DOOM: The Dark Ages faces crashes on ROG Ally as outdated AMD drivers hinder performance, but recent update shows promise

DOOM: The Dark Ages has been officially released, following a period of early access for Premium and Collector's Edition players. Although the title is designed to run on a variety of Windows 10 and 11 systems, including handheld gaming PCs, some users have been encountering major issues. On the Asus ROG Ally, which runs an AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme APU, the game reportedly crashes shortly after launch, even when set to low graphical settings and outputting approximately 30 frames per second. 

According to PC Gamer, a warning can appear upon launching the game, indicating that the device's current GPU driver is outdated for this title. The publication also confirms that updating GPU drivers for the ROG Ally has been a challenge, as Asus drivers lag behind, leaving users waiting for updates from the device manufacturer. A Reddit user also describes encountering a GPU driver warning when launching DOOM: The Dark Ages via Xbox Game Pass, followed by a black screen that locks their PC, forcing a restart.

The developers have acknowledged the driver challenges affecting handheld devices like the ROG Ally and Legion Go, confirming ongoing efforts to address these issues. Recent graphics driver updates for the ROG Ally have been released in response to ongoing issues, and some users have reported improvements following the update. However, community feedback suggests that some users are still encountering issues. For example, a user on Reddit has expressed difficulty finding the latest AMD drivers in Armoury Crate, which suggests that the update might not be automatically detected for all users. Furthermore, user StevWong shared their experience where, despite setting the game to low settings, the system hung after only a few seconds, even after attempting to update their drivers on the ROG Ally: "Inside game I set most things to LOW and then I was inside the game, for 2 seconds. Because when I was trying to walk and turn, my Ally hang. It did not register any input from all the Ally buttons. The fan was running like crazy as well. I had to long pressed the Ally on off button to force turned off the Ally." 

A recent YouTube video uploaded by Deck Wizard demonstrates the game starting briefly on the ROG Ally before freezing. Despite running at 30 frames per second on low settings with FSR enabled, the footage shows the game crashing shortly after startup, reportedly due to outdated GPU drivers. The video further highlights the challenges faced by Windows-based handhelds when vendor-issued drivers lag behind game releases.

While the Z1 Extreme chip is technically capable of delivering strong performance in AAA titles, as shown in Tom's Hardware benchmarks, its success is tightly linked to the maturity of the surrounding software stack. Without consistent, up-to-date driver support, the full potential of the hardware remains untapped.

By contrast, DOOM: The Dark Ages runs more stably on the Steam Deck, benefiting from Valve's unified SteamOS software and driver stack, which helps avoid the performance issues seen on the ROG Ally. A preview SteamOS update quickly resolved launch issues, demonstrating Valve's ability to deploy fixes directly through its integrated OS. This highlights a growing divide in handheld gaming reliability between Linux- and Windows-based platforms. Valve's integrated approach has helped the Steam Deck avoid the fragmented support model seen in devices like the ROG Ally, where driver updates and support are dependent on multiple vendors.

This situation highlights a deeper challenge in the growing handheld PC market. Without a reliable cadence of OEM driver updates, users may find themselves locked out of major new releases, regardless of their device's hardware power. As game developers continue to adopt cutting-edge technologies like ray tracing, AI-based upscaling, and real-time global illumination, outdated drivers will become an increasingly significant barrier for otherwise-capable systems.