Multilevel L0/L1 references now not working

[RedDwarf]

I have been having problems with Hybrid for quite some time, at some point it stopped allowing me to select Multilevel L0/L1 References when using NVEnc. I have used this in the past, I cannot remember where it worked unfortunately. That was many many nVidia driver updates back.
The Multilevel L0/L1 tick box cannot be ticked or slider cannot be adjusted on either H264 or H265 encoding.

Has support for the Multilevel L0/L1 references been removed by nVidia?

Hybrid 2023.03.17.1 on Windows 10 x64
nVidia driver currently 537.13
GTX 1660 Turin Core supporting H.264/H.265 encoding

[Selur]

iirc. it was possible to enable it in some versions, even when it did not work, that said.
Check the output of

<Path the Hybrid\64bit\NVEncC.exe> --check-features

and share the output (can be copy&pasted; no screenshot please).

It might also be that NVEnCC changed the way it reports the features, which confused Hybrid.
-> I'll look into it if you share the output of '--check-features' on your system.

Here's how the output looks on my system:

NVEncC (x64) 7.31 (r2580) by rigaya, Aug 28 2023 13:07:12 (VC 1929/Win) [NVENC API v12.1, CUDA 10.1] reader: raw, y4m, avi, avs, vpy, avsw, avhw [H.264/AVC, H.265/HEVC, MPEG2, VP8, VP9, VC-1, MPEG1, MPEG4, AV1] Environment Info OS : Windows 11 x64 (22621) [UTF-8] CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X 16-Core Processor [5.50GHz] (16C/32T) RAM: Used 7648 MB, Total 64632 MB #0: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 (9728 cores, 2505 MHz)[PCIe4x16][537.42] NVEnc features Codec: H.264/AVC Encoder Engines 2 Max Bframes 4 B Ref Mode 3 (each + only middle) RC Modes 63 (CQP, CBR, CBRHQ, VBR, VBRHQ) Field Encoding 0 (no) MonoChrome no FMO no Quater-Pel MV yes B Direct Mode yes CABAC yes Adaptive Transform yes Max Temporal Layers 4 Hierarchial P Frames yes Hierarchial B Frames yes Max Level 62 (6.2) Min Level 10 (1) 4:4:4 yes Min Width 145 Max Width 4096 Min Height 49 Max Height 4096 Multiple Refs yes Max LTR Frames 8 Dynamic Resolution Change yes Dynamic Bitrate Change yes Forced constant QP yes Dynamic RC Mode Change no Subframe Readback yes Constrained Encoding yes Intra Refresh yes Custom VBV Bufsize yes Dynamic Slice Mode yes Ref Pic Invalidiation yes PreProcess no Async Encoding yes Max MBs 65536 Lossless yes SAO no Me Only Mode 1 (I,P frames) Lookahead yes AQ (temporal) yes Weighted Prediction yes 10bit depth no Codec: H.265/HEVC Encoder Engines 2 Max Bframes 5 B Ref Mode 3 (each + only middle) RC Modes 63 (CQP, CBR, CBRHQ, VBR, VBRHQ) Field Encoding 0 (no) MonoChrome no Quater-Pel MV yes B Direct Mode no Max Temporal Layers 0 Hierarchial P Frames no Hierarchial B Frames no Max Level 186 (6.2) Min Level 30 (1) 4:4:4 yes Min Width 129 Max Width 8192 Min Height 33 Max Height 8192 Multiple Refs yes Max LTR Frames 7 Dynamic Resolution Change yes Dynamic Bitrate Change yes Forced constant QP yes Dynamic RC Mode Change no Subframe Readback yes Constrained Encoding yes Intra Refresh yes Custom VBV Bufsize yes Dynamic Slice Mode yes Ref Pic Invalidiation yes PreProcess no Async Encoding yes Max MBs 262144 Lossless yes SAO yes Me Only Mode 1 (I,P frames) Lookahead yes AQ (temporal) yes Weighted Prediction yes 10bit depth yes Codec: AV1 Encoder Engines 2 Max Bframes 7 B Ref Mode 3 (each + only middle) RC Modes 3 (CQP, CBR, VBR) Field Encoding 0 (no) MonoChrome no Quater-Pel MV yes B Direct Mode no Max Temporal Layers 0 Hierarchial P Frames no Hierarchial B Frames no Max Level 23 (7.3) Min Level 0 (2) 4:4:4 no Min Width 192 Max Width 8192 Min Height 128 Max Height 8192 Multiple Refs yes Max LTR Frames 4 Dynamic Resolution Change yes Dynamic Bitrate Change yes Forced constant QP yes Dynamic RC Mode Change no Subframe Readback yes Constrained Encoding no Intra Refresh yes Custom VBV Bufsize yes Dynamic Slice Mode no Ref Pic Invalidiation yes PreProcess no Async Encoding yes Max MBs 262144 Lossless no SAO no Me Only Mode 0 (no) Lookahead yes AQ (temporal) yes Weighted Prediction no 10bit depth yes NVDec features H.264/AVC: nv12, yv12 H.265/HEVC: nv12, yv12, yv12(10bit), yv12(12bit), yuv444, yuv444(10bit), yuv444(12bit) MPEG1: nv12, yv12 MPEG2: nv12, yv12 MPEG4: nv12, yv12 VP8: nv12, yv12 VP9: nv12, yv12, yv12(10bit), yv12(12bit) VC-1: nv12, yv12 AV1: nv12, yv12, yv12(10bit)

