Civil3D 2012 Hardware Acceleration

[dlowe]

We're running 64-bit Civil 3D 2012 with Quadro FX1700 cards.

I have always used the nVidia AutoCAD Performance Drivers but cannot find a 2012 version on the nVidia website. I've tried every driver I can find but can't get hardware acceleration to enable in AutoCAD.

This is proving to be a significant problem for us because without hardware acceleration color data does not render in our point clouds. Without the color data the point clouds are much more difficult to work with.

Does anyone know how to get hardware acceleration to work with this card in 2012?

[AllenJessup]

You can see if this post :http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/AutoCAD-2012/Video-drivers/m-p/2966034#M151

or you can try using the 2011 performance drivers. You were able use the 2010 drivers with 2011.

If you try the 2011 divers and can't open C3D after that. Use the /nohardware switch to open it and reset the driver to whatever you were using.

Allen

[beccasme]

Can I ask how you access that switch?

[AllenJessup]

I copied our standard desktop shortcut and added it startup in the target:

"C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD Civil 3D 2011\acad.exe" /ld "C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD Civil 3D 2011\AecBase.dbx" /nologo /nohardware /p "C3D2011 Met 1.1"

The switches are bold. See:

http://www.hyperpics.com/downloads/resources/customization/general/AutoCAD%20Icon%20Switch.pdf

Allen

[beccasme]

Thanks!

[dlowe]

I am having a devil of a time with this. On some of our machines the driver works fine but on others hardware accelearation does not enable.  I have tried every driver I can find on the nVidia site.

Below is what the performance tuner log says. This is using a previous version of the nVidia driver (8.17.0012.5957) which is working on two other machines. I have not been able to get the newer version (.6570) to work on any machine. It has properly identified my board as a Quadro FX1700 but then says it is not a certified board.  Any suggestions? I've tried uninstalling all of my nVidia drivers & reinstalling both the current driver and teh .5957 driver, repairing, and then reinstalling, and then manually uninstalling and reinstalling Civil 3D, and removing the device from Device Manager.

I have a support ticket open with Autodesk...two days ago got escallated to a specialist, whom I have not yet heard from 😞

Performance Tuner Results Log
Version: 18.2.0.1
Date of Last Tune: 8/9/2011

Machine Configuration
---------------------
Processor Speed  : 2.7 GHz
RAM              : 6133 MB

3D Device
---------
Name             : NVIDIA Quadro FX 1700
Manufacturer     : NVIDIA
Chip set         : Quadro FX 1700
Memory           : 3301 MB
Driver           : 8.17.0012.5957

Your machine contains a 3D Device that is not certified.

As more graphics cards and 3D display drivers are tested, they are added to a list on the Autodesk website.

You can check for updates and download the latest certification list at any time. Run the 3DCONFIG command and click the Check for Updates button.

Current application driver:    Software

Current Effect Status:
----------------------
Enhanced 3D Performance:   Not recommended and off
Smooth display:            Not available
Gooch shader:              Software emulation in use
Per-pixel lighting:        Not available
Full-shadow display:       Not available
Texture compression:       Not available
Advanced material effects: Not available

Available application drivers and effect support:
-------------------------------------------------
Software driver
Effect support:

  Enhanced 3D Performance:   Not applicable
  Smooth display:            Not applicable
  Gooch shader:              Software emulation only
  Per-pixel lighting:        Not applicable
  Full-shadow display:       Not applicable
  Texture compression:       Not applicable
  Advanced material effects: Not applicable

Autodesk driver:  Not Certified
Effect support:

  Enhanced 3D Performance:   Available
  Smooth display:            Available
  Gooch shader:              Available
  Per-pixel lighting:        Available
  Full-shadow display:       Available
  Texture compression:       Available
  Advanced material effects: Available

 

[dlowe]

OMG I solved it...

All it took was nuking the user reg key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R18.2\ACAD-A000:409

Spoiler