Hardware/Software question: Revit and Vista

[ron.sanpedro]

Has anyone successfully run Revit on Vista? I have heard that some of the older RCs worked, but we are having no end of trouble getting it to work on the shipping version, both 64 and 32 bit. I am hoping someone has made this work and can offer some sage advice. My hardware is a Dell Precision M65 laptop, which is certified Vista compatible.

Thanks,
Gordon

[jbalding48677]

I have Vista 64 and Revit will not run on it. I am working with 2 machines until Revit will run on my new one.

[ron.sanpedro]

I have Vista 64 and Revit will not run on it. I am working with 2 machines until Revit will run on my new one.

I wonder if DirectX is the culprit. I believe the Vista betas where DirectX 9 based, while the shipping version is 10. Hopefully we will get a new build of Revit soon that works. Even in 32bit mode there are some Vista features that may be good for Revit users, like background defrag by default, and background tasks just staying background.
For that matter, I wonder if Revit could take more advantage of DirectX and worry less about openGL. It seems like most graphic cards have gone to DirectX as the primary graphics platform. Maybe then you would get $500 of performance out of a $500 graphics card, and it might make life easier on the Factory going forward. Then again, DirectX might be exactly what the Factory has done to improve speed in 10.

Crossed fingers!

Gordon

[truevis]

Does Vista not have a (useful) 'compatibility mode' for running apps?

[ron.sanpedro]

Does Vista not have a (useful) 'compatibility mode' for running apps?

It does, and "Blue Man" Hurley assures me that Revit worked is some Vista betas, but we have had no luck with the shipping version, even in compatibility mode, and our IT/Graphics guy is pretty sure that 3DS Max does not work in the shipping Vista either, even in compatibility mode, so I suspect Revit has a similar issue. Given that IE7 broke DWF outright, and required a fix from Autodesk, it would surprise me that the shipping Vista broke something else.

Gordon

[mmodernc]

Could there be a hardware issue.
Is Revit 64 bit yet?
I believe the only real 64 bit chip out there is the Intel Itanium.
That's why you can run 32 and 64 bit apps on most of the rest of them.
Also they reckon the core 2 duo is 64 bit compatible but the Core Duo only handles 32 bit - caught me!
http://softwarecommunity.intel.com/i.../30224178.aspx

[GuyR]

IMO you are seriously mad trying to use this Vista release on a production machine particularly a complex App like Revit. Driver development is young, by all accounts the Vista release is still buggy, Autodesk don't have builds let alone 64 bit builds. Really what's the advantage over XP32bit ?

Cynically, I reckon they're using this business release of Vista to do some larger scale bug fixing before the masses get hold of it in Feb? If you want to 'look' like Vista and aren't using x64 XP then install the Inspirat theme.

Guy

[Andre Baros]

I was just warming up to Vista when I came across this article:

http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut00...vista_cost.txt

It seams like Vista will be doing a whole lot in the background to protect me from the wrath of the Film and Music industries regardless of what I'm working on in the foreground.

[aaronrumple]

Way to much DRM in Vista to trust it for business use. After reading what's up under the hood over the past couple of years, my next computer will be an Apple.

[ron.sanpedro]

I was just warming up to Vista when I came across this article:

http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut00...vista_cost.txt

It seams like Vista will be doing a whole lot in the background to protect me from the wrath of the Film and Music industries regardless of what I'm working on in the foreground.

From the looks of it, as long as you are not actually playing "premium content" the system should not cripple itself. Given that anything coming out of the entertainment industry is **** anyway, I suspect that I will never once try to play a DVD or CD on my work machine. In fact, given all the horsepower required just to run iTunes or WindowsMediaPlayer on XP, I have dropped all media tools from my work machine. I just stick my iPod earbuds in and go to work, with no degradation of Revit performance Then again, I only pay for a CD when I can buy it direct from the artist, and indy atrists don't have the money or desire to muck about with all the high tech ****. They just want you to listen to their stuff.
That said, I am so sick of Hollywood and their brain dead policies that I would probably get a Mac at home just to spite the goons. But for work, there are enough improvements in Vista that it may be the way to go. And if performance degradation due to "premium content" is enough to let us establish a policy of absolutely no media players on work machines, then perhaps that actually kills two birds with one stone. But, if Autodesk ever decides to get out of bed with Microsoft and actually do a Mac version, I would certainly love to run Revit native. I just don't think that is ever going to happen.

Gordon