Aurora toolset NWN buggy under Parallels 4.0

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Dick Starmans

Junior Member
Aurora toolset NWN buggy under Parallels 4 and 5

Got a positive on the Aurora toolset for Neverwinter Nights not functioning properly.

Parallels 3.0 (latest) gave no trouble.
Parallels 4.0 (latest) gives graphics trouble when devving (not playing in NWN).
Parallels 5.0 (latest) gives graphics trouble when devving (not playing in NWN).

All the while, when using Aurora under bootcamp, graphics are fine and dandy.
Heck, I even reinstalled the complete NeverwinterNights package for a fresh
Aurora. I found that that didn't make a difference in the above.

I'm using a Mac Pro, with an ATI Radeon 2600HD 256 Mb Video card and 10 Gb ram.
Got the latest (november) ATI drivers installed on the Bootcamp partition I linked
Parallels to.

Please fix it, dear Parallels people. I know you can
Aurora is the only program I bought Parallels for....
:)
 
Last edited:
As you can see, the update didn't solve my problem.
Hope to hear from you soon

picture1ml7.png
 
Hello,

please try disabling 3D acceleration in Configure -> Video, this might help. If that works, also please check on how it affects Neverwinter Nights.
 
Upon unchecking the 3d acceleration and starting up Aurora on Windows XP, I get an error:

Could not create 3D preview window.
Please check that you run the latest drivers for your video card.
The program will now exit.

Then Aurora simply quits. So turning off the 3d acceleration is not an option for me.
Please get it fixed the same way you had it fixed in PD3.
 
Turning 3d acceleration yields me an error:
Could not create 3d preview window.
Please check that you are running the latest video drivers for your video card.
This program will now exit.

So it's no option to turn off 3d acellaration.
Hope you fix it the way it was in PD3.
 
Hello Dick. Can you please specify if you have any other graphics-related issues under Parallels Desktop v4.0? Any problems running the game itself? Any other applications utilizing 3D? Would you kindly run dxdiag in Parallels and see if DirectDraw and Direct3D acceleration is enabled (do not mind the AGP texture acceleration, it's turned off by design) ?

As far as solutions go you may wish to reinstall Parallels Tools (please do it like this):

-start your Virtual Machine, go to Start => Control Panel => Programs and features. Locate the Parallels Tools entry and uninstall it;

-shut down your VM, go to the Configuration Editor (Virtual Machine => Configure);

-go to CD/DVD-ROM 1. select the 'use image file' radiobutton. click 'Choose'. go to /Library/Parallels/Tools and open the 'prl-tools-win.iso' file. click 'Ok'. start your Virtual Machine;

-wait for Windows to boot completely. cancel any 'found new hardware' menus that pop up. go to Start => My Computer, right-click on the cd-rom icon (it should display the Parallels Tools logo) and select Autorun.

But if it results in no joy I think you really should create a ticket in our system. To do this please go here:http://www.parallels.com/support/desktop/request/ and make sure to include a link to this thread - this will help us to investigate the issue (and hopefully come up with a solution) that much sooner.
 
A description on how things went:

1) I was not able to locate the dxdia program within the running VM.

Hence I proceeded to re-install the parallels tools (it might've been a part of the tools).

2) First up was the de-installation from the control panel inside the VM. Easy peasy.

After completing de-installation, I switched off the VM.

3) I linked the prl-tools-win.iso file to the CD/DVD-ROM 1 device and re-started the VM.

In the first run, I clicked "cancel" upon the found new hardware menus that popped up.
After a short while, the machine had started up in a small, centered window on my monitor.
Clearly drivers were put to standard.

4) I was not able to find the CD/DVD-ROM 1 device in the windows explorer, so I shut down the VM.

As I thought the iso wasn't linked properly, I re-opened the VM configuration and re-linked the
prl-tools-win.iso file and closed up.

This time, the PD went on preparing the WINXP (bootcamp) volume on my desktop and I got some
hope I'd be able to find the CD/DVD-ROM drive upon booting.

5) booted up the VM. It started an automatic installation process, littered with a few "found new
hardware" windows. This time, I didn't press cancel on any of them. Installation finished with a
reboot request.

6) Rebooted the VM and tried to find the CD/DVD-ROM 1 drive. Nothing there. Though Windows was
now full screen, indicating that something video-related had been done. The config software control
panel showed that indeed there was a new version of parallels tools installed.

Because my problem remained, I did a search on the dxdia and found it. Tests went okay, but it
indicated that I could expect problems with the d3d8.dll and d3d9.dll files. Reinstalling directx would
solve this, it indicated.

So now I'm switching over to bootcamp and install the new directx. I hope that version 10 will not yield
me more problems than before.
 
in Parallels Desktop version 4, video driver supports only direct X 9, and in case of graphic application we have a list of supported, installing directX 10 will not solve problem with this software in Virtual machine
 
And so I started a fresh install of Windows XP on my bootcamp partition.
About 10 hours later (no kidding) I managed to get all the official updates
on, and I installed DirectX 9.0c. After that, I installed the Parallels Tools.
I'm installing NWN as we speak, and will report on my findings.

DxDiag says I'm okay now, with 9.0c installed and verified for authenticity.
Wish me luck.
 
Tough luck. When running parallels and opening the module, the textures are gone.
DXdiag reports DirectX 9.0c installed, no problems found. It's definitively parallels
that screws up. Sorry guys.
 
I just want to clarify,
If problems are in Boot Camp, we will check situation while after Parallels Tools installation it affects Boot Camp
But if problem is in Virtual machine and application is not listed in supported list, application will be added to wish list
 
Running Aurora after a Boot Camp boot is unflawed.
So it's not the installation of Parallels Desktop 4 messing with Boot Camps files that creates the anomaly.
Hence I have to conclude that it's the Virtual Machine that's mucking things up. Could you therefore put the
Aurora toolset of Neverwinter Nights on the wish list?

Thanks for your patience and vigor.
 
Even after a successfull upgrade to 4.0.3810.237520 of the PD application and
matching tools installed under XP, the problem described above is still present.

*crosses fingers for a true fix in the next update*
 
John@Parallels said:
update was published , which is right now available at http://forum.parallels.com/showthread.php?t=31764
The most of problem were fixed.
Please navigate to that link, and download build 3540
In post there are various instructions, how to fix problems.
Click to expand...

Sadly, the problem wasn't fixed at all.
Even more sadly is, that version 5 has exact the same problem.

I'm very disappointed at how the PD-team clearly isn't adressing bugs.
As a result, I've converted to VMWare.

I hope you have the spunk to post this message, as my previous message
on the combination of lack of bug fixes and the upgrade policy to version 5
wasn't deemed valuable enough to your userbase.
 
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