Issues with Win v10.8.3.3389 driver: lumpy motion, 3DxVirtualLCD uses 100% CPU, Lock rotate button has no effect,

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RichardB
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Issues with Win v10.8.3.3389 driver: lumpy motion, 3DxVirtualLCD uses 100% CPU, Lock rotate button has no effect,

Post by RichardB »

Hello,

I use a Spacemouse Pro primarily for SolidWorks (2020 sp5 if it's relevant) and recently started learning Onshape. I therefore had to install the drivers over. I updated to latest Windows driver v10.8.3.3889 downloaded on 25.10.2021. I exported my button config and imported after to keep things simple.

Since then the fan on my laptop is on most of the time unless I end the 3DxVirtualLCD in the Task Manager. If not it will be using all the available CPU - earlier today it appeared to be making the most of 12 logical processors all close to 100% and the CPU utilisation for that 'App' alone was reporting as 70%+ My device doesn't have LCD! If I End Task the load drops off straight away. Other parts of the install sometimes seem quite CPU hungry too like 3DxSmartUi but the VirtualLCD is the main culprit and the device seems to work just fine without it.

The lock rotation button no longer turns rotation on and off when using SolidWorks. The button is mapped as that function. It is really annoying, but not so much as the final issue

The pan/tilt/zoom motion using Spacemouse in SolidWorks has been slow and lumpy since updating the drivers. As far as I know nothing else changed with my setup (Dell Precision 5530 i7 8th gen 32GB RAM P1000). This is infuriating.

Are these problems with the driver or my installation of it? How could I check?

Thanks for reading,

Richard.
ngomes
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Re: Issues with Win v10.8.3.3389 driver: lumpy motion, 3DxVirtualLCD uses 100% CPU, Lock rotate button has no effect,

Post by ngomes »

RichardB wrote: Tue Nov 16, 2021 12:36 pm The pan/tilt/zoom motion using Spacemouse in SolidWorks has been slow and lumpy since updating the drivers.
A "slow" motion in the application may indicate the system is busy. Is that what is happening? When you switch to SOLIDWORKS, do you notice the CPU load increasing only to go back down if you switch to a different application?
Nuno Gomes
luping
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Re: Issues with Win v10.8.3.3389 driver: lumpy motion, 3DxVirtualLCD uses 100% CPU, Lock rotate button has no effect,

Post by luping »

RichardB wrote: Tue Nov 16, 2021 12:36 pm I exported my button config and imported after to keep things simple.
My guess is that you imported previous 3DxWare driver application-specific settings/configurations. Due to backward compatibility issue, it's not recommended to use previous version's exported settings/configurations to new version 3DxWare driver, e. g. do not import 3DxWare v10.7.4 exported settings/configurations to v10.8.3. Also, keep in mind that you have to close SOLIDWORKS and uninstall previous 3DxWare driver completely and restart PC, then try to install 3DxWare v10.8.3 from scratch.
RichardB
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Re: Issues with Win v10.8.3.3389 driver: lumpy motion, 3DxVirtualLCD uses 100% CPU, Lock rotate button has no effect,

Post by RichardB »

ngomes wrote: Tue Nov 16, 2021 1:05 pm
RichardB wrote: Tue Nov 16, 2021 12:36 pm The pan/tilt/zoom motion using Spacemouse in SolidWorks has been slow and lumpy since updating the drivers.
A "slow" motion in the application may indicate the system is busy. Is that what is happening? When you switch to SOLIDWORKS, do you notice the CPU load increasing only to go back down if you switch to a different application?
The motion is not lumpy using the ordinary mouse rather than Spacemouse so I think it is a Spacemouse related issue.
luping wrote: Tue Nov 16, 2021 5:31 pm
RichardB wrote: Tue Nov 16, 2021 12:36 pm I exported my button config and imported after to keep things simple.
My guess is that you imported previous 3DxWare driver application-specific settings/configurations. Due to backward compatibility issue, it's not recommended to use previous version's exported settings/configurations to new version 3DxWare driver, e. g. do not import 3DxWare v10.7.4 exported settings/configurations to v10.8.3. Also, keep in mind that you have to close SOLIDWORKS and uninstall previous 3DxWare driver completely and restart PC, then try to install 3DxWare v10.8.3 from scratch.
That is most useful insight. I followed the uninstall then install without other programs open procedure but then importing settings could have broken things. Thank you for your replies luping. I will uninstall then install again and hope to find performance improvement. Is there a way to import just the button allocations? If there is it would significantly reduce the adoption time for updated drivers.
jwick
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Re: Issues with Win v10.8.3.3389 driver: lumpy motion, 3DxVirtualLCD uses 100% CPU, Lock rotate button has no effect,

Post by jwick »

I'd like to see those old files if importing them causes a problem. You can PM [a link to] them to me.
RichardB
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Re: Issues with Win v10.8.3.3389 driver: lumpy motion, 3DxVirtualLCD uses 100% CPU, Lock rotate button has no effect,

Post by RichardB »

jwick wrote: Wed Nov 17, 2021 3:30 am I'd like to see those old files if importing them causes a problem. You can PM [a link to] them to me.
Hello,

PM is not available to me (new to forum denies privilege most probably). Hopefully this link works https://www.dropbox.com/s/4klkg99vlaizwz3/cfg.3dxz?dl=0

Thanks!
luping
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Re: Issues with Win v10.8.3.3389 driver: lumpy motion, 3DxVirtualLCD uses 100% CPU, Lock rotate button has no effect,

Post by luping »

Is there a way to import just the button allocations? If there is it would significantly reduce the adoption time for updated drivers.
I write those application-specific command-to-button mappings to my notebook so as to avoid any version to version compatibility issue. It may seemed primitive and tedious, but it's the way for me to handle 3DxWare driver update.
jwick
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Re: Issues with Win v10.8.3.3389 driver: lumpy motion, 3DxVirtualLCD uses 100% CPU, Lock rotate button has no