LDD in Windows 10 issues and discussion

[jamie75]

Anyone update to Windows 10 and having problems with LDD?! All I'm getting now are diagonal black lines and the screen flashing on and off like a strobe light?!

Jamie

[SylvainLS]

Anyone update to Windows 10 and having problems with LDD?! All I'm getting now are diagonal black lines and the screen flashing on and off like a strobe light?!

Jamie

You have graphics drivers problems. Try installing the ones provided by the constructor. (Windows-provided drivers sometimes are too generic.)

[suenkachun]

You have graphics drivers problems. Try installing the ones provided by the constructor. (Windows-provided drivers sometimes are too generic.)

For me, upgrading my laptop to Windows 10 actually helped to solve more of my LDD problems. One of the basic system requirements of LDD is 128 MB of Dedicated Video Memory, and when my laptop was still using Windows 8.1 I only had 32 MB of Dedicated Video Memory (Intel HD Graphics 4400), therefore causing all sorts of problems (all desktop PCs at my university had 64 MB on their Intel Cards, so mine was crazy bad!). Fortunately my laptop also had an NVIDIA Card (NVIDIA GeForce 840M) which was powerful enough to run LDD, so I switched to that one under the suggestion of the LDD Support Team. This improved things slightly and helped to satisfy my short-term needs, but I still had to find a long-term solution. Recently, I upgraded to Windows 10 and the Dedicated Video Memory of the Intel Card was automatically modified to 128 MB, therefore meeting the basic requirements of LDD! Now, I can run LDD on either the Intel Card or the NVIDIA Card, which is good (although I still can't smoothly open larger files, but never mind). Therefore, upgrading to Windows 10 might actually have an additional bonus which can hopefully solve a few more of your problems when using LDD, especially for laptop users.

P.S., From what I've researched, you should be able to change the Dedicated Video Memory on a desktop PC under the "BIOS Settings"; but laptop manufacturers usually don't include that function to save money, and due to limitations of the motherboard it's not that easy to upgrade a laptop's graphics card.

[Superkalle]

<Split into a separate topic>

[jamie75]

Thanks, Superkalle!!

I am a little older and not as computer savvy as some of you guys. So, this may sound dumb, but, I have done a little research and I think I need something called, OpenGL, but, I couldn't find drivers for Windows 10.

I also, don't know what graphics card I have in my computer. Is there a way to find out, without having to take my tower apart?

Also, SylvainLS, what do you mean by, the constructor, thanks!!

Thanks, Jamie

Edited August 17, 2015 by jamie75

[Gnac]

[...] I think I need something called, OpenGL, but, I couldn't find drivers for Windows 10.

I also, don't know what graphics card I have in my computer. Is there a way to find out, without having to take my tower apart?

OpenGL is a sort of "layer" between software and hardware which enables accelerated perfomance. This layer is usually supplied as part of the drivers for your hardware. To find out which hardware you have, type "Device Manager" into the search bar at the bottom of the start menu, then look in the Device Manager's list for "Display Adapters". There may be a right-click option to "Update Driver software", but going to the vendor manufacturer's website is recommended (I think this is what SylvainLS is referring to).

Edited August 18, 2015 by Gnac

[SylvainLS]

but going to the vendor manufacturer's website is recommended (I think this is what SylvainLS is referring to).

Indeed. The manufacturer knows the hardware better (or is supposed to).

Sorry for the “constructor” thing: English has a lot of near-synonyms, all mixed-up in regards to French (“constructor” popped first as constructeur is the French word; manufacturier is seldom used, and vendeur more often refers to a sales-clerk).

Also, as a warning, I just changed my “Country”: I hadn’t noticed it said UK when the field is empty.

[jamie75]

No problem, SylvaintLS, thanks for the help anyways!

I uninstalled the drivers for my graphics card and reinstalled them. It didn't help! I have an, Intel ® Q35 Chipset, Gnac. Intel said I had the latest drivers installed after that and LDD still didn't work.

The more the searched for a solution for this. I discovered it is not an isolated problem. Seems a lot of people are having issues with Windows 10 and Minecraft. From my reading, both Minecraft and LDD use OpenGL, and that seems to be the issue. The versions of OpenGL I looked at were not compatible with Windows 10, yet. Or did I miss something?!

