[Bug] Assetto Corsa EVO – Rendering/Texture artifacts (black fences, low-res textures) on NVIDIA 595.58.03 after proton-cachyos update

General
22

Short status – Bazzite test with NVIDIA 610.43.02 (open modules) and Assetto Corsa EVO

I’ve repeated the Assetto Corsa EVO tests on a separate Bazzite installation, currently patched to the testing branch.

System overview (Bazzite test rig)

  • OS: Bazzite (based on Fedora 44), image: bazzite-nvidia-open:testing

  • Kernel: 7.0.9-ogc3.2.fc44.x86_64

  • Desktop: KDE Plasma 6.6.5 (KWin / Wayland)

  • CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900XT (32 threads)

  • RAM: 32 GB

  • GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER (16 GB VRAM)

  • Driver: NVIDIA 610.43.02 (open GPU kernel modules)

  • Monitors: 2560×1440 @ 144 Hz + 1920×1080 @ 60 Hz

  • Wheel: Logitech G923 (Xbox/PC version)

GPU is cool and idle in desktop usage (~38 °C, ~29 W), so the system is stable and not thermally constrained.

Test matrix – Assetto Corsa EVO on Bazzite

All tests done on the same system and game build, only Proton / launch options changed.

Test 1

  • Steam compatibility tool: default (Proton Experimental)

  • Launch options: (none)

  • Result: Game launches fine, but graphics bugs are back (black fences, low-res textures, etc.).

Test 2

  • Compatibility: Proton-GE Latest

  • Launch options: (none)

  • Result: Same graphics issues as Test 1.

Test 3

  • Compatibility: Proton-CachyOS Latest

  • Launch options: (none)

  • Result: Same graphics issues as Test 1.

Test 4

  • Compatibility: default (Proton Experimental)

  • Launch options:

    bash

    VKD3D_CONFIG=descriptor_heap %command%

  • Result: Same graphics issues as above.

Test 5

  • Compatibility: Proton-GE Latest

  • Launch options:

    bash

    VKD3D_CONFIG=descriptor_heap %command%

  • Result: Same graphics issues as above.

Test 6

  • Compatibility: Proton-CachyOS Latest

  • Launch options:

    bash

    VKD3D_CONFIG=descriptor_heap %command%

  • Result: No graphics issues anymore.
    Fences and textures look correct again, game is visually in the best state I’ve seen so far under Linux on this hardware.

Interim conclusion

  • Updating to the latest NVIDIA 610.43.02 driver on Bazzite alone is not enough to fix the rendering bugs on this test system.

  • The critical combination (at least for my setup) is:

    • Proton-CachyOS Latest as the compatibility tool

    • plus the launch option

      bash

      VKD3D_CONFIG=descriptor_heap %command%

  • In other words, on my experimental Bazzite system the descriptor heap flag is still the actual key, even with the new 610-series NVIDIA driver.

I’ll repeat the same structured test series on my CachyOS installation next, to see if the behaviour matches or if there are differences between CachyOS and Bazzite with the same Proton-CachyOS + descriptor_heap setup.

23

Short update – CachyOS test results (Assetto Corsa EVO, NVIDIA)

I have repeated the tests on my CachyOS installation with the same hardware and current Proton setups.

Without any additional launch options

Tested with the following Steam compatibility tools:

  • Proton-GE Latest

  • Proton-CachyOS 11.0-20260521 (Steam Linux Runtime)

  • Proton Hotfix

  • Proton Experimental

Result in all cases:
Game launches, but graphics issues are still present

With launch option VKD3D_CONFIG=descriptor_heap %command%

  1. Compatibility: Proton-GE Latest

    • Result: Graphics issues still present.

  2. Compatibility: Proton-CachyOS 11.0-20260521 (Steam Linux Runtime)
    and also tested with Proton Hotfix and Proton Experimental

    • Result: No graphics issues – fences and textures render correctly again.

Conclusion for CachyOS:
On my system, simply switching Proton versions is not enough. The combination that reliably fixes the issue is:

bash

VKD3D_CONFIG=descriptor_heap %command%

together with Proton-CachyOS 11.0-20260521 (Steam Linux Runtime) as the compatibility tool.