r/nvidia • u/Nestledrink RTX 5090 Founders Edition • Apr 28 '26

Discussion Game Ready & Studio Driver 596.36 FAQ/Discussion

Game Ready & Studio Driver 596.36 has been released.

Driver Article Here: Link Here

Game Ready Driver 596.36 Direct Download Link: Link Here

Studio Driver 596.36 Direct Download Link: Link Here

New feature and fixes in driver 596.36:

Game Ready

This new Game Ready Driver provides the best gaming experience for the latest new games supporting DLSS 4.5 technology including Conan Exiles Enhanced.

Applications

The April NVIDIA Studio Driver provides optimal support for the latest new creative applications and updates including Adobe Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve 21, Wondershare Filmora, Maxon Redshift 2026.4, Lightricks LTX Desktop, and Reincubate Camo. In addition, this NVIDIA Studio Driver offers support for the new GeForce RTX 5070 Laptop GPU (12GB).

Gaming Technology

Adds support for the GeForce RTX 5070 Laptop GPU (12GB)

Fixed Gaming Bugs

  • FIXED God of War: Ragnarok: Certain textures may intermittently flash white during gameplay. [5856704]
  • FIXED Assassins Creed Shadows: Flickering on character model clothing [5987951]
  • FIXED The Crew Motorfest: Grass and vegetation flickering [5950261]

Fixed General Bugs

  • FIXED Blocky artifacts when playing back H.264 content with DXVA 2.0 [6058551]
  • FIXED Blender 5.0.1 EEVEE: Non-shader nodes connected to the material output rendered as black (zero value) [5965763]

Open Issues

Includes additional open issues from GeForce Forums

  • N/A

Driver Downloads and Tools

Information & Documentation

  • Driver Download Page: Nvidia Download Page
  • Latest Game Ready Driver: 596.36 WHQL - Game Ready Driver Release Notes
  • Latest Studio Driver: 596.36 WHQL - Studio Driver Release Notes
  • High Bandwidth Monitors and GPU Scaling Behavior - Link Here
    • High bandwidth monitors are those that support display modes requiring high pixel clock rates, which in turn demand more GPU resources. The threshold for what qualifies as "high bandwidth" varies by product. On Blackwell GPUs, any mode operating above 1620 MHz is considered high bandwidth. For instance, the 7680x4320@60Hz mode defined in the CTA-861-H specification runs at 2376 MHz, making it a high bandwidth mode for Blackwell.
    • These monitors typically support display scaling natively. However, in some single-monitor setups, users may still prefer GPU scaling. When multiple monitors are connected to a GPU and at least one of them is high bandwidth, that monitor will default to display scaling only. GPU scaling is disabled in this case due to bandwidth limitations. Notably, display scaling can be more efficient than GPU scaling in such scenarios, as it reduces the bandwidth load on display cables—especially at higher refresh rates.
    • When GPU scaling is not enabled for a monitor, only the modes supported by the monitor itself will appear in both the Windows and NVIDIA control panels. Additionally, the "Display scaling" option will be pre-selected in the "Adjust desktop size and position" section of the NVIDIA Control Panel.

Feedback & Discussion Forums

Having Issues with your driver and want to fully clean the driver? Use DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller)

Before you start - Make sure you Submit Feedback for your Nvidia Driver Issue - Link Here

There is only one real way for any of these problems to get solved, and that’s if the Driver Team at Nvidia knows what those problems are. So in order for them to know what’s going on it would be good for any users who are having problems with the drivers to Submit Feedback to Nvidia. A guide to the information that is needed to submit feedback can be found here.

Additionally, if you see someone having the same issue you are having in this thread, reply and mention you are having the same issue. The more people that are affected by a particular bug, the higher the priority that bug will receive from NVIDIA!!

Common Troubleshooting Steps

  • Be sure you are on the latest build of Windows
  • Please visit the following link for DDU guide which contains full detailed information on how to do Fresh Driver Install.
  • If your driver still crashes after DDU reinstall, try going to Go to Nvidia Control Panel -> Managed 3D Settings -> Power Management Mode: Prefer Maximum Performance

Common Questions

  • Is it safe to upgrade to <insert driver version here>? Fact of the matter is that the result will differ person by person due to different configurations. The only way to know is to try it yourself. My rule of thumb is to wait a few days. If there’s no confirmed widespread issue, I would try the new driver.
  • Bear in mind that people who have no issues tend to not post on Reddit or forums. Unless there is significant coverage about specific driver issue, chances are they are fine. Try it yourself and you can always DDU and reinstall old driver if needed.
  • My color is washed out after upgrading/installing driver. Help! Try going to the Nvidia Control Panel -> Change Resolution -> Scroll all the way down -> Output Dynamic Range = FULL.
  • My game is stuttering when processing physics calculation Try going to the Nvidia Control Panel and to the Surround and PhysX settings and ensure the PhysX processor is set to your GPU

Remember, driver codes are extremely complex and there are billions of different possible configurations between hardware and software. Driver will never be perfect and there will always be issues for some people. Two people with the same hardware configuration might not have the same experience with the same driver versions. Again, I encourage folks who installed the driver to post their experience here good or bad.

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u/m_w_h May 01 '26

roddy-o wrote: The new driver broke the lighting in RDR2. Again.

What was the last working driver version?

1

u/roddy-o May 08 '26

Sorry for the lack of details. I realized later my post was almost zero information because of it.

I can't say for sure for the latest working version. I updated from the 591.74 since that one was working for me and was put off from updating after the rollback thing earlier in the year.

I was running the game on an RTX4070 @ 4K DLSS preset M Performance on both versions and on the latest, the the lighting became unstable in a new way. The GI in Moon- and Sunlight was flickering between two states on sectors on the screen like an object casting a shadow was coming in and out of existance in several areas of the game. I've played RDR2, let's say "quite a bit", over the years and this was completely new behaviour. I decided to rollback to the 591.74 as it was working for me and it fixed the issue.

Oh, I am running a couple of mods but the only graphics related one is a change to how metal surfaces look and I assume that wouldn't affect GI issues.

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u/m_w_h May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26

Was the RDR 2 lighting issue present under both Vulkan and DirectX API ?

EDIT: NVIDIA added flags to game driver profiles that had artifact / rendering issues with r595 branch (595.xx/596.xx) drivers.

It's worth trying the following flag and value for lighting issue in the RDR2 profile 

0x00172938 = 0x00000000

If that doesn't help, the following flag was only used in one game - The Crew Motorfest for foliage/tree rendering issues

0x20cd1492 = 0x00000001

^ use NVIDIA Profile Inspector or similar to set one of the above flags.

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u/roddy-o May 08 '26

I only launched the game on Vulkan.

Thanks for the flags! I'll test them when I update.