Error Message: Install OpenGL 2.0 or Higher

Help/How To
17

Menu > Settings > Display Method

Besides driver changes outside of Shotcut, the biggest factor affecting this in Shotcut is Settings > Display Method. This was added in version 15.09 and defaulted to Automatic, which selects OpenGL, DirectX, or software as determined by Qt - the library we use for the UI. (This library is also responsible for the presentation and wording of the dialog quoted in the original message.) Which setting works best is very system dependent. On many systems, they all work. Therefore, the selection of a default is difficult. Shotcut does not report information to a cloud service and is therefore unable to determine from analytics data.

In version 17.03, I changed the default Display Method from Automatic to DirectX (ANGLE) in response to numerous problem reports where changing it to DirectX solved the issue.

In version 19.04, I changed it back to Automatic because I added Software (Mesa) option since I upgraded and rebuilt Qt and got it working in both 32- and 64-bit. I wanted to restore the ability for the fresh install experience to be able to fallback to Software (Mesa). Unfortunately, that kind of back-fired. many people again reported problems where changing it to DirectX solved it for them. Also, on one of my systems, Software (Mesa) did not work and gave me the dreaded dialog. This is crazy because the software mode should be foolproof! (But Software should not be default because is slower.)

In version 19.06, I changed it back to DirectX (ANGLE) for the above reasons. Also because I learned that DirectX has a builtin software fallback mode called WARP lending further weight toward making it the default. In this version, I also made a hack to workaround the library limitation and make Software (Mesa) foolproof except if you are running the Microsoft Store app because it is using a technique incompatible with its sandbox mode.

How To Reset Display Method to Default

  • If you are using the Microsoft Store app, you need to reset the app:
    1 - RIght click the app icon and choose More > App Settings…
    2 - Scroll down and click the Reset button (not Repair , the first one) under the Reset section.

  • If you are using the Windows installer, you can run the installer again and on a step near the end, there is a set of checkboxes with options:
    installer
    Click to enable the Remove Shotcut Settings from the Registry and continue.

  • If you are using the portable or are comfortable to manually edit the registry:
    1 - start regedit
    2 - navigate to Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Meltytech\Shotcut
    3 - look for the value opengl and delete it

How To Manually Change Display Method

  • If you are using the Microsoft Store app you must reset the app and choose a different option from above, which will not be possible if the default gives you this error. Then, the only solution is to
    1 - from the menu choose Settings > App Data Directory > Set… and choose a location
    2 - from the menu choose Settings > App Data Directory > Show… to open an Explorer window
    3 - follow the directions below

  • If you have chosen to use an App Data Directory, there will be a registry value named appdatadir that is set, then you need to look for the file shotcut.ini in the specified folder, open it in a text editor, and remove or change the opengl key to one of:

    • 0 for Automatic
    • 15 for DirectX
    • 16 for OpenGL
    • 17 for Software

  • If you are using the portable or are comfortable to manually edit the registry:
    1 - start regedit
    2 - navigate to Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Meltytech\Shotcut
    3 - look for the value opengl and change it if found or create it as a DWORD with hex value:

    • 0 for Automatic
    • f for DirectX
    • 10 for OpenGL
    • 11 for Software
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