I'm sure with Windows 10 being new still, I will just have wait for a new driver to become available.

I did discover that opening LDD in Safe Mode works, but, it is slow!!

Thanks for the help, Jamie

[Naijel]

For me, upgrading my laptop to Windows 10 actually helped to solve more of my LDD problems. One of the basic system requirements of LDD is 128 MB of Dedicated Video Memory, and when my laptop was still using Windows 8.1 I only had 32 MB of Dedicated Video Memory (Intel HD Graphics 4400), therefore causing all sorts of problems (all desktop PCs at my university had 64 MB on their Intel Cards, so mine was crazy bad!). Fortunately my laptop also had an NVIDIA Card (NVIDIA GeForce 840M) which was powerful enough to run LDD, so I switched to that one under the suggestion of the LDD Support Team. This improved things slightly and helped to satisfy my short-term needs, but I still had to find a long-term solution. Recently, I upgraded to Windows 10 and the Dedicated Video Memory of the Intel Card was automatically modified to 128 MB, therefore meeting the basic requirements of LDD! Now, I can run LDD on either the Intel Card or the NVIDIA Card, which is good (although I still can't smoothly open larger files, but never mind). Therefore, upgrading to Windows 10 might actually have an additional bonus which can hopefully solve a few more of your problems when using LDD, especially for laptop users.

P.S., From what I've researched, you should be able to change the Dedicated Video Memory on a desktop PC under the "BIOS Settings"; but laptop manufacturers usually don't include that function to save money, and due to limitations of the motherboard it's not that easy to upgrade a laptop's graphics card.

Intel graphics is generally awful but getting better. It's got to the point where it is fine for most things but not really suitable for serious CAD or gaming. It is built into the main CPU and isn't on the same level as a separate dedicated graphics system, like your nVidia chip. I'm not sure how the PC managed to be using the wrong, crappier graphics system by default. It may have been that someone re-installed Windows manually but forgot to install the all the extra drivers that the PC needs.

Drivers are like interpreters that tell Windows how to communicate with hardware components. The component makers write the drivers for their devices. Drivers free Microsoft from having to research and understand the tens of thousands of different hardware components on the market and they protect hardware makers from having to reveal how their proprietary devices work.

Some components have been around for so long that simple/standard drivers are built into Windows, e.g. keyboard, DVD drive, mouse, etc. But for more complex, non-standard and new components, the drivers are often not built in to Windows. This includes graphics, WiFi, sound, etc. Those drivers come with the PC or new components when you buy them. If the PC is built for you then they are usually pre-installed by the PC manufacturer. PC makers also usually have a way to factory reset the PC that sets everything up the same as at purchase. However, if you re-install Windows yourself then only half the job is done. All of the drivers need to be manually installed separately after the Windows installation is complete. If they aren't installed then certain parts of the PC may work at a reduced level or not at all. All of the non-Microsoft programs that came on the PC would also need to be re-installed before they could be used.

A lot of people don't realise this and think that Windows is everything. But PCs usually come with a lot more software than just Windows. Some need to be installed. Some is just bloatware and can be forgotten.

Intel ® Q35 Chipset

No problem, SylvaintLS, thanks for the help anyways!

I uninstalled the drivers for my graphics card and reinstalled them. It didn't help! I have an, Intel ® Q35 Chipset, Gnac. Intel said I had the latest drivers installed after that and LDD still didn't work.

The more the searched for a solution for this. I discovered it is not an isolated problem. Seems a lot of people are having issues with Windows 10 and Minecraft. From my reading, both Minecraft and LDD use OpenGL, and that seems to be the issue. The versions of OpenGL I looked at were not compatible with Windows 10, yet. Or did I miss something?!

I'm sure with Windows 10 being new still, I will just have wait for a new driver to become available.

I did discover that opening LDD in Safe Mode works, but, it is slow!!

Thanks for the help, Jamie

Intel ® Q35 Chipset is seriously old technology. I don't know the details about the rest of the PC but given the strict requirements that Windows 10 has for certain processor features that started becoming standard only around 2008 you may have only just met their minimum spec requirements.