Cu Selur

[RedDwarf]

Thanks, my features look the same as your RTX 4080 except for mine not supporting AV1 at all. Everything else looks identical.
When I used Hybrid some before my current install the Multilevel Refs could be selected one minute and then just after they could not be used. I tried uninstalling, reinstalling and replacing the settings files which did restore the Multilevel Refs for one encode and after that they became unavailable again until I closed Hybrid and replaced the settings files. Very annoying doing one encode and having to repeat the process. Now I have been unable to use the Multilevel Refs at all on this current Windows install.

I can see that my NVEncC is an older version than the one that you are using, 7.21 compared with 7.31. If you need any further diagnostic info then you only need to ask.

$ NVEncC.exe --check-features NVEncC (x64) 7.21 (r2490) by rigaya, Mar 13 2023 14:18:26 (VC 1929/Win)   [NVENC API v12.0, CUDA 10.1] reader: raw, y4m, avi, avs, vpy, avsw, avhw [H.264/AVC, H.265/HEVC, MPEG2, VP8, VP9, VC-1, MPEG1, MPEG4, AV1] Environment Info OS : Windows 10 x64 (19044) [UTF-8] CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K @ 3.50GHz (4C/8T) RAM: Used 15973 MB, Total 32641 MB #0: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 (1408 cores, 1845 MHz)[PCIe3x16][537.13] NVEnc features Codec: H.264/AVC Encoder Engines          1 Max Bframes              4 B Ref Mode                3 (each + only middle) RC Modes                  63 (CQP, CBR, CBRHQ, VBR, VBRHQ) Field Encoding            0 (no) MonoChrome                no FMO                      no Quater-Pel MV            yes B Direct Mode            yes CABAC                    yes Adaptive Transform        yes Max Temporal Layers      4 Hierarchial P Frames      yes Hierarchial B Frames      yes Max Level                62 (6.2) Min Level                10 (1) 4:4:4                    yes Min Width                145 Max Width                4096 Min Height                49 Max Height                4096 Multiple Refs            yes Max LTR Frames            8 Dynamic Resolution Change yes Dynamic Bitrate Change    yes Forced constant QP        yes Dynamic RC Mode Change    no Subframe Readback        yes Constrained Encoding      yes Intra Refresh            yes Custom VBV Bufsize        yes Dynamic Slice Mode        yes Ref Pic Invalidiation    yes PreProcess                no Async Encoding            yes Max MBs                  65536 Lossless                  yes SAO                      no Me Only Mode              1 (I,P frames) Lookahead                yes AQ (temporal)            yes Weighted Prediction      yes 10bit depth              no Codec: H.265/HEVC Encoder Engines          1 Max Bframes              5 B Ref Mode                3 (each + only middle) RC Modes                  63 (CQP, CBR, CBRHQ, VBR, VBRHQ) Field Encoding            0 (no) MonoChrome                no Quater-Pel MV            yes B Direct Mode            no Max Temporal Layers      0 Hierarchial P Frames      no Hierarchial B Frames      no Max Level                186 (6.2) Min Level                30 (1) 4:4:4                    yes Min Width                129 Max Width                8192 Min Height                33 Max Height                8192 Multiple Refs            yes Max LTR Frames            7 Dynamic Resolution Change yes Dynamic Bitrate Change    yes Forced constant QP        yes Dynamic RC Mode Change    no Subframe Readback        yes Constrained Encoding      yes Intra Refresh            yes Custom VBV Bufsize        yes Dynamic Slice Mode        yes Ref Pic Invalidiation    yes PreProcess                no Async Encoding            yes Max MBs                  262144 Lossless                  yes SAO                      yes Me Only Mode              1 (I,P frames) Lookahead                yes AQ (temporal)            yes Weighted Prediction      yes 10bit depth              yes NVDec features   H.264/AVC:  nv12, yv12   H.265/HEVC: nv12, yv12, yv12(10bit), yv12(12bit), yuv444, yuv444(10bit), yuv444(12bit)   MPEG1:      nv12, yv12   MPEG2:      nv12, yv12   MPEG4:      nv12, yv12   VP8:        nv12, yv12   VP9:        nv12, yv12, yv12(10bit), yv12(12bit)   VC-1:      nv12, yv12

