Tag: graphics card

Beware of Windows Update – nVidia Graphics Adapter WDDM1.1, Graphics Adapter WDDM1.2

Luke Johnson

Windows Update is pushing an Nvidia driver update package as an Important update now (they are usually offered as ‘optional’).  In my case, it was listed as:
nVidia – Graphics Adapter WDDM1.1, Graphics Adapter WDDM1.2, Other hardware – NVIDIA Quadro FX 580

I think this update is something that is aiming to align Windows 7 with Windows 8 DirectX 11 / 11.1.

Most tech / IT people recommend against using Windows Update to update graphics drivers.  I’m not saying that it will definitely cause you a problem … but its probably safer to use Autodesk certified drivers (select ‘Graphics’) at this stage.

If you want to go ahead and install it, let us know how you fare with Revit 🙂

EDIT related tweets:

Further reading:
View topic – Portions of DX 11.1 is being made available on Win 7 | Widescreen Gaming Forum

Optional update in windows update is giving me a blue screen. – Windows 7 Forums

M$ pushing nVida drivers as an ‘Important’ update…

 Windows Update, nVidia – Graphics Adapter WDDM1.1… – Guru3D.com Forums

Is this Microsofts way of saying it’s a new Nvidia driver?

Should a video card for Revit cost $100 or $1000?

Luke Johnson

RFO Co-founder iru69 recently (14 October) updated his very detailed post on video cards and Revit at:

Revit Hardware : Video Graphic Cards

I recommend that you read this prior to investing in a new graphics card for use with Revit.

The post even includes an FAQ section – here is a little sample:

“Autodesk/my reseller/unnamed CAD expert says I should only use “Professional” (workstation/CAD) cards with Revit. But then I read here that lots of people use and recommend “Gaming” cards for Revit. Who is right?”
Despite what you may have been told, consumer (gaming) video cards can work just as well with Revit as professional video cards.

“Someone told me that SLI or CrossFire will double the speed!”
SLI and CrossFire are great for the latest video games, but it’s of no use at all for Revit. At least it’s never been demonstrated. If you want to give it a try, be my guest. 😉

Don’t forget about Autodesk’s recommended hardware list page:
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/syscert?id=18844534&siteID=123112

Using the TAB key – inconsistency between Status Bar and Preselection

Luke Johnson

Using my laptop with Revit 2013 and an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570 graphics card, I came across an interesting bug.  Using the Tab key, nothing seemed to be working.  But this is what was actually happening – I would:

  1. Hover over something
  2. Press Tab key, pre-selection does not cycle (but Status bar is correct, showing next item under cursor)
  3. Press Tab key again, pre-selection shows item from step 2, but again, Status bar shows the correct (next) item.  Left-clicking will select the item shown in the Status bar, not the one that is pre-selected.

Obviously, the first port of call for these types of problems is Graphics Hardware.  And yes, I was using Hardware Acceleration, and yes, the Hardware had not been tested with Revit, as the Options dialog shows:

Simply turning off Hardware Acceleration fixed this issue, as it will for many graphic-related bugs and errors.

If you really, really want the nice Hardware-accelerated stuff in Revit 2013 and you are using suboptimal hardware, you will need to either:

  • look for better graphics drivers for your hardware (may not work anyway)
  • replace your graphics / video card with one that Revit Wants (very hard if you are using a laptop!)

Similarly:
RevitCity.com | Problem selecting glass using tab key

UseGraphicsHardware=0 if running Revit 2013 on Macbook with Parallels

Luke Johnson

As per the Revit Architecture 2013 Known Issues:

 Hardware acceleration is not available in the Parallels 7 environment, and Revit will revert to a DirectX 9 based software graphics mode, which will not render materials, sky, artificial lights, and other features when the Realistic visual style is in effect.

o   Workaround 1: When you first start Revit and see the Graphics Options – Cannot Use Hardware Acceleration dialog, select the Save Hardware Acceleration Setting option, and then close and restart Revit. Upon restart, DirectX 11 software mode will be used and features will display correctly in Realistic visual style.

o   Workaround 2: Manually add the following to the [Graphics] section of the Revit.ini file before startup:   UseGraphicsHardware=0

EDIT: Workaround 3 (allow hardware acceleration hack) – from Gordon in the comments:

Dig down to the Revit folder in program files, where Revit.exe lives, and look for a file called AdskHardwareCertificationReport.xml. Delete this file. Revit will now allow you to enable hardware acceleration, and performance will be MUCH better than the no HA fallback of using WARP (which is an API that uses the CPU to mimic graphics hardware and manages to provide performance on par with, say Intel HD2000 hardware). WARP is much better than true hardware acceleration disabled as in earlier versions, but no where near as good as Parallels virtual hardware.
End Edit

This issue was also reposted at microsolresources.com:

Workaround 2: Manually add the following to the [Graphics] section of the Revit.ini file before startup: UseGraphicsHardware=0″
Workaround 1 did not present itself to me, but workaround 2 was pretty easy to achieve:

[Graphics]
TempDimFontSizeInPoints=12
InvertBackground=0
Antialiasing=0
SemiTransparent=1
UseGraphicsHardware=0
 
I added the last line above to the 2013 Revit.ini file, restarted RAC 2013, and….

As they say these days: “SWEET!!”

via
‘Scuse me, while I kiss the sky! � microsolresources

NVIDIA drivers 295.73 WHQL – download

Luke Johnson

This is the first WHQL-certified driver from the R295 family of drivers. It is the recommended upgrade for all GeForce users…

These drivers come packed with GeForce-exclusive performance and quality enhancements and are now Microsoft WHQL-certified.

Version:

295.73 WHQL

Release Date:

2012.02.21

Operating System:

Windows Vista 64-bit, Windows 7 64-bit

Language:

English (U.S.)

File Size:

157 MB

Download

via
NVIDIA DRIVERS 295.73 WHQL

Certified Revit Graphics driver list

Luke Johnson

The Autodesk Certified Hardware page allows filtering by the products you intend to use (ie. Revit).  This page should be your ‘first stop’ when installing or updating your Graphics Card / Display drivers.  Once you find a Certified, Recommended driver, you can download it direct from this page.

Autodesk – Certified Hardware – Find Graphics Hardware

Autodesk – Certified Hardware – Find Graphics Hardware

Using Nvidia nview with Windows 7 64-bit

Luke Johnson
Have you struggled to install nview on Windows 7 64-bit?  Here are the steps:
Step 1 – Download the latest Drivers from the nVidia website

Step 2 – Download WinRAR (you could use 7-zip)

Step 3 – Open the Driver file with WinRAR and extract the nView.CAB file (onto your desktop for now)

Step 4 – Open the nView.cab file with WinRAR and extract all the files into a folder on your desktop

Step 5 – Run the nviewsetup.exe file as normal. 

I found these steps at:
These steps may help you install nview in a number of different situations.
What does nview do?
nVIew display management software provides:
  • Intuitive interface for easy display management
  • Customizable desktop by various usage models
  • Robust IT management tools for easy deployment and maintenance
  • Tested compatibility with industry-leading business applications
  • Proven stability – over millions of enterprise installations