How to fix the REDSDK error?

Symptoms

During operations suddenly an error dialog appears mentioning a REDSDK error.

Cause

The REDSDK display device is used for rendering as well as drawing with a range of visual styles. For instance, it's used for visual style Realistic but not for 2dwireframe.

Roughly we can distinguish between cases where the error can occur over a wide range of graphics drivers, and cases where the error is specific to a specific driver of a specific card.

The first case indicates a probable bug for which we recommend entering a Support Request.

The second case, not so much. It may be that the graphics card is not supported very well, or just that the driver of the card is outdated.

Solution

Generally, it's a good approach to start with an update of the graphics driver. This resolves a lot of cases. If that doesn't work, please file a Support Request and list the actual error as well as the output of the BricsCAD command REDSDKINFO.

The REDSDKINFO command often displays a download link for a recommended version of the display driver for your graphics card. Usually this means the installed version should be the recommended version or a more recent version,

Note:

Hidden line, Gouraud and Flat visual styles may be drawn using REDSDK or OpenGL depending on preference GsDeviceType3d.

How to avoid using RedSDK when there is a problem (as a temporary workaround):

  • system variable GsDeviceType2D can be set to anything but 2 (RedOpenGL). By default, the variable is set to 0. It is then safe to use visual style 2dwireframe.
  • set system variable GsDeviceType3D to 0. This allows using visual styles HIDDEN, FLAT, GOURAUD because these styles then do not use RedSDK.
  • Don't use RENDER