Revit 2017 and Citrix - Very Slow Materials

[Anonymous]

Hello, 

I currently am the Academic Manager/IT Manager at an Autodesk Training Center (ATC). 

We use the Citrix based software to deliver our software for our classes as it makes it so much easier to update and distribute the software to 35 computer stations for the training purposes. 

I have recently installed Revit 2017, but I am having a issue with the materials library. 

When it is first opened - it is extremely slow, like a 4-8 minute wait to really complete basic tasks and after finishing one task, it seems it wants to reload all the materials and previews again - having to wait again. This did not happen with 2015 or even 2016. 

I tested it out on a stand-alone version and this slowdown didnt occur. 

I was wondering if anyone else had this similar issue and if there are any fixes out there for it? 

I haven't seen any service packs yet for Revit 2017 published by Autodesk. 

Thanks! 

[MattDillon247]

Just speculating here, but I suspect your problem is due to the intensive graphics nature of working in the material editor. Those types of operations don't perform well in the Citrix environment. Likewise, you probably don't want to try to perform a rendering - at least not if you expect it to be done in a reasonable amount of time.

[Anonymous]

Well thats true - but we have been doing the same thing with 2014, 2015, and 2016 and never had a problem. 

I know the citrix environment is not ideal for large projects, but for our training exercises and projects, it works pretty well actually. 

I'm just wondering if they changed something in the materials editor as this hasnt been an issue with previous releases. 

Best, 

T

[MattDillon247]

It could also be a graphics card/driver issue. This is a long shot, but it's easy enough to test - try disabling hardware acceleration - in the Options dialog for Revit, go to Graphics. If you see a big warning sign on the right side, that's an indication that your current graphics card/driver have not been tested with the current version of Revit and *may* not function optimally. (Don't freak out if you get this - a lot of times it's perfectly benign - I have the same message myself and I'm experiencing no issues). However, if you DO have that warning, make sure the option to use hardware acceleration is checked off. Then shut down Revit and restart and see if the issue persists.

You can also get the most current list of tested and supported/recommended/certified graphics cards and specific driver versions here:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/syscert?siteID=123112&id=18844534

I'm not sure if it's been updated for Revit 2017 yet or not, however.

[MattDillon247]

Postscript... since you indicate you tried this on a "standalone" version (I assume a non-Citrix installation on the same computer), that would tend to point away from it being a graphics card issue. Still... it never hurts to give it a shot. It's easy enough to do.

[Anonymous]

Hi,


I have been configuring our Citrix server (Desktops) for approx 1 year now & It's all still a steep learning curve. As usual, no training course so fumbling in the dark somewhat.


We recently engaged with a vendor who configured our Hypervisor to run Apps as well as desktops.


Some key things to remember when running Revit on a virtual desktop / server / App

Revit needs to 'create a copy of a model to local'

If your C drive is not 'redirected' to the same location where your main model is located then you will experience performance issues.

This is because you are passing data from server to local & back again.


Also, ensure your policies are configured in the delivery group to use Lossless for the graphics.


For an app deployment, we have found this to be a very tricky one.

On startup of the app Revit references an xml file (AdskHardwareCertificationReport) located:-


Local disk (C:)\Program Files\Autodesk\Revit 2015 (6) (7)


This checks to confirm your graphics card availability.


Unfortunately, a deployed app cannot locate the server C: drive to determine a graphics card is available.

The Revit software therefore assumes not graphics card & reverts to using software.

This is a major issue. We have that renaming the file to .old from .xml resolves this issue but I am not sure if Autodesk recommend this?

There is probably a really smart cookie out there who can let the rest of us know how to get around this?!!