Nvidia introduced a new GeForce hotfix 546.08 update for its 546.01 WHQL driver that was released a few days ago. The earlier WHQL drive came with the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, Alan Wake 2, and others. This hotfix addresses three main issues:
- Issue with Alan Wake 2 which had gradual stability and performance degradation over extended periods.
- Windows 10 transparency effects did not show on display properly after the 546.01 WHQL driver update.
- Random bug check on certain systems.
Alan Wake II was released on October 27th on Sony PlayStation 5, XBox Series X|S, and for the PC via Epic Games store at the time of writing. The PC variant is integrated with Nvidia DLSS 3.5 and full Ray-Tracing.
Hotfixes are a stop-gap solution usually rolled out when there are certain issues from its latest WHQL driver that can or need to be addressed quickly. However, it seems the transparency glitch was present with multiple users for a long time for Windows 10 users. Nvidia was aware of this, as it was mentioned in the 546.01 release notes, but was unable to provide a fix with the WHQL launch. As indicated earlier in Steam's software and hardware survey, Windows 10 64-bit still dominates as the preferred operating system for most gamers despite being eight years old and having a successor, Windows 11, released three years ago.
Though GPU driver engineers will do their due diligence to release stable drivers, these are non-WHQL BETA drivers for a quick fix. Those who need to wait for a stable release or aren't affected by the issues above should ideally wait for the next WHQL drivers. Just like previous updates, this hotfix is for Windows 10 64-bit and Windows 11 64-bit operating systems.
For those who wish to download the new hotfix driver, you can only download it from GeForce's support page, as these beta updates are always a manual installation. Notebook and OEM system users are very unlikely to get updates from their respective brands as they provide system-specific driver updates only based on WHQL releases. Therefore, these users should opt out of manual installation until OEMs release a stable update for their system's GeForce cards.
