There aren't any big AAA game releases this week, so AMD directed its focus on bug fixes with its just-released Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 18.1.1 graphics drivers. The biggest of those bugs is the incompatibility with some DirectX 9 titles that was introduced in the initial Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 17.12.1 release. The driver still has all the new stuff brought along in 17.12.1, including expanded Radeon Chill support and the Radeon Overlay real-time performance data display with smartphone integration.
Players had reported serious problems with Adrenalin 17.12.1 in several popular DirectX 9 games, including Bethesda Softworks' Oblivion and Skyrim, several of EA's Command & Conquer titles, some of Valve's Source-based games, and the first two The Witcher releases. AMD expects issues with those games to be fixed now.
In addition to the headlining resolution to Adrenalin 17.12.1's DirectX 9 difficulties come a number of other fixes, including removal of stuttering on FreeSync monitors and color corruption when using Radeon Overlay, freezing during protected video playback, and troubles with bezel compensation. The driver notes also claim to fix some inaccuracies in specific scenarios in Radeon WattMan and the CLINFO utility. AMD's driver team also ironed out some application-specific problems with Starcraft 2, Microsoft's Movies & TV Windows 10 app, and Playerunknown's Battlegrounds.
As all fans of 80s hair metal know, every rose has its thorns, and this velvet red specimen still has issues with Radeon Chill in some Vulkan games, Radeon Host application crashes when using Radeon Overlay in a "limited number" of games, and FreeSync stuttering when using ReLive Instant Replay in some games, among other things.
Gerbils who managed to pry compatible AMD Radeon graphics cards away from blockchain pioneers can head over to AMD's Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 18.1.1 release notes page to read the specifics on the fixes and outstanding issues, or just scroll to the bottom for the download links for the 32- and 64-bit Windows 7 and Windows 10 versions of the new driver. As usual, those few Windows 8 and 8.1 holdouts are out of luck, as are Macintosh owners using Windows in Boot Camp.