Revit 2011 screen refresh problems

[grudy]

I am getting a screen refresh problem that cannot be solved unless I restart Revit. I have all of the upgraded video drivers, all of the updates for Revit, and yet it still happens. On a suggestion in another thread I disabled the navigation wheel, which also did not solve it.

Here's the problem. Occasionally I will be unable to see what object is selected, and the screen will not refresh unless I zoom in/out. I also am unable to see any new lines/walls until I zoom out, and cannot see them when drawing them (basically like drawing blind). It will continue to do this until I restart the program. Any suggestions?

Just when I think Autodesk has fixed one problem, another one crops up....

[Scott Womack]

I too have noticed this, but it only begins occurring when I have numberous views open at one time. After closing all but one view, it begins behaving properly again.

[ron.sanpedro]

I too have noticed this, but it only begins occurring when I have numberous views open at one time. After closing all but one view, it begins behaving properly again.

I am curious how much video ram you guys have? My understanding is that RAC 2011 uses graphics ram to cache views, so finally lots of it makes sense. At least in 64 bit Windows 7. But if someone has one of those "perfect for 32 bit windows" 128MB cards, I wonder what happens when the graphics ram runs out and Revit has to go back to using system ram for view caching?
For what it is worth, I have not run into this problem, and our cards are all 512MB, 1G or 1.25G.

Gordon

[grudy]

I am running Windows 7 64 Bit with 6gb of RAM. The video card is a Nvidia Quadro FX 380 with 256 mb of memory.

[Scott Womack]

Ours are Quatro FX 1700's with 512meg on board.

[dhurtubise]

Sounds more like a display issue to me then memory one. Did you tried different driver version?

[grudy]

Yes, I'm using the latest driver version, because otherwise the program seems to crash a lot.

[grudy]

I too have noticed this, but it only begins occurring when I have numberous views open at one time. After closing all but one view, it begins behaving properly again.

For me, it does not help to close hidden windows. What does help is to change the display mode for a second before returning to hidden line mode. I suppose there are probably other ways to go about this, but this is what I've found so far.

[ron.sanpedro]

Yes, I'm using the latest driver version, because otherwise the program seems to crash a lot.

The latest driver is not always the right driver. Historically I have had the best luck with a version or two back, but not too old. Too much of a crapshoot for my taste, but it looks like the graphics driver gamble is not yet over. In any case, you might try a version back, and see what happens.

Gordon

P.s. And make sure to post as a bug. Unless it gets into their system it will never get fixed.

[grudy]

P.s. And make sure to post as a bug. Unless it gets into their system it will never get fixed.

Where do I post bugs?

[patricks]

My boss is having the exact same problem, but I am not. He's running a fairly new Dell Precision workstation with 12 GB RAM and I'm running an older Dell Precision with 16 GB RAM, but we both have the same nVIDIA Quadro FX580 with 512 MB V-RAM.

[iru69]

I am running Windows 7 64 Bit with 6gb of RAM. The video card is a Nvidia Quadro FX 380 with 256 mb of memory.
This sounds like a classic Revit/driver issue, though I wouldn't absolutely rule out something else. If the problem is still happening with just Revit running and a single view open, it would seem unlikely to be directly related to the video RAM.

Are you using the nVidia 191.78 reference driver? That's what Autodesk officially "supports" for that video card.

Also, have you changed any "unusual" settings in Windows, such as the DPI settings Windows uses?


