Why Is This Greyed Out?
A command that is greyed out, a tree branch that is not there, a button that does nothing when clicked — these look like faults but are almost always VRGS telling you something specific. There are six reasons, and working through them in order will identify which one you have hit within a minute or two.
| # | Reason | Symptom |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Your licence does not include the feature | A whole branch or ribbon panel is missing, not just greyed |
| 2 | You have a Viewer licence | Save, export and import are disabled |
| 3 | The other renderer handles that command | The button is there but inert, or greyed |
| 4 | The object is not in the right state | One command greyed, others on the same menu fine |
| 5 | Hardware, a model file or a sign-in is missing | The feature exists but reports it cannot start |
| 6 | The command is not implemented | Permanently greyed, in every project |
1. Licence features
VRGS licences carry feature entitlements as well as a type. A feature you do not hold does not merely disable its commands — in most cases the branch is never created, so there is nothing in the tree to right-click and nothing to find.
| Feature | Code | What it unlocks |
|---|---|---|
| Virtual reality | VR | Connect to HMD and the VR session. Also requires a headset to be detected. |
| Remote collaboration | RC | Multiuser sessions — see Multiuser Collaboration. |
| Discrete fracture networks | DFN | The Discrete Fracture Network and Discrete Element Model branches of the Interpretation tree, and their commands. |
| Structure from Motion | SFM | The SfM panel and tree, and the photogrammetry workflow. |
| Seismic | SEISMIC | The Seismic Volumes branch. Also requires the Vulkan renderer. |
| CT imagery | CTIMAGE | The CT Image Stack branch. Also requires the Vulkan renderer. |
| CT | CT | CT imagery handling. |
| Data mining | DM | The data-mining commands on the data tree. |
| Integrations | INTEG | The GeoTour / Digital Outcrop platform sign-in and sync. |
| Chat | CHAT | The Athos AI assistant — see Athos. |
| No cloud | NOCLOUD | The inverse of the others: when present it switches cloud services off, for sites that require it. |
VRN | VRN | Historic. The Vulkan renderer used to be licensed; it no longer is, and nothing gates on this entitlement any more. |
Home ribbon → Update → License Status shows what your licence carries.
If the Interpretation tree has no Discrete Fracture Network node at all — as opposed to one whose commands are greyed — the DFN feature is not on your licence. Check License Status before looking any further.
2. A Viewer licence
A Viewer licence is a separate axis from features: it permits opening and looking at projects but not changing them. It disables:
- Save Project and Save Project As
- Export (the File menu route)
- Import interpretations from GeoJSON
- Autosave, which is skipped silently and noted only in the log
If saving is greyed out on a project you can otherwise navigate and interpret in, this is why. See Licensing.
3. The renderer you are running
VRGS renders through Vulkan (the default) or OpenGL, and a number of commands are implemented in only one of the two views. The button still appears on the ribbon — it simply does nothing, or greys out, in the other view.
Handled by the OpenGL view only:
| Command | Where | Alternative in Vulkan |
|---|---|---|
| Auto Tracker digitising | Interpretation | Geodesic Distance for surface-following traces |
| Trackway Analysis | Annotations | Measure Multi 3D for a cumulative path |
| Filter on Move, Distance Filtering, Auto Set Centre | Display menu | Per-object LOD and tiling — Working with Large Models |
| Capture Movie From Screen | Display → Animations | Record from a flight path, which works in both |
| Presentation-mode slide controls | Flight path | — |
Handled by the Vulkan view only:
| Command | Notes |
|---|---|
| Seismic volumes and CT image stacks | Licence-gated and Vulkan-only; the branches are absent in an OpenGL session |
| Ray-traced shadows, ambient occlusion, post-processing effects | No effect on the OpenGL view |
| VR | The VR session requires Vulkan |
| Flight-path narration, guided tours, pause-and-look-around, the timeline transport strip | See the Flight Path guide |
Switch renderer in Project Properties → Advanced & Diagnostics → Use Vulkan
Renderer, or from the command line with -vulkan / -opengl.
The renderer setting takes effect the next time VRGS starts. It does not switch the live 3D view.
4. The object is not in the right state
The most common everyday case, and the easiest to fix. If one command on a menu is greyed while its neighbours are fine, the object is not ready for it.
| Cause | Fix |
|---|---|
| The mesh is streamed, not resident — many operations need the whole thing in memory | Optimization → Load Into Memory |
| Nothing is selected — the command acts on a selection | Select the object first |
| The wrong depth mode — log correlation is available in TVT mode only | Switch depth mode on the 2D Log tab |
| The tool is already armed — clicking again disarms it | Press Esc, then re-arm |
| No project is open | Most commands require one |
| The command needs a second object — difference maps, ICP, cut-with-surface | Load the other object; dynamic submenus list only what is currently in memory |
| The stale partition tree makes picking miss rather than grey out | Optimization → Rebuild Partition Tree |
5. Hardware, models or sign-in
Some features are present and licensed but cannot start because something outside VRGS is missing.
| Feature | Needs |
|---|---|
| VR | An OpenXR headset actually detected. Both the licence feature and a live headset are required, so the command stays disabled with a licence but no hardware. |
| SAM 3 segmentation | An NVIDIA CUDA GPU. SAM 2 variants run on CPU; SAM 3 does not — see 2D Image Interpretation. |
| AI features generally | The model files, downloaded on first use, and a sign-in. See AI & ML Requirements. |
| Athos assistant | The Chat feature and a GeoTour login. Without the login the chat input box is disabled and a message says so. |
| GNSS rows in Project Properties | A receiver connected. The section is absent otherwise — see GNSS Field Navigation. |
| Online tiles and basemaps | An internet connection; they stream every session and are not available offline. |
| Ray-traced shadows and ambient occlusion | A ray-tracing-capable GPU. Without one the toggles simply have no visible effect rather than greying out. |
6. Commands that are not implemented
A small number of buttons exist in the interface with nothing behind them. They are permanently unavailable and no setting will change that.
| Command | Status |
|---|---|
| Export USD | No handler in this release. Use Export Model and pick glTF or Collada — Getting Data In and Out. |
| Batch Export | No handler. Export groups individually. |
| From Sketchfab | Marked inactive in the menu. |
Working through it
- Is the branch missing, or present but greyed? Missing → licence feature. Check License Status.
- Is it Save or Export? → Viewer licence.
- Does the same command work in the other renderer? → renderer split. The tables above list the known ones.
- Do neighbouring commands on the same menu work? → object state. Try Load Into Memory first; it accounts for more of these than anything else.
- Does the feature start and then report a problem? → hardware, a model download or a sign-in.
- Still nothing? Check the log at
logs/vrgs-debug.log(withVRGS_BUILD_PATHset) or the messages panel — a refused command usually says why there even when the interface does not.
See also
- Licensing — activation, licence types and deployment.
- Hardware Requirements — what the machine needs.
- AI & Machine Learning Requirements — GPU and model requirements for the AI tools.
- Project Properties — where the renderer setting lives.
- Working with Large Models — residency, LOD and the partition tree.