Install a specific nvidia driver version and prevent downloading redundant versions every update

I recently installed a specific nvidia driver version to make Overwatch 2 work better (I think it was 510 or 515, not sure tho), and it worked really well (200+ FPS). After the next update OW2 went back to lagging just as badly as before (<30 FPS) and it crashes my whole session when I close it, suggesting the update somehow screwed things up. After cleaning some things up, I’ve now gone back to the video-nvidia configuration in the MHWD. The nvidia-settings command says I have 530.41.03. OW2 still lags and crashes my session.

Is there a way to install a specific older version of the driver in such a way that won’t break every update? Search function on the forum and duckduckgo haven’t been any help, but maybe I’m just bad at using them.

Welcome to the forum! :wave:

Downgrading leaves one in an unsupported partial upgrade state. Do so at your own risk.

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I just saw that there’s nvidia-510xx-packages in AUR, meaning I wouldn’t actually have to downgrade the main nvidia package but just use the AUR ones for 510. However I’m not sure which specific packages I’d have to install and how to do it in a way that keeps working across updates. Any advice? Or is it a bad idea to use AUR for drivers?

There’s nvidia-510xx-dkms, nvidia-510xx-settings, nvidia-510xx-utils, lib32-nvidia-510xx-utils, and lib32-opencl-nvidia-510xx. I assume I need all but the opencl ones, is this correct?

While I agree with @Yochanan about the unsupported partial upgrade state, it is not valid if you use a dkms which matches exactly with the version of nvidia-utils. So you can upgrade kernels and the nvidia driver will be build on every kernel upgrade. Supported are the automated prebuild nvidia modules, sure.

So you would need to build nivida-dkms and nvidia-utils by yourself and block them for upgrades. But either way, you have to manage everything regarded to the nvidia driver, configurations yourself. MHWD is not the way then.

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Simply removing video-nvidia through the MHWD interface, then installing all the AUR packages mentioned above (except the opencl one) resulted in a working system with 510 drivers. It however did not solve the issue with OW2, so I reverted to video-nvidia.

If anyone ever figures out how to get OW2 to run better let me know, for now it’s not worth the effort of manually downgrading since I don’t play it much anyway.