I would strongly recommend getting a new PC if you are using LDD. If possible I'd invest in a desktop PC with a graphics card costing around $150-200 or more. If you are on a tight budget then for good bang for your buck I'd recommend any graphics card based on the nVidia GTX 750 Ti chip. That's their cheapest one with their Maxwell technology. nVidia make the chips, but the cards that actually use them are made by a lot of different companies.

Edited August 19, 2015 by Naijel

[Calabar]

I would strongly recommend getting a new PC if you are using LDD. If possible I'd invest in a desktop PC with a graphics card costing around $150-200 or more. If you are on a tight budget then for good bang for your buck I'd recommend any graphics card based on the nVidia [/font][/color]GTX 750 Ti chip. That's their cheapest one with their Maxwell technology. nVidia make the chips, but the cards that actually use them are made by a lot of different companies.

Only a remark.

The 750 TI is 1st generation Maxwell, that is very limited if compared with 2nd generation (the 2nd generation brought a huge change, and a decent support to DX12). Probably the best choice in that price range is the new 950, much powerful and with Maxwell 2.0 architecture (but probably a little more expensive).

Anyway a new PC with a 150-200$ dedicated graphics card is not so suitable with low budget.

With a low budget, I will not underestimate a good and cheap AMD APU. Note that LDD is not so "hungry" of GPU, and the integrated of a good APU would be enough for the most of the cases.

Otherwise the new integrated graphics in the Skylake Intel CPU is not so bad, and could be a decent (but a bit more expensive) alternative. It is necessary to wait the release of the new i3 for a low budget PC.

Edited August 19, 2015 by Calabar

[Naijel]

Thanks for the info.

I use an AMD processor myself, though it's time I upgraded. I work for a PC company and have tried LDD on a latest gen i3 notebook and the performance in LDD is OK but it still really chugs once you get a decent amount of pieces in the model. Same with an i3 Mac Mini I have at home, though it is 2 years old now. I would not recommend Intel graphics for LDD at all if you are building anything serious. This is especially the case with 1080P monitors. Even just clicking on a brick palette and having it slowly load all the elements is a real pain in the megablocks.

I know getting a new PC with a $150-$200 card is not super cheap but if you go easy on the rest of the components it's hardly gaming enthusiast. But I really recommend anyone serious about Lego CAD get a semi-decent PC. Not for everyone though, I know. But my main PC is rock solid and has no trouble with very large models and lots of different elements.

When I recommended the 750 Ti it was for these reasons.

1. The performance is quite a significant jump from previous cards in that price range.

2. Less money might be friendly for your wallet but by just going up a few dollars you get so much more performance and 2 GB of RAM. I feel it's a waste of money to buy a discrete graphics card and not get at least this level. 1 GB of VRAM just doesn't cut it these days.

3. The power consumption is quite low meaning it's less likely people need to fork out for a more beefy PSU.

4. Radeon cards have horrible driver support. It's very common for Radeon drivers to become so corrupted that you can't open the control centre, can't uninstall the drivers and can't install new versions.

But if the 950 is out and has a comparable price point then it is likely a great option. In Sydney my supplier does not have 950 yet. How are they priced? The 960 and 980 cards are just too expensive for budget minded people.

[Calabar]

I work for a PC company and have tried LDD on a latest gen i3 notebook and the performance in LDD is OK but it still really chugs once you get a decent amount of pieces in the model.

This is probably due to the GPU, not the CPU.

And in Skylake the GPU has been significantly improved. Not all Intel graphics are at the same level.

Anyway the GPU of the AMD APU is usually better (not for computing power only).

But I really recommend anyone serious about Lego CAD get a semi-decent PC.

Certainly. But a good AMD APU based PC is semi.decent, I think.

Remember that very powerful GPU have only a little advantage against a mid-range GPU, LDD don't scale efficiently to take advantage of hight-end hardare. .

When I recommended the 750 Ti it was for these reasons.

The GF 750 is a good mid range video card and was a good purchase, but now the 950 is far better in a similar price range. There is the Radeon R7 360 that is very good too in that range (I don't agree that Radeon have a bad driver support. Absolutely... see Nvidia video cards common problems in the last period).

