18.1 is cropping VST plugin windows, help?

Anything can be done about this new bug under Resolve 18.1 ?

All my VST plugin windows are being cropped down to 1/3 of their supposed size. I am unable to use them due to this. Urgent, please send help I have tried to reset UI, no effect.

Too bad I cannot revert back to 18.0 because of database version change.

Make sure Display Scaling is set to 100%.

Display Scaling.png (102.05 KiB) Viewed 3968 times

It is 100%

This issue is new with 18.1

Not seeing that here, Harri. Here's a pic with four of my VST plugins open. None are cropped. HD screen scaling is set to 100%.

Today for some reason the windows are again showing normally. Hope it stays that way.

VST GUI scaling properly in Davinci Resolve is often unfathomable. I gave up trying to work it out, it might be fine for a few days, then no matter what you do they are cropped. Sometimes switching between VST2 and VST3 wakes Resolve up to scale them properly.

I'm seeing this at the moment in 18.1.1 on Windows 11 would be useful to know if BM have acknowledged this as a bug or not.
The amount of cropping seems entirely random i can open and close a GUI and it will suddenly be more or less cropped but never showing full uncropped GUI.
Last night i was trying to work on a project that was using fabfilter Pro Q3 and Izotope RX 7 voice denoise and it was totally unworkable.

There's really no logic as to why it happens as I said. You can often find if Fairlight can't scale the vst3 properly it does manage it with VST2. Sometimes if the VST isn't too cropped and there's a scale setting in the plugin that can bring it back to life, but much of the time that scale button is hidden in the cropped GUI

I tested it on My Macbook Pro last night and its not happening so definitely a Windows issue specifically, Its really odd how Blackmagic can release an update with such a fundamental flaw especially when they appear to have been concentrating on Fairlight and audio more recently.
I always used to have to export my audio out to Pro Tools to do things properly and then reimport the results and I thought I should not need to do that anymore after some success using version 17 but version 18 is killing that notion

It's a Davinci Resolve issue rather than a Windows issue imo as these exact same plugins display fine in other hosts at the same screen resolution and 100% scaling.

Yes sorry i didnt make that clear, I meant a resolve problem "on Windows" as opposed to MacOS because I don't see the issue using the same plugins on My Mac.

Who knows, I try and get as much vst stuff done out of Fairlight, but especially for some Surround/Atmos work that's not really the best workflow.

Exactly me too, but this issue is why I cant do that currently.

From my experience this issue is not related to any specific version of DVR. I had problems with several VST plug-ins, some don't load, others have a UI scaling issue and some work as advertised.
There is no obvious logic behind it (happens with VST and VST3) and I am not a VST expert so I can't blame BMD or the plug-in vendor.
Since a while I am using BlueCatAudios Patchwork as a VST Host plug-in. Patchwork has loaded every
plug-in so far. No more problems...

No, I am not related to them, nor do they pay me. I just like things that work...

Thanks, I have Patchwork too, didnt think of trying it, I'll give it a go.

The bug is available on 18.1 and 18.1.1 both.

I have reported it to the support service, but currently they only ask me more details...

So I bump up this topic for reason anyone from Blackmagic team pointed this for developers.

It is impossible to use Resolve for any sound work now(((

The way using external hosts is not the solution. BMD point us that Resolve is a full-functional DAW!

I personally moved back to 18.0.4 - it works correctly as always all previous versions.
I work with resolve since 12 version on High DPI monitors. This is the first case with a such important bug.

For users who want to back - there is a solution - save your projects to dpr file - it can be opened in 18.0.4. But some vst plugins will show incorrect window size again - the solution is simple - remove vst and add it again. It seems window size is recorded to the project file, but there is no way to resize it.

Since a while I am using ****** as a VST Host plug-in. Patchwork has loaded every
plug-in so far. No more problems...

Really?! 99€ plugin that fixes Resolve incorrect VST implementation and bugs?!

The only one problem I had before - VST implementation is only a subset. So many beautiful VST plugins without GUI controls are impossible to use with Resolve.

Yep it is one way around it. Krushview Element, Plogue Bidule, DDM MetaPlugin, Bluecat Patchwork all generally will display the plugin correctly.

I mean we should report bugs, but not to search for a solution.
Resolve has tons of bugs, and if we will not report it, this situation will be always permanent.

It seems Resolve development team has very few resources to test anything.

What's wrong doing both? I thought you need a quick solution ...

Please report this bug to the support service directly

I have already run out of patience for a couple days to communicate with technical support. It looks like they just don't want to accept the bug report at all

I send them already all info about the bug details, but it seems it is useless - they ask me useless questions day to day it's very much like wasting time.

