It would appear that this is a common enough issue for RC users, so I am here to share my version of this frequent error. For some context, I use Reality Capture in conjunction with a DJI Phantom 4 RTK drone to generate scaled models of existing buildings. The machine that experienced this issue has an Intel Core i7-5930K CPU @3.50 GHz with 64 GB RAM, and a Nvidia GTX 960 graphics card. At the beginning of this adventure, it was running Windows 8.1. It would later be upgraded to Windows 10 Pro.
When the error first popped up, my machine was operating with a different Nvidia graphics card (unsure what model). At that point, the machine had successfully run 500+ hours of Reality Capture. I had been operating my typical workflow on the newest version of RC (1.0.3.9696) for about a week. In an effort to learn how to implement our 3D laser scans into our models, I downloaded one of the “Help” models available from the menu. Image alignment and reconstruction worked fine, but texturing threw up an error code.
At first I thought there may have been corruption in the sample imagery, so I opened a different model that had components with existing textures. I attempted to texture a smaller component, but received the same error. This not being the first time experiencing the code, I called our IT guy and we dug through existing notes. Apparently, at one point in time some Nvidia card drivers were not compatible with RC software. We made a backup of the current driver, updated to the latest Nvidia driver, and restarted the machine. Same issue. We reverted to the original driver, restarted the machine and again found the error code. It was decided the graphics card should be replaced, for diagnostic reasons. Meanwhile I emailed Reality Capture help and got a response confirming our earlier notes:
"Some of our users reported that this driver works when they experience similar issues.
GEFORCE GAME READY DRIVER
Version: 419.67 WHQL
Release Date: 2019.3.25"
I downloaded the recommended driver, and attempted to install it. This driver was not compatible with Windows 8.1, and Windows 10 was required. When Windows 10 Pro was installed, the Nvidia driver was automatically upgraded to the most current version available (not the recommended 419.67), and the issue seems to be resolved.
TLDR: Nvidia card was not recognized by RC. Installed newer Graphics card, updated to Windows 10 Pro, upgraded Nvidia driver, issue resolved.
It is still not clear what the issue was, as both the operating system and the graphics card driver have been updated. Time permitting, I will roll back my Nvidia driver to the recommended version and test RC. I hope this is helpful to some poor users out there. This process was nearly a week long to diagnose and resolve. Thank you to Rafa from Reality Capture for your time and advice.