Need Drivers for Video Card from Parallels Tools v6.0-12106

My firm is trying to use Parallels 8 but there is a problem with the video card drivers in version 8 and 7 that isn't in 6 when working in Revit 2014/Building Design Suite Premium. Therefore, I want to use the video card drivers from version 6 in 8. Is there any way to get the files for the video card drivers? The Parallels Tools ISO doesn't have the files in folders, only in the installer. Any help would be appreciated.

 

distronic,

Video drivers (and other tools for that matter) are specific to version of Parallels Desktop. Moreover much of 3D emulation is done in PD application. So, there's no point in downgrading the driver at all. One of a few things you can try yourself is to switch VM Configuration > Hardware > Video > 3D acceleration from DirectX10 to DirectX9 and see it makes any difference.
It would be useful if you described the problem in detail and generated a problem report via PD Help menu, preferably with Revit error message or whatever you're seeing on screen.

 

Here is an example of the graphics not working. Still pretty slow too.

What it should look like:

When zooming in, elements disappear:

Zooming in even further:

 

I forgot to mention that I have tried switching from DX10 to DX9, and even turning OFF Direct 3D Acceleration. I've also tried turning off using hardware acceleration in Revit 2014, and all possible permutations of hardware acceleration settings in Parallels and Revit 2014. I should mention that in Revit 2014, when using Parallels 8, Revit complains that the video driver is unsupported and will not let you enable hardware acceleration without first deleting the file which checks the video card driver. Despite deleting the file to enable hardware acceleration, the graphical problems and general "slowness" remain. When using Parallels 6, Revit 2014 still complains about the driver, but allows hardware acceleration to be used.

 

My observation is that this doesn't seem like Parallels 3D acceleration issue, since turning 3D off doesn't help.
Are you running this on a Retina MBP by chance?

 

No. These are all either Mac Pros or iMacs.

 

Hi serv,

You may be right that this isn't specifically a 3D Acceleration issue. It could very well be a Parallels issue as a whole, since you mentioned that "much of 3D emulation is done in PD application." As it stands, Parallels 6 offers better performance in both Revit 2012 and 2014, whereas performance drops in 2014, regardless of changing settings in 3D Acceleration either in Parallels settings or Revit settings.

 

Hi distronic,

Revit 2014 refuses to enable 3D acceleration for graphics drivers that aren't listed in AdskHardwareCertificationReport.xml file. The file is a bit cryptic, so it unclear whether it enabled PD6 and disables PD8 which might explain performance differences.
What you can try is to temporarily rename that file, enable 3D acceleration in Revit and see if it helps performance in PD8.

 

Hi serv,

Thanks for pointing this out. I have found this information elsewhere and already tried renaming/deleting the file. This does allow enabling hardware acceleration in Revit, but it does not help performance at all.

 

I also have this problem evaluating Revit 2014. How do you list a MacBook Pro's graphic card in AdskHardwareCertificationReport.xml? That seems like what is needed for Revit to enable 3D Hardware acceleration, no? By what you say, renaming the file would ensure that it was not turned on.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Do you think that PD9 would improve the situation?

 

Instead of renaming the filename, I just added a different file extension, namely "bak" to the end of the file so that Revit couldn't find the correct file. I'm assuming you could just move the file out of its original directory, or do a COPY then PASTE (which would append " - COPY" to the file) and delete the original file and rename the copy later. Any of those methods should work and will allow you to check the box to "Use Hardware Acceleration (Direct3D)" in Revit 2014.