Trail left when copying or moving text

[david_collins]

Hi, I have an issue whereby when I move or copy text (mtext or text) it leaves a partial trail. Once I have finished the action, the trail will stay on the screen until I move or pan, at which point it vanishes. It is not a mouse trail, and I have hardware acceleration turned off. I'm on AutoCAD 2020 on a Windows 10 machine, but it has done it for as long as I can remember, certainly on my previous versions including AutoCAD Map 3D 2018 & AutoCAD 2018.

I have found similar issues on the forums, and tried all suggestions, but can't find this exact issue. I've attached a screenshot. Any ideas? I've lived with it long enough... Many thanks in advance.

[qnologi]

Ghosted, dragged, or duplicated objects appear in AutoCAD | AutoCAD 2019 | Autodesk Knowledge Networ...

[david_collins]

Thanks qnologi. I hadn't searched for the keywords 'ghosted' or 'duplicated'! If that is the solution, then I'll have to live with it, as our work machines are heavily locked down in terms of drivers and software. I will have a quick look, but I think I know what the answer will be!

At least I know, and it's not a major problem, more just an annoyance. Thanks again.

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> If that is the solution, then I'll have to live with it,

Why this? One of the (valid) suggestions is to turn off hardware acceleration (command _GRAPHICSCONFIG) ... you neither need the IT for this nor do you have to be admin to change this setting.

- alfred -

[david_collins]

Hi Alfred. Thanks for the post, but I already have this turned off. Hardware Acceleration has caused me various other performance issues, so the first thing I check whenever I have problems is whether it's turned itself back on (it does from time to time).

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

can you please:

• activate hw-acceleration again
• close the dialog
• reopen the dialog again
• create a screenshot from this dialog and send this image

Also worth to try in case you have multiple monitors

• unplug monitor 2
• start AutoCAD (so now it is on display 1)
• try again the text move workflow

- alfred -

[david_collins]

Hi Alfred,

Screenshot attached. Interestingly, I've only just noticed that the ghosting doesn't happen with Hardware Acceleration turned on.

I only use a single monitor display, with my laptop screen duplicated onto a monitor, and my laptop screen redundant. I have however disconnected my monitor and viewed on the laptop screen, and the same things occur, so it doesn't appear to be related to this.

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

thank you for additional details.

For me this sounds like upgrading or downgrading the driver and see which one plays better.

Starting with the driver listed here >>>click<<<.

- alfred -

[david_collins]

Thanks Alfred.

[david_collins]

I spoke with a helpful chap at Autodesk, who advised that the issue of ghosting with Hardware Acceleration off is fairly common. Hardware acceleration off uses your computer’s RAM to retain the graphics. It takes a very small fraction – so on a very high RAM machine you would probably get 32 MB which is a very small amount. Typically hardware acceleration off is intended to only be a fall back if something goes wrong. However to compensate for no video memory we also don’t use any video features, so I could see performance being better. Problems are usually just something like LINESMOOTHING or 2DRETAINMODE and it will run much smoother after with those off.

He also suggested an alternative driver, which i will try to get our IT department to install.

[rayford.henderson]

If this is the same issue I have been having since my upgrade from Civil 3d 2023 to 2025 just recently, that I was required to do because of a corrupted Pipe Network, I may have discovered a work-around fix.

My Text and Mtext, when selected for editing, were suddenly scaling up and into what could be described as "ghost text/mtext" copies of itself , making it almost impossible to finish performing the task I needed, be it to copy, edit, etc. I looked at my Text properties and noticed that Annotation was set to "On" (as it should be, seeing I use Layouts in my drafting and Annotative text, mtext, dimensions, etc. Just by chance, I selected a line of Text and turned the Annotative setting "Off" but the Text stayed the same size as the Annotative version. I then selected the line of Text in it's non-annotative state and the ghosting no longer appeared! I then turned the Annotative setting back on, and selected the re-Annotative version, and it was no longer doing the ghosting. I tried this with my Mtext as well and it worked the same. So, my fix would consist of selecting all Text and Mtext, turning the Annotative setting off, then back on, and this should fix the ghosting issue of that text and Mtext. This worked in my Civil 3d 2025 software on a Windows 11 workstation. This fix also seems to fix any additional ghosting of text and Mtext added to the drawing after running the fix. One could create a macro to perform these steps or a Lisp, or possibly lead someone to a knowledge of what is actually occuring. The Bible Hardware Acceleration fix did not work for me.

[david_collins]

Hi Rayford, thanks for the response. It has been a number of years since I have had this issue, and I can't remember how it stopped. However, AutoCAD being AutoCAD, I wouldn't be surprised if it rears its head again at some point in the future, so may be referring to your fix at some point!

[pendean]

---

@rayford.henderson wrote:

...since my upgrade from Civil 3d 2023 to 2025 just recently....

---

Have you tried a more common solution of just turning off GFXDX12 variable? It does require you to restart C3D2025 for the change to take effect.

Ensuring your C3D 2025 is up to date (Autodesk Civil 3D 2025.2) as listed in your version's ABOUT command should help too:

https://help.autodesk.com/view/CIV3D/2025/ENG/?guid=Civil3D_ReleaseNotes_2025_2_Release_Notes_html

[rayford.henderson]

I had never experienced the problem in Civil 3D 2023. Strange that it started out of the blue it seems?

[rayford.henderson]

The only thing that I did was uninstall my 2023 Civil 3D version and reinstall the 2025 version. Nothing else changed.

[rayford.henderson]

I will try that variable when I am back at my home workstation and see if it works.

[rayford.henderson]

I turned off the setvar GFXDX12 and it still does the same "ghosting" in my Civil 3D 2025, even after restarting. My posted workaround (i.e. - selecting all Annotative elements like mtext, mleaders, and dimensions and turning the Annotation off, then back on, seems to be the only thing that currently works on my system. If you have some other suggestions I would be interested in trying them.