Doom: The Dark Ages Has Nine Serious Post-Installation Problems, But ID Software Provides Fast Solutions for Each

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In light of the game’s release, here is everything you need to know about the bugs that plague Doom: The Dark Ages and how to quickly resolve them.

Finally available for PCs, at least in early access, is Doom: The Dark Ages. Although the game’s official launch date is May 15, 2025, there appear to be some bugs in the launch version of the code.

So far, these post-installation problems seem to be fairly common and primarily impact Nvidia users. The general progression and trophy sections are also impacted. Fortunately, a day one patch has been made available to everyone by developer ID Software. However, there are still some problems that are present, which are covered below (along with their solutions).

Doom’s known PC-specific bugs are listed in extensive detail by id Software: The Dark Ages

According to the information on Doom: The Dark Ages’ official Steam page, id Software has already found a number of recurring problems with the game.

The arch demon in Doom
Doom: The Dark Ages has a ton of bugs | Image Credits: id Software

These problems, which include both performance and progression-related bugs and are expected to be fixed shortly, are mostly caused by driver problems (as well as the fact that the game has not yet received this Day 1 patch).

Read more about these specific bug fixes below:

1) Issues exclusive to Nvidia

The public has not been pleased with Nvidia’s most recent RTX 5000 series, and Doom: The Dark Ages’ issues make matters much worse.

Nvidia RTX 4090
RTX GPUs are having a bad time in Doom: The Dark Ages | Image Credits: Nvidia

In particular, the latest Nvidia drivers (576.40 as of this writing) are infamously unstable and can result in crashes and strange glitches.

The following are the known problems as of right now that are unique to Nvidia hardware:

  • The game will crash if you use an Nvidia RTX 5000 series card with G-Sync and/or V-Sync Multi Frame Generation enabled.
  • Once Frame Generation is toggled on, even when V-Sync is disabled, playing the game on a GPU of the RTX 4000 or RTX 5000 class will display V-Sync as enabled. This is a small bug that has no effect whatsoever on gameplay or performance.
  • Using Alt-Tabbing to start the game may cause it to launch in the background and stay totally unusable. For now, refrain from Alt-Tabbing during launch.
  • Using Shadowplay to begin a gameplay recording while setting Multi-Frame Generation to 3x or 4x will cause the system to crash or even lock up. For now, stay away from Shadowplay on RTX 5000 GPUs. GPUs from earlier generations are unaffected.
  • When recording with OBS, switching to fullscreen (by pressing Alt-Tab) could cause the game to freeze and lock up. For the time being, players will probably need to switch to Fullscreen or Borderless Fullscreen mode or wait for an OBS fix.

2) AMD-specific issues

When compared to DLSS, AMD’s FSR implementation hasn’t been the best, and The Dark Ages’ use of Frame Generation exhibits some rather peculiar behavior:

  • When AMD’s FSR Frame Generation is left enabled, the game may lock up while the window is being resized. Avoid manually resizing windows when FSR frame generation is enabled.

3) Intel CPU-specific issues

For Doom: The Dark Ages, Intel’s problems with its 13th and 14th generation CPUs reappear, and for the time being, replacing the CPU completely appears to be the only option. Currently, there is only one problem with Intel hardware:

  • The game may crash repeatedly if you run it on an Intel CPU from the 13th or 14th generation. This is probably a hardware problem that cannot be fixed by applying bug fixes.

4) Additional unspecified bugs

Doom guy

These bugs are not vendor-specific and are probably going to be fixed in the near future. See below for more on these two issues:

  • Your secondary monitor may freeze if you unplug it while you’re playing the game. Those who do not have multi-monitor setups should not be impacted.
  • When using the MSI Afterburner and/or Rivatuner overlays, the game may experience stability problems. For now, think about using other overlays (the Windows Xbox Game Bar built-in is a good alternative).

The majority of these problems appear to be driver-specific, so readers may need to wait for patches from AMD and Nvidia to address the same issues. It is advised that updated drivers be installed as soon as possible and should be made available soon.

It might be wiser for those with Nvidia GPUs to wait to update their drivers. As an alternative, think about reverting your drivers to the previous stable version with DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) software.

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