Mitsuba3 Cuda in Ubuntu 24.04 // Optix // libnvoptix.so.1 Could Not be Loaded Fix

[Disgruntoad]

jit_optix_api_init(): libnvoptix.so.1 could not be loaded -- disabling OptiX backend! Set DRJIT_LIBOPTIX_PATH environment variable to specify its path....

Mainly just posting this in case anyone else has this problem with using nvidia's optix (ray tracing) library. Took me a while to track down the solution on an obscure forum post from a few years ago. I'm not sure if this missing package is installed if you automatically install the drivers. I manually installed nvidia-dkms-560 and had this issue.

You need to install libnvidia-gl-[gpu driver version], eg:

sudo apt install libnvidia-gl-560

I also read that you need the display version of the gpu drivers (not 'headless' or 'server' versions). I don't believe that matters. I moved from headless to display drivers on my machine and neither loaded the libnvoptix.so.1 file until I installed the libnvidia-gl library.

[merlinND]

Hello @Disgruntoad,

Thanks for sharing your solution.
When installing the NVIDIA drivers in the officially supported ways (e.g. runfile or the CUDA apt package), I don't think that manually installing libnvidia-gl-* is needed. Still, good to know!

[Disgruntoad]

I did install nvidia drivers with

sudo apt install nvidia-dkms-560

which is, as far as I know, officially supported and one reason I was surprised to have this issue.

[merlinND]

I believe the package to install is nvidia-driver-560. nvidia-dkms-* is just one component.