Parallels 3.0 and non-gaming 3D apps

Parallels 3.0 Can't Even Run the DirectX 8 3DMark03

It's becoming very sad to me that Vista with Parallels 3 is a bad combination with DirectX, 3dmark03 didn't even get to the benchmarks just crashed at the loading screen, again getting more disappointed. Has anyone got directX running and playing in Vista, is there something special you need to do? I mean if the DirectX 7 and 8 Benchmark can't even run I'm pretty sure I'm not going to waste anymore time with this, good thing I got the trial only. Maybe Windows XP is more stable I'm going to try that out here and see.

 

Hey Folks,

I thought I'd start a thread on DirectX / XNA programming and non-gaming 3D applications and Parallels 3.0.

Autodesk Maya 7.0 - does not show the main window or work correctly. The error is that Maya was unable to allocate overlay planes with OpenGL.

Microsoft XNA Framework - looks like Parallels 3.0 does not support non-power of two textures, also you cannot create more than one Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Graphics.Device for the application and/or reset an existing device with a different window handle passed to the presentation parameters. Translation = I suspect any XNA (and DirectX?) application with multiple viewports or document/views will not work correctly.

Another programming related XNA / DirectX bug is that if you specify that you want the Software Reference driver instead of the Hardware driver when initializing XNA / DirectX, Parallels always seems to return the Hardware driver no matter what (unless you toggle off DirectX support in the VM properties, then only Software Reference driver can be initialized).

Regards,

Jeremy

 

hi!

I tried Maya 7, 8 and 8.5. I got the same message, but also got the info that wglCreateContext failed. Then I tried GLinfo and got a not correctly displayed window. The driver seems to be correctly installed.

hans-egon

 

SolidWorks
Opens fine, then you make a new document or open any document, and bam, "SolidWorks has terminated due to an unhandled error."

3dsmax
Did a clean install of max 8. Graphics modes went as follows:
Software - just sucks and is glitchy (as always) but works as it did in parallels v2.5
OpenGL - fails miserably, crashing and failing to load
Direct3D - v9 crashes 3dsmax. If you change it to Direct3D v8, I thought that would fix it but nope. Instant crashes again.

We have seen that maya doesnt work... unrealED doesnt work... lots of games don't work...
Seriously... NOTHING works!

 

XNA requires DirectX 9.0c and Shader Model 2.0, neither of which Parallels supports, IIRC.

 

Have you turned on the DirectX option in your VM?

 

Have you tried 3DMark03 on a real Vista machine? I remember reading on a thread on one fo the flightsim that this benchmark sometimes had issues running on Vista.

If it has issues running on a non-virtualized machine, there might be problems on a virtual machine.

 

Please, keep in mind, what the current version have been tested with and has the confirmed 3D support for the limited number of applications listed in the Release Notes (Macintosh HD - Applications - Parallels - Release Notes.pdf). It doesn't mean that the program not in that list won't run, but we can't guarantee the 3D support for it.

 

Hi Dezro,

Actually, XNA does not require Shader Model 2.0; just Shader Model 1.1 (you can verify for yourself on the XNA Studio Express download page at Microsoft where it lists minimum requirements). Parallels does (intended to) support DirectX 9.0c as far as I can tell with DXDiag.

Regards,

Jeremy

 

Hi Purplish,

Yes, when testing Maya 7 and XNA/DirectX sample programs, I do have the DirectX option turned on in my VM.

Regards,

Jeremy

 

Alibre (CAD) doesn't work either, Parallels 3, Win XP Pro.

I checked out the DirectX testing, and DirectDraw doesn't work, DirectX 7,8,9 appear to (I get the spinning DirectX box) but then texturing doesn't work.

SolidWorks is definitely not as good as before, which is odd. I'll test with the Parallels DirectX feature turned off and see if it helps.

I pretty much only use Parallels for SolidWorks...although Rhino worked in 2.5, too.

 

Well I hate to be another one to break it to you but even the listed supported apps (ie. SolidWorks 2007) doesn't work.

