[VAST] In what situation would the LiveClient display the message 'Due to surface loss, the render mode...?'

 

Question

When I operate VAST LiveClient to view cameras, the following message appears: 'Due to surface loss, the render mode switches from DirectDraw to GDI. This will increase CPU usage. You can restart the Client to revert to DirectDraw.'

Under what circumstances would LiveClient display this message?

Answer

In order to render video, the VAST uses different graphic resources depending on the data which needs to be decoded. If there is a "Surface lost" error, it means that the current rendering mode memory resources are not enough or are being used for other task. In this situations, the VAST software will switch from DirectDraw to GDI as a fallback measure to ensure that rendering can continue even if the default method fails. This error will appear commonly in the following scenarios:

1. When you press "Ctrl+Alt+Delete" and then return to LiveClient.
2. When a Windows User Account Control (UAC) window pops up.
3. When the screen saver appears and you then return to LiveClient.
4. When logging into the LiveClient PC via remote desktop.

The simplest solution to this issue is to restart the LiveClient interface. This will allow VAST to revert back to using DirectDraw. You can also configure the software to use only one method exclusively. To do so, please refer to the following documentation:

• [VAST] How to avoid LiveClient popping up the message "Due to surface lost, the render mode...."?