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Faster realtime walkthroughs?


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As suggested by some on this board, I upgraded my video card (from a 32MB GeForce2 to a 128MB GeForce3)in an attempt to accelerate realtime walkthroughs on a complex building using Open GL rendering. For those who are interested, this resulted in minimal, if any, improvement. Seems as though processer speed is the key.

P4 2.0G785MB RAMWin2000VW 8.5.2 and 9.5.1nVIDIA G3Ti200

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Well the results will vary by the data in the model. If you working with something that is a real killer you should send it in to be added to our speed profile tests.

Also, make sure that you are using the correct drivers for your card. The default Windows 2000 drivers do not handle OpenGL in a particularly efficient manner. Make sure that you have a recent version of nVidia's drivers installed (v28 or later are preferred).

Matthew GiampapaNNA Technical Support

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Matthew,

Not to find fault, but just to pass along hopefully useful info. I upgraded my nVidia driver, using the VGA adapter manufacturer's website (version 27.5 I believe). This resulted in immediate crashes of VW 8.5.2 whenever any kind of movement in a rendered model is attempted (walkthrough or flyover). VW 9.5.1 crashes even sooner, as soon as an attempt to render using OpenGL is made. I will now attempt to undo this installation, and get back to my old driver!

[ 05-16-2002: Message edited by: P Retondo ]

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Matthew,

Update: I was able to restore functionality. I had to uninstall the new driver, then on restart Win2000 installed its generic driver. In the process, I elected to replace a bunch of files that the Install Wizard said were more recent. With this installation, VW crashed on being launched. I went to my backup, and replaced all the .dll's listed in the driver details window with yesterday's files. That fixed the problem, at least for now.

Now that I am paying more attention, it does appear that Win2k installed its generic driver initially. There were a bunch of files already installed which were later versions, and during my original installation at the Install Wizard prompt I kept them. That appears to have been a lucky decision, because when I reinstalled the driver just now and elected to replace those files, the resulting configuration caused VW to crash. That's why I thought to go to yesterday's backup, and restore the listed .dll's.

The driver provided on my MSI installation disk is not compatible with Win2000. So my current choices are to keep the generic driver, or install the upgrade that causes VW to crash as described in my earlier message. I will check with MSI tech support in a couple of days to get some guidance, but they will likely point the finger at VectorWorks - if you have any info, such as nuances of OpenGL that may be an issue, please let me know.

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Sorry to cause the crashes. I didn't mention that the manufacturer's drivers are usualy junk. Since all the boards on the market are usualy nVidia reference designs, you can always get "good" drivers directly from nVidia.

If your feeling adventerious, try the ones from this link. They should work with all nVidia cards and Windows 2000 (MS certified) http://205.158.109.140/Windows/28.32/28.32_winxp.exe (Yes, I know they say WinXP, these are the right ones for Win2k as well)

[ 05-16-2002: Message edited by: Matthew Giampapa ]

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Also, a bit of general advice for installing any hardware.

Never...ever...ever use the drivers provided in the box!

As soon as a product is release, most companies will order a lot of pre-pressed CDs with the software on them. The problem is that these drivers are usually out of date by the time that box leaves the factory floor.

Almost all new products have some issues that need to be corrected later on, so it is always a better idea to get the correct and up to date drivers off the web from the company that made the product. In the case where one company is just reselling another product, (as in most video cards) skip the middleman and go straight to the people that made the hardware.

The only exception to this rule is with VectorWorks. If you bought it from a distributor, you should contact them with any issues you have first rolleyes.gif" border="0

Matthew GiampapaNNA Technical Support

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