Youtube, Discord, Visual Studio Code are flickering with black checkered squares/vertical lines. Partial solutions to this issue.

[ThirtyNinety]

Nvm, found the logical explanation why lot of issues are already fixed by switching angle of the chrome browser from dx11 to OpenGL. Of course, when you set it to OpenGL, you already disable a part of the hardware acceleration as well, namely the Rasterization part of it.
You can see this when browsing to chrome://gpu/

Problems Detected​

• GPU rasterization should only be enabled on NVIDIA and Intel and AMD RX-R2 GPUs with DX11+ or any GPU using ANGLE's GL backend.: 1047002
  Disabled Features: gpu_rasterization

So now I have reset Angle of the Chrome browser here to the Default, just wanna test further the MPO disabled separately without making any other relevant system change.

 

[KsushaTeaKisa]

UPD May 2023:
Nvidia don't have an ETA they can share as they still have not been able to root cause the issue. It is not a driver regression (doesn't resolve itself by rolling back to an older driver) so Nvidia have not determined whether this is an application bug or driver bug.

I shared this link with them, maybe this will help somehow. In my opinion they need to solve the issue together with Microsoft. But at least when they find a solution to this issue, they will need to test the change for a few more months, because it will obviously not be a minor fix, which means that this bug can not be fixed at least until autumn.

 

[eidairaman1]

Try a AMD card and see if the issues stop

 

[KsushaTeaKisa]

Try a AMD card and see if the issues stop

This bug is between Nvidia GPUs and Electron (Chromium). AMD GPUs don't have this bug.

 

[eidairaman1]

This bug is between Nvidia GPUs and Electron (Chromium). AMD GPUs don't have this bug.

Theres your solution, nv never fixed their dpc bug and its been 7 years either.

You arent the only 1 with black square artifacts either on nv cards

 

[KsushaTeaKisa]

Theres your solution, nv never fixed their dpc bug and its been 7 years either.

You arent the only 1 with black square artifacts either on nv cards

Nvidia's latency problem was officially confirmed relatively recently and they is already working on it. In the last version of the driver, Manuel said that they had success with DPC latency and managed to reduce it a bit.
This "checkered patterns issue" has the same situation. It is officially confirmed and it is already good because this means that Nvidia will continue to look for a solution to this bug.
I can't say how often people have complained about DPC latency before, but I can say definitely that people started complaining about the issue from this thread only since the fall of 2022. Around the same time, I began to notice complaints about latency in every driver feedback. So it is because of the frequent complaints and because these issues are not related to a hardware problems that Nvidia has officially confirmed them. There is no need to make a drama that this bug will not be solved for many years. I believe in Nvidia engineers.

 

[Dezzzigner]

I specifically registered to write that I had these problems back in 2022, but few people reported it. Now there are more forums and I also wrote to support so that Nvidia could see the massive nature of this problem

 

[KsushaTeaKisa]

I specifically registered to write that I had these problems back in 2022, but few people reported it. Now there are more forums and I also wrote to support so that Nvidia could see the massive nature of this problem

Looks like you didn't read my post, but thanks anyway for the feedback

 

[Sora]

This was introduced into Chromium and subsequently CEF with the changeset in https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/b1d6624d3c3f2d18d7c1ec31136ce0d5da7cb1b3

passing --disable-direct-composition-video-overlays in the shortcut or disabling mpo's is a mitigation, to my understanding desktop pascal is not affected but notebook pascal is, probably due to the latter enabling multiplane overlays.

This is just ongoing issues with the poor support for multiple planes that currently infects Chrome.

 

[KsushaTeaKisa]

This was introduced into Chromium and subsequently CEF with the changeset in https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/b1d6624d3c3f2d18d7c1ec31136ce0d5da7cb1b3

passing --disable-direct-composition-video-overlays in the shortcut or disabling mpo's is a mitigation, to my understanding desktop pascal is not affected but notebook pascal is, probably due to the latter enabling multiplane overlays.

This is just ongoing issues with the poor support for multiple planes that currently infects Chrome.

Yes, DirectComposition Video Overlays is one of the solutions for this bug, however this can only be applied in Chromium browsers. Unfortunately in other applications using the Chromium backend (Discord for example) this will not help, because this flag is not applied there
By the way, disabling MPO is also not a solution to this bug, with MPO disabled I get flickering much more often.

Right now I'm just using a browser with OpenGL API. And when I work a lot in Visual Studio Code, I switch the display refresh rate from 75Hz to 60Hz

 

[Mussels]

By the way, disabling MPO is also not a solution to this bug, with MPO disabled I get flickering much more often.

That's a big part of the answer to your problem then - that your system has a faulty overlay causing these issues.

 

[Sora]

That's a big part of the answer to your problem then - that your system has a faulty overlay causing these issues.

Not that sort of overlay.

