OpenGL - GL_ATI_fragment_shader missing and performance issues in older OpenGL games

[vCoDMods]

Hello,

I'm from the Call of Duty 1 community.

Since AMD OpenGL driver changes around 2022, the extension GL_ATI_fragment_shader is no longer exposed.
Several older OpenGL games rely on this extension and now show rendering issues. Performance issues exist in some cases, but are caused by separate driver changes and are not directly related to the missing extension (maybe).

In Call of Duty, severe stuttering occurs on the maps mp_powcamp and mp_railyard.
Water rendering is also broken due to the missing GL_ATI_fragment_shader extension.

Affected games (confirmed):

• Call of Duty (2003)

• Call of Duty: United Offensive

• IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946

• Neverwinter Nights Diamond Edition

On older AMD drivers, these titles render correctly and show no performance issues. Current NVIDIA drivers also render them correctly.

Thanks for looking into this and for any feedback on the OpenGL compatibility side.

[coyoteclan]

yeah it would be great

[kmstrube81]

Hello,

I'm from the Call of Duty 1 community.

Since AMD OpenGL driver changes around 2022, the extension GL_ATI_fragment_shader is no longer exposed. Several older OpenGL games rely on this extension and now show rendering issues. Performance issues exist in some cases, but are caused by separate driver changes and are not directly related to the missing extension (maybe).

In Call of Duty, severe stuttering occurs on the maps mp_powcamp and mp_railyard. Water rendering is also broken due to the missing GL_ATI_fragment_shader extension.

Affected games (confirmed):

• Call of Duty (2003)
• Call of Duty: United Offensive
• IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946
• Neverwinter Nights Diamond Edition

On older AMD drivers, these titles render correctly and show no performance issues. Current NVIDIA drivers also render them correctly.

Thanks for looking into this and for any feedback on the OpenGL compatibility side.

I can confirm the same issues running Call of Duty (2003) and Call of Duty: United Offensive on a RX5600 card on the latest drivers

[thegoog1337]

Same issue here 😐

[faier01]

it would be good, i'm having the same problem too.

[mambuzrrr]

Yeah, it would be great if this could be fixed... issues like this can really ruin the experience. I dont have the problem myself since im on NVIDIA, but I can definitely understand the frustration^^...

[PrawyCoD1]

Fix it

[maikolduran]

Hola,

Soy de la comunidad de Call of Duty 1

Desde los cambios en el controlador OpenGL de AMD alrededor de 2022, la extensión GL_ATI_fragment_shader ya no está disponible. Varios juegos OpenGL antiguos dependen de esta extensión y ahora presentan problemas de renderizado. En algunos casos, existen problemas de rendimiento, pero se deben a cambios independientes del controlador y no están directamente relacionados con la extensión que falta (quizás).

En Call of Duty, se producen graves interrupciones en los mapas mp_powcamp y mp_railyard. El renderizado del agua también se ve afectado debido a la falta de la extensión GL_ATI_fragment_shader.

Juegos afectados (confirmados):

• Call of Duty (2003)
• Call of Duty: United Offensive
• IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946
• Neverwinter Nights Edición Diamante

En controladores AMD más antiguos, estos títulos se renderizan correctamente y no muestran problemas de rendimiento. Los controladores NVIDIA actuales también los renderizan correctamente

Gracias por investigar esto y por cualquier comentario sobre la compatibilidad con OpenGL.

I’d like to add that I’m also experiencing similar issues and I’ve been trying to find a reliable workaround, but so far without success.
In my case, the problems started appearing on newer AMD drivers as well, especially in older OpenGL titles that depend on GL_ATI_fragment_shader. The missing extension not only breaks certain visual effects (like water rendering in Call of Duty 1), but also seems to introduce inconsistent performance depending on the map or scene. For example, the heavy stuttering on mp_powcamp and mp_railyard is exactly the same on my system, and it wasn’t present on older drivers.
I’ve tested multiple configurations, different driver versions, and even alternative render paths when available, but none of them fully restore the original behavior. NVIDIA cards still run these games correctly, which makes it clear that the issue is tied to AMD’s OpenGL changes.
If anyone has found a temporary fix, a driver version that still works properly, or any insight into whether AMD plans to re‑expose this extension (or provide an equivalent), it would be extremely helpful. Many classic games rely on this functionality, and the community is still very active, so having proper compatibility would make a big difference.
Thanks in advance to anyone who can share more information or guidance.

[onfire580]

Yes, that would be great, I faced this problem before

[raphael1233333]

would be cool to have the issue fixed on amd gpu

but honestly it just seems amd is in decline and is lower quality than nvidia, hence the lower price i guess

even if it get fixed, i would never buy amd ever again

even screwing the provided official cpu fan made some metal powder, i guess it was shit or i was too much dumb to rotate the screwdriver properly

[gtrabach]

I encountered this problem in United Offensive. I reported it months ago through the Bug Report Tool and official support, but unfortunately, I was ignored. Perhaps through this channel, the problem can be fixed.

[RodroG-85]

Seconded.

[baozholu-AMD]

@vCoDMods Regarding the quality issue, could you assist in capturing a trace using RenderDoc or another capture tool that can reproduce these problems?

[vCoDMods]

@baozholu-AMD RenderDoc doesn't support the old OpenGL from Call of Duty and i don't know other software.

But here you can see how it looks like:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/2620/discussions/0/5540052310303529527/

The shader file of CoD, this file is responsible for rendering the water.

water.zip