Crashes/stucks of DAW programs on some VST plugins that use OpenGL on secondary display with Nvidia cards

My particular problem is that Reaper DAW hangs/not responding when I try to open VST plugins on second and 3rd displays connected to my computer. They work normally if opened on 1st(main) display

The plugins affected: FabFilter, MeldaProduction, Waves

My system: Win10, Ryzen 3900x, 64Gb RAM, NVME SSD, 1080Ti (3 displays connected), latest drivers

The problem with FabFilter can be solved as descripted here: https://www.fabfilter.com/support/faq/#how-can-i-disable-graphics-acceleration-on-my-computer

The problem with MeldaProduction can be solved by disabling GPU acceleration in plugin settings.

However I found that it is general problem for many VST plugins and different DAWs: they hang or crash when Nvidia graphics card is used and more than 1 display is used. I suppose it is OpenGL related problem, so maybe there is general solution for any VST plugin and any DAW.


The solution, if you can't switch off a plugin's reliance on OpenGL, I'm afraid is - get a better graphics card.

Many manufacturers cheap-skate OpenGL support to any non-primary display. You need to find one that doesn't.
This is not the fault of the NVidia chipset (or company) itself, but that of the actual card manufacturer.

I first discovered this whilst running online support for a gaming company. I honestly don't know how you discover which cards do support OpenGL properly on secondary displays, but that is definitely the cause & solution. On our game it would result in characters being simple black solids instead of fully rendered. Simply moving the game to the primary display would always fix it.
Interestingly, this seems to affect cards built for Window PCs far more than it does Macs. I have never found a Mac with this problem, only ever PCs.

I don't really use Melda or FabFilter much, but I've had Waves for over 15 years & never personally seen the issue (but I'm on a Mac).