6.14.0-34

I have just updated Mesa to 25.2.6

There is no improvement.

[KennethB_Intel]

Hello -crash-,

Thank you for your cooperation. Please allow me to conduct further investigation internally. I'll get back to you once I have more information.

Best regards,

Kenneth B.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[KennethB_Intel]

Hello -crash-,

Thank you for your continued cooperation. Could you please adjust the game’s Properties > Compatibility settings and test different Proton versions (for example, Proton 10.0 and Proton Experimental) to check whether the issue persists?

Please note that since this game does not have a native Linux build, it runs through Valve’s Proton translation layer.

If the issue is resolved by using an older Proton version (such as 9 or 8), this may indicate a regression in recent Proton releases.

If the issue is resolved by switching to a newer Proton version (Experimental or Bleeding Edge), the fix may already be in progress and could be included in a future Proton release.

Kindly share the results of these tests once done.

Best regards,

Kenneth B.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[KennethB_Intel]

Hello -crash-,

I hope you were able to try the troubleshooting steps I provided earlier. Please let me know the outcome so I can determine the next steps to assist you further.

Best regards,

Kenneth B.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[-crash-]

Hello.

I have tried multiple Proton versions. It makes no difference.

[KennethB_Intel]

Hello -crash-,

Thank you for your patience and for testing multiple Proton versions. Based on your confirmation that the issue persists across all tested versions, this indicates that the problem may require developer-level review.

I recommend reporting this as a new issue on Proton's official GitHub page so their development team can investigate further. You can include all relevant details and steps you have already tried to help them reproduce and resolve the issue.

Since there is no further action required on our end as of this time, I will now proceed to close this case. If you require further assistance, please feel free to submit a new inquiry, as this thread will no longer be monitored.

Thank you!

Best regards,

Kenneth B.

Intel Customer Support Technician