Quick answer: capture the glitch, check whether it appears only in How to Fish, then test a lower resolution or effects preset, disable one overlay, and verify the game files. If artifacts also appear on the desktop or in other games, stop treating it as a game-only bug and check the driver, temperature, cable, or hardware.
Game-only or system-wide?
| Where it appears | What it suggests | Next step |
|---|---|---|
| Only one scene or effect in How to Fish | Game render path, setting, or asset issue | Reproduce the same scene after lowering effects or resolution. |
| Only after opening an overlay | Capture or overlay interaction | Disable one overlay temporarily and compare. |
| Across the whole game | Driver, temperature, or GPU load | Check driver status, temperatures, and another known-good game. |
| Desktop or browser also corrupts | System-wide graphics problem | Stop the game test and investigate the wider machine before continuing. |
Safe troubleshooting order
- Take a screenshot. Keep the image, build number, GPU, driver, resolution, and exact location together.
- Restart once. A transient render or shader state can disappear after a clean relaunch, but that does not prove the root cause.
- Lower one graphics variable. Change resolution or effects one at a time so you know which setting changes the result.
- Disable one overlay. Test capture, chat, and driver overlays individually rather than changing the entire PC setup.
- Verify the installation. Use Steam's file verification before deleting configs or saves.
- Check the wider system. If artifacts persist in other games, check temperatures, drivers, cables, and hardware stability.
Useful report details
- Exact visual symptom: colored blocks, flicker, stretched geometry, missing textures, or black screen.
- Whether the issue begins at launch, after loading an island, during a boss, or after alt-tab.
- GPU model, driver version, resolution, display mode, FPS cap, and overlays.
- Whether the issue survives a restart and whether it appears outside the game.
Safety boundary: do not continue a long session if artifacts appear outside the game, the GPU is overheating, or the display is losing signal. This page does not diagnose hardware failure.
Community signalSteam Discussions used to monitor GPU, FPS, and visual reports; individual reports are not universal fixes.Open discussions →
Version boundaryOfficial Steam announcements used for the current patch and graphics-related changes.Open announcements →