Trying to fix screen tearing

jacatone

I notice screen tearing in 25.01. I have an Nvidia card. How would I fix this? Thanks.

vimanuelt

Use steps 1, 2, and 3 for FreeBSD.
Use steps 2 and 3 for GhostBSD.

Step 1: Make sure you're using the proprietary NVIDIA driver

GhostBSD usually installs the nvidia-driver package when it detects an NVIDIA GPU, but you can verify with:

pkg info | grep nvidia

You should see something like nvidia-driver-XXX.X.

If it's not installed:

sudo pkg install nvidia-driver

Then, ensure it loads on boot:

sudo sysrc kld_list+="nvidia-modeset"
sudo sysrc kldload_nvidia="nvidia-modeset"

Step 2: Create or edit `/usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-nvidia.conf`

This configures X11 to enable VSync and the full composition pipeline.

sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/
sudo ee /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-nvidia.conf

Paste the following:

`Section "Device"
Identifier "NvidiaCard"
Driver "nvidia"
Option "Coolbits" "4"
Option "TripleBuffer" "True"
Option "AllowIndirectGLXProtocol" "off"
Option "TearFree" "true"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "NvidiaCard"
Option "metamodes" "nvidia-auto-select +0+0 {ForceFullCompositionPipeline=On}"
EndSection

Step 3: Reboot or restart the X session

You can reboot to be sure:

sudo reboot

Or just log out and back in if you're using LightDM.

Optional: Use `nvidia-settings` to fine-tune

Install it if not already:

sudo pkg install nvidia-settings

Then run it:

nvidia-settings

Go to:

X Server Display Configuration
Check the Force Full Composition Pipeline box
Click Apply
Click Save to X Configuration File (or apply it manually if needed)

kuntalkundu

I am to facing screen tearing issue. I have intel basic gpu. What to do?

vimanuelt

Here is a fix-intel-tearing.sh script.

#!/bin/sh

set -e

echo "Fixing screen tearing for Intel GPU on GhostBSD..."

mkdir -p /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/

cat <<EOF > /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf
Section "Device"
    Identifier  "Intel Graphics"
    Driver      "intel"
    Option      "TearFree" "true"
EndSection
EOF

echo "Created 20-intel.conf with TearFree enabled."

if pkg info | grep -q xf86-video-intel; then
    echo "Removing xf86-video-intel (not recommended)..."
    pkg remove -y xf86-video-intel
    echo "xf86-video-intel removed."
fi

DE=$(echo $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')

enable_mate_compositor() {
    echo "Enabling compositor for MATE..."
    gsettings set org.mate.Marco.general compositing-manager true
    echo "MATE compositor enabled."
}

enable_xfce_compositor() {
    echo "Enabling compositor for XFCE..."
    xfconf-query -c xfwm4 -p /general/use_compositing -s true
    echo "XFCE compositor enabled."
}

if echo "$DE" | grep -q "mate"; then
    enable_mate_compositor
elif echo "$DE" | grep -q "xfce"; then
    enable_xfce_compositor
else
    echo "Could not detect MATE or XFCE desktop. Please enable compositor manually if needed."
fi

echo "All done!"

read -p "Reboot now to apply changes? [y/N]: " confirm
if echo "$confirm" | grep -iq "^y"; then
    reboot
else
    echo "Reboot later to apply changes."
fi