Common issues with using GDRE tools in GUI mode

[nikitalita]

EDIT: 0.5.0 is out, which uses the GL fallback renderer by default instead of the Vulkan renderer, obviating most of these issues. I am leaving this issue up just in case.

All of the issues that I have seen have to do with GPU Vulkan support, or lack thereof. GDRE Tools is based on Godot 4.x, which uses Vulkan as its default renderer. Certain system configurations may cause the Vulkan renderer to fail. Workarounds to this are discussed below. I'll keep this updated as more people report issues.

If you run into any of these situations and these workarounds do not work for you, please comment below with your specs (including your GPU model) and what OS you are running.

If all else fails, you can still run GDRE Tools as a CLI tool, please see the README: https://github.com/bruvzg/gdsdecomp#command-line

Common Issues with all OSes:

• Your drivers may be out of date
• Your GPU may be old enough to not have any Vulkan support

Troubleshooting:

Update drivers:

Windows

Install the latest drivers direct from your GPU manufacturer:
nVidia
AMD
Intel

macOS

IMPORTANT: If your Mac predates 2014, don't do this yet, as this may cause the opengl3 renderer to fail as well, try the opengl3 method below first
Run macOS System update to update your graphics drivers.

Linux

Get the latest GPU drivers from your package manager.
(if anyone wants to contribute instructions on how to do this on a certain distro, please comment below)

Try running with the OpenGL3 renderer

Windows:

gdre_tools.exe--display-driver windows --rendering-driver opengl3

macOS:

"Godot RE Tools.app\Contents\MacOS\Godot RE Tools" --display-driver macos --rendering-driver opengl3

Linux:

gdre_tools.x86_64 --display-driver x11 --rendering-driver opengl3

Windows

• If you're running on a laptop with a discrete GPU, it may crash because Godot is attempting to use the integrated GPU. This seems to be common on laptops that have AMD Ryzens paired with nVidia discrete graphics.

Troubleshooting:

Force usage of discrete GPU on laptop:

• Option 1: Follow these instructions to force the discrete GPU to be selected: https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5182/~/unable-to-launch-vulkan-apps%2Fgame-on-notebooks-with-amd-radeon-igpus

This will force your system to always use the discrete GPU, which may be undesirable for battery life.
(If anyone else has run into this problem and has a better solution that still allows GPU switching, please comment here).

If you don't want your laptop to always use the discrete GPU, you can also try...

• Option 2: Run with --gpu-index

First, try running gdre_tools from the command line with the verbose option:

gdre_tools.exe --verbose

In the output, you should see something like the following:

Vulkan devices:
  #0: Intel Intel Iris Pro Graphics - Supported, Integrated
  #1: NVIDIA NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M - Supported, Discrete

Then, run gdre_tools with the index to your discrete gpu, like this:
gdre_tools.exe --gpu-index 1

See further:

#95
#74

MacOS

There are certain combinations of macOS versions and hardware which can cause both the opengl3 and vulkan to fail, and I am still investigating what causes this. If you run into issues with starting the GUI in either opengl3 or vulkan mode, please comment below with your macOS version and the model of your Mac (e.g. "Macbook Pro, late 2013 retina")

See further:

#101