Intel’s Latest Arc GPU Driver Is Further Optimized For Starfield, Addresses Various Bugs Too

Intel has released its latest optimization driver for Starfield which improves stability and fixes various issues encountered with Arc GPUs.

On launch, Intel drivers failed to address the optimization issues with Starfield, which sparked a debate in the industry, with the Arc platform getting highly targeted by consumers. Intel rushed towards providing a driver update, addressing functionality issues such as long loading times. Still, the company's efforts were unsuccessful since the driver update didn't bring a significant graphics performance change onboard.

However, today, Intel has released another driver update (v 31.0.101.4676) targeting Starfield, which brings in optimizations revolving around textures and the general mechanism of the RPG title. While we are unaware of the impact the new driver update has brought in, it is fortunate to see Intel giving it all to provide an adequate experience to Starfield users on their Arc platform. The company devised several optimization fixes in a short time period, which is something always appreciated in the community.

FIXED ISSUES:

Intel Arc Graphics Products:

Starfield (DX12) improved stability in different areas of the game.

Starfield (DX12) may incorrectly render glass surfaces and objects.

Starfield (DX12) may exhibit missing eyebrows on characters.

KNOWN ISSUES:

Intel Arc Graphics Products:

Starfield (DX12) may experience sporadic instability in some areas of the game.

Starfield (DX12) may exhibit corruption when using Dynamic Resolution Scaling. A workaround is to change the Render Resolution Scale slider value.

Starfield (DX12) may exhibit low texture details on certain objects in the game.

Starfield (DX12) may exhibit texture flickering on light sources during gameplay.

Fortnite (DX12) may exhibit flickering corruptions during gameplay.

UNCHARTED: Legacy of Thieves Collection (DX12) may exhibit texture corruption on characters.

Halo Infinite (DX12) campaign may experience an application crash on some system configurations.

Dead by Daylight (DX11) may experience an application crash during gameplay.

Topaz Video AI may experience errors when using some models for video enhancement.

Adobe After Effects may experience an application crash during render operations.

Device fan may ramp up frequently on certain Intel Arc Graphics products.

Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics Products:

Driver installation may not be completed successfully on certain notebook systems with both Intel Iris Xe + Iris Xe MAX devices. A system reboot and re-installation of the graphics driver may be required for successful installation.

Bethesda's Starfield being inclined towards AMD apparently didn't focus much on the other platforms, especially Intel. Arc users are patient; however, a Reddit user approaches Bethesda to get an idea of the reason behind such bad optimization for Arc GPUs. The company's consumer support revealed that the Intel Arc A770 doesn't meet the minimum requirement for Starfield.

This is a controversial statement given that Starfield supports a 7-year-old GeForce GTX 1070 Ti, categorizing it as the "bare minimum" but not the A770 which is equivalent to an RTX 3060 and even an RTX 3060 Ti in a few cases.

The situation with Intel Arc GPUs demonstrates the lack of work Bethesda has put into optimizing the game for all platforms rather than just AMD. We hope that GPU manufacturers such as Intel move towards devising a proper optimization update that caters to every aspect of the game since Arc consumers are frustrated by the situation. Starfield is turning out to be a huge hit, topping all charts across several platforms. Hence, the optimization department shouldn't be overlooked here.

News Source: Reddit