Visual Artifact Report - Assassin's Creed Valhalla - Blocky/Square Smoke Textures on Intel Arc B580

[Jiogo12]

Hello Intel Support Team,

I would like to report a consistent graphical bug in Assassin's Creed Valhalla using the latest Intel Arc graphics driver on an Arc B580 card.

System Configuration:
* GPU: Intel Arc B580 12GB (Battlemage)
* CPU: Intel Core i5-11400F
* Motherboard: ASUS PRIME H510M-A (BIOS Version 2803)
* Current Driver Version: 32.0.101.8801 WHQL
* OS: Windows 11 Home 25H2
* Graphics API: DirectX 12 (DX12)
* Display Resolution: 1080p (1920x1080), 16:9 Aspect Ratio
* Resizable BAR (ReBAR): Enabled

Description of the Visual Artifact:
During gameplay, smoke effects and volumetric fog do not render their transparency correctly. Instead of smooth, blending particles, the smoke appears as a rigid grid of large, pixelated squares/blocks. This issue is highly visible and breaks immersion.

I have attached three screenshots (named bug 1,2,3) that clearly demonstrate this blocky smoke artifact in different in-game environments.

Isolating the Bug (Based on Intel Community Guidelines):

* Are the texture issues consistent across all tracks/environments, or specific maps?
The square smoke artifacts appear consistently throughout the game world whenever environmental smoke or volumetric fog is present. It is not limited to a specific map or region.

* Does the issue occur only during gameplay, or can it also be observed during cutscenes or in the menus?
The glitch occurs primarily during real-time gameplay and in-engine cutscenes. The main menus do not appear to be affected.

* Have you tested any older driver versions?
The issue is present on the latest WHQL release (32.0.101.8801). The issue was also present on the previous WHQL 8724 driver version I used.

* Game Version & Platform:
The game is running on Version 1.7.0 (final patch) via Ubisoft Connect / Steam.

Attachments Provided:

* Media: Attached screenshots showing the blocky smoke artifacts.
* Configuration File: ACValhalla.ini attached.

Thank you for your time and investigation into this issue.

[Bailio_Intel]

Hello Victor,

Greetings from Intel Customer Support!

Thank you for your detailed report regarding the smoke rendering artifacts in Assassin's Creed Valhalla with your Intel Arc B580 graphics card. We appreciate the comprehensive information and screenshots you've provided.

To help our engineering team investigate this issue more effectively, we need some additional details:

Driver and System Information:

1. Have you tried performing a clean driver installation using DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) before installing the current driver?

Game-Specific Testing:

1. Does this smoke rendering issue occur in other games that feature volumetric effects or particle systems?
2. Have you tested the game with different graphics presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) to see if the artifact severity changes?

Additional Troubleshooting:

1. Are there any other graphics-intensive applications running in the background during gameplay?

System Files: If possible, please also provide:

• DxDiag report (Run "dxdiag" and save the report)
• Intel Graphics driver logs (if any error messages appear)
• Please provide a scan of Intel® System Support Utility for Windows* software. After scanning, please save and send the results in your response.

This information will help us better understand the root cause and work toward a resolution.

[Jiogo12]

Hello Intel Support Team,

Thank you for the quick follow-up. Here are the additional details and troubleshooting results to help the engineering team investigate this issue effectively:

1. Driver and System Information:
* Clean Installation: Yes, I performed a completely clean driver installation using DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) in Windows Safe Mode before installing the current 32.0.101.8801 WHQL driver.
* OS Build Details: As shown in my attached logs, I am running Windows 11 Home 64-bit (Build 26200).

2. Game-Specific Testing:
* Other Games: No, this blocky smoke rendering artifact does not occur in other graphics-intensive titles that feature complex volumetric or particle systems (such as Cyberpunk 2077). The issue is strictly isolated to Assassin's Creed Valhalla.
* Graphic Presets: Yes, I have tested different in-game graphics presets (ranging from Medium to Ultra) and manually adjusted Volumetric Fog and Shadow parameters. The artifact severity and the rigid, pixelated square shapes around the smoke edges remain identical regardless of the preset chosen.

3. Additional Troubleshooting & Background Apps:
* No other graphics-intensive applications, heavy background software, or third-party recording overlays are running during gameplay.

4. System Files & Kernel Logs:
* SSU and DxDiag: I have attached both the complete DxDiag.txt file and the Intel System Support Utility (SSU) scan report file to this response.
* Driver Logs / Windows Error Reporting: While the game does not hard crash to desktop with an error message, I noted that my DxDiag log captures a few "LiveKernelEvent" entries with Type 141 (Hardware Watchdog Artifact) and 1b0. This indicates that the smoke rendering glitch is causing internal driver timeouts (TDR) that the Windows kernel is forced to recover from.

