Tile-like Artifacts with Vulkan on AMD RX 7800 XT (POE 2 – Persisting Post Shader Cache Reset)

Hi GGG team,

I'm encountering persistent visual artifacts while playing Path of Exile 2 using the Vulkan renderer on an AMD RX 7800 XT (RDNA3) GPU. These artifacts appear as tile- or grid-like patterns, mostly noticeable on ground shadows, light transitions, and foggy areas.

❗ Key details:
Renderer: Vulkan

GPU: AMD RX 7800 XT

Driver: Adrenalin 24.3.1 (latest stable)

Game version: Most recent (May 2025)

Shader Cache: Fully cleared after driver rollback

Reproducibility: Consistent across zones and instances

Visibility: Artifact is present at native resolution, with or without FSR or ReShade

Workaround: Artifact disappears when switching to DirectX 12, or enabling Global Illumination + Shadows at medium or higher

🧪 Troubleshooting steps already attempted:
Shader cache deletion (AppData → Cache folder)

Swapping between FSR modes (off, Balanced, Quality)

Lowering texture and lighting quality

Fully disabling ReShade

Rolling back from beta drivers

Using RTSS for external FPS cap and stability

Confirmed issue persists even at native 1440p with zero post-processing

💡 Conclusion:
It seems Vulkan on RDNA3 cards may be engaging a broken or low-fidelity shadow/lighting pass, resulting in visible tile segmentation. This behavior disappears with DX12 but that renderer currently has severe performance issues and long shader compile times.

Would appreciate any insight into whether this is known or under investigation, and if any upcoming patches (or recommended settings) may help mitigate it.

Happy to provide additional screenshots or logs if helpful.

Thanks in advance!