By the way, disabling MPO is also not a solution to this bug, with MPO disabled I get flickering much more often.

the issue only manifests on platforms where more than 1 overlay plane is available, so thats some Mobile Pascal and desktop/mobile Turing+

 

[Mussels]

Not that sort of overlay.

MPO is used for more than just steam and discord overlays, theres another thread with issues related to it and office of all things.

Definitely a different issue but relevant from the past, something as simple as a framerate counter can go crazy
Fraps and rivatuner/afterburner used to do this when starcraft II went 64 bit, the FPS counters would either appear in multiple places at once, or bounce around the various 'windows' within the game until they managed to fix it. something like that can definitely cause issues, as a lot of people have more overlays running than they realise, as well as background tasks like wallpaper changes screwing with their drivers

 

[Sora]

MPO is used for more than just steam and discord overlays, theres another thread with issues related to it and office of all things.

I'm aware, chromium is using it to seperate animated and video regions from the rest of the canvas to to minimize repainting of static surfaces.
Nvidia fixed the dark border issue being experienced on some video players with chromium with r535, that was a case of off by one px in the driver, the checkerboarding looks software caused though, it was introduced by changing how Antialiasing was applied beneath an overlay surface.

 

[KsushaTeaKisa]

I am at an impasse on my theory of display refresh rate. For some time I used another monitor where the display refresh rate was 60Hz and exactly the same flickering was on other videos, not 4K / 2K videos as usual, but now it was Full HD.

I had no doubt that this bug exists with 60Hz, because Zer0code told me that his monitor with 60Hz still has this bug, but this bug works so weird. On those videos where I can reproduce the bug, I don't get it with 60Hz, but this bug appears on completely different videos, where with 75Hz it wasn't there. I really hope that Nvidia will not "forget" about this issue and fix it as soon as possible.


At the moment, the only solution to this issue for Chromium-based browsers is to change API from Default / DirectX 11 to any other (the best option would be OpenGL), or using the flag DirectComposition Video Overlays.
But there is no solution for Chromium-based applications. "Solution" for me is just changing the display refresh rate from 75Hz to 60Hz, in which case I have never get any flickering in Visual Studio Code and Discord. I use these apps every day. Disabling Hardware Acceleration is can be solution, but I do not recommended it.

 

[ThirtyNinety]

What’s weird though, is that this bug so far never was mentioned in the official release notes which come with each driver release.

 

[Sora]

What’s weird though, is that this bug so far never was mentioned in the official release notes which come with each driver release.

Because its widely reported but not confirmed as an issue in the driver itself.

 

[Mussels]

I am at an impasse on my theory of display refresh rate. For some time I used another monitor where the display refresh rate was 60Hz and exactly the same flickering was on other videos, not 4K / 2K videos as usual, but now it was Full HD.

I had no doubt that this bug exists with 60Hz, because Zer0code told me that his monitor with 60Hz still has this bug, but this bug works so weird. On those videos where I can reproduce the bug, I don't get it with 60Hz, but this bug appears on completely different videos, where with 75Hz it wasn't there. I really hope that Nvidia will not "forget" about this issue and fix it as soon as possible.


At the moment, the only solution to this issue for Chromium-based browsers is to change API from Default / DirectX 11 to any other (the best option would be OpenGL), or using the flag DirectComposition Video Overlays.
But there is no solution for Chromium-based applications. "Solution" for me is just changing the display refresh rate from 75Hz to 60Hz, in which case I have never get any flickering in Visual Studio Code and Discord. I use these apps every day. Disabling Hardware Acceleration is can be solution, but I do not recommended it.

60Hz can be different on the same display, between HDMI and DP

60Hz exactly vs 59.97Hz - that sort of thing can cause weirdness, i've seen it break a multi monitor setup before.
(Because the displays refresh rates didnt match, duplicate would flip to the one they did have in common - 30Hz interlaced. yay.)

your post specifically covers the MPO overlays, which only activate in certain conditions - you need one monitor in 8 bit colour mode, for example.
Running 60Hz your display might change to 10 bit and disable overlays, or the reverse - maybe its working at 60hz but not at 75.

 

[Sora]

you need one monitor in 8 bit colour mode, for example.

nvidia/windows supports 10bit MPO's for some time now.

 

[Mussels]

nvidia/windows supports 10bit MPO's for some time now.

On Nvidia it doesnt work with 30 series GPUs, it may with intel or AMD.

I posted screenshots in one of these threads about this, showing how it disables when 10 bit colour is enabled here on a 3090 and 3070


Support for it is VERY weird and unpredictable, SpecialK is the only program i've seen that can report it's support in realtime
One key thing is that these changes do not take effect until I do something like change the refresh rate, otherwise the MPO feature stays disabled - so changing from 8 to 10 to 8 might turn it on (or changing refresh rates), when it was disabled at boot by default. It's very, very erratic.
MPO is in the bottom left of special K's window

Nvidia "automatic" desktop settings

60Hz 8 bit? fine (Max refresh isn't required)

10 bit? gone.