Victor

[Bailio_Intel]

Hello Victor,

Thank you for your detailed response and for providing all the additional technical information requested. Your comprehensive troubleshooting steps and system logs will be invaluable for our engineering team's investigation.

I have escalated your case regarding the blocky smoke texture rendering issue in Assassin's Creed Valhalla with your Intel Arc B580 graphics card to our team for further analysis.

I will coordinate closely with our team and provide you with a detailed update on or before May 27, 2026. Should our team require any additional information during their investigation, I will reach out to you promptly.

We appreciate your patience as we work to resolve this issue and your thorough documentation of the problem.

Best regards,

Jennifer B.

Intel Customer Support

[Bailio_Intel]

Hello Victor,

Thank you for patiently waiting for an update, and we sincerely appreciate your time.

I wanted to provide you with an update on your case. Our technical team has attempted to reproduce the issue you reported on our end; however, we were unable to replicate the same problem in our testing environment.

To help us better understand and resolve this matter, could you please provide us with the following additional information:

1. Does this problem occur across all parts of the application and in every game mode, or is it limited to specific areas?
2. Does the problem happen immediately when you start the application/game, or does it only occur at certain stages or after specific actions?
3. Could you please share a screenshot of the issue when it occurs? This will help our team better understand what you're experiencing.

You can also refer on this screenshot taken during our simulation:

The more details you can provide, the better we'll be able to assist you in resolving this issue. Please feel free to attach any screenshots or additional information that might be helpful.

We appreciate your patience and look forward to your response so we can work together to find a solution.

Best regards,

Jennifer B.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Jiogo12]

Hello,

Thank you for the detailed follow-up.

I've isolated the problem and it's highly specific to a single location in the game.

1. Affected Areas and Modes:
The problem is strictly limited to the city of "Stavanger". The rest of the game works perfectly, but as soon as I enter or look at this specific city, the problem is triggered.

2. Trigger and Timing:
The bug does not occur in the main menu or other areas of the game. Specifically, when using fast travel to this location or when manually moving from the sea, the fog rendering bug can be clearly observed. This suggests a specific volumetric or geometric fog rendering bug, unique to this area's environment.

I'm attaching a screenshot showing exactly how the fog/rendering problem appears on screen when approaching or being inside Stavanger.

Please let me know if your team can upload a saved game file from near this specific city to reproduce the bug.

Sincerely,
Victor

 

[SesanN_Intel]

Hi Jiogo12,

Thank you for providing the requested information. I will now further investigate this and will get back to you once a resolution is available. Thank you for your patience and understanding. 

Best regards,

Sesan N.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Bailio_Intel]

Hello Victor,

Thank you for patiently waiting for the update. We wanted to provide you with an update on our investigation.

Current Status: Our technical team has attempted to reproduce the issue you reported; however, we have been unable to replicate it on our systems. To better assist you, we would appreciate it if you could share screenshots of the issue when it occurs.

Troubleshooting Steps: To help resolve this matter, please let us know:

1. Graphics Driver Version: Have you updated to the latest graphics driver version 32.0.101.8826? If not, please install this update and test if the issue persists.

If you're already using the latest driver and the issue continues, this may indicate the problem is isolated to your specific system configuration. As a last resort, we may need to consider performing an OS re-installation to further isolate the issue.

We understand this is a significant step and would only recommend it if other solutions prove unsuccessful.

Please reply with the requested screenshots and confirmation of your current graphics driver version. We're committed to resolving this issue and appreciate your patience as we work through these troubleshooting steps.

Best regards,

Jennifer B.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Jiogo12 · Accepted solution]

Hello Intel ARC support, after internal testing and thorough research, it doesn't appear to be a reported "driver" issue, but rather an unresolved incompatibility with the AC Valhalla engine. According to the PC GAMING WIKI website, this is a known bug with NVIDIA RTX cards as well, and can only be temporarily resolved by clearing the game's internal cache.

 

[Bailio_Intel]

Hello Victor,

Thank you for providing the additional information.

After reviewing your case details and conducting our investigation, I can confirm that this is a known issue with the specific game you're playing. Since this appears to be related to the game's code rather than your Intel graphics hardware or drivers, I recommend contacting the game developers or their support team directly for potential fixes or improvements. They would be in the best position to address game-specific rendering issues and may have patches or workarounds available.

You can typically find developer support through:

• The game's official website
• Steam support (if purchased through Steam)

Your Intel graphics hardware and drivers are functioning properly, and this issue should not affect your experience with other games or applications.

If you have any other Intel-related concerns or questions in the future, please don't hesitate to open a new support case. We're always here to help with any Intel hardware or software issues you may encounter.

Thank you for choosing Intel, and I apologize for any inconvenience this gaming issue may have caused.

Best regards,

Jennifer B.

Intel Customer Support Technician