Linux UE4 Editor -- Gizmos painting screen black

Jay2645 · March 8, 2017, 4:13am

I’m running UE4 4.15 in Arch Linux, running a Nvidia GeForce 730M video card and the open-source nouveau video drivers (the proprietary ones don’t work with my system, giving me a black screen on boot). Unreal compiled and opened fine, provided I use the -opengl3 parameter.

If the editor is run using the default parameters or -opengl4, it crashes with the following message:

[2017.03.08-03.52.49:553][ 0]LogInit:Error: _PlatformCreateOpenGLContextCore - Could not create OpenGL 4.3 context, SDL error: 'Could not create GL context: GLXBadFBConfig' [2017.03.08-03.52.49:553][ 0]LogRHI:Error: OpenGL 4.3 not supported by driver

However, when a project is opened under opengl3, the gizmos start “painting” the screen black. It feels a lot like in the old Windows XP days, where when something stopped responding, you could drag it around and “paint” the screen with it. Here’s a few screenshots of it happening:

As you can see, the more I move the screen around, the blacker the screen gets (due to the gizmos). Has anyone else had the problem? Is there any fix for this?

Jay2645 · March 8, 2017, 5:12pm

For anyone else visiting this from the future (be sure to tell the robot overlords I said hello!): I figured out a workaround. In the viewport, go to Show and click Show->Sprites->Hide All, then uncheck Show->Grid.

This will hide all the sprites in the editor, but will also turn “off” all the blackness.

I’d prefer an actual answer to the question, but this works for now.

anonymous_user_e650f960 · March 12, 2017, 6:54pm

Same problem on Fedora 25 and intel hd graphics 4600.
And this workaround don’t help.

anon32868712 · April 18, 2017, 7:13am

I move the screen around, the blacker the screen gets (due to the gizmos)

Same rendering problem, but no difference: with default parameters or -opengl3 or -opengl4 (without crashes)

Ubuntu 16.04

$ glxinfo | grep "OpenGL"
OpenGL vendor string: Intel Open Source Technology Center
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI Intel(R) HD Graphics 520 (Skylake GT2) 
OpenGL core profile version string: 4.5 (Core Profile) Mesa 17.0.3 - padoka PPA

UE from release branch, this commit:
https://github.com/EpicGames/UnrealEngine/commit/f44f8e5a6237f9e498f592ddceaa23ad90858675

anonymous_user_6dfa6ca0 · April 25, 2017, 7:36am

Same problem Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS with intel hd graphics

no matters -opengl3 or -opengl4, without crashes

glxinfo | grep "OpenGL"

OpenGL vendor string: Intel Open Source Technology Center
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI Intel(R) HD Graphics 520 (Skylake GT2)
OpenGL core profile version string: 4.3 (Core Profile) Mesa 12.0.6
OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 4.30
OpenGL core profile context flags: (none)
OpenGL core profile profile mask: core profile
OpenGL core profile extensions:
OpenGL version string: 3.0 Mesa 12.0.6
OpenGL shading language version string: 1.30
OpenGL context flags: (none)
OpenGL extensions:
OpenGL ES profile version string: OpenGL ES 3.1 Mesa 12.0.6
OpenGL ES profile shading language version string: OpenGL ES GLSL ES 3.10

C.Mitch_Carroll · April 26, 2017, 4:12pm

I have the same problem on Arch Linux, integrated Intel HD graphics card. I have tried all of the -opengl flags, and have attempted the fix above, but nothing works.
This behavior occurs on every linux machine I have tried it on.
It makes the entire editor basically unuseable. The only thing that helps, short of quitting and restarting the editor is switching to wireframe view, and then back to whatever I was trying to use before. I can’t give a lot more info because this bug has made it basically impossible for me to learn to use the editor in the first place.

Blunt_Arrow · April 27, 2017, 5:11am

Same problem on Arch Linux gnome desktop GTX 1060

anonymous_user_ed3d59d6 · May 3, 2017, 1:05pm

Hi all,

I had a similar issue, but please could you try this?

Simply enter full-screen mode. shift+f11. This resolves the issue for me. I can’t say that this is the only thing that has helped resolve it, as I have upgraded mesa to 17.1.0-rc2 (although I have the same issue when not in full-screen mode).

Hope this helps,

anonymous_user_ed3d59d6 · May 3, 2017, 1:30pm

Hi,

I have this issue on Ubuntu 17.04 too, but have found that if you enter full-screen mode, shift-f11, this is a feasible workaround.

The only other thing that I have done today is to upgrade mesa to 17.1.0-rc2 and I still have the same issue when not in full-screen.

Try it and I hope it works for you.

Cheers,

P.S. Sorry for multiple answers, but I am not seeing the updates (if any!)

anonymous_user_6dfa6ca0 · May 4, 2017, 7:12am

Unfortunately full screen didn’t help

Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS, Mesa 12.0.6 Intel(R), HD Graphics 520

anonymous_user_ed3d59d6 · May 4, 2017, 7:39am

Hmm, it doesn’t always work for me either.

I used to run UE4 fine on Ubuntu 16.10 back in around June last year, so maybe worth a distribution upgrade? I’m going to try installing UE4 from around that time too.

anonymous_user_ed3d59d6 · May 4, 2017, 4:47pm

I’ve just installed UE4 4.16 and the issue does not seem anywhere near as bad. Maybe try that?

There is still things left on the screen when zooming in and out, but if you select all (ctrl-a) and then escape it clears up … so maybe try that first?

GNUton · May 5, 2017, 2:54pm

That has worked for me! Thanks here my config:

Unreal Version: 4.15.2-0+++UE4+Release-4.15
Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS
GL_RENDERER: Mesa DRI Intel(R) HD Graphics 5500 (Broadwell GT2)
GL_VERSION: 4.3 (Core Profile) Mesa 12.0.6

Blunt_Arrow · May 10, 2017, 4:19am

I had this problem for a while but i managed to fix it.

Turns out my Unreal Engine was using my on board Intel APU instead of my nvidia GPU

I can now force Unreal Engine to use my GPU by running the command [ optirun ./UE4Editor ] and after this the editor works properly.

You will need the bumblebee package in order to run this command
Also need to add yourself to the bumblebee group through useradd
relog
start/ enable the bumblebeed service
Run the command to start ue4

Hope this solution works for everyone else =)

Blunt_Arrow · May 10, 2017, 4:19am

I had this problem for a while but i managed to fix it.

Turns out my Unreal Engine was using my on board Intel APU instead of my nvidia GPU

I can now force Unreal Engine to use my GPU by running the command [ optirun ./UE4Editor ] and after this the editor works properly.

You will need the bumblebee package in order to run this command
Also need to add yourself to the bumblebee group through useradd
relog
start/ enable the bumblebeed service
Run the command to start ue4

Hope this solution works for everyone else =)