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Bypass Hardware Requirements?

Anonymous User

I recently tried to deploy AGX Desktop to a client. They had a new Dell desktop with a dual-core processor and windows 7. the built-in Intel graphics should be more than enough to run a free GIS viewer like AGX. However after installing AGX and loading the program, the map area never loaded. It just froze. Could not add data or anything. Sometimes I can toggle 2D/3D and get the map area to load. But I spent almost two hours trying to get AGX to work on a brand new desktop machine and it would not work because of the ridiculous hardware requirements. I ended up installing MapWindow on their machine and everything loaded just fine.
I have been having nothing but issues getting this program to run the past year or so for clients, even on newer machines. This is the 4th time now I couldn't get this program to run. I tried running it on my brand new HP laptop (quad-core, 8gb ram, 1gb discrete graphics) and the map area would still not load. This is a joke that ESRI has put such high requirements on a free GIS viewer when a free, open source program like MapWindow can load data just fine on the same machine.

Is there a way to bypass the hardware requirements on an AGX desktop install? Perhaps an .ini file or something? It makes me look really bad when I provide a free reader to clients and it won't even run on brand new desktops without somekind of high-end graphics card.

I also had a good chuckle when running the "test my system" on the web and when it said the video didn't meet the requirements, the link took me to TigerDirect to buy a new graphics card. Real nice ESRI. Bad enough your free program doesn't run, you then expect people to spend $100 for a video card?

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RaymondChetti

One thing to try is to always update graphics card driver, unfortunately, it won't help with many integrated graphics card. Nothing we can do to help with this issue at the moment.

I have a Dell laptop with an integrated Video Card...I'm getting errors when trying to run CityEngine and it lags unbelievably. Is there anyway to fix this so I can run it on my laptop? I've attached the vital stats for my CPU?

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Anonymous User

Thanks Mark. I understand there's discrpencies between OEMs and chipset makers and video drivers etc. But my original point is still a valid one - this program shouldn't require those specific video requirements when google earth and other open source GIS programs run and open just fine. google earth's min video requirements are DirectX9 and 3D capable with 64MB of VRAM. That's it. May run slow but. Nice to see future versions of AG explorer may change video requirements, but between now and 3 years from now when that new version is released, we're up you-know-what-creek without a program that runs. Why weren't these video requirements being looked at 2 years ago when other versions were being updated?

MarkBockenhauer

I have seen instances where newer drivers make things worse... Also, as I understand it, the integrated graphics cards are customized by the computer hardware vendors (or ordered to specification) and that is why you will see specific drivers from the computer maker for the graphics card. While the base technology in an intel 945 chipset card in a Dell computer and HP computer may be the same, the actual use of the card by the computer is not necessarily the same. So much so, that a new driver from intel for the chipset does not apply to grahics card used in the Dell or HP computer. Hence the HP computer with 945 chipset works, but a Dell with the "same" chipset does not. At this point we are at the mercy of the computer maker to produce drivers that incorporate the latest advancements from the chip maker.

Typically it is the notebook and laptop computers that will have an integrated or "mobile" version of the card, and finding newer or different drivers for this type is not always possible.

While ArcGIS Explorer is using technology that is firmly rooted in Windows and OpenGL we are looking at Direct X and lesser OpenGL requirements in forthcoming software products. We do want Esri mapping software to run on as many computer and computer like devices (phones, tablets etc...) as possible.

I posted the list for reference. I have tested ArcGIS Explorer on a number of computers over the last 6 years, whether you have 2GB of Ram or 16GB, Single core or quad core, a $300 or $5000 computer, its the graphics card and the driver that is the number 1 cause of failure or success. I have only had 3 computers cross my desk that had the "desktop background displays where the map should display" issue and in those instances there were newer drivers available that fixed it.

The next version of ArcGIS Explorer (2500) does not decrease the requirements, but it does not increase them either.

Mark

Anonymous User

Yeah the suggestions to update the video driver don't help. That's the first thing I check for. On the install on the new Dell desktop, the integrated intel video had the latest driver installed. When I checked the intel site on what the video supported, opengl 3.0, etc. all checked out as supported, yet the ESRI site said it did not.

In my handful of experiences with these things, its always that the program opens, but the desktop background remains where the map should be. Whether I'm opening an ESRI basemap or local imagery. The map area is always the problem. I know this is a video/graphics card issue. I guess that was the point of my post - why has ESRI programmed these higher-end video requirements into this program? My experience has been for the 3D feature, which is not used 98% of the time. If higher end graphics are required to run these sorts of applications, why do Google Earth, MapWindow, etc. all open, load data, etc just fine yet AGX can't? A free GIS viewer does not need to be "graphics intensive". Google Earth and other software that run fine are proof of that.