Sorry, but it is not the first case... when I send report but they do not accept it

I think anyone seriously working in VST in DR gave up a while a go and just got on with using their solutions and workarounds as it's been a while and the situation doesn't seem to improve. VST does sometimes have scaling issue in other hosts too, it's just DR seems to have a high frequency of scaling issues.

I have no scaling issues on Reaper. It has many High-DPI settings to play and get a solution if something wrong. Also it has a resizable window, so in any case we can see everything.

It is the primary host I use.

Resolve before 18.0 had no high DPI issues because they draw all windows at 100% scale. It was working many years.

No, it wasn't. I am still on v17, which is showing the same problem with some VSTs.
But as I am using VST wrappers for other reasons, I don't care that much.

I am still on v17, which is showing the same problem with some VSTs.

The solution on a dev-side may be simple - to make a plugin window resizable.

Can confirm that 18.1.1 really crops VST plugins. The only workaround so far is to switch to 100% scaling in the user preferences inside DR.

Not a showstopper but a stupid oversight that should get fixed in the next bug release.

Christian

Ok, so maybe the dynamic UI scaling in 18.1.1 made an existing bug worse.

Problem with working in 100% dpi in DR to fix its scaling issues, is the VSTs are then often too small to use anyway. Catch 22.

I am glad that I resisted updating to v18 so far...

[Shrinivas Ramani]

Hi Harri, Sam, Neil (and others)

Thanks for the reports. It would help us chase up differences in behavior if you can describe the following:

a. your monitor setup - resolutions, scaling, primary screen, windowed vs full screen modes.

b. examples of VST plugins that scale differently between Resolve 18.0.4 and 18.1 - or another app and Resolve 18.1 in general. Please feel free to include screenshots.

c. An overview of your general setup - OS, graphics, drivers etc.

Thanks for your support
Shrinivas

A bit of a late reply to Neil, but as I posted before, I have no problems with VSTs. Here, for instance, is FabFilter Pro Q3.

Please report this bug to the support service directly

I have already run out of patience for a couple days to communicate with technical support. It looks like they just don't want to accept the bug report at all

I send them already all info about the bug details, but it seems it is useless - they ask me useless questions day to day it's very much like wasting time.

Sorry, but it is not the first case... when I send report but they do not accept it

They are listening since four days now. Where are you?
Having moderated a forum myself for some time I learned that in general users fall into three categories.

A bit of a late reply to Neil, but as I posted before, I have no problems with VSTs. Here, for instance, is FabFilter Pro Q3.

This does not mean that another users have no problems with VST.

Thanks for the reports. It would help us chase up differences in behavior if you can describe the following:
s

Please look at the support request "Support #DBB-284-59008"

a. Three monitors connected.
The primary monitor where Resolve 1920x1080 Scale 100%
The secondary monitor for Clean Feed: UHD, scale 150%
The third monitor for scopes: old small 1280x1024, scale 100%
I have tried to change scale of any monitor for different scales, but no success.

2022-12-22-151353.png (2.66 KiB) Viewed 3003 times

b. VST2: Limiter No6, LoudMax. Latest versions. These two plugins are top quality limiters those absolutely best in quality and realtime use for video content (voice and environment sound). They are used in any of my project.

2022-12-01-093415.png (61.85 KiB) Viewed 3007 times

c. Windows 10 Pro x64. Nvidia 1080ti with latest driver, CUDA rendering. 32 GB Ram, intel i7.

[Shrinivas Ramani]

Andrew

If you were to set scaling on all displays to the same number (say 100%) do you see the issue?

Thanks
Shrinivas

Andrew
If you were to set scaling on all displays to the same number (say 100%) do you see the issue?

Yes. All my test history:
I downloaded 18.1.1 and started a new project. Found the bug with a new project.
I tried to set all monitor scaling to 100% while Resolve is running and no success.
So I tried to close Resolve and to open project again when all monitors set to 100%. The plugin look the same, so I tested another plugin.
I tried to move Resolve window to the monitor 2 to check if Resolve scaling connected to the bug, but I found no changes.
Then I tried to reinstall 18.1.0 and had some tests again - the same behavior.
Then I reinstall 18.0.1 to check project there. The same behaviour!!! It was strange to me, recently I had a project where had no issues. I just tried to remove plugins from the bus and insert them back and get a correct look!
I tried to install back 18.1.1 because this strange case with correct look after removing plugin.
I tried to remove plugin there and add it again and found no success.
I tried to change UI scaling in the program and tried different values. No success.
I tried to install 18.0.4 to find the latest version without a bug. It works correctly. So it was the last version that works correctly.
So I posted a bug report about this bug to the support service.

