Rhea XL fails during HD -> 4K conversion

Topaz Video AI Bugs and Issues
1

During the conversion the converting process dies after several minutes, the usage of the GPU falls to idle and progress in the queue in the GUI stops, the time to finish does not change, the percentage stays the same and noting else happens, no error message of any kind.
Please find the logs attached.
2025-05-10-07-20-2-Main.tzlog (157.0 KB)

tried to run the conversion from the command line but no luck here either:

cd "C:\Program Files\Topaz Labs LLC\Topaz Video AI"
set TVAI_MODEL_DATA_DIR="C:\ProgramData\Topaz Labs LLC\Topaz Video AI\models\"
set TVAI_MODEL_DIR="C:\ProgramData\Topaz Labs LLC\Topaz Video AI\models"
.\ffmpeg "-hide_banner" "-i" "D:/___/L.IV.mkv" "-sws_flags" "spline+accurate_rnd+full_chroma_int" "-filter_complex" "tvai_up=model=rxl-1:scale=0:w=3840:h=2160:preblur=0:noise=0:details=0:halo=0:blur=0:compression=0:estimate=8:device=0:vram=1:instances=1" "-c:v" "hevc_nvenc" "-profile:v" "main" "-pix_fmt" "yuv420p" "-b_ref_mode" "disabled" "-tag:v" "hvc1" "-g" "30" "-preset" "p7" "-tune" "hq" "-rc" "constqp" "-qp" "17" "-rc-lookahead" "20" "-spatial_aq" "1" "-aq-strength" "15" "-b:v" "0" "-map" "0:a?" "-map_metadata:s:a:0" "0:s:a:0" "-c:a" "copy" "-map_metadata" "0" "-map_metadata:s:v" "0:s:v" "-fps_mode:v" "passthrough" "-map" "0:s?" "-c:s" "copy" "-bf" "0" "-v" "debug" "-y" "D:/___/L.IV_4k.mkv"

fails with

2025-05-10 20:49:26 24076  INFO:  ModelManager: setting modeldirPath: C:\Program Files\Topaz Labs LLC\Topaz Video AI\models
2025-05-10 20:49:26 24076  CRITICAL:  Model directory not writable: C:\Program Files\Topaz Labs LLC\Topaz Video AI\models
2025-05-10 20:49:26 24076  CRITICAL:  Model not found in list rxl-1

which is strange as there is no directory C:\Program Files\Topaz Labs LLC\Topaz Video AI\models and it is nowhere referenced in the environment.
In the attached tzlog you can see that when run from the GUI the ModelManager looks into the ProgramData and finds required models here.

So while hunting one bug I have discovered another one.

Reagrds
K.

2

I think set path is wrong have a look where you models are and set correct path in the TVAI preferences under “Directories”

Default path for models is C:\ProgramData\Topaz Labs LLC\Topaz Video AI\models
for BETA releases it is C:\ProgramData\Topaz Labs LLC\Topaz Video AI BETA\models

If your models are really under “Program Files” instead ProgramData, you may not have write access to this folder, which is normal on Windows loged in user without local admin permission have just “read” access to the “Program Files” folder and subolders. So setting model path to “Program Files” is not recommended

3

The problem occurs when running the ffmpeg from the command line, not from the GUI, besides in the GUI the resource folder is correctly set to
C:\ProgramData\Topaz Labs LLC\Topaz Video AI\models
For some reason when running the ffmpeg from the command line it looks for
C:\Program Files\Topaz Labs LLC\Topaz Video AI\models which does not even exists,
it looks like it is hardcoded or should be provided in the environment but the docs do not specify how…

4

hmm ok then TVAI sets wrong path?! It looks like. You can test it by copy the models folder from “ProgramData” to “Program Files”. After copy go to the “Program Files” path and right-click the “models” folder, select properties → register “Security” then klick manage, select “Users” and allow “Modify”. This gives all loged on users write permission to this folder. Now test again with the CLI

5

Tried this, in such case there is no complaint about directory not writable but still there is an error Model not found… even copied models from C:\ProgramData\Topaz Labs LLC\Topaz Video AI\models to C:\Program Files\Topaz Labs LLC\Topaz Video AI\models and still model is not being found.

6

ok thats worse, Topaz has to fix this. Is it only with Rhea and CLI?

7

Looks like the environment variables are not set up correctly as Mayday pointed out.

Can you email the support team directly at help@topazlabs.com so I can push this in front of the devs on Monday when they are in the office?