Release Direct3D resources left behind by forcefully terminated application

Question

I'm working on a Direct3D application and I sometimes need to terminate the application forcefully via the debugger. After the application has been terminated in this way a couple of times, Direct3D reports an "Out of video memory" error when attempting to create a new device. Presently I am working around this by switching my display resolution to 800x600 and back to previous resolution in the hope of "resetting" video memory. It works 99% of the time. But it would be nice to have a simple utility -- a command line app, perhaps -- to quickly reset my graphics card and Direct3D stack by releasing video memory explicitly.

How can I free video memory and other resources left behind by a forcefully terminated Direct3D application?

Answer 1

This is a driver bug. The driver should release the memory when the process exits. If it isn't doing so then you need to update your driver. If that still doesn't work you need to send a repro case to the IHV that made your card.