I have not tested 18.1.2 because there is no notes about VST bugs there.

Note: I am not sure that all tests were exactly as I remember.
Also an addition: I have a Resolve Studio license (purchased it on a local official reseller company).
Not tested it in a Free Edition.

So my ideas:
- 18.1 high dpi changes in the program were not tested with VST.
- 18.0.4 is the latest version that is not affected.
- VST plugin size is saved in the project (I had VST plugin cropped after back to 18.0.1, but if remove and add plugin again we had no issues).

My suggestions:
- Quick fix 1: make VST window resizable.
- Check why 18.1.1 to 18.0.1 stores VST window size. Probably the issue is also connected with VST windows position save and restore code, where Resolve saves not only window position, but also a size. But it is incorrect for the not resizable VSTs. Only a few VSTs have a resize feature where window size storing is useful, but most plugins are not resizable.
- Quick fix 2: Make a setting to restore back to 18.0.4 scaling engine.
- Reimplement High DPI engine with more compatibility settings to external plugins like VST. Most software work incorrectly with different high dpi modes. Most plugins know nothing about High DPI and works only if Windows scales it. You cannot fix this because the behavior is connected with Windows Window.

These old plugins including very old are still used in production, because we have no new company plugins alternative at all (like Limiter No6 - I have a paid version that sound bad in compare because the company was removed many useful features to the new paid limiter replacement). Another paid alternatives like iZotope also have different sounds those for my tests are not good as I can make in Limiter No6 where I can keep very fast short sounds. Most musical plugins just destroy these short sounds.

Some software like Reaper have many DPI settings include different scaling algorithms including Per-Monitor, Per-MonitorV2 and getting back to old behavior. - working with VST also have issues with High DPI settings in Reaper, but we have a possibility to switch high dpi settings off to get it working.

Your UI scale setting from 18.1.1 is useless here because we just get very huge interface if user have different DPI monitor connected. So the UI setting is useless and fixes nothing if we have 2 monitor connected. There should be a way to get interface scaling like in 18.0.4 and UI scales like: 0.5, 0.75, 1.25. 1.5 per monitor, if you want to keep these settings.

New Test Results in 18.1.2:

I have downloaded and installed 18.1.2 studio on clean settings (just changed VST path to tested vsts and change main cache location from C:)

My gui settings: The primary and third monitor has 100% scale, the secondary monitor has 175% scale.
Resolve is started on the primary monitor and scale is 100% there.

1. Added some different plugins:
All plugins were cropped, including resizable TDR Nova - the controls were intermingled with each other.

Screenshot:

A 100zoom.png (479.76 KiB) Viewed 2945 times

2. Closed the project and opened it again. Then click to the every plugin in the mixer to show:
Most plugins were cropped more.
Two plugins were changed:
TDR Kotelnikov now looks correctly.
TDR Nova now looks correctly. It is a resizable plugin.

B 100zoom open.png (350.51 KiB) Viewed 2945 times

3. Added another Nova instance:
It shows incorrectly.

C 100 zoom Nova.png (413.3 KiB) Viewed 2945 times

But after click to resize gripper there the plugin was resized.

New tests with 100% zoom:

1. I have changed the secondary monitor to 100% soom and restart resolve.
Now all three monitors have 100% zoom.
The result: No any changes. All plugins were the same size and positions as in my reopen test.
But no fixes for most plugins, including SPAN that is also resizable.

DD 100%.png (406.07 KiB) Viewed 2940 times

2. I removed all plugins and added them again.
All plugins shows correctly.

EE.png (604.29 KiB) Viewed 2940 times

3. Closed resolve. Changed monitor 2 scaling to 150%.
Opened resolve again and clicked to each plugin.
The result: most plugins now cropped. Some plugins ok.

FF.png (421.08 KiB) Viewed 2940 times

The list of plugins I used here:
lkjb_Luftikus.dll 1.3.0 from kvr in VST2.
TDR Nova.vst3 2.1.5 in VST3.
TDR Kotelnikov.vst3 1.6.4 in VST3.
SPAN.dll 3.14 in VST2.
ITDPanner.dll 2018 version (latest) in VST2.

New portion of tests. 150% zoom on the second monitor.
All plugins were cropped.

FlavourMTC.dll in VST2
FIVER.vst3 3.2 in VST3
PTEq-X.vst3 1.1.1 in VST3
Proximity.dll 1.0.1 2013 latest in VST2
A1StereoControl.dll 1.41 in VST2
StereoChannel.dll 1.0 latest in VST2

GGG.png (847.73 KiB) Viewed 2935 times

As you can see most of my plugins shows incorrectly.
I have also hundreds of another plugins, some free, some paid.
But I have no time to test them again.

