Xid 109 CTX SWITCH TIMEOUT on RTX 5090 (Blackwell) — Crimson Desert via Proton

[ki11erb]

NVIDIA Open GPU Kernel Modules Version

NVRM version: NVIDIA UNIX Open Kernel Module for x86_64 595.58.03 Release Build (root@) GCC version: gcc version 15.2.1 20260209 (GCC)

Please confirm this issue does not happen with the proprietary driver (of the same version). This issue tracker is only for bugs specific to the open kernel driver.

• I confirm that this does not happen with the proprietary driver package.

Operating System and Version

Arch Linux

Kernel Release

Linux BB-Linux 6.19.10-zen1-1-zen #1 ZEN SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Thu, 26 Mar 2026 19:20:17 +0000 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Please confirm you are running a stable release kernel (e.g. not a -rc). We do not accept bug reports for unreleased kernels.

• I am running on a stable kernel release.

Hardware: GPU

~ ! nvidia-smi -L GPU 0: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 (UUID: GPU-47ac047a-5039-307f-00cb-212eba63fc08)

Describe the bug

When launching Crimson Desert (Steam App ID 3321460) via Proton on Linux, the game
freezes during the initial loading screen (tunnel of light animation). The frame freezes
but audio continues, indicating a GPU hang. This occurs consistently within seconds of
starting a new game.

The kernel log shows:

NVRM: Xid (PCI:0000:0b:00): 109, pid=9468, name=CrimsonDesert.e, channel 0x0000000f,
errorString CTX SWITCH TIMEOUT, Info 0x3c014

Note: The proprietary NVIDIA driver does not support Blackwell (RTX 5090) hardware, so
testing with the proprietary driver is not possible — the open kernel module is mandatory
for this GPU.

To Reproduce

Preconditions:

• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 (Blackwell architecture)
• Arch Linux, kernel 6.19.10-zen1-1-zen (linux-zen)
• nvidia-open-dkms 595.58.03
• Steam with Proton (tested with Proton Experimental and GE-Proton10-34)
• Crimson Desert (Steam App ID 3321460)

Steps:

1. Launch Crimson Desert via Steam using Proton
2. At the main menu, select "New Game"
3. Observe the loading screen (tunnel of light animation with music)
4. Within a few seconds, the image freezes while audio continues playing
5. Check kernel log: sudo journalctl -k | grep -i xid — Xid 109 CTX SWITCH TIMEOUT will
   be present

Bug Incidence

Always

nvidia-bug-report.log.gz

nvidia-bug-report.log.gz

More Info

Crimson Desert should load and run normally, as it does on Windows with the same
hardware. The game runs without issue on Windows (same machine, RTX 5090), confirming
this is a Linux/driver-specific problem.

Other games tested on the same Linux setup (e.g. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 via Proton)
work without any Xid errors, suggesting the issue is specific to Crimson Desert's GPU
workload triggering a context switch timeout on Blackwell hardware with the open kernel
module.

[mazingerzzz]

Hardware & Software:

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti (Blackwell)
Driver: 595.58.03 (nvidia-open)
Kernel: 6.19.10+deb14-amd64
Distro: Debian Sid (unstable)
Proton: Proton-CachyOS 10.0-20260324
Game: The Isle Evrima (Steam App ID 376210, DX12 via vkd3d-proton)

Symptoms:
Game launches successfully with PROTON_VKD3D_HEAP=1 (Proton-CachyOS), but crashes consistently after connecting to a multiplayer server, during map/world loading. The game process is killed, desktop remains usable.
Kernel log:
NVRM: Xid (PCI:0000:02:00): 109, pid=45083, name=GameThread, channel 0x00000017, errorString CTX SWITCH TIMEOUT, Info 0x3c01b
Workarounds attempted:

PROTON_VKD3D_HEAP=1 → allows game to start, does not prevent Xid 109 under server load
VKD3D_CONFIG=no_upload_hvv → reduces frequency, does not eliminate crashes
VKD3D_CONFIG=no_upload_hvv,nodxr,force_host_cached → still crashes

Notes:
Game works on Windows with the same hardware. Issue is reproducible across multiple servers. Single Xid 109 event is sufficient to crash the game process.

[ptr1337]

Known issue. This should be reported to the forum :)

Using the vkd3d-proton heap branch does appearently fixes it: HansKristian-Work/vkd3d-proton#2805