My understanding is that RAC 2011 uses graphics ram to cache views, so finally lots of it makes sense. At least in 64 bit Windows 7. But if someone has one of those "perfect for 32 bit windows" 128MB cards, I wonder what happens when the graphics ram runs out and Revit has to go back to using system ram for view caching?
I'm going to go a little off topic here, and I'm far from an expert on this, but I have a couple comments. If your not interested in a lot of technical jargon, you can stop reading now. ;-)

Revit always keeps open "views" in System RAM. I've read that Windows 7 (and Vista depending on whether the application is using WPF or GDI) does not need to keep a copy of the window "buffered" in system memory... but I'm not so sure that the Windows 7 (and Vista) buffer reference directly applies to the open "views" in Revit. What I think the reference applies directly to is that with DWM in W7 and Vista (only WPF windows in Vista), open application windows on the desktop are cached directly in video RAM. For example, if you drag a static application window around on your desktop, it doesn't need to be re-rendered by the application as it's moved - the DWM will use the cached window in video RAM. This is more efficient than in Windows XP (and GDI windows in Vista) - where the windows are cached in system memory and as you drag the window across your desktop, the application has to constantly re-render the application window.

It's easy to observe in Windows Task Manger that Revit is storing views in system memory - look at the memory use of the Revit.exe process and you will see memory usage go up and down quite consistently as you open and close windows. The amount of RAM a window occupies is linear to the size of the window: the number of pixels multiplied by the color bit depth, e.g. a 1920x1200 resolution window at 32 bits is ~9MB - that's the size of the window being cached (whether in system RAM or on the video card). If you switch to "Tile" or Cascade" views, you can see Revit's memory usage increase and decrease as you resize the window. With HWA on and the use of shadows, anti-aliasing, AO and "Realistic" view, there might be increases in the use of video RAM to generate that 9MB window, but it's the 9MB window that's being cached (possibly along with texture maps if you're using the "Realistic" view feature).

I'm not sure if every open "view" also stays in video RAM until the "view" is closed or not - I haven't come across a freely available utility to monitor video RAM usage. I do know that, regardless the version of Windows, the contents of the Revit application window is sent back to system RAM where it is stored until you close the window. I'd venture a guess that if there's not enough video RAM available to cache all the open windows, it's possible that could cause display issues, but you'd need quite a few of them open to use up all the video RAM. If you're having display issues with only Revit running and one or two views open, it's likely not a video RAM issue.

[d.stairmand]

I'm getting this same problem
Tried about 10 different drivers for my Nvidia card
still having issues with it
Logged it with the factory - they say "More Ram needed" What a cop out. R2010 worked a treat. This "Little" bug is a major

[grudy]

Ok an update on my own situation. I said before that if I changed the view mode, it would help... I was wrong. Today I just had to close revit and restart it to fix the problem.

[patricks]

This sounds like a classic Revit/driver issue, though I wouldn't absolutely rule out something else. If the problem is still happening with just Revit running and a single view open, it would seem unlikely to be directly related to the video RAM.

Are you using the nVidia 191.78 reference driver? That's what Autodesk officially "supports" for that video card.

Also, have you changed any "unusual" settings in Windows, such as the DPI settings Windows uses?




I had the 191.78 driver installed on several machines here, but had problems with all items in a view highlighting as the mouse rolled over, and they all just stayed highlighted until zooming or refreshing. More recent drivers fixed that problem, but then my boss has been having the problems listed in the OP of this thread on those more recent drivers.

[iru69]

Yes, I remember your thread. Just to be clear, Grudy's card is an FX 380, so maybe different results?

You might remember I had the messed up black status bar on my FX 580... the problem went away if I changed my DPI back to the Windows 7 default (I generally like to have it at 125%)... of course now everything is too small for my not-so-great eyes. It would be really great if they checked for that kind of stuff.

I'm also using the latest drivers, and aside from the DPI issue, it's working great. Are you sure your boss has the exact same card? What if you guys switched cards?


I had the 191.78 driver installed on several machines here, but had problems with all items in a view highlighting as the mouse rolled over, and they all just stayed highlighted until zooming or refreshing. More recent drivers fixed that problem, but then my boss has been having the problems listed in the OP of this thread on those more recent drivers.

[Manuel_A]

Have you tried pressing F5, every once in awhile to refresh Revit?

I have an NVIDIA Quadro FX 3800M, the driver from AutoCAD Services & Support.
this is working for me, so far so good.