Second display? Not supported.

Unless I swap which display is the primary or run the second only... where it magically enables

And because that screen was the primary when i enabled extended mode, now only my secondary display has MPO active - it flipped

 

[Sora]

On Nvidia it doesnt work with 30 series GPUs, it may with intel or AMD.

Does with 40 series, not sure what the go is with 30 the scanout engine should be almost the same - it might be Windows 10 that can't do 10bit mpo's after all.

These artifacts could be software flaws, if you write a NAN to a FP16 MPO, it causes black pixels by breaking blending.

 

[Mussels]

Does with 40 series, not sure what the go is with 30 the scanout engine should be almost the same - it might be Windows 10 that can't do 10bit mpo's after all.

These artifacts could be software flaws, if you write a NAN to a FP16 MPO, it causes black pixels by breaking blending.

I'm on 11.
And that's my entire point - MPO does not behave how anyone expects. It keeps flipping off on a reboot here and i have to adjust a refresh rate or swap displays to get it active again, theres no way to know when its even working without something like SpecialK.

 

[N3utro]

Hi, just wanted to let you know that i had kind of a similar problem on a game called "Tower of Fantasy" :

At first i thought the problem was linked to GPU downclocking when idleing and that using "pref max power" in nvidia driver helped, but after some more troubleshooting i discovered that disabling HAGS solves the problem completely. Seems like having Chrome and Discord opened while i was playing made that flickering problem happen more often when i had HAGS on.

Also this only happen in the game Tower of Fantasy, when i enable HAGS playing Cyberpunk DX12 with DLSS3 and frame generation for example i have 0 problems.

So it seems it's specific to some applications. I've reported the problem to nvidia through their driver feedback system, hopefully they'll do something about it.

But since i dont have this problem with HAGS enabled in other games that use DLSS3 frame generation it tends to point that these kind of problems are specific to some applications and are more a developper problem than a driver problem (or both but some apps defintively dont have this problem which means if you dev your app right it's possible to avoid it).

I'm on windows 10 with a RTX 4070 with latest 536.23 drivers. Doubt upgrading to Windows 11 would change anything.

Hope this can help you with your problem!

 

[Mussels]

HAGS being broken in that game is something the devs need to work on then, it would seem.

A lot of people have less issues with HAGS in 11 than 10 - as an example, HAGS works fine in VR titles in 11, but is a known problem on 10.

 

[KsushaTeaKisa]

Hi, just wanted to let you know that i had kind of a similar problem on a game called "Tower of Fantasy" :

At first i thought the problem was linked to GPU downclocking when idleing and that using "pref max power" in nvidia driver helped, but after some more troubleshooting i discovered that disabling HAGS solves the problem completely. Seems like having Chrome and Discord opened while i was playing made that flickering problem happen more often when i had HAGS on.

Also this only happen in the game Tower of Fantasy, when i enable HAGS playing Cyberpunk DX12 with DLSS3 and frame generation for example i have 0 problems.

So it seems it's specific to some applications. I've reported the problem to nvidia through their driver feedback system, hopefully they'll do something about it.

But since i dont have this problem with HAGS enabled in other games that use DLSS3 frame generation it tends to point that these kind of problems are specific to some applications and are more a developper problem than a driver problem (or both but some apps defintively dont have this problem which means if you dev your app right it's possible to avoid it).

I'm on windows 10 with a RTX 4070 with latest 536.23 drivers. Doubt upgrading to Windows 11 would change anything.

Hope this can help you with your problem!

NARAKA game has flickering UI issue, maybe if I disable HAGS this issue will disappear. Thanks for the idea

I know another game where there is a problem with HAGS, although HAGS may only be partly involved in this. It's Rainbow 6 Siege game, there's a flickering skybox and sometimes shadows. This only happens if play via DirectX 11 API, Vulkan API is working fine. If I disable HAGS (Windows 10/11) then skybox will stop flickering, but this only works for RTX2000, RTX3000 and RTX4000. If you have for example GTX 1060 your skybox will still flicker.

Also, I can say with 100% certainty that I started having issues with some wallpapers in Wallpaper Engine that use DirectX 11 processing right after I installed windows 22H2 update last fall. I use this application all the time, so I noticed it right away. This issue is very similar to skybox issue where the background part randomly flickers black but all game textures stay put. You can see an example in this topic, I posted my screenshots and video with wallpaper issue. Unfortunately, both of these issues still exist and unlikely will be fixed in the near time.
As a result: in Rainbow 6 Siege I play via Vulkan API, and I don’t use wallpapers where I have flickering, meh.

Unfortunately, disabled HAGS doesn't solve the wallpapers issue, and doesn't solve the main issue of this topic.