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Walkthrough crashes


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I just installed VW 9.5.2 on a new computer, and I'm experiencing the walkthrough crash described by chopper4 on May 8 in this discussion area. The new computer has WinXP and a GEForce 4 MX video card. In my previous experience using Win2000 and both a GE2 and GE3 Titanium video card (old system: P4 2.0G, 775MB RAM, 128MB GE3 Titanium), the walkthrough tool worked perfectly. This problem has been described by Matthew G. as a VW bug, which it may be, but 1) has there been any progress resolving this problem, and 2) what is the explanation for the fact that very similar systems either have or don't have the problem? Is this a problem with WinXP, with the GE4 card, with the MX card? Does anyone have feedback on their configurations which could shed light on which component of my current system is involved in this problem?

P4 2.26G512 MB RAM32MB GEForce 4 MX

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Matthew,

Thanks for checking in on this. Needless to say, this is both disappointing and embarassing, since the office I'm now working in just bought a copy of VW at my request - they use ACAD for production - and my first whizbang demo of its great 3D capabilities crashed and burned.

However, you did not answer my question. Please believe me when I say that the walkthrough tool on my old configuration was ABSOLUTELY STABLE. Does WinXP have a different OpenGL standard? Does my particular video card handle OpenGL differently? In other words, it appears to me that since VW is not currently forthcoming with a fix to this bug and can't say when it will be available, perhaps your engineers or other users could help me isolate a hardware/OS fix to work around the problem.

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It is possible that the difference in video hardware will play a role. We have seen different cards crash at different points.

This bug also causes "A Required resource was" when VectorWorks crashes in OpenGL mode.

According to the bug list entry I have, this was introduced in 9.5.1 and should also effect 9.5.2. It may be possible to use 9.5.0 for presentation purposes to avoid this crash.

If you are not getting a "A Required resource was" error message, then this could be another problem unknown to me.

The first step in troubleshooting that would be to record the exact steps needed to reproduce the problem from a blank file, and report your system specifications. (All I really need in addition to what you have, is your video driver version. For the NVIDIA cards, we really recommend version 28.x or later.)

Matthew GiampapaNNA Technical Support

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Matthew,

Thanks for your further assistance. I am indeed getting the message "A required resource was missing" as the program freezes.

To reproduce the problem: open a new document, extrude a rectangle, set any sun position, set a perspective view, render using OpenGL, start to navigate using the walkthrough tool. After about 30 seconds the speed of motion begins to slow noticeably. After another 30 seconds, multiple redraws of the sun icon begin to appear, then a confused screen appears, and then multiple recurrences of the "A required resource" message, then the appearance of the complete message "A required resourse was missing." At this point, if you wait, you may regain a semblance of normal program function (except that the walkthrough tool will cause a freeze immediately). However, VW then operates slowly and erratically and affects the performance of any other program until VW is shut down. It is not necessary to restart the computer in order for it to function normally.

The full specs on my video card are: 64MB DDR NVIDIA GEForce4 MX 420 (TV out)BIOS version: 4.17.00.45.42Driver .dll's are all 6.13.10.2911

Thanks - any solution to this problem would be appreciated. I could install an old version of VW 8.5 I own, if you think that might work. However, the firm's principal might then want to return the new copy of 9.5.2 for a refund!

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Ok, this is the bug I first thought then. Unfortunately there is not much I can do except tell you to use 9.5.0 instead of 9.5.2.

It is a regression bug that snuck in somehow. Changing to another video card may delay the inevitable, but I was told that all cards will eventually crash. Apparently, the error is a one that builds up as each frame is drawn to the screen. Once a certain number of frames have been drawn (depending on the model) the video card runs out of space in some kind of buffer.

I don't really understand the technical details of this one myself. All I know is that Shirley (the engineer assigned to the problem) said it would be fixed for the next release.

Your options are therefore to wait a little while for the next major release, revert to 9.5.0, or return it. There is nothing I can do to fix this in the immediate future.

Matthew GiampapaNNA Technical Support

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