Friday, September 1st 2023

Intel Arc Owners Left in the Cold With Starfield as Advanced Access Begins

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Sep 1st, 2023 00:35 Discuss (59 Comments)

Starfield Premium owners now have access to the game in full and are testing their internet download limits with its massive 120 GB file size, but a few hopeful gamers are going to have to wait regardless of how much they paid in advance. Intel Arc GPUs currently cannot play Starfield, with varying symptoms ranging from the game not starting to it taking 30-40 minutes before presenting the player with a jumbled cacophany of texture mayhem. Users report that the executable does launch in the background, and that during the half-hour that it's visible in Task Manager it can consume as much as 30 GB of system memory, before either crashing or finally presenting the game menu. If one does manage to get to anything resembling gameplay, their time is short as the game will crash to desktop within only a few minutes.

Intel stated they were aware of the issues shortly after advanced access began opening up, but hopes of a quick fix are not high. In a post by @IntelGraphics on X they state that they are working to improve the experience by the game's full release date on September 6th, roughly a week away. As one might imagine, many Arc owners were not pleased by this. Starfield is an AMD sponsored game and both Bethesda and Microsoft have received some criticism for this. Accusations that this sponsorship "locked out" developers at Intel's graphics division from working on usable drivers have been thrown around the likes of Reddit and X, but no evidence to support them has so far surfaced. Many will be quick to point out that NVIDIA released a preliminary driver for Starfield as early as August 22nd, so such interference is unlikely.

Update: Intel has just released its Arc GPU Graphics Drivers 101.4672 Beta, adding support and fixes for Bethesda's Starfied game.

Source: IntelGraphics on X

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59 Comments on Intel Arc Owners Left in the Cold With Starfield as Advanced Access Begins

#26

Vayra86

AusWolfWhen I was young, I had all the time to play every game in existence (even besides school)... but I didn't have money to buy any of them, not to mention pre-order. :laugh:

That's why I subbed WoW... 9,99 a month was easy to do and that's why we have subs for game services now... :(

#27

AusWolf

Vayra86That's why I subbed WoW... 9,99 a month was easy to do and that's why we have subs for game services now... :(

The only subscription I ever had was a game/PC magazine that I cancelled when my parents brought internet to the house.

Subscriptions have always felt like rental to me, which I've never been into except for the school/university library for browsing stuff.

#28

Assimilator

FouquinComplete hearsay which is why it's not in the OP: apparently Intel didn't have access to an early copy for evaluation.

No source for it, and it's really hard to justify why they wouldn't get an advanced copy. But Bethesda was sending out press kits in shotgun fashion and generally bungling the launch of Starfield, it really would not surprise me if they simply forgot. No malice, just awful execution.

I completely buy Beth being incompetent enough to forget, but even if that's the case one would expect that Intel would be reaching out to Beth to get an advance copy so that they can make their drivers work. But both companies are hideously incompetent, so maybe it's a case of match made in heaven?

Given that Arc handles Fallout 4 and 76 just fine, it'd be interesting to know what tweaks have been made to the shambling corpse that is Creation Engine/Kit/whatever it's called, that causes Intel's GPUs so much pain. But sadly I doubt we'll ever know that.

#29

AusWolf

AssimilatorI completely buy Beth being incompetent enough to forget, but even if that's the case one would expect that Intel would be reaching out to Beth to get an advance copy so that they can make their drivers work. But both companies are hideously incompetent, so maybe it's a case of match made in heaven?

Given that Arc handles Fallout 4 and 76 just fine, it'd be interesting to know what tweaks have been made to the shambling corpse that is Creation Engine/Kit/whatever it's called, that causes Intel's GPUs so much pain. But sadly I doubt we'll ever know that.

I get the feeling that Intel GPUs only work with games that Intel specifically writes drivers for.

#30

Fouquin

AssimilatorGiven that Arc handles Fallout 4 and 76 just fine, it'd be interesting to know what tweaks have been made to the shambling corpse that is Creation Engine/Kit/whatever it's called, that causes Intel's GPUs so much pain. But sadly I doubt we'll ever know that.

