Marathon on AMD Radeon: black screen or crash at launch with FSR Frame Generation, what Bungie says and the workarounds (driver 26.9.2, cvars.xml)

Video: “Season 2 Gameplay Trailer | Marathon”, official Marathon YouTube channel (Bungie), published June 2, 2026 (11:44 PM Paris time). It is a general gameplay trailer for the game; it does not show the AMD frame generation bug or any fix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyIEnxicey8

Some Marathon players on PC with an AMD Radeon graphics card are locked out of the game: once AMD FSR Frame Generation has been switched on, Marathon either crashes when the setting is changed or, on the next launch, stays stuck on a black screen before any logo appears. On November 10, 2026 (10:39 PM Paris time), Bungie Support replied on the official Marathon Help forum that it is aware of players reporting this issue with FSR on AMD hardware and is investigating. No fix date has been given. Here is what is confirmed, what players have found, and the two workarounds you can try now.

Symptoms reported by players

After enabling FSR Frame Generation in the graphics settings, the game crashes immediately, or the next launch hangs on a black screen before the Bungie and platform logos (first detailed report on October 25, 2026, Steam / Windows 11, Radeon RX 9060 XT).
The process keeps running without an error message: the reporter saw about 2 GB of memory used, constant CPU activity and almost no GPU activity. Another player says Steam’s Stop button stays on “Stopping” until the game is ended in Task Manager.
Reports in the thread mention AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 26.10.1 and Radeon RX 7600 XT, RX 7800 XT, RX 9060 XT and RX 9070 XT cards. Bungie has not published a list of affected GPUs or drivers.
Reinstalling the game or clearing the driver cache did not help the players who tried it.

What Bungie says (November 10, 2026)

• In its official reply to a new report, Bungie Support says it is “aware of players reporting this issue with FSR on AMD hardware” and is “investigating”.
• Bungie adds that players have reported that rolling back their AMD driver to 26.9.2 helped them get around the issue “for the time being”, and suggests trying it as a temporary workaround.
• On the earlier October 25 report, Bungie asked for a video of the black screen with Task Manager visible, then said on October 26 that the report had been passed to the dev team.
• Marathon Update 1.1.9.7, released on November 10, does not mention frame generation or AMD in its patch notes.

Workaround 1: go back to AMD Adrenalin 26.9.2 (the one Bungie mentions)

• AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 26.9.2 is an optional driver dated September 29, 2026; its release notes page includes the download (https://www.amd.com/en/resources/support-articles/release-notes/RN-RAD-WIN-26-9-2.html).
• Downside: you lose the changes of 26.10.1 (October 20) and 26.10.2 (October 30), for example FSR Upscaling 4.1 support on Radeon RX 6000 cards added in 26.10.1 (https://www.amd.com/en/resources/support-articles/release-notes/RN-RAD-WIN-26-10-1.html).
• Players in the thread report that Marathon launches and runs again after the rollback. This is a temporary solution, not a fix confirmed by AMD.

Workaround 2: turn frame generation off in cvars.xml (player-found, not official)

• Close Marathon completely first (if Steam stays on “Stopping”, end the process in Task Manager).
• Open %APPDATA%\Bungie\Marathon\prefs\cvars.xml and make a copy of the file before editing it.
• In the graphics section, find <cvar name="frame_generation_mode" value="2" /> and change the value to 0, then save and launch the game.
• The player who found this says no other setting needs to change; deleting the whole prefs folder also works but resets all your settings. Another player confirms 8+ clean launches with the value at 0, and the hang coming back when it is set to 2 again.
• Limit: one player says the file was already at 0 in their case and only the driver rollback worked. Bungie has not officially endorsed this edit.
• Until a fix is announced, leave FSR Frame Generation off in Marathon if you stay on a 26.10.x driver.

Related issues that are not the same bug

• AMD lists a known issue in 26.10.1 and 26.10.2: an intermittent system crash or hang when switching between applications or toggling overlays while playing games with in-game FSR Frame Generation on Radeon RX 9000 series cards. In 26.10.1, AMD recommends enabling V-Sync in the game settings.
• Bungie’s known issues list for Update 1.1.5 (updated November 4) says that with Frame Generation enabled, falling rain droplets may look oversized. Some players also mention scope artifacting with frame generation.

More on AMD’s latest optional driver and its frame generation known issues: our article on Adrenalin 26.10.2 (https://tricknfix.com/articles/amd-software-adrenalin-26-10-2-optional-valor-mortis-fsr-frame-generation-steam-hags-timeouts-october-30-2026/).

What is not known yet

• When Bungie or AMD will ship a fix, and whether it will come in a game update or a driver.
• Whether other frame generation modes are affected: the November 10 report suggests so, but Bungie’s reply only talks about FSR on AMD hardware.
• Whether Adrenalin 26.10.2 changes anything for Marathon: its release notes do not mention the game.

Sources

• Bungie Support, official reply to “Bug Report for AMD Frame Generation… Crashing game on setting change and launch”, Marathon Help, November 10, 2026, 10:39 PM Paris time (https://help.marathonthegame.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/55520332032404-Bug-Report-for-AMD-Frame-Generation-and-likely-other-Frame-Generation-types-Crashing-game-on-setting-change-and-launch).
• “[PC / AMD] FSR Frame Generation causes persistent black screen on subsequent launches — reproducible via cvars.xml”, Marathon Help, October 25, 2026, with Bungie replies on October 26 and player comments up to November 4 (https://help.marathonthegame.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/54953934822420--PC-AMD-FSR-Frame-Generation-causes-persistent-black-screen-on-subsequent-launches-reproducible-via-cvars-xml).
• Bungie, “Marathon Update 1.1.9.7”, November 10, 2026 (https://www.bungie.net/7/en/News/Article/marathon_update_1_1_9_7).
• Bungie, “Known Issues List - Update 1.1.5 Mid-Season 2”, updated November 4, 2026 (https://help.marathonthegame.com/hc/en-us/articles/51641917906452-Known-Issues-List-Update-1-1-5-Mid-Season-2).
• AMD, Adrenalin Edition 26.9.2 release notes, September 29, 2026 (https://www.amd.com/en/resources/support-articles/release-notes/RN-RAD-WIN-26-9-2.html); 26.10.1, October 20, 2026 (https://www.amd.com/en/resources/support-articles/release-notes/RN-RAD-WIN-26-10-1.html); 26.10.2, October 30, 2026 (https://www.amd.com/en/resources/support-articles/release-notes/RN-RAD-WIN-26-10-2.html).
• Video “Season 2 Gameplay Trailer | Marathon”, Marathon channel, June 2, 2026 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyIEnxicey8).
• Image: official Marathon screenshot from the game’s Steam store page (1920 x 1080 original), © Bungie.