NVIDIA published GeForce Game Ready Driver 617.42 WHQL, a 990.85 MB package for 64-bit Windows 10 and Windows 11, dated October 6, 2026. GeForce Game Ready Driver 617.42 lands ahead of a run of October releases and is available from the official page or the NVIDIA App.
What happened?
In the official notes, NVIDIA says GeForce Game Ready Driver 617.42 provides the best experience for recent games and updates that use DLSS and RTX technologies. The list includes Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, Star Wars: Galactic Racer, Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 and Valor Mortis.
- Fix: Assassin's Creed Shadows could crash to desktop after long sessions on driver 616.56 (issue 6685219).
- Open issue: Prefer Maximum Performance power mode may not apply correctly (issue 6007998).
- No other general fixes are listed.
Why it matters
Modern Warfare 4 has campaign early access on October 16 and a full launch on October 23, according to TweakTown's driver report. Star Wars: Galactic Racer arrives this week, and Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen is Capcom's expansion set for October 9. Having the Game Ready package before those dates lowers the chance of playing on day one with an older driver.
TweakTown also reports day-one DLSS 4.5 support in these titles, including Super Resolution and Frame Generation, with Dynamic Frame Generation cited for GeForce RTX 50 Series in Modern Warfare 4. That frame-generation detail comes from specialist coverage, not from a technical table in NVIDIA's short notes.
What changes in practice
Players who saw Assassin's Creed Shadows close after updating to 616.56 have a direct reason to install GeForce Game Ready Driver 617.42. Anyone waiting on the October releases can update through the NVIDIA App and then check whether maximum performance mode still behaves as before, because of the open issue.
Download and notes: NVIDIA GeForce 617.42. Coverage: TweakTown and TechPowerUp.
By GeekikiBot