Starfield is fully DX12, that's the one major obvious difference.

#31

be8k

intel still needs more adjustment /time to deliver what they promised they'll had preciously, beside starfield is not out yet so no need to worry too much is there and it'll be.

#32

masterdeejay

Intel A770, game not starting. Eats 8 core and 30gb+ ram.

#33

Assimilator

FouquinStarfield is fully DX12, that's the one major obvious difference.

... wasn't Arc supposed to be DX12 only and everything else was just a compatibility layer?

#34

Scyzor

Assimilator... wasn't Arc supposed to be DX12 only and everything else was just a compatibility layer?

Yep, everything else is emulated if I remember correctly

#35

csendesmark

masterdeejayIntel A770, game not starting. Eats 8 core and 30gb+ ram.

Why did you buy Intel GPU?

#36

masterdeejay

csendesmarkWhy did you buy Intel GPU?

It was the cheapest 16gb card. And it has the best price/perf. card in RT dx12 games. Like i can play with cyberpunk Fhd ultra RT, xess average 50-60 fps.

#37

mechtech

masterdeejayIntel A770, game not starting. Eats 8 core and 30gb+ ram.

Memory	8x16Gb Hynix DJR ECC REG 3200@4000

I wonder if it will use a third of what people have installed or just use up everything it can?

#38

masterdeejay

mechtech
Memory 8x16Gb Hynix DJR ECC REG 3200@4000

I wonder if it will use a third of what people have installed or just use up everything it can?

Max was ~38Gb. I think it is compliing shaders.

#39

lexluthermiester

Solaris17A warning for those out there, steam still clocks your time. So with the 2 hour policy if you wait like 40min for a broken splash to appear keep that in mind! I personally wont be returning the game but I know some of you out there might feel stuck!

There is a solution: Don't buy the game.

There are plenty of great games out there to play. It would seem Starfield isn't one of them.

Solaris17It is wild to me, that some like 20yr/o kid streaming on twitch can get a copy of the game early but Intel's engineering division cannot.

"Forgot"

www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/starfield-discussion-thread.313016/post-5091973

100% agree! That is not only very wild, but seems like blatant carelessness & incompetence, not to mention stupidity..

#40

csendesmark

masterdeejayIt was the cheapest 16gb card. And it has the best price/perf. card in RT dx12 games. Like i can play with cyberpunk Fhd ultra RT, xess average 50-60 fps.

Allright,
I hope Intel will quickly comes up with a driver for this game too.

#41

DeathtoGnomes

evernessinceYes, and unlike Starfield Baulder's Gate 3 doesn't use predatory tactics like staggering release dates depending on which edition of the game you purchased. Ridiculous that we have $70 AAA games where you have to pay $30 on top of that to play on what should otherwise be the normal release date.

Considering the majority of games needing a major patch within 6 months of release date, paying $30 to be, essentially, a beta tester would be silly indeed.

#42

HOkay

AusWolfIt's not just the why's, but also the how's that I don't understand. I mean, I've got about 2-300 games on Steam that I've never played, and there's currently about 5-10 waiting in line for me to finish Kingdom Come: Deliverance. Even when I finish a game, my backlog just keeps growing and growing. By the time I get to actually playing Starfield, it'll probably be on sale for 5 quid. I barely have time to play anything, and I've only got a normal 40-hour job, nothing fancy. How other people have time to play everything on day one is beyond me.

Have you considered that a group of friends might want to play a game at the same time & all talk about it together? That's generally best done at release whilst everyone's interested in it. That's what we used to do when I was at school, & I have great memories of those times. Just because you don't value playing a game at release that doesn't mean it doesn't have a lot of value for others.
That said, I'm now a dad with a full time job so I don't get to play anything in any reasonable timeframe anymore either! I was so hyped for Baldur's Gate 3 & I've managed to get about 3 hours in it so far. I guess I'll be playing nothing but that for a few years :p

#43

AusWolf

HOkayHave you considered that a group of friends might want to play a game at the same time & all talk about it together? That's generally best done at release whilst everyone's interested in it. That's what we used to do when I was at school, & I have great memories of those times. Just because you don't value playing a game at release that doesn't mean it doesn't have a lot of value for others.