Also Resolve is unusable even in 100% zoom, because if we will open it later in another zoom, all our VST cannot be editable anymore, because no way to resize them. The only way to delete them and start edit again with clean settings.

So is absolutely useless too. Windows High DPI settings will destroy your project editing, because we cannot access VST again anymore.

There is no any connection with VST3 and VST2, no connection with resizable vst too. Only a set of some plugins works. Most beautiful and high quality VST are not usable.

New test with a super-duper feature 100% scale from 18.1.1 That is absolutely useless:

hhh.png (5.53 KiB) Viewed 2891 times

I have new strange result after reopen plugin again after this setting:

The plugin PTEq-X started correctly after this setting. Most other plugins already cropped:

iiii.png (803.69 KiB) Viewed 2891 times

New test with 200% ui scaling in the user settings.

Resolve is not usable on my 1920x1080 monitor on this setting, but I can move the window to the monitor 2.

The result:
all plugin windows were scaled twice, cropping is the same. Only PTEq-X has correct scaling and no crop. All plugins ignore 200% scaling.

200.png (997.67 KiB) Viewed 2883 times

So this setting also cannot fix cropping.

Well, I still can't work out why your VSTs are cropped. Here is Flavour, one of the VSTs you are using, on a 1920x1080 monitor, and also on two. As you can see, no cropping.

Flavour VST Open.jpg (344.96 KiB) Viewed 2829 times

Flavour Open in Dual Screen.jpg (581.39 KiB) Viewed 2825 times

Well, I still can't work out why your VSTs are cropped.

Because I use a High DPI Scale in windows settings. Resolve calculates a window size incorrectly, using a wrong scale value from a different monitor (the monitor 2 in my case).

Well, I still can't work out why your VSTs are cropped.

Because I use a High DPI Scale in windows settings. Resolve calculates a window size incorrectly, using a wrong scale value from a different monitor (the monitor 2 in my case).

Confirmed, this is the case! BM - please fix this ASAP!

I've made some progress resolving all my VST cropping issues. I haven't tested in multi-monitors yet, only my laptop where the situation was most noticed, but I have managed to fix the VSTs that didn't scale correctly or got cropped by setting both Windows High DPI and Davinci Scaling to the same factor. So in my case I have Windows & Davinci both set at 150% Scaling. Before the new scaling feature in Resolve, even setting Windows to 100%, 150% or 200% scaling didn't make any difference, the VSTs were still cropped and sometimes just crashing as soon as they loaded too.
I think the new UI Display Scale feature actually made the cropping issue even worse for me initially, but since I've changed DR's UI Display Scale from 100% to 150% to match Windows High DPI Scaling all my VSTs are now displaying correctly. Saying that, I've been here before, but this has been consistently working for two days now for me.

I have the same issue on Resolve 18.1 with certain RX10 VST3s. Come on Blackmagic this issue has been around for months. This has rendered Davinci Resolve COMPLETELY UNWORKABLE for audio workflows. PLEASE fix this ASAP. Simply just make VST windows resizable until you can work out a more holistic fix.

I have the same issue on Resolve 18.1 with certain RX10 VST3s. Come on Blackmagic this issue has been around for months. This has rendered Davinci Resolve COMPLETELY UNWORKABLE for audio workflows. PLEASE fix this ASAP. Simply just make VST windows resizable until you can work out a more holistic fix.

That's all they have to do. Just make the VST window resizable.

Hi All

2 Solutions for Cropping plus potential additionals.

Use a plugin rack or chainer such as Waves StudioRack (Free at the moment) for VST3 plugins. Not just a simple fix for the cropping issue but also adds additional power for chaining in series and parallel.

In essence, a rack that holds multiple plugins

BlueCat Audio Patchwork (Paid) offers the additional ability to bring in VST and AU.

Both work and have not crashed with Izotope and other troublesome (cropped) plugins with virtually non-existent latency.

Additional chainers can be found by using a search engine for the terms audio plugin chainer or audio plugin rack with the combination of VST or VST3 etc.. but do not know the stability.

BlueCat demo deactivates for 1/2 second every minute or so for their demo and again waves is free but only accepts VST3.

Hope this helps and can get BM DR through a time until they can resolve internally the issue with High DPI

E

[Shrinivas Ramani]

Please check with the new DaVinci Resolve 18.1.3.

• Improved mixed resolution UI handling for audio effect dialogs.

Here we are at version 18.1.4 and the problem persists. And just to chime in, posting that you AREN'T having this problem isn't helping, unless there is a prize for post count. Where is BMD on this?