UI text does not display on GTX 760 graphics card on Linux #61397

New Issue

Nick · 2019-02-11T00:10:40+01:00

Nick commented

2019-02-11 00:10:40 +01:00

Description of Problem

UI text does not render on GTX 760 graphics card (possibly other cards, but that's the one I have). See picture:

The text worked OK on this same computer with a Radeon 7000 series card, but I replaced it because that card was not compatible with Cycles.

I don't have any other graphics issues in any other programs with this card, it's just Blender that does not show any UI text.

Exact steps for others to reproduce the error

Open Blender on my computer. (Or a computer with the same hardware configuration?)

I can provide command line output for specs if you need it.

System Information
Operating system: Linux Mint 18.1, Mate Desktop
Graphics card: GTX 760
Graphics driver: Tried with nvidia-415 (latest), nvidia-340, and the xserver-xorg-video-nouveau (FOSS) drivers. Same issue with all of them.

Blender Version
2.8 Beta, downloaded on 2/10/19 @ 5:30PM ET. Sorry, I can't see the splash screen text as it does not render.
Issue was also present in a January download of 2.8 Beta with this graphics card.

PS: The "Use drag and drop to attach files" doesn't work. I just typed a whole long thing, and dragged the picture into it, and it just opened the picture in the same tab over what I typed and when I hit the back button, it erased it all. So I guess you have to drag the file into this text box, not onto where it says "drag to attach files" which is counter-intuitive. You should add an onUnload event to the page that says, "are you sure you want to leave the page" when someone tries to leave, so that this doesn't happen.

**Description of Problem** UI text does not render on GTX 760 graphics card (possibly other cards, but that's the one I have). See picture: ![Blender 2.8 no-text-for-bug-report.png](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F6573305/Blender_2.8_no-text-for-bug-report.png) The text worked OK on this same computer with a Radeon 7000 series card, but I replaced it because that card was not compatible with Cycles. I don't have any other graphics issues in any other programs with this card, it's just Blender that does not show any UI text. **Exact steps for others to reproduce the error** Open Blender on my computer. (Or a computer with the same hardware configuration?) I can provide command line output for specs if you need it. **System Information** Operating system: Linux Mint 18.1, Mate Desktop Graphics card: GTX 760 Graphics driver: Tried with nvidia-415 (latest), nvidia-340, and the xserver-xorg-video-nouveau (FOSS) drivers. Same issue with all of them. **Blender Version** 2.8 Beta, downloaded on 2/10/19 @ 5:30PM ET. Sorry, I can't see the splash screen text as it does not render. Issue was also present in a January download of 2.8 Beta with this graphics card. PS: The "Use drag and drop to attach files" doesn't work. I just typed a whole long thing, and dragged the picture into it, and it just opened the picture in the same tab over what I typed and when I hit the back button, it erased it all. So I guess you have to drag the file into this text box, not onto where it says "drag to attach files" which is counter-intuitive. You should add an onUnload event to the page that says, "are you sure you want to leave the page" when someone tries to leave, so that this doesn't happen.

Nick commented

2019-02-11 00:10:40 +01:00

Added subscriber: @lightnb

Jacques Lucke commented

2019-02-11 12:13:09 +01:00

Added subscriber: @JacquesLucke

Jacques Lucke commented

2019-02-11 12:13:09 +01:00

Please try to start Blender from the terminal with the --debug --debug-gpu options and post the output here.

Please try to start Blender from the terminal with the `--debug --debug-gpu` options and post the output here.

Nick commented

2019-02-11 14:39:03 +01:00

Please see attached file for debug output.

blenderdebugoutput.txt

Please see attached file for debug output. [blenderdebugoutput.txt](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F6579237/blenderdebugoutput.txt)

Jacques Lucke commented

2019-02-11 14:42:58 +01:00

Added subscriber: @fclem

Jacques Lucke commented

2019-02-11 14:42:58 +01:00

That looks wrong:

Received X11 Error:
	error code:   181
	request code: 155
	minor code:   34
	error text:   GLXBadFBConfig
Received X11 Error:
	error code:   181
	request code: 155
	minor code:   34
	error text:   GLXBadFBConfig
...
Received X11 Error:
	error code:   8
	request code: 155
	minor code:   34
	error text:   BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes)
Received X11 Error:
	error code:   8
	request code: 155
	minor code:   34
	error text:   BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes)

That looks wrong: ``` Received X11 Error: error code: 181 request code: 155 minor code: 34 error text: GLXBadFBConfig Received X11 Error: error code: 181 request code: 155 minor code: 34 error text: GLXBadFBConfig ... Received X11 Error: error code: 8 request code: 155 minor code: 34 error text: BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes) Received X11 Error: error code: 8 request code: 155 minor code: 34 error text: BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes) ```

Nick commented

2019-02-11 14:43:25 +01:00

Is Blender intended to work with the Mesa stack with Nouveau and the Mesa OpenGL, or is the Nvidia proprietary stack (from thier website) required for full/proper functionality? This debug output is with the Mesa/Nouveau driver enabled.