[roland]

It is probably futile to get a very expensive graphics card just for using LDD. This because the 'extra' hardware you pay for on those cards is not or hardly used by LDD as it uses (compared to modern games) very basic features.

So you'll be ok with a low mid range card, or if you also want to use it with causal games for about 5 years or so consider a high mid range one.

I also disagree on the AMD driver thing, I've been using all AMD pc's for over 15 years now and never had any real problems.

[Naijel]

It is probably futile to get a very expensive graphics card just for using LDD. This because the 'extra' hardware you pay for on those cards is not or hardly used by LDD as it uses (compared to modern games) very basic features.

So you'll be ok with a low mid range card, or if you also want to use it with causal games for about 5 years or so consider a high mid range one.

I also disagree on the AMD driver thing, I've been using all AMD pc's for over 15 years now and never had any real problems.

Yes, I agree, that's why I suggested a 750 Ti and agree with Calabar's suggestion of a 950. A 950 would be good for gaming for a few years, just not at super high resolution and quality. A 960 is about another $100 more in Australia and a 980 is way more expensive. Both are overkill for LDD.

Edited August 20, 2015 by Naijel

[Naijel]

This is probably due to the GPU, not the CPU.

And in Skylake the GPU has been significantly improved. Not all Intel graphics are at the same level.

Anyway the GPU of the AMD APU is usually better (not for computing power only).

Agreed on the reason for the i3 performance issues. And yes, Intel have been coming along in leaps and bounds with each new generation of their graphics. Hopefully I will be pleasantly surprised by Skylake when I get to try one.

Certainly. But a good AMD APU based PC is semi.decent, I think.

Remember that very powerful GPU have only a little advantage against a mid-range GPU, LDD don't scale efficiently to take advantage of hight-end hardare. .

I agree that a good AMD APU is ok as long as they sort out their drivers. But then I hear people complaining about nVidia drivers too, as you mention.

I agree that a very powerful GPU has little advantage. It's more about fast geometry calculations than raw pixel filling power. That's why I recommended a 750 Ti rather than a more expensive 960 or crazy expensive 980 and was glad to hear from you about the new 950. I'd switch my recommendation to 950 now.

The GF 750 is a good mid range video card and was a good purchase, but now the 950 is far better in a similar price range. There is the Radeon R7 360 that is very good too in that range (I don't agree that Radeon have a bad driver support. Absolutely... see Nvidia video cards common problems in the last period).

Yeah, I probably over react about their drivers, and people complain about nVidia's too. I just had so much trouble with my current card. Had to resort to a third party driver removal tool to even be able to remove and update my drivers. I just don't understand how a company can make such bad software that you can't install, can't uninstall, and can't open the control centre that is installed. I'd try to open it, get an hourglass cursor for a few seconds, then nothing. No error message, no window trying to open before dying. Nothing. I really don't think I will go with another Radeon this time around. But I flip flop between the two.

Thank you for bringing the 950 to my attention. I last looked at graphics cards a couple of months back as I was trying to decide whether to:

(A) get a sub $200 Maxwell card right now for Fallout 4, Dragon Age Inquisition and other recent games my PC can't play,

or

(B) wait until a 980 or equivalent comes down in price so that I can be ready for Occulus Rift. Occulus recommend being able to run 1080P at 90 fps.

My wallet said ouch when I read the recommended specs for Rift. I'm going to look again now at the 950 as an option for right now and probably push back a Rift suitable card until mid 2016. There are not many big games yet that have announced Rift support so it has become less urgent. I don't want to get a Rift, fork our for an expensive upgrade and then play tech demos and small games for 6 months or a year. I want to play big blockbuster games straight away.

Maybe I should get back more directly on topic.

[Naijel]

Oops. Delete please.

Edited August 20, 2015 by Naijel

[Calabar]

...or

(B) wait until a 980 or equivalent comes down in price so that I can be ready for Occulus Rift.

Frankly, I don't think that any of the present generation of video card is really suitable for VR. Even the 980 or the Fury.

I don't know if you tested a 1080p display for VR, but in the DK2, for example, you can even see subpixels. Not pixels, subpixels! A decent resolution for VR will be 4k, at least.

