What is hardware acceleration?
Simply put, hardware acceleration is an option in some programs/apps. By having it enabled, they will attempt to use your device’s GPU/GPU-equivalent. In very basic terms, its an option that allows the program to use the right hardware in your computer.
Most modern browsers support hardware acceleration. Due to recent browser updates, Foundry VTT will technically function without hardware acceleration enabled- sometimes. Despite this, the experience will still be worse without it enabled, and we strongly recommend against using Foundry VTT without hardware acceleration enabled. We explain how to enable it, and fix other issues related to hardware acceleration below.
How to enable hardware acceleration
We explain how to enable hardware acceleration in commonly used browsers, listed below. We do not recommend using browsers that are not listed below- if they are not listed, they are not officially supported by Foundry VTT, or by The Forge. Using an unsupported browser may result in issues or complete non-functionality in Foundry VTT.
Enabling in Google Chrome
Paste chrome://settings/?search=hardware
into your browser’s address bar.
Press the three dots in the top right of the browser.
Select Settings.
Scroll to the bottom and open up the “advanced” section.
Navigate to system, and ensure Hardware acceleration is on.
Enabling in Firefox
Navigate to the top right of your browser, to the three-stripes icon.
Select Options.
Navigate to the General section.
And then navigate to Performance.
Deselect “Use recommended user settings” and ensure that Hardware acceleration is on.
If it isn’t on, enable it.
Enabling in Microsoft Edge
Select the three dots in the top right corner, and select “Settings”.
Then select “System”.
Once there, see if Hardware Acceleration is turned on. If it is not, select and enable it.
Enabling in Opera
To enable hardware acceleration in Opera, take the following steps:
- In the address bar, paste
about:config. - Scroll to the bottom of the page. At the very bottom, there will be an expandable prompt labeled “Advanced”. Select this to expand your settings page.
- Scroll down until you find the System category in your advanced settings.
- Under this System category, select and enable “Use hardware acceleration when available”, if it is not already enabled.
After doing this, Foundry VTT should perform as expected within your Opera browser!
Troubleshooting Hardware Acceleration
In most cases, enabling hardware acceleration will simply work, and allow you to use Foundry VTT as normal. In rare cases however, it may fail to function properly. We note common troubleshooting steps below.
Restarting your browser
If hardware acceleration is enabled in a browser but does not function, it is possible that there is an issue with the browser losing access to your graphics card/integrated equivalent. This is rare, and usually occurs after a GPU driver update.
We recommend restarting the browser entirely, closing all active tabs and windows, and then opening the browser again.
Restarting your device
If hardware acceleration still isn’t functioning after restarting your browser, sometimes a complete restart of the device (toggling it off, and then on again) will restore functionality in Foundry VTT.
Toggle Override software rendering list in Chrome
If you are using Google Chrome, paste the following into your address bar: chrome://flags/#ignore-gpu-blocklist. Once there, toggle the currently selected option.
Setting graphics settings in operating system
Browsers can be configured to make use of hardware acceleration when available. But sometimes an operating system might not allow the browser to do this. If you’ve activated hardware acceleration in the browser, but it is still not enabled, please check your operating system’s graphics.
For example, on Windows, you will be able to turn on hardware accelerated GPU scheduling by default or set an individual application to high performance mode.
Still Experiencing Issues?
If none of these solutions worked, we recommend reaching out to Forge support for further assistance. We offer live chat support via our Discord, and offer email support via [email protected].