[Selur]

Try resetting the tool cache.

[RedDwarf]

I did try that before when it was working for one encode and not for others and it didn't fix anything. I have tried it again, it reset everything including all my settings and it has not altered anything. I have also tried it just for the NVEnc model but again without any alteration.

[Selur]

I'll look at it tomorrow, probably some typo somewhere.

[RedDwarf]

Thank you for your help.

Would it help if I tried older versions to see which worked without problems? I was not having these problems many releases back but I don't know which one it was that work 100%. If I knew which ones will work with my current system, Windows 10 and drivers then it would make it a little easier rather than uninstalling and reinstalling repeatedly.

I have the following builds and I know that at least one or more have worked in the past with earlier nVidia drivers. I did use one on Windows 7.

Hybrid_2020.12.13.1_SETUP_Win7
Hybrid_2021.01.31.1_SETUP
Hybrid_2021.04.12.1_SETUP
Hybrid_2021.07.18.1_SETUP
Hybrid_2021.12.05.1_SETUP
Hybrid_2022.03.20.1_SETUP
Hybrid_2023.03.17.1_SETUP

[Selur]

No, need, it's probably easy to trace and find, will look at it after work.
(had a quick look, I know where the issue is - detected settings are not properly saved - but I need to check where exactly it breaks)

Cu Selur

[Selur]

Think I fixed it. (was a mixup due to some typo which caused Hybrid to not properly read the toolcache infos.)
Send you a link for testing via pm.

Cu Selur

[RedDwarf]

It definitely works correctly in Hybrid 2021.01.31.1 but that version is missing many features than newer builds including the cut support to make testing quicker.

That version also doesn't seem to get near to the specified bitrate when using NVEnc and it also doesn't seem to follow the 2 pass full option when specified. It only seems to do 1 pass encoding. I specified 1500 kbps Constant bitrate 2 pass encoding and it totally ignores it and does 1 pass. I have tried both encoding to a file size and to a target bitrate. Only the variable and constant bitrate allow selecting 2 pass encoding whereas the Variable HQ or Constant HQ do not allow 2 pass to be selected. It's the same with H.264 & H.265, none do 2 pass. Is this a known issue?

Think I fixed it. (was a mixup due to some typo which caused Hybrid to not properly read the toolcache infos.)
Send you a link for testing via pm.

Cu Selur

Thanks, that seems to of fixed it, it has completed several small encodes successfully.

There still is the problem with 2 pass not working though but I can post that to a new thread and ask whether it is supposed to do what I believe it should do.

It does also seem to of fixed the default container where it would always start with mp4 even though the standard output container was set to mkv in the options.