Either way, the problems this program has makes it hard to deploy ESRI technology to small offices where people just want to view some shapefiles and imagery. Its too bad. I'm even looking into converting data to KML and loading it into GE for people, just so they can at least view it.

In the past I've been told that AGX is meant as a viewer to compliment the Desktop software. Hard to compliment when it won't run.

Mark - I notice your list includes the Intel 945 chipset. That's what this Dell desktop had. You would think newer drivers would allow the program to run, not hinder it?

MarkBockenhauer

The best guess at a cause when ArcGIS Explorer desktop fails on first start, especially if ArcGIS Explorer has never ran successfully on the machine before, is the graphics card driver and/or graphics card.

Often getting an updated driver for the graphics card will resolve the issue, but in some cases it can cause an issue. We have had reports where ArcGIS Explorer was working fine, and then one day quit working, the quit working also coincided with machine updates that changed the driver on the graphics card.

If you have an integrated or mobile graphics card (common in laptops and notebooks), look for an updated driver from the computer hardware vendor (HP, Toshiba, Dell, Lenovo, Acer, Asus, etc..) If you can not find a driver from the vendor or the vendors driver does not work, try the graphics card maker.

For those that encounter problems it would be helpful if you listed the Computer, graphics card and driver as well as the experience... Doesn't start, computer background shows where the map should be, 2D works - but 3D does not, etc...

Here is a short list of computers and drivers where ArcGIS Explorer is known to work.

ArcGIS Explorer works with these, and many more, these are machine that I have used ArcGIS Explorer desktop on.

Dell        NVIDIA Quadro FX1400...........10/29/2007...........6.14.11.6265
Dell        NVIDIA Quadro FX 1800M........2/19/2010.............8.16.11.8921
Dell        NVIDIA Quadro FX 1800M........7/31/2010.............9.17.12.5922
Dell        NVIDIA Quadro FX3600M.........8/5/2011...............8.17.12.7589
Dell        NVIDIA Quadro FX3800M.........8/18/2012.............9.18.13.593
Dell        NVIDIA Quadro FX4600............2/9/2012..............8.17.12.9573
Dell        NVIDIA Quadro FX4600............12/27/2010...........6.14.12.6645
Dell        NVIDIA Quadro FX5500............3/23/2010.............8.17.11.9728
Lenovo    Intel(R) HD 4000.................8/21/2012............9.17.10.2843
HP          Intel(R) 945 GM/GU...................2/22/2007............7.14.10.1214

MichaelLakey

We've found that the integrated Intel graphics chips do a pretty crummy job of supporting OpenGL, which can make it a non-starter for ArcGIS Explorer. NVIDIA and ATI are much better. It is not just an ArcGIS Explorer issue, you would also notice it with other graphics-intensive applications that leverage OpenGL.

Mike

norie

If your interest is only in 2D viewing, I would try the following:

On a machine that works well with AGX, set the map to 2D mode and zoom to a point of interest. Save the map (NMF file).

Transfer that NMF file to your target machine. On that machine, open the Application Configuration Manager (available under the start menu or [AGX Install Dir]\bin\ApplicationConfigurationManager.exe).

Once in the ACM, click the Add button -> Create New.
Choose a name and location for your Application Configuration and create it.
Once created, click the modify button.
The initial screen is the "General" section, from here change the Map from "Use the ESRI default map" to "Use your own map." Click "Choose map..." and navigate to the NMF file we created earlier.
Press ok to save the configuration and navigate back to the manager window.
Click the "Preview" button.

If successful, you can set this application configuration to load by default by going to the file menu of AGX and choosing "Set Application Configuration."

Note: setting the application configuration this way is user specific, but there is a way to set the application configuration machine-wide.

AndreiIvanov

One thing to try is to always update graphics card driver, unfortunately, it won't help with many integrated graphics card. Nothing we can do to help with this issue at the moment.

Anonymous User

Just an update to my post. Yesterday I installed AGX Desktop on another clients computer - an older desktop with XP, dual core, 2GB ram and certainly no beefy video card. It ran perfectly fine. Slow because of the low RAM, but ran fine, loaded data fine. How is this even possible? A 4 year old XP machine runs the program fine, but a brand new Dell desktop that surpasses the hardware requirements cannot?

I would certainly like to see the hardware requirements on this program, specifically the video, fixed or lowered or something. I cannot count on having people use the software if its ability to load data is so random. I can certainly see switching people over to MapWindow in the future. At least that program runs 100% of the time.

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