Feature Request: "Force Compatibility Rendering" via Project Manager

[mymstake]

The editor will soft-crash 100% of the time
Trying to open a Forward+ rendering mode project on a machine which doesn't support it may cause the editor to fail to load properly resulting in a blank window (in my case) due to Vulkan driver issues

Instead of leaving the user to figure out what's going on and how to fix it, new feature!

A:

• Add a "Force Compatibility Rendering" option to project manager
  • (in that drop-down under recovery mode or whatever would be perfect, see mock-up image)
• Show current rendering mode for each project.
  • (so users know a project will soft-crash before they open it)

B:
- A small back-end system which automatically detects a user trying to open a project for editing which their machine can't (due to rendering mode support.) (Automatic Fallback already exists, I slipped through a crack)

• Upon detection, display a confirmation dialog that notifies them of the issue, providing 3 options
  • Use Compatibility Rendering Mode
    • (enable compatibility fallback and proceed)
  • Ignore
    • (disable compatibility fallback and proceed)
  • Cancel
    • (return to project list without opening the project to edit)

[Calinou]

The editor will soft-crash 100% of the time trying to open a Forward+ rendering mode project on a machine which doesn't support it.

This is not supposed to happen since 4.4, as there's an automatic fallback implemented by godotengine/godot#97142. There are some known bugs in the fallback though, such as godotengine/godot#104435.

As a workaround, use --rendering-method gl_compatibility on the command line while specifying the path to a project.godot file on the CLI at the same time.

[veganaiZe]

It's not falling back correctly for me. I had to manually append the following to project.godot in a text editor...

[rendering]

renderer/rendering_method="gl_compatibility"
renderer/rendering_method.mobile="gl_compatibility"

...Then it worked.

---

Here's the console error output before adding the lines above...

G:\Godot-4.5.1>Godot_v4.5.1-stable_win64_console.exe
Godot Engine v4.5.1.stable.official.f62fdbde1 - https://godotengine.org
WARNING: Your video card drivers are known to have low quality OpenGL 3.3 suppor
t, switching to ANGLE.
     at: DisplayServerWindows (platform/windows/display_server_windows.cpp:7106)

OpenGL API OpenGL ES 3.0.0 (ANGLE 2.1.1 git hash: d8c00a9d4283) - Compatibility
- Using Device: Google Inc. (AMD) - ANGLE (AMD, AMD Radeon HD 8400 / R3 Series (
0x00009830) Direct3D11 vs_5_0 ps_5_0, D3D11-21.19.407.0)

Editing project: G:/Godot-4.5.1/projects/Space Shooter/space-shooter
Godot Engine v4.5.1.stable.official.f62fdbde1 - https://godotengine.org
vkEnumerateInstanceVersion not available, assuming Vulkan 1.0.
Vulkan 1.0.30 - Forward+ - Using Device #0: AMD - AMD Radeon HD 8400 / R3 Series


================================================================
CrashHandlerException: Program crashed with signal 11
Engine version: Godot Engine v4.5.1.stable.official (f62fdbde15035c5576dad93e586
201f4d41ef0cb)
Dumping the backtrace. Please include this when reporting the bug on: https://gi
thub.com/godotengine/godot/issues
[1] error(-1): no debug info in PE/COFF executable
[2] error(-1): no debug info in PE/COFF executable
[3] error(-1): no debug info in PE/COFF executable
[4] error(-1): no debug info in PE/COFF executable
[5] error(-1): no debug info in PE/COFF executable
[6] error(-1): no debug info in PE/COFF executable
[7] error(-1): no debug info in PE/COFF executable
[8] error(-1): no debug info in PE/COFF executable
[9] error(-1): no debug info in PE/COFF executable
[10] error(-1): no debug info in PE/COFF executable
[11] error(-1): no debug info in PE/COFF executable
[12] error(-1): no debug info in PE/COFF executable
[13] error(-1): no debug info in PE/COFF executable
[14] error(-1): no debug info in PE/COFF executable
[15] error(-1): no debug info in PE/COFF executable
[16] error(-1): no debug info in PE/COFF executable
[17] error(-1): no debug info in PE/COFF executable
[18] error(-1): no debug info in PE/COFF executable
[19] error(-1): no debug info in PE/COFF executable
[20] error(-1): no debug info in PE/COFF executable
[21] error(-1): no debug info in PE/COFF executable
[22] error(-1): no debug info in PE/COFF executable
[23] error(-1): no debug info in PE/COFF executable
[24] error(-1): no debug info in PE/COFF executable
[25] error(-1): no debug info in PE/COFF executable
-- END OF C++ BACKTRACE --
================================================================

---

And, for the sake of completeness, here's the console output after the correction...

Godot Engine v4.5.1.stable.official.f62fdbde1 - https://godotengine.org
WARNING: Your video card drivers are known to have low quality OpenGL 3.3 suppor
t, switching to ANGLE.
     at: DisplayServerWindows (platform/windows/display_server_windows.cpp:7106)

OpenGL API OpenGL ES 3.0.0 (ANGLE 2.1.1 git hash: d8c00a9d4283) - Compatibility
- Using Device: Google Inc. (AMD) - ANGLE (AMD, AMD Radeon HD 8400 / R3 Series (
0x00009830) Direct3D11 vs_5_0 ps_5_0, D3D11-21.19.407.0)

Editing project: G:/Godot-4.5.1/projects/Space Shooter/space-shooter
Godot Engine v4.5.1.stable.official.f62fdbde1 - https://godotengine.org
WARNING: Your video card drivers are known to have low quality OpenGL 3.3 suppor
t, switching to ANGLE.
     at: DisplayServerWindows (platform/windows/display_server_windows.cpp:7106)

OpenGL API OpenGL ES 3.0.0 (ANGLE 2.1.1 git hash: d8c00a9d4283) - Compatibility
- Using Device: Google Inc. (AMD) - ANGLE (AMD, AMD Radeon HD 8400 / R3 Series (
0x00009830) Direct3D11 vs_5_0 ps_5_0, D3D11-21.19.407.0)

---

Edit: I should note that the problem had occurred after I'd switched to "Forward+" mode in the editor & restarted.

[Calinou]

It seems the driver is reporting some kind of basic Vulkan support, but it's incomplete and not sufficient for Godot. I wonder if raising the Vulkan version requirement to 1.2 on desktop platforms would avoid this issue (since all Vulkan-supporting GPUs with proper support have 1.2 at least).

Vulkan 1.3 could be a more robust requirement, but some old GPUs (like NVIDIA Kepler GPUs and Intel IGPs with EOL drivers) are stuck on Vulkan 1.2. For reference, DXVK requires Vulkan 1.3 support since early 2023.

[mymstake]

AH, Indeed, and a bug was preventing me from realizing it. At least I assume it's a bug.
Turns out my GPU does support Vulkan, so I got it... but it must be stinky or something because Godot doesn't wanna be friends.


I think I'm running into some kind of Vulkan API limbo issue where my Vulkan does exist but there's an error linking up or something
godotengine/godot/issues/98848 This issue mentions Direct3D 12 and a device that doesn't support Vulkan, but nearer the bottom there's a mention about that API existing but not found bug.
I should probably open an issue and drop my vulkaninfo in there..

Anyways, I'd like to leave this open on behalf of the confirmation dialog to make the automatic fallback a user directed fallback.
I remember a post (during my search through those links) mentioning that automatic fallback could cause things in the project to break if they relied on certain aspects of Forward+.
Being warned and given the opportunity to back out before altering a project to compatibility was not "core" to the function of this feature proposal but the entire proposal made the compatibility fallback user directed to begin with.