AMD Releases Radeon Software Adrenalin 21.3.1

AMD today released the latest version of Radeon Software Adrenalin 2021 drivers. Version 21.3.1 beta comes with support for the new Radeon RX 6700 series. It’s interesting that they didn’t specify the RX 6700 XT, which means other SKUs such as the RX 6700, could be right around the corner. Next up, the drivers come with optimization for “DOOM Eternal: The Ancient Gods, Part Two.” The drivers also introduce many new feature updates. Radeon Anti-Lag technology now supports DirectX 12 games. The Radeon Boost performance enhancement has been updated with support for DirectX 12 and Variable Rate Shading on select titles. The Performance Tuning section of Radeon Software now comes with an internal stress-test. The drivers also introduce support for new Vulkan API extensions, including VK_KHR_synchronization, VK_EXT_4444_formats, VK_EXT_conditional_rendering, and VK_KHR_sampler_ycbcr_conversion.

Among the issues fixed with Radeon Software Adrenalin 21.3.1 include high CPU utilization for Radeon Software, even when idling; Oculus VR headset causing system crashes when connected to GCN (pre-Polaris) GPUs; corrupted or missing textures for “Minecraft DXR,” a crash with “Call of Duty : Modern Warfare” with raytracing enabled on RX 6000 series GPUs, improper lighting with “Star Citizen” on RX 6800 series; Enhanced Sync + V-sync causing black screens on Vulkan games; and a black screen on Hybrid Graphics systems; a crash with Bethesda Launcher, color corruption with Epic Games Social Overlay; display flicker or corruption on high refresh-rate multi-monitor configs using RX Vega series GPUs, and audio loss on TV displays connected to the video card’s audio output.

 Support For

• AMD Radeon RX 6700 Graphics
• DOOM Eternal: The Ancient Gods – Part Two
• Now supports DirectX 12 with Variable Rate Shading for select titles.
• Now supports DirectX 12.
• A new built in tool for Performance Tuning in Radeon Software that allows users to stress test their graphics products tuning profiles.

Radeon BoostRadeon Anti-LagPerformance Tuning Stress TestAdded Vulkan Extensions

• VK_KHR_synchronization: This extension modifies the original core synchronization APIs to simplify the interface and improve usability of these APIs. It also adds new pipeline stage and access flag types that extend into the 64-bit range. Pipeline stages and access flags are now specified together in memory barrier structures, making the connection between the two more obvious. Additionally, Layout transitions have been simplified by providing generic layouts, which are contextually applied based on the image format. Events are made more efficient as well as they include memory dependency information when they are set on the device. Furthermore, Queue submission has also been changed to wrap command buffers and semaphores in extensible structures, which incorporate changes from Vulkan 1.1, VK_KHR_device_group and VK_KHR_timeline_semaphore. This adds a pipeline stage to the semaphore signal operation, mirroring the existing pipeline stage specification for wait operations.
• VK_EXT_4444_formats: This extension defines the VK_FORMAT_A4R4G4B4_UNORM_PACK16_EXT and VK_FORMAT_A4B4G4R4_UNORM_PACK16_EXT formats for compatibility with other graphics APIs to help with porting without having to resort to swizzling.
• VK_EXT_conditional_rendering: This extension allows conditional draws, compute dispatches or clears based on a value in command buffer memory. These commands could be discarded without the application’s intervention if the condition is not met, which may result in reduced latency.
• VK_KHR_sampler_ycbcr_conversion: This extension provides the ability to perform color space conversions during texture sampling operations for the Y’CBCR color space, which is mainly used for processing inputs from video decoders and cameras. It also adds a selection of multi-planar formats, image aspect plane, and the ability to bind memory to the planes of an image collectively or separately.

Fixed Issues

• Radeon Software may sometimes have higher than expected CPU utilization, even when a system is at idle.
• A system hang or crash may be experienced when upgrading Radeon Software while an Oculus VR headset is connected to your system on Radeon GCN graphics products.
• Minecraft DXR may exhibit corrupted or missing textures when raytracing is enabled on Radeon RX 6000 series graphics products.
• An application crash may occur in Call of Duty : Modern Warfare when raytracing is enabled on Radeon RX 6000 series graphics products.
• Lighting fails to render correctly on Radeon RX 6800 series graphics products in Star Citizen.
• A black screen may occur when enabling and disabling Enhanced Sync while vsync is enabled in some Vulkan API games.
• A black screen or system hang may occur on Hybrid Graphics systems for some Vulkan API games when Enhanced Sync is enabled.
• Bethesda launcher may experience an application crash on startup when launching some games.
• Users may be unable to create a new scene in the Radeon Software Streaming tab on first launch or after a settings factory reset.
• Game specific performance tuning profiles may fail to load when a global performance tuning profile has been created or set.
• Disabling HDCP support and performing a factory reset and/or system restart may sometimes trigger a system crash or hang on boot.
• Epic Games social overlay or launcher may exhibit color corruption.
• Xuan-Yuan Sword VII may experience an application crash with DirectX 12 raytracing enabled on Radeon RX 6000 series graphics.
• Color corruption may be experienced in Cyberpunk 2077 when Radeon Boost is enabled.
• Display flicker or corruption may occur on high refresh rate/resolution multi-monitor system configurations on Radeon RX Vega series graphics.
• Audio loss or cutout may intermittently occur on some TV displays when Windows audio is set to use 5.1 or 7.1 speaker configurations.

Known Issues

• The start and cancel buttons in the performance tuning stress test may disappear when Radeon Software is resized to be small.
• On a limited number of displays, the preferred desktop resolution in Windows may change when the display is power cycled.
• Enabling vsync in Rocket League and setting the game to use borderless fullscreen may cause stuttering or ghosting.
• Radeon RX 400 and 500 series graphics products may experience a TDR during extended periods of video playback.
• Brightness flickering may intermittently occur in some games or applications when Radeon FreeSync is enabled, and the game is set to use borderless fullscreen.
• Enhanced Sync may cause a black screen to occur when enabled on some games and system configurations. Any users who may be experiencing issues with Enhanced Sync enabled should disable it as a temporary workaround.