OS X Shadow of the Tomb Raider – eGPU – extreme glitches

[Canubis]

I am trying to play Shadow of the Tomb Raider here and get all kind of awful graphics glitches.

https://ooola.la/TR-gltiches/SOTR-eGPU-graphics-glitches-2020-10-04.MOV

Glitches already occur in menus and builtin benchmark: background areas show heavy dark flickering, smoke / fog / mist / clouds have random flickers and there are random weird bright colorful fireworks-like effects in menus.

My system is the latest MacBook Pro 13" (2020 model with 2.3GHz i7 + 32GB) running macOS Catalina 10.15.7 + eGPU (Sapphire Radeon 5700 XT 8GB inside a Razer Core X – recommended config by Apple!)
There is no difference if I play on a display connected directly to the eGPU or if I play on the internal display (while still using the eGPU for render).

Interestingly these glitches do not appear if I play with the eGPU disconnected and using the internal Intel graphics – though of course the game looks horribly low-end then…

Any other players of this game here? Anyone using the same or similar (e)GPU? What's your experience?

Edit: clarified I am running latest macOS + added some links

 

[Homy]

I guess it must be a driver issue since it works fine with your iGPU.

 

[Canubis]

Since it's one of the few cards supposed to be natively supported by Apple as eGPU, I understood there is no drivers I can manually install. I am pretty much driving with what is provided by Apple as default.

 

[Homy]

Since it's one of the few cards supposed to be natively supported by Apple as eGPU, I understood there is no drivers I can manually install. I am pretty much driving with what is provided by Apple as default.

Yes, it's strange. If it's only in that game you could ask Feral, or do you have problem with other games too?

 

[Canubis]

Yes, it's strange. If it's only in that game you could ask Feral, or do you have problem with other games too?

Good point. I briefly checked both Tomb Raider and Rise of the Tomb Raider with the same eGPU configuration today. Both seem to run pretty fine, no glitches. So I guess it's not a general issue with the drivers but something specific to Shadow. I believe all 3 games use kind of the same engine, although Shadow being the newest of the 3 games is possibly doing something special the eGPU doesn't like.
Fingers crossed Feral support can help with this – meanwhile many thanks for your input @Homy!

I'd still be super curious if we have any other players of Shadow here, who ever saw such weird glitches.

 

[speedcat_feral]

@Canubis - Please get in touch with our support team via email. We are aware of an issue caused by a change in the AMD graphics card drivers in a macOS Catalina update, so if you contact us directly you can be kept informed of progress with it, be that via an update to macOS or to the game itself.

 

[Canubis]

@Canubis - Please get in touch with our support team via email. We are aware of an issue caused by a change in the AMD graphics card drivers in a macOS Catalina update, so if you contact us directly you can be kept informed of progress with it, be that via an update to macOS or to the game itself.

Hi @speedcat_feral, is your support email support@feralinteractive.com still up to date & working?
I sent a request on Sunday and another one today. In the past there was an immediate auto-reply about the request being received. But I didn't get anything this time.

 

[speedcat_feral]

Hi @speedcat_feral, is your support email support@feralinteractive.com still up to date & working?
I sent a request on Sunday and another one today. In the past there was an immediate auto-reply about the request being received. But I didn't get anything this time.

Yes that's the correct address. We've found both of your messages - looks like they were caught by an overzealous filter; our apologies for that. We'll get a reply out to you asap.

 

[GumaRodak]

Maybe try new TB3 cable, or purchase genuine apple if you are not using
But looks like is a software issue like posted above

 

[Canubis]

@GumaRodak – good point, I tried a different cable (either way needed a longer one than the cable included with the Razer Core X) but no difference.

The reason for these glitches indeed seems to be driver-related. Looks like Apple broke something in 10.15.4 and it persist in 10.15.7.

While my MacBook Pro (2020) is too new to boot with 10.15.3, I managed to pop in the same 5700 XT into my classic Mac Pro (2009) and boot with 10.15.3 there. Shadow of the Tomb Raider runs fine using this setup – glitch-free!
When I boot the Mac Pro with 10.15.7 I experience similar glitches as on the MacBook Pro – so the issues are unlikely caused by the cable or eGPU – instead the newer drivers included in macOS are to blame (although overall glitches seem bit different/reduced by some amount on the Mac Pro but still noticeable and quite annoying).

So for anyone coming here with similar graphics issues: right now the only solution seems to downgrade macOS to 10.15.3 (if your Mac supports it) or wait for a fix from Apple, hopefully they will still address this in Catalina or at least in Big Sur.

 

[ricardo.felix]

Did you fix your problem? I recently ordered a Chroma X + Red Devil 5700 XT for gaming in bootcamp...

Did you download the https://www.bootcampdrivers.com ???

I am a little concerned since it was not a cheap "investment"... would appreciate if you post an update. thanks!

 

[Canubis]

Did you fix your problem? I recently ordered a Chroma X + Red Devil 5700 XT for gaming in bootcamp...

Did you download the https://www.bootcampdrivers.com ???

I am a little concerned since it was not a cheap "investment"... would appreciate if you post an update. thanks!

Unfortunately the issue persists still today. It’s with the drivers included in macOS for that card or maybe even the whole generation of cards.
Apparently Apple did some changes in 10.15.4, suddenly causing specific graphics effects (fog, smoke, fire, particle effects) to go mad and not be displayed correctly. This is unchanged in the latest version of Catalina 10.15.7 as of today. However, talking about my specific use case, I only noticed these issues in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, not in the predecessors titles Tomb Raider (2013) and Rise of the Tomb Raider. Feral confirmed to me that the earlier games in the series, while using a similar engine, implemented such effects in a different way.
So any other games (or Pro Apps?) may or may not be affected - I guess it depends on the exact Metal calls and GPU instructions a developer uses to realize a specific effect.

It’s noteworthy, that Shadow of the Tomb Raider runs fine without these glitches on 10.15.3 with the same 5700 XT. Basically that’s my “solution” so far. However, since my MacBook Pro 2020 is too new to support downgrading to anything below 10.15.6 (or maybe 10.15.5), I put the 5700 XT into my classic Mac Pro (2009), installed 10.15.3 there and the game runs like a breeze there most of times. No glitches as long as I run 10.15.3 (Note I can confirm when running the game on same Mac Pro and 5700 XT setup with 10.15.7 the glitches are back - so it definitely is about something Apple broke in the drivers and has not fixed yet.)

 

[Canubis]

@ricardo.felix - just noticed you referred Bootcamp drivers. If you’re planning to use that card and eGPU box with Windows, your results will certainly vary from mine.
I played all mentioned games and experienced these issues under macOS only with the native drivers built into the system.
No experience with eGPU on Windows - sorry.

 

[Ritsuka]

I see no glitch on Big Sur.

 

[Canubis]

I see no glitch on Big Sur.

That would be fantastic news. (I didn’t dare to upgrade yet hoping Apple would fix their Catalina drivers.)

just to be sure: you refer to playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider using a 5700 XT?

 

[Ritsuka]

Shadow of the Tomb Raider on a W5700. I remember trying on a Rx Vega 56 in Razer Core X too.

 

[Canubis]

Really happy to hear. Then I will give Big Sur a try (on a 2nd volume) soon.
For now I managed to basically finish the game on the setup with 10.15.3 + CMP + 5700 XT. Luckily there are some extra tombs left to raid.

 

[Spk1]

I’m still getting the glitches in Big Sur.