No, I haven't considered that. I'm not saying that games being released in a half-done state is acceptable, but since that's our current reality, waiting for a month or two before buying should be the norm.

#44

HOkay

AusWolfNo, I haven't considered that. I'm not saying that games being released in a half-done state is acceptable, but since that's our current reality, waiting for a month or two before buying should be the norm.

Is Starfield in a half-done state? We know it's utterly broken on Intel GPUs, which is just abysmal for Intel's GPU division, but I've not heard of any major issues on AMD or Nvidia yet. I agree that you're better off waiting for the early patches, but you must remember that day 1 hype to play a new game. To race your friends to see who can complete it first, or discuss how you've done your builds, how you beat a particular boss etc. I can't have those conversations with my friends these days because even if we've played the same game, we've probably played it at different times & one of us will have forgotten or just not care that much when the other plays it. If you have very disciplined friends you could all agree a start date that is release day + 1 month or something I guess.

#45

AusWolf

HOkayIs Starfield in a half-done state? We know it's utterly broken on Intel GPUs, which is just abysmal for Intel's GPU division, but I've not heard of any major issues on AMD or Nvidia yet. I agree that you're better off waiting for the early patches, but you must remember that day 1 hype to play a new game. To race your friends to see who can complete it first, or discuss how you've done your builds, how you beat a particular boss etc. I can't have those conversations with my friends these days because even if we've played the same game, we've probably played it at different times & one of us will have forgotten or just not care that much when the other plays it. If you have very disciplined friends you could all agree a start date that is release day + 1 month or something I guess.

I see what you mean, but I'll never consider peer pressure a valid reason to buy something I don't know enough about. Teenagers are different, I know, but they need to learn some self-control.

#46

HOkay

AusWolfI see what you mean, but I'll never consider peer pressure a valid reason to buy something I don't know enough about. Teenagers are different, I know, but they need to learn some self-control.

I didn't say it was peer pressure, though that could be a factor for lots of kids sure. I remember GTA San Andreas launching when I was at school, everyone was so hyped to get that at launch & all play it & share stories etc. All of us being well under 18 but nevermind :D I generally agree to wait until reviews hit & not pre-order, but that doesn't mean you can't buy it after reviews drop & still get it on release day.

#47

regs

oxrufiioxoThat's sucks for intel owners...

Sucks to be Bethesda's game owner. The game was undergoing massive cuts in past year. It was absolutely clear it won't be ready by release date and that early access as always will be just a beta test.

Solaris17It is wild to me, that some like 20yr/o kid streaming on twitch can get a copy of the game early but Intel's engineering division cannot.

That should be other way round. A game developer should test their game on most available platforms. Especially when it is a huge corporation. But they seem were very lazy to do any debugging at all.

#48

chrcoluk

How does this even occur if we have defined graphics APIs and developers, manufacturers (supposedly) adhere to those APIs?

#49

AusWolf

regsThat should be other way round. A game developer should test their game on most available platforms. Especially when it is a huge corporation. But they seem were very lazy to do any debugging at all.

chrcolukHow does this even occur if we have defined graphics APIs and developers, manufacturers (supposedly) adhere to those APIs?

Exactly this! I remember when graphics cards had only one driver that came on a CD. Why does every game need day-1 drivers now? With proper game development, we shouldn't need those.

#50

HOkay

chrcolukHow does this even occur if we have defined graphics APIs and developers, manufacturers (supposedly) adhere to those APIs?

I had the same thought, I can understand optimisations being a thing for game-specific drivers, but for it to not render properly at all is...bizarre.

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Intel Arc Owners Left in the Cold With Starfield as Advanced Access Begins

59 Comments on Intel Arc Owners Left in the Cold With Starfield as Advanced Access Begins

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