But even at 2k or QHD resolution, present video cards have a hard time. Maybe a SLI or Crossfire, at least.

Remember that GPU are on the same node, the 28nm, by four years. Soon will be introduced the new 16-14 nm processes that will bring a huge leap for video card.

In short, if you are thinking about assembling a PC for virtual reality, it is better to wait a bit.

The GF 750 is a good mid range video card and was a good purchase, but now the 950 is far better in a similar price range.

And don't forget the R7 360, it is a good mid-range video card at a low price.

NOTE: the Geforce 950 is a less powerful version of the 960. As the 950 has been released jet, it is possible that the price is even higher than the price of the 960. Obviously in this case the 960 is a better choice.

I just don't understand how a company can make such bad software

Video card driver are a complex matter, no one was able to create good drivers without problems on a large variety of hardware configurations.

Nvidia for example releases two times drivers that phisically burned their video cards and Nvidia drivers was the greater cause of crash on Linux.

What I want to say is not that Nvidia Drivers are bad (but, surely, Nvidia releases bad drivers ) or the AMD video ones are better. I want to say that all video card drivers can have problems, and AMD drivers are not bad than Nvidia ones (especially in the last years).

Unfortunately the market is distorted because of this kind of false convictions.

Personally, I had more problems with Nvidia drivers than with AMD ones. But this is a single case and it is not good for statistics.

Edited August 20, 2015 by Calabar

[Alasdair Ryan]

I have no problems running LDD on my (£800) Sony Laptop (windows 10,touch-screen),I also run Autocad,Blender and Inventor on it with no problems.

OS Name Microsoft Windows 10 Home

Version 10.0.10240 Build 10240

Other OS Description Not Available

OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation

System Name VAIO

System Manufacturer Sony Corporation

System Model SVF15A1M2ES

System Type x64-based PC

Processor Intel® Core™ i5-3337U CPU @ 1.80GHz, 1801 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)

Name Intel® HD Graphics 4000

Adapter Type Intel® HD Graphics Family, Intel Corporation compatible

Adapter Description Intel® HD Graphics 4000

Adapter RAM (2,080,374,784) bytes

Resolution 1920 x 1080 x 60 hertz

Bits/Pixel 32

Name NVIDIA GeForce GT 735M

Adapter Type GeForce GT 735M, NVIDIA compatible

Adapter Description NVIDIA GeForce GT 735M

Adapter RAM (2,147,483,648) bytes

Oh and has any one else asked cortana to start LDD?

Edited August 20, 2015 by Alasdair Ryan

[Tyfighter77]

Has anyone had the following issue and/or found a solution?

Can't even install LDD on my Windows 10 64-bit laptop. I get the following error: "This app can't run on your pc". Trying to run in compatibility mode has no effect. I've been running LDD successfully on my Windows 7 desktop for years and would like to get started on my new laptop as well. Any suggestions?

Here is my system info:

HP Envy Laptop (brand new)

64-bit Windows 10 OS

Intel i7-6500U CPU (x64-based)

Intel HD Graphics 520 (128MB dedicated memory)

[Alasdair Ryan]

My laptop is a 64 bit,that error message sounds like you are trying to install a 32 bit version.

Edited February 12, 2016 by Alasdair Ryan

[Tyfighter77]

My laptop is a 64 bit,that error message sounds like you are trying to install a 32 bit version.

I only found one download link. Is there a link to a 64-bit version of LDD?

EDIT: SOLVED. Looking into it, I found out the current download is both 32/64 bit. On a chance, I redownloaded the installer and this time the installer worked. Strange but true. So if anyone else has a similar problem, try that.

Edited February 15, 2016 by Tyfighter77

[Yooha]

It constantly crashes and doesn't restart ever, only when I restart the whole windows :(

Oh this is not POV-Ray topic...

Edited May 22, 2016 by Yooha

[PicnicBasketSam]

Wow. o.O the number of issues people are having with Windows 10 is amazing... now I have another excuse to not update to it. (the other being that the updating process has been known to occasionally wipe hard drives... and Microsoft simply doesn't give a crap about that...)