Using the Graphics Hardware List:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/hc?siteID=123112&id=6711853&linkID=9240618&is_results=1&card_sel=0&manufac=4318&card=1567-4318&cert=0&d_stat=1&prod=AutoCAD-R18.1&os=8192


I hope this helps,

[eric.piotrowicz]

Have you tried pressing F5, every once in awhile to refresh Revit?

I have an NVIDIA Quadro FX 3800M, the driver from AutoCAD Services & Support.
this is working for me, so far so good.

Using the Graphics Hardware List:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/hc?siteID=123112&id=6711853&linkID=9240618&is_results=1&card_sel=0&manufac=4318&card=1567-4318&cert=0&d_stat=1&prod=AutoCAD-R18.1&os=8192


I hope this helps,

Its good that this is working for AutoCAD 2011 but these guys are refering to Revit 2011. Maybe the factory will add that support for the Revit gang. :p

[patricks]

Yes, I remember your thread. Just to be clear, Grudy's card is an FX 380, so maybe different results?

You might remember I had the messed up black status bar on my FX 580... the problem went away if I changed my DPI back to the Windows 7 default (I generally like to have it at 125%)... of course now everything is too small for my not-so-great eyes. It would be really great if they checked for that kind of stuff.

I'm also using the latest drivers, and aside from the DPI issue, it's working great. Are you sure your boss has the exact same card? What if you guys switched cards?

We're both using Quadro FX580 cards. Now his came pre-installed in his Dell workstation, so I'm not real sure of the actual brand of card. Mine is a PNY card that I placed in my older Dell workstation, to replace my old FX550 that came pre-installed in mine 3+ years ago.

[Rick Moore]

I had the 191.78 driver installed on several machines here, but had problems with all items in a view highlighting as the mouse rolled over, and they all just stayed highlighted until zooming or refreshing. More recent drivers fixed that problem, but then my boss has been having the problems listed in the OP of this thread on those more recent drivers.

FWIW, I had this same problem with a GeForce 8800 GTS card running 197.45 so I couldn't use hardware acceleration. On Friday I downloaded the 257.21 driver and the problem is gone. Now I can turn on shadows and orbit freely

[iru69]

My screen issues with Quadro FX580 went away with brand new Quadro 258.49 driver / 2011 Update 1 (installed both at the same time, so not sure which fixed it). Revit's graphics are now as smooth as I've ever seen them.

[patricks]

My screen issues with Quadro FX580 went away with brand new Quadro 258.49 driver / 2011 Update 1 (installed both at the same time, so not sure which fixed it). Revit's graphics are now as smooth as I've ever seen them.

sweet - I d/l both that one and the one ADSK recommends, but installed the recommended one. Maybe I'll try that one next. :)

[grudy]

Does anyone know where I can find recommended drivers for Revit? I only see the Autocad recommendations on the Autodesk website.

[ron.sanpedro]

My screen issues with Quadro FX580 went away with brand new Quadro 258.49 driver / 2011 Update 1 (installed both at the same time, so not sure which fixed it). Revit's graphics are now as smooth as I've ever seen them.

I am using the new 257.21 drivers with a GeForce 8600GT, and getting all the speed of a Quadro FX 1700, for 25% of the price. And finally, I am seeing none of the graphic anomalies that used to be a day in the life with the GeForce drivers. No highlighting issues, no problems with ambient occlusion, and so far no stability issues at all. I have another user testing these drivers with a PNY made GTX 250, which looks to be a sweet spot in performance. We'll see if she has the same good results I have had, but for the moment I am hopeful.
I AM certain it isn't SP1 fixing anything, because that steaming pile isn't getting installed on our machines. ;)

Gordon

EDIT: Installed the same drivers for a user testing a Fermi card (GeForce GTX 470) and so far so good. No more highlight issues, all Hardware Acceleration features seem to be working, and performance is on a par with Quadro cards costing tons more. If this pans out I think the sweet spot will be the GeForce GTX 285 ($150) doing everything that a Quadro FX4800 does for $1500. Now we just wait to see how long it take Autodesk or nVidia to break things again. ;)