Please explain to me how I got better performance of SW2007 in Version 2.5 than in 3.0. Furthermore, explain how SW 2007 runs better in 3.0 when using "Software OpenGL" than when using "Hardware OpenGL"?

I thought this $40 "upgrade" was supposed to be BETTER! Looks like I just pi$$ed away another chunck of money on this program like I did the first time.

Oh and by the way...thanks for letting us do an evaluation of the Beta version before we sent you the money...wink..wink. Real classy.

Seriously, how hard would it have been to let those existing customers evaluate the Beta before purchase? This version is worse for performance of high end programs than before!

YOU'VE GOT SOME REALLY LARGE ATTACHMENTS PUTTING SOLIDWORKS 2007 AS A SUPPORTED APPLICATION IN YOUR DOCUMENTATION. DID YOU EVEN TRY TO USE SW ON PARALLELS BEFORE LISTING IT IN YOUR DOCUMENTATION?

This is stupid!

 

3D Studio Max 8 crashing...

Sit-rep:

3D Studio Max 8 was running fine using the OpenGL engine to display its 3D graphics yesterday. I enabled DirectX support in the VM's config and now OpenGL doesn't work.

There are three settings to run Max's 3D engine. Software, OpenGL, and DirectX. The only one that works is Software but it doesn't work properly and is slow to respond with large scenes. OpenGL, it will complain that there is no such engine and i have to change it something else. DirectX (8.1 or 9.0) crashes the application on startup, in the splash screen dialog.

Is this solely related to enabling DirectX support? If so you guys should fix it.

Also, A Path Beyond Beta does play well, then doesn't play well. It may just be the game and the ATI card (the creator of scripts.dll and shaders.dll said it doesn't like ATI cards) but if not, why do i get 3-6 FPS when looking at a particular angle?

 

solidworks 2007

I'm also experiencing significantly degraded experience in Solidworks 2007 on parallels 3.0 compared to 2.5 and find it really odd that it's listed as a supported app. Am i missing something, is there some setting that needs to be set to allow proper 3d acceleration?

 

I did find a "solution" as to some of the performance degradation of SW2007 under Parallels.

I found if you have a SpacePilot and/or eDrawings loading upon startup of SW the graphics go to hell. Turn them both off under "add-ins" under the SW settings and you'll see a significant improvement of graphics performance.

Unfortunately this is not a fix for me. Without my SpacePilot it's like someone cutting off my arm.

I need this resolved quickly!

 

SO, you're saying all the programs that previously ran nicely with 2.5 now aren't supposed to run properly at all because something in your code changed that makes them not even start up anymore and you don't care because it's not in v3.0's list of supported apps?

I really don't understand this. If you state that v3.0 is better in 3d graphics, then why do all of these programs not even run anymore? either they don't run or behave weird and much slower than even 2.5 which is your older version and has no 3d acceleration.

I'm very disappointed and pissed to have bought this new version. You guys at parallels have clearly deceived us and promised something you couldn't deliver. If not even the 3d apps run anymore which previously ran fine under 2.5 then what's with all that "3d acceleration fluff"?

If not better then they should at least start up at all and run as good as under 2.5 or better, don't you think?

 

Same problem with Rhino 4. It worked fine under Parallels 2.5, but now I have to uncheck OpenGL options> "use accelerated hardware modes" to get it to run at all.

 

Xfrog no longer works

I have found that Greenworks XFrog Full 3.5's 3d view is all messed up (the rest of the UI is okay) in Parallels 3.0 whereas it works fine in 2.5. I think this app uses OpenGL.

Thanks,

Drocket.

 

Has anyone gotten Alibre to work?

I am using a MacBook, Parralels 3.0, Win XP Pro and just installed Alibre 10.0. Nothing shows in the graphics workspace. I'm sure it's a video driver issue. Any suggestions?

Thanks
Bob

 

Alibre uses DirectX to render the screen. You'll have to wait until they get everything right with video at Parallels to use it, or go Boot Camp.

http://alibre.typepad.com/alibre_ceo_blog/2007/02/index.html