Hi
I have had this problem with the old Spacepilot mouse, it works fine with Creo but it didn't work at all with Solidworks 2020 in windows 10. I have spent a lot of time googling and pulling my hair about this but I finally managed to fix it, and I just wanted to share how I did it to hopefully save someone elses hair.
I have the legacy drivers for the SpacePilot installed, then I downloaded the latest 3DxWare 10 software (at point of writing:
"3DxWare64_v10-7-1_r3280.exe") and opened it with Winrar to extract "3DxSolidWorks64.msi" and installed the msi.
And that's it!
Then just start solidworks and do not run it in admin mode. You might need to restart the spacepilot driver also.
The default shortcut buttons doesn't seem to work, so you will have to define the macros yourself in the 3Dconnexion software.
Problem with SpacePilot (2005) and Solidworks 2020
Moderator: Moderators
Re: Problem with SpacePilot (2005) and Solidworks 2020
Hi sudoken,
I am trying to do the same thing. I have a SpacePilot (2007) and would like to use it with SolidWorks/Student Edition 2020-2021 on Windows 10/64 bit. I would appreciate a little more detail on how you accomplished your installation.
Should the legacy driver (I have the original install cd) be installed first and if so which/where?
I am not familiar with Winrar. Is that software used to directly open the 3DxWare64_v10-7-1_r3280.exe file - without executing it - to extract the SW msi file? If so, would it then be installed in the same location as the legacy driver?
I was not able to download the r3280 file from the website; only the previous one: 3DxWare64_v10-7-0_r3248.exe Do I need to purchase that later one prior to downloading it or is it the listed Beta version?
I could also use a "how to" sample/example of: "The default shortcut buttons doesn't seem to work, so you will have to define the macros yourself in the 3Dconnexion software."
I've only used the SpacePilot with Catia V5... the Dassault Systemes big brother of SW. Starting from a crawl and learning to walk and eventually run!
Thank you in advance for your insights and time,
smadjones
I am trying to do the same thing. I have a SpacePilot (2007) and would like to use it with SolidWorks/Student Edition 2020-2021 on Windows 10/64 bit. I would appreciate a little more detail on how you accomplished your installation.
Should the legacy driver (I have the original install cd) be installed first and if so which/where?
I am not familiar with Winrar. Is that software used to directly open the 3DxWare64_v10-7-1_r3280.exe file - without executing it - to extract the SW msi file? If so, would it then be installed in the same location as the legacy driver?
I was not able to download the r3280 file from the website; only the previous one: 3DxWare64_v10-7-0_r3248.exe Do I need to purchase that later one prior to downloading it or is it the listed Beta version?
I could also use a "how to" sample/example of: "The default shortcut buttons doesn't seem to work, so you will have to define the macros yourself in the 3Dconnexion software."
I've only used the SpacePilot with Catia V5... the Dassault Systemes big brother of SW. Starting from a crawl and learning to walk and eventually run!
Thank you in advance for your insights and time,
smadjones
Re: Problem with SpacePilot (2005) and Solidworks 2020
You can also use the free 7-zip archiver softtware , right click to extract the 3DxWare installer, you may need to extract twice.
Re: Problem with SpacePilot (2005) and Solidworks 2020
All is good sudoken & luping.
I was able to download the latest .exe file and used 7-zip to extract the SW msi file then install it. I was able to bluff my way to a successful outcome and now have the parts spinning, zooming, panning to my hearts content.
It's not immediately necessary however I could still use advice/sample on macros for the shortcut buttons.
Thank you both so much for your comments. The timing could not have been more fortuitous.
smadjones
I was able to download the latest .exe file and used 7-zip to extract the SW msi file then install it. I was able to bluff my way to a successful outcome and now have the parts spinning, zooming, panning to my hearts content.
It's not immediately necessary however I could still use advice/sample on macros for the shortcut buttons.
Thank you both so much for your comments. The timing could not have been more fortuitous.
smadjones
Re: Problem with SpacePilot (2005) and Solidworks 2020
Glad you got it working!
About the macros... in the control panel for your SpacePilot under the Button Configuration tab you can customise what the buttons do. Atleast with mine the defaults for Solidworks (You have to have it running) where just called "SW 1","SW 2" etc. and didn't do anything.
If you press "Custom Functions" you can make macros that you can assign to buttons on your spacepilot.
Like I wanted to have one button to move to Isometric view, I looked up the shortcut for it which was CTRL+7 and made a new macro function called "Isometric view" and recorded me pressing the shortcut in the text box "User Macro:" and then pressed save and done.
Then in the Button Configuration I assigned my new macro to a button.
Hope that helps!
About the macros... in the control panel for your SpacePilot under the Button Configuration tab you can customise what the buttons do. Atleast with mine the defaults for Solidworks (You have to have it running) where just called "SW 1","SW 2" etc. and didn't do anything.
If you press "Custom Functions" you can make macros that you can assign to buttons on your spacepilot.
Like I wanted to have one button to move to Isometric view, I looked up the shortcut for it which was CTRL+7 and made a new macro function called "Isometric view" and recorded me pressing the shortcut in the text box "User Macro:" and then pressed save and done.
Then in the Button Configuration I assigned my new macro to a button.
Hope that helps!
Re: Problem with SpacePilot (2005) and Solidworks 2020
THANK YOU! I had an old Spacepilot used for decades, and a newer Spacepilot Pro. Just upgraded Solidworks 2020 to 2023, Spacepilots no longer worked! Tried multiple things, nothing worked. Found your post, NOW IT WORKS! If my hair had not already been white, this would have done it. 