How to update or clean install your graphics driver for Cinema 4D and Redshift

Ronald McGlynn
Ronald McGlynn
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Problem: Cinema 4D or Redshift is crashing, freezing, showing a blank or glitchy viewport, rendering incorrectly, or running slowly. An outdated, corrupt, or mismatched graphics driver is one of the most frequent causes of all of these, whether the problem shows up at launch or while you are working.
Solution at a glance Install the latest driver for your graphics card using a clean install. If the problem keeps coming back after a normal clean install, use DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) to fully remove the old driver first, then reinstall. DDU is the single most effective fix for stubborn graphics card issues, so it has its own section below.

You may have landed here from the Update your graphics driver button in the Maxon Support Tool. This article walks through the whole process, from a standard clean install to a complete driver wipe with DDU, on both Windows and macOS.

Why the graphics driver matters

Cinema 4D and Redshift both rely heavily on the graphics card (GPU). The driver is the software that lets Cinema 4D, Redshift, and Windows talk to that card. When the driver is out of date or a previous install left broken files behind, you can see crashes, freezes, viewport glitches, render errors, and poor performance, often with no other obvious cause. Reinstalling the driver cleanly clears out those broken files and is one of the first things worth trying.

Redshift GPU rendering in particular needs a reasonably recent driver. If you are on NVIDIA and the driver is too old, Redshift may refuse to use the card for GPU rendering. Installing the latest driver keeps you above the minimum.

Windows: update with a clean install

A clean install replaces the driver and removes leftover files from the previous one that can cause crashes. Always download the driver from the card manufacturer, not from Windows Update, since Windows Update often installs an older version.

  1. Identify your graphics card. Right-click the Start button, choose Device Manager, and expand Display adapters. The name listed there tells you whether you have an NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel card.
  2. Download the latest driver directly from the manufacturer:
  3. During installation, choose the clean-install option for your card. This removes leftover files from the previous driver:
    • NVIDIA: choose the Custom (Advanced) install option, then tick Perform a clean installation.
    • AMD: in the AMD Software installer, click Additional Options and tick Factory Reset, which removes all previous AMD driver versions before installing.
    • Intel: in the Intel installer, choose Custom Installation, then tick Execute a clean installation, which removes the old driver and resets Intel graphics settings to their defaults.
  4. Restart your computer and test Cinema 4D again.

Using a laptop with two graphics cards? Many laptops have both a low-power integrated graphics chip (built into the CPU) and a dedicated NVIDIA or AMD card. If Windows hands Cinema 4D the integrated chip, it can crash, show a blank viewport, or run very slowly. Update both, then make sure Cinema 4D is set to run on the dedicated card:

The most reliable fix for stubborn GPU problems: DDU

If Cinema 4D still crashes or misbehaves after a normal clean install, this is the step that most often fixes it. A standard NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel clean install does not always remove every leftover file from a broken driver. DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) removes the driver and every trace of it far more thoroughly than the vendor's own installer can, which is exactly why it resolves the stubborn graphics card issues that a normal reinstall cannot.

If you have been fighting a GPU-related crash for a while, it is worth going straight to DDU rather than reinstalling the same driver over and over.

DDU is third-party software, not a Maxon tool DDU is developed by Wagnardsoft, not by Maxon. It is widely trusted and used by the hardware community, but you use it at your own discretion. Always download it from one of the official sources below, never from a random "download" site.

Download DDU from an official source:

+Step-by-step: fully remove the driver with DDU

Step 1: Download and extract DDU

Download DDU from one of the links above and run the downloaded file. It extracts the DDU application into its own folder.

Step 2: Boot into Safe Mode

For the cleanest removal, run DDU in Safe Mode:

  1. Press the Windows key + R to open the Run dialog.
  2. Type msconfig and press Enter to open System Configuration.
  3. Go to the Boot tab.
  4. Tick Safe boot and select Minimal.
  5. Click OK, then Restart to boot into Safe Mode.

Step 3: Set the system to return to Normal Mode

While in Safe Mode, set Windows to start normally again afterward, because DDU restarts the computer when it finishes:

  1. Press the Windows key + R, type msconfig, and press Enter.
  2. On the Boot tab, untick Safe boot.
  3. Click OK, then choose Exit without Restart.
It is important to choose Exit without Restart here. DDU will restart the system itself, and this step ensures Windows comes back up in Normal Mode after DDU runs.

Step 4: Run DDU

  1. Still in Safe Mode, open the DDU folder you extracted earlier.
  2. Run Display Driver Uninstaller.exe.
  3. Click Options in the top right.
  4. Under the advanced options, tick Prevent downloads of drivers ("Windows Updates") when..., then click Close. This stops Windows from automatically reinstalling an old "recommended" driver after the restart.
  5. From the device-type drop-down on the right, select GPU.
  6. From the drop-down just below it, select your graphics vendor (NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel).
  7. Click Clean and restart. DDU removes the driver completely and the computer restarts automatically.

Step 5: Reinstall the driver

After DDU finishes and the system reboots, download and install the latest driver for your card from the manufacturer links earlier in this article. You do not need the clean-install checkbox this time, since DDU already removed everything.

macOS: how graphics drivers update

On macOS there is no separate graphics driver to download. The GPU driver is built into the operating system, so the way you update it is to update macOS itself. DDU is a Windows-only tool and does not apply to Macs.

  1. Open the Apple menu in the top-left corner and choose System Settings (or System Preferences on older macOS versions).
  2. Go to General > Software Update.
  3. Install any available update, then restart and test Cinema 4D again.
Check your macOS version against the requirements Each Cinema 4D release has a minimum supported macOS version. Running an older macOS than your release supports can cause crashes or stop it from launching, so keeping macOS current also keeps your graphics driver current.

Still having issues after updating the driver?

If the problem continues after a clean install and DDU, the cause is probably somewhere other than the driver. Work through the full troubleshooting guide, which covers preferences resets, runtime libraries, plugins, and more:

Related article The Ultimate Cinema 4D Troubleshooting Guide

TL;DR

  • First try a clean install: download the latest driver straight from NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel (not Windows Update) and tick the clean-install or factory-reset option during setup, then restart.
  • If it keeps crashing, use DDU: Display Driver Uninstaller wipes the old driver and every leftover trace of it, then you reinstall the latest driver. This is the most reliable fix for stubborn GPU problems. Windows only.
  • Laptops with two GPUs: update both cards and make sure Cinema 4D is set to run on the dedicated one.
  • macOS: there is no separate driver. Update macOS through Software Update to update the graphics driver.

If you are still experiencing issues after following these steps, please submit a support ticket, and our team will be happy to assist you further.

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