After Effects: Auto Switching to Mercury Software Only

[Carl Holmgren]

Hi there!

I have a problem where After Effects keep switching to Mercury Software Only by itself without me switching it. Yes, I'm always using Mercury GPU Acceleration (CUDA). No idea why it does this and it's quite annoying.

I tried searching around for solutions but I can't seem to find one or maybe it's just me who's encountering this.

Any ways to turn this off? I mean the auto switching. I don't want this option or want this to happen all the time as it slows down my workflow.

Thanks in advance!

PS: Please see attached for more info or let me know if there are any other information that I should provide to get this fixed.

[ShiveringCactus]

That's very strange.  I've not heard of that before.  Have you tried resetting your preferences?  

Hold down CTRL/CMD + SHIFT + ALT/OPTION(?) when starting AE.  A dialogue should pop up asking if you want to delete your preferences.  

[Carl Holmgren]

Yes, did that. I've experienced this on a couple of versions as well of AE and still the same. No updates about it either.

[Carl Holmgren]

PS: I'm using multiple plug-ins and scripts. Do those affect the problem I'm encountering?

[ShiveringCactus]

I'd be shocked if a plugin can force a change to render settings.  Do any of the scripts have output controls?

[Carl Holmgren]

An extension that I'm using called Motion Factory does it a lot.

[Carl Holmgren]

But either way, is there a solution where I can stop that extension to change my render settings via Preferences?

[Trevor Bobyk · Accepted solution]

Been having this problem for years. I Just double check my settings if I notice a drop in performance 

[Carl Holmgren]

Kinda annoying but gotta deal with it.

[KANCHIPATI33244573ix92]

hello dude, did you find the solution. i'm facing this problem. i can't even preview the project. it is so frustrating. please tell the solution if you know any

[Carl Holmgren]

Nope, none yet. As Trevor said, I'm just doing that.
Whenever it slows down, I'll directly see if it's in Software or Hardware.

I hope Adobe implements... for AE to just work on Hardware only whereas no plugin(s) is able to change it and ONLY switch to Software Only IF the Hardware Driver crashes.