Update | Users reporting DirectX 9 issues with Radeon Adrenaline, AMD doesn't seem to care

AMD is seemingly turning a blind eye to DirectX 9 games. As reported by multiple players on Reddit, the new AMD Adrenalin driver for Radeon GPUs is showing massive problems with a number of older DirectX 9 games. Popular classics like Command and Conquer 3, Red Alert 3, The Witcher, and the Battle for Middle-earth series are just some examples where users have been reporting "exception in exception handler" error codes and crashes.

Strangely, some DX9 titles are purportedly running without major issues including Borderlands 2 and Rocket League. Nonetheless, user experiences have been very mixed in regards to AMD Adrenalin and its spotty compatibility with titles old and new. An AMD Technical Support engineer by the screen name Ray_M has since responded to these concerns saying that the company is "unlikely to devote any valuable engineering resources to this issue, which is most likely caused by outdated API modules". In other words, AMD has deemed these titles far too old to deserve any immediate attention.

Radeon fans on both Reddit and the official AMD forums are understandably upset. Even if the playerbase for these titles is small, gaming enthusiasts have a way of getting their voices heard loud and clear. Unless if AMD has a change of heart, then the only remedy will be for users to rollback to an older driver version altogether. Mobile Ryzen drivers are already quite poor compared to the Nvidia equivalent and this latest PR blunder is only adding salt to the wound.

(January 2, 2018 update: Director of AMD software strategy Terry Makedon has chimed in the matter to reassure fans that the DX9 issues will be promptly fixed. His tweet nullifies an earlier forum post from AMD representative Ray_M claiming otherwise.

"That is absolutely not true, we are identifying the bug and working on a fix asap. C&C, Witcher, BfME, etc will be working again."

Makedon has given no time table as to when AMD Adrenalin users can expect the patch to come, but it is certainly good news nonetheless. As for the incorrect statement from Ray_M, Makedon is pointing his fingers at human error from within the team.)

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