Poor performance running Civil 3d on virtual machine

[kcarlsen]

We are running, trying to run, autocad civil 3D 2019 and 2020 by remote desktop access to virtual machines on an azure server. Users are experiencing lags when zooming or doing anything really. Revit is running fine in same environment. Any suggestions on how we can increase performance in civil 3d without hardware acceleration or breaking the bank on high end graphics unit for VM?

[rkmcswain]

An age old problem.
Start by disabling all of the CPU hogging things such as SC, DUCS, 3DOSNAP, C3D Tooltips, etc.
Is this DaaS managed by a 3rd party?

[kcarlsen]

The DaaS is not managed by third party.

[brian.strandberg]

Make the CAD graphics as lightweight as possible. Here are some settings I have been sharing with users. These can help, but not entirely solve the issue.

ROLLOVERTIPS=0
Decrease cursor size. CURSORSIZE=5
Turn off running osnaps.
DYNMODE=0
PALETTEOPAQUE-0
WHIPTHREAD=3
SNAPMODE=0

[BlackBox]

Some others that may help:

System variables (Registry):
- TEMPPREFIX = Set Temporary File Location to folder on fastest drive.
- XLOADCTL = 2 (*Also unload large XREFs, even if only as Underlay before SAVE/CLOSE)
- Toggle CACHEMAXFILES or CACHEMAXTOTALSIZE to 0 to flush graphics cache files

- Hardware graphics off (if not already, sounds like it is by nature of VDI, but this helps physical workstations too)

System memory:
- Set pagefile.sys for 2:1 ratio of total RAM

- Raster Design Memory: _MAPIOPTIONS Command, Memory tab:

Set Temporary File Location to folder on fastest drive (same as TEMPPREFIX).
Set RAM Settings, Memory Limit, for 50-75% of total physical RAM

Can I also just point out the irony, that the key to getting new(-er) versions Civil 3D to work on VDI... Is to disable all of this malarkey... to get back to a state where it's basically 2009 again. Haha

[rkmcswain]

Can I also just point out the irony, that the key to getting new(-er) versions Civil 3D to work on VDI... Is to disable all of this malarkey... to get back to a state where it's basically 2009 again. Haha

You could apply that to AutoCAD/Civil 3D in general over the past decade.

Even some of Autodesk's own KB articles suggest turning off most of the "eye candy", to restore normal functionality.

What baffles me is that many of these options are enabled by default (OOTB), yet many of the status bar buttons that give you a visual on the status of said "CPU hogs", are hidden by default

[kcarlsen]

Thanks for the assistance everyone. We're applying the suggested changes (not already set) and will see how it goes. We appreciate your time and input!