Are GPU drivers the problem? Catalina vs Resolve 17

[interobang]

I've been putting off updating to Big Sur simply because I don't have time at the moment. But I was forced to update Davinci Resolve recently (long story) from 16 to 17.2.2, and all of a sudden I have no ability to playback any video within Resolve. I'm a Studio user, BMD claim they can't help me because I have a Hackintosh. But they did say that the issue is probably incompatible GPU drivers. Could someone please decipher this for me? Is it possible that the new version of Resolve has been optimised for Big Sur and if I updated to this OSX it may solve the problem? New OSX new drivers? Or should I just update my GPU drivers?

 

[Edhawk]

The Intel and AMD drivers are all contained in macOS. There are no drivers to update.

Apple usually update the Intel & AMD drivers with each version release of macOS, so upgrading to Big Sur may solve your DaVinci Resolve issues, but that is not a given.

Here is a link to a page containing Minimum and recommended system requirements for DaVinci Resolve 17. https://www.richardlackey.com/davinci-resolve-system-requirements/

Your Hack meets the recommended requirements, i.e i9 plus dGPU with 8GB VRAM (assuming your RX 580 is an 8GB card). So whoever you were talking to at BlackMagic was telling you rubbish, probably because you told them that you used a Hack instead of a Mac.

Assuming you have your UHD 630 running with a Headless framebuffer on an iMac SMBIOS (iMac19,1), with your AMD RX 580 set as the default graphics card there is no reason why your Hack shouldn't work perfectly with DaVinci Resolve. My older Haswell i7 and RX 580 work perfectly fine with DaVinci Resolve 17 in Catalina, not that I use it much these days.

Question now is how do you have the Graphics in your system setup?

 

[interobang]

Your Hack meets the recommended requirements, i.e i9 plus dGPU with 8GB VRAM (assuming your RX 580 is an 8GB card). So whoever you were talking to at BlackMagic was telling you rubbish, probably because you told them that you used a Hack instead of a Mac.

I know! I was so angry at that comment when they emailed me. Problem is, to crash report to them you have to send them an spx file, so they must have been able to deduce from that I had a Hack.

Yes, I did know that about the drivers being updated within macOS updates, but I wondered if there were any that were maybe "bad" and rolling back in some way might be a solution, or maybe I'm not up to date enough.

Yes, my system is for sure compatible. 8GB card as well.

Question now is how do you have the Graphics in your system setup?

Within Resolve? or on my machine? I have it setup within Resolve as the BMD team recommended before they discovered my dirty little secret.

They DID say, before they stopped helping me, that it could be an incompatible GPU driver which is the reason I'm going down this path of investigation.

Assuming you have your UHD 630 running with a Headless framebuffer on an iMac SMBIOS (iMac19,1), with your AMD RX 580 set as the default graphics card

System def is iMac19.1. But the other stuff I am less familiar with. It all rings a bell, but it was about a year ago I set this machine up and I'm just not proficient enough in this game. My config.plist is attached.

Should I update Lilu and WhatEverGreen kexts? And if I'm thinking of updating to Big Sur, should I just do it anyways?

 

[interobang]

I've managed to roll back to a Resolve 16.2.8 and when I restore my database, I get this error:


See attached log of the error. Is this related to the issue of 17.2.2 not working? It mentions a driver.

However, when I do restart Resolve 16, my database is working and I do not have the issue I was experiencing in 17.2.2. But now random folders of media have been unlinked and are showing as "media offline" and they are not about to be relinked. And the image in the viewer has gone all over contrasty. The error makes me nervous. Is this error something to be concerned about? Is my database ok to use? I have backups of it of course. But if I go and do hours of work in it now and then there's some issue down the track, I don't want to have wasted all that time. I would feel more comfortable fixing this underlying problem.

 

[Edhawk]

This is a known issue, where databases from DaVinci Resolve 16 and 17 are not forwards and backwards compatible, see this link - https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=136128

 

[Edhawk]

Can you remove the config.plist from post #3 as it contains your serial number and other SMBIOS elements, which shouldn't be shared online.

Can you post a copy of your Whole CLOVER folder, so I can see what else you are using to boot your Coffee Lake system. The config only tells part of the story and yours looks like it needs some attention.

When you post a copy of your CLOVER folder remember to remove the serial number, Board Serial Number, SmUUID, MLB and ROM codes from the config.plist. I will have a look at the folder tomorrow (Tuesday).

 

[interobang]

When you post a copy of your CLOVER folder remember to remove the serial number, Board Serial Number, SmUUID, MLB and ROM codes from the config.plist. I will have a look at the folder tomorrow (Tuesday).

I'll try, but I'm not exactly sure if I'm doing it right. See attached.

 

[interobang]

@Edhawk What do you think of my clover folder?

 

[Edhawk]

/CLOVER/ACPI/patched folder:

1. You need to add SSDT-USBX.aml to your /CLOVER/ACPI/patched folder, for USB power. Neither the SSDT-EC.aml or SSDT-USBW.aml you are using contain a USB power option.
2. You might want to swap the SSDT-EC.aml you are currently using for the SSDT-EC-USBX.aml that is attached in the CFL-SSDTs.zip folder below.
3. Not sure you need the SSDT-NVRAM.aml.
4. You should be using SSDT-AWAC.aml, SSDT-PLUG.aml and SSDT-PMC.aml with your Coffee Lake system. These three SSDT's can be found in the attached zipped folder below.

/CLOVER/Drivers/UEFI folder:

1. You don't need OcQuirks.plist in this folder, it does nothing when present in this folder.
2. You don't need UsbKbDxe.efi or UsbMouseDxe.efi either.

/CLOVER/kexts folder:

1. You don't need the 'Off' folder, it can be deleted.
2. Your Other folder contains two Ethernet kexts IntelMausi.kext and SmallTreeIntel82576.kext. Your motherboard only has one Ethernet port, so one of the two kext is not required, probably the SmallTree kext.
3. If your SSDT-UIAC.aml is set correctly for your system you probably don't need the USBWakeFixup.kext.
4. The Essential kexts in this folder are older versions, there are newer versions of Lilu, AppleALC, WhateverGreen and VirtualSMC, plus the two SMC plugin kexts. These can all do with being updated.
5. I would used Hackintool > Extensions tool to download the latest version of these kext, which are attached in the Kexts.zip below. It is the easiest way to get the latest versions, without having to manually search for the individual kexts.

/CLOVER/themes folder:

1. You might want to look at using a custom Clover boot theme, something like Catalina looks good, copy attached, add the Folder to the themes folder and add the name Catalina to the config in the GUI > Theme section.

Your config.plist lacks a number of common patches, fixes and settings I would expect to see in a 'mature' Coffee Lake setup running macOS Catalina.

The OcQuirks.plist contains a list of the quirks you should enable in your config.plist so the OcQuirks.efi driver works correctly. These OpenCore Quirks have not been enabled in your config.plist.

 

[duynhp]

i'm using studio 17.3 and all projects from many years ago till today are working fine without problems.
are you new to Resolve ?
once you update to new version, all project database also update followed by the new version and cannot roll back, you must backup entire database folder before update. the only way rollback is you shoul export XML/EDL from all working project, then rollback the Resolve to old version, then create new project > load XML for every project, but XML just for editing solving, to solve the color grading node, you must export the snapshot of every single shot.
btw for me, the RX580 is too weak for resolve use, i've switch from 1080ti in MacOS 10.13 to 10.14 with 3x Rx580 and performance is f*cking bad, working now on 2x 5700XT and GPUs usage almost full in playbacking with Arri alexa Footage