Games Crashing? NVIDIA GPU Hotfix Driver Drops With Fixes For These Titles
It looks like NVIDIA's driver team has been working overtime since the launch of the GeForce RTX 50 series, and especially in recent weeks. Following the launch of its 'Game Ready' 576.02 WHQL GPU driver chock full of bug fixes two weeks ago and a more recent hotfix GPU driver to address a handful of more issues, NVIDIA is now pushing out another hotfix for GeForce GPU owners. Like the last one, it contains more bug fixes than what we've traditional seen in this out-of-band releases.
What Is A Hotfix And How Does It Differ From A Regular GPU Driver
Before we get into the details, what exactly are GeForce hotfixes and how do they differ from regular GPU driver releases? Hotfix releases are NVIDIA's way of getting specific fixes out to GeForce owners more quickly. They're based on the previous regular driver release, but contain additional mitigations for certain issues, like crashes in specific games and other bugs.
The only way to get them is to download them manually from NVIDIA—hotfix releases are not automatically doled out through the NVIDIA App. That's partially because they're only of interest to users who are experiencing whatever issues they address. For everyone else, there's no benefit. Additionally, the same bug fixes get rolled into the next regular driver release anyway.
"The fixes that make it in are based in part on your feedback in the Driver Feedback threads and partly on how realistic it is for us to quickly address them. These fixes (and many more) will be incorporated into the next official driver release, at which time the hotfix driver will be taken down. To be sure, these hotfix drivers are beta, optional and provided as-is. They are run through a much abbreviated QA process. The sole reason they exist is to get fixes out to you more quickly," NVIDIA explains.
So keep that in mind, especially the part about the abbreviated QA process.
GeForce Hotfix Version 576.26 Fixes 10 Issues
NVIDIA's been stomping out bugs on a frenetic pace. The previous hotfix addressed over half a dozen issues, most of which officially applied to the GeForce RTX 50 series, and this new one adds 10 more bug fixes to the mix.
Here's the full list...
- [RTX 50 series] [Black Myth]: The game will randomly crash when Wukong transforms
- [RTX 50 series] [LG 27GX790A/45GX950A/32GX870A/40WT95UF/27G850A]: Display blank screens when running in DisplayPort 2.1 mode with HDR
- [Forza Horizon 5]: Lights flicker at nighttime
- [Forza Motorsport]: Track corruption occurs in benchmark or night races
- [RTX 50 series] [Red Dead Redemption 2]: The game crashes shortly after starting in DX12 mode. No issue in Vulkan mode
- [RTX 50 series] [Horizon Forbidden West]: The game freezes after loading a save game
- [RTX 50 series] Grey screen crashes with multiple monitors
- [RTX 50 series] [Dead Island 2]: The game crash after updating to GRD 576.02
- [RTX 50 series] [Resident Evil 4 Remake]: Flickering background textures
- [RTX 50 series] Momentary display flicker occurs when running in DisplayPort2.1 mode with a high refresh rate
Once again, NVIDIA's hotfix is almost entirely centered on ironing out wrinkles for GeForce RTX 50 series GPU owners. Even so, if you're having the same issues on an earlier generation GPU, it could be worth giving the hotfix a swirl. There's quite a few games mentioned too, including Black Myth: Wukong, Forza Horizon 5, Resident Evil 4 Remake, and several others.
The 576.26 hotfix also incorporates fixes from the previous hotfix release (576.15), and is based on the Game Ready 576.02 driver package. They include the following...
- [RTX 50 series] Some games may display shadow flicker/corruption after updating to GRD 576.02
- Lumion 2024 crashes on GeForce RTX 50 series graphics card when entering render mode
- GPU monitoring utilities may stop reporting the GPU temperature after PC wakes from sleep
- [RTX 50 series] Some games may crash while compiling shaders after updating to GRD 576.02
- [GeForce RTX 50 series notebook] Resume from Modern Standy can result in black screen
- [RTX 50 series] SteamVR may display random V-SYNC micro-stutters when using multiple displays
- [RTX 50 series] Lower idle GPU clock speeds after updating to GRD 576.02
