[2022] Skybox & general artifacting on new Nvidia drivers

After witnessing quite a bit more than a few people reporting issues with skybox artifacting and jitter issues, while my system was generally immune from such occurrences, I took it upon myself to get to the bottom of why this is as much as a single person could. My lead? A hotfix patch by Nvidia for Modern Warfare 2 that fixes skybox artifacting and a hunch. That's it.

R6 Fix bugs out with an internal error when I try to log in, hence my report here instead of the right place to post this.

System:
Windows 11 Pro 22H2
Intel i5 11400h
24GB RAM
GeForce RTX 3060 mobile

Settings:
https://pastebin.com/LBQwWRh2: (https://pastebin.com/LBQwWRh2)


Methodology:

1. download driver
   1. note that all of my drivers installed are WHQL, and "game ready" with the exception of the 526.61 MW2 hot patch.
   2. all drivers that aren't explicitly also for desktop cards were not installed
2. install only the drivers
3. choose custom install
4. tick clean install box
5. and let the installer do its thing
6. play the game for at least 4 games, including partial
7. observe any odd behavior, and write it down

For the benefit of the doubt, I've also done it without rebooting, hot, cold, and of course with rebooting. All else between runs remains equal.

516.94:
DX11: Nothing to report
Vulkan: Same as above

517.48:
DX11: Nothing out of the ordinary to report
Vulkan: Maybe some graphical glitches in menus and stuff? Maybe could've been a fluke since I only saw it once.

522.25
DX11: Inconsistent frames? Fluctuations of 40 FPS was observed
Vulkan: Jitter? (no note on consistency)

526.47:
DX11: Skybox and general artifacting observed. Consistent and repeatable. Frame time inconsistencies continued to be observed
Vulkan: more inconsistent frames? (no further notes on how repeatable)

526.61:
DX11: artifacting continued to be observed, as does frame time issues
Vulkan: not done due to waning interest

Conclusion: New Nvidia drivers are causing artifacting within the game, and an announcement should be made regarding these issues, while also pressuring Nvidia to fix them.

For individual users, a way to fix this can be to use DDU from www.guru3d.com: (https://guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html) while following their README file and reinstalling the driver I know is good from: https://www.nvidia.com/content/DriverDownloads/confirmation.php?url=/Windows/516.94/516.94-desktop-win10-win11-64bit-international-dch-whql.exe&lang=us&type=TITAN.

Results may vary by doing this, please attempt at your own risk. Note that you should download the driver exe before following their directions. Safe mode can be entered by holding shift while rebooting.

If you don't have an Nvidia card (or even if you do) and are still experiencing these, please leave a comment below on your system/dxdiag and what you've tried to remedy the issue. And someone, please turn this into a formal report since r6 fix is broken for me.