Sebastian Parborg commented

2019-02-11 15:12:13 +01:00

Added subscriber: @ZedDB

Sebastian Parborg commented

2019-02-11 15:12:13 +01:00

We only support the official Nvidia drivers as Nvidia does not support Nouveau and has actively made it nearly impossible for the Nouveau devs to develop a working a feature complete driver.

Make sure you are actually using the closed source drivers (you can easily check with glxinfo) and retry.

We only support the official Nvidia drivers as Nvidia does not support Nouveau and has actively made it nearly impossible for the Nouveau devs to develop a working a feature complete driver. Make sure you are actually using the closed source drivers (you can easily check with `glxinfo`) and retry.

Nick commented

2019-02-11 15:17:20 +01:00

Will try after work, as that process is rather involved. Will update later.

Nick commented

2019-02-16 17:54:23 +01:00

OK, so I've updated the OS to Mint 19.1 (clean install), and installed the latest proprietary Nvidia driver, and the Blender menus now render correctly. So if nobody cares if Blender works with FOSS drivers and you MUST use proprietary drivers just to open the program, then I guess this isn't a bug, per say.

Although:

Maybe that should be more clear. The page here: https://www.blender.org/download/requirements/ doesn't say anything about needing proprietary drivers to work. It just says, "OpenGL 3.3", which MESA does provide.
I don't understand why we need proprietary drivers just to render menu text. Every other program does this fine with the FOSS drivers. It even worked correctly in Blender with my "unsupported" Radeon card with the FOSS drivers for that. (Everything but Cycles worked fine on that card, with FOSS drivers).
Attempting to use Cycles still freezes the computer(!), which is why I switched cards/drivers in the first place. (I've opened this as a separate bug).
If I can't use Cycles either way, then I would rather use the FOSS drivers since the FOSS Nvidia driver is actually superior in almost every way to the proprietary one. Maybe there's some fancy new feature that Blender can't access, but for everyday use, the FOSS driver works seamlessly with Linux while the Nvidia proprietary driver has glitches (screensaver activation causes multi-monitor order to change, Nvidia settings tool doesn't prompt for password, so it can't save changes unless you run it as root from command line, etc,etc)

So maybe Blender should work with the FOSS drivers too? (It worked fine with the Radeon minus Cycles). It just seems silly to me that an Open Source project would make itself dependent on proprietary hardware and drivers from a company that basically gives open source the middle finger.

OK, so I've updated the OS to Mint 19.1 (clean install), and installed the latest proprietary Nvidia driver, and the Blender menus now render correctly. So if nobody cares if Blender works with FOSS drivers and you MUST use proprietary drivers just to open the program, then I guess this isn't a bug, per say. Although: 1. Maybe that should be more clear. The page here: https://www.blender.org/download/requirements/ doesn't say anything about needing proprietary drivers to work. It just says, "OpenGL 3.3", which MESA *does* provide. 2. I don't understand why we need proprietary drivers just to render menu text. Every other program does this fine with the FOSS drivers. It even worked correctly in Blender with my "unsupported" Radeon card with the FOSS drivers for that. (Everything but Cycles worked fine on that card, with FOSS drivers). 3. Attempting to use Cycles still freezes the computer(!), which is why I switched cards/drivers in the first place. (I've opened this as a separate bug). 4. If I can't use Cycles either way, then I would rather use the FOSS drivers since the FOSS Nvidia driver is actually superior in almost every way to the proprietary one. Maybe there's some fancy new feature that Blender can't access, but for everyday use, the FOSS driver works seamlessly with Linux while the Nvidia proprietary driver has glitches (screensaver activation causes multi-monitor order to change, Nvidia settings tool doesn't prompt for password, so it can't save changes unless you run it as root from command line, etc,etc) So maybe Blender should work with the FOSS drivers too? (It worked fine with the Radeon minus Cycles). It just seems silly to me that an Open Source project would make itself dependent on proprietary hardware and drivers from a company that basically gives open source the middle finger.

Sebastian Parborg commented

2019-02-16 18:12:05 +01:00

Changed status from 'Open' to: 'Archived'

Sebastian Parborg closed this issue

2019-02-16 18:12:05 +01:00

Sebastian Parborg self-assigned this 2019-02-16 18:12:05 +01:00

Sebastian Parborg commented

2019-02-16 18:12:05 +01:00

We do support FOSS drivers as you yourself pointed out. We just won't provide any support for Nouveau because if it works with the Intel and AMD mesa drivers and the proprietary drivers, the problem is on Nouveaus side.

However patches are welcome if you want to try to fix this. But I think that this is clearly a driver bug so the code would have to be contributed to Nouveau instead.
Before you do that though, you should see if the problem has already been fixed in the latest mesa and so on.

We do support FOSS drivers as you yourself pointed out. We just won't provide any support for Nouveau because if it works with the Intel and AMD mesa drivers and the proprietary drivers, the problem is on Nouveaus side. However patches are welcome if you want to try to fix this. But I think that this is clearly a driver bug so the code would have to be contributed to Nouveau instead. Before you do that though, you should see if the problem has already been fixed in the latest mesa and so on.

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UI text does not display on GTX 760 graphics card on Linux #61397