AMD has released its latest Adrenalin Edition 25.1.1 Radeon beta driver today, supporting additional gaming titles, improvements, and bug fixes. In this release, AMD has brought driver game support for the newly released FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH, released today, and Marvel's Spider-Man 2, which is finally coming to PCs after being console-exclusive for years. AMD has brought day-one support and has managed to fix some software issues along the way. First in line is the improvement in performance while playing Apex Legends with DirectX 12 API, which has been a pain point for AMD's drivers. Previously, some AI enthusiasts experienced lower-than-expected performance while using LM Studio on AMD Ryzen AI and Radeon products, which is now also fixed.

However, some issues persist. Users can experience a partial black screen problem in Marvel's Spider-Man 2 when using Radeon Anti-Lag 2 and Ray Tracing on AMD Ryzen 7000 series processors, intermittent crashes in FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH, driver timeouts in Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, and performance stuttering in Marvel Rivals with AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 3 frame generation. Additionally, users may encounter an intermittent AMD Bug Report Tool appearance after using the AMD Cleanup Utility and potential HEVC encoding issues with OBS Studio's Twitch-enhanced broadcasting, which will hopefully be fixed soon.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Software Adrenalin 25.1.1 Beta

Developers at Insomniac Games have confirmed that Spider-Man 2's ray tracing feature will be running as standard/by default within the PlayStation 5 version—a player's adjustments of graphical performance settings will have no bearing on this being turned on or off. Mike Fitzgerald, Insomniac's director of core technology, shared technical information in an interview with IGN, although he stopped short of making any promises for an inevitable PC conversion—gamers on that platform will likely be waiting another 18 months post-October 20. It is possible that Nixxes Software has been contracted to work on a port, given their recent-ish track record. The Insomniac dev cites advanced experience gained by working on past titles—notably Spider-Man Remastered, Miles Morales, and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart—as the main factor behind the confident push into implementing an "always-on" ray tracing graphical feature. Fitzgerald stated: "We've really gotten to leverage everything we've seen in developing those games."

He continued: "Our performance mode for this title has ray tracing on by default. We've really expanded ray traced reflections throughout the game. It's on the water and the oceans and really gives a more realistic picture everywhere...For this game we're really able to deliver (ray tracing) as a baseline performance mode. There's no mode of this game that has the ray tracing turned off, no need for it. We've really figured out how to deliver what we feel like is the right Spider-Man visuals and we want to make sure every player is seeing that." Fitzgerald also praises PlayStation 5's storage solution—SSDs allow for "faster traversal" across the New York City environment. Players can look forward to traversing the urban landscape at about "three times as fast" as the pace experienced in Spider-Man 1.