I should have waiting before posting, until I tried to run the program.
So, while I got Denoise AI installed under Windows 10 and can see the OpenVINO model files, it does me no good, because Topaz Denoise AI 3.0.0 refuses to run.
I see a blank white window, then the program just exits with no error message.
I suspect that it is not running because this is a GPU-less VM running on a hypervisor. So as I always ask in these cases, what is the point of supporting OpenVINO, if the program cannot run without a GPU? If a GPU and GPU drivers must be present, then the GPU processing will be MUCH faster. OpenVINO = pointless.
Can this be fixed? The legacy version runs on a GPU-less VM running on a hypervisor, but without OpenVINO support.
UPDATE
Guess what…
I GOT IT TO WORK.
I made the incorrect assumption that you are using the DirectX 12 Software Renderer for Windows 10.
But you’re not. You’re still using OpenGL.
So, it simply means that it needs to use the same setup that it always has on Windows 10. It needs MESA copied into the application directory. It also no longer calibrates… the user needs to go into Advanced Settings and change the AI Processor to CPU. It will then work for OpenVINO on GPU-less machines.
I am EXTREMELTY SORRY I wasted your time with this. All I needed to do was set it up like I always have in the past, on Windows 10.
Just to document it, here are the full steps:
𝟣. The following environment variables MUST be set:
Right Click “This PC” or “My Computer” on Desktop → Properties → Advanced System Settings → Environment Variables → New
First Variable Name: MESA_GL_VERSION_OVERRIDE
First Variable Value: 4.2COMPAT
Second Variable Name: MESA_GLSL_VERSION_OVERRIDE
Second Variable Value: 420
Set the above two variables for BOTH User AND System.
Reboot.
2. Download Mesa.
At the time of this writing I downloaded mesa3d-20.3.4-release-mingw.7z. (Later versions have issues with missing Vulcan dll files, so it’s recommended to avoid them for non Vulcan applications until they have those issues fixed. I recommend 20.3.4; earlier versions should also work.)
Extract the file. Install and use the freeware 7zip application to do so, if you need it.
You only want two files from the archive: x64\opengl32.dll
and x64\libglapi.dll
. Copy these into the Topaz application directory. So for Denoise AI, copy them to C:\Program Files\Topaz Labs LLC\Topaz Denoise AI
, if you used the default install location.
3. Run the application (Topaz Denoise AI), it should now load and use the MESA llvmpipe software renderer. You can confirm by going to “Help” → “Graphics Info”. It should look like the above screenshot, and show that it’s using llvmpipe.
4. It appears that newer Topaz applications no longer run “calibration”. They’re set to use GPU by default. If there’s no GPU, then the application will just exit when the preview tries to run. If the preview is set to “auto” (which it is by default) then that means it will happen as soon as an image is loaded. So you need to go to “File” → “Preferences” and set “AI Processor” to “CPU”.
𝟧. The Topaz application should now run on a GPU-less workstation, as well as a VM/VPS.
I haven’t checked everything yet, but it’s working for Denoise AI and Sharpen AI. I believe it will work for all other Topaz Applications except Video Enhance AI, which should run immediately after installing without needing to copy files into the application directory. I haven’t tested to see if not having the above environment variables (MESA_GL_VERSION_OVERRIDE
/ MESA_GLSL_VERSION_OVERRIDE
) makes a difference for VEAI, but I don’t think that it does.
There are some versions of Topaz Applications (again I haven’t checked everything obviously) that run without needing Mesa files copied into the application directory. Denoise AI 2.4.x and 3.0.0 “Legacy” on Windows 7 are like this. They use an old version of llvmpipe (5.0) which appears to be built in. I’m not certain in these cases if environment variables need to be set (MESA_GL_VERSION_OVERRIDE
to 4.2COMPAT
and MESA_GLSL_VERSION_OVERRIDE
to 420
), but I suspect that they do. I haven’t tried removing them and then installing and running Denoise AI 2.4.x or 3.0.0 “Legacy”.
Again, I’m VERY sorry for anyone’s time I may have wasted with my incorrect assumptions about Topaz applications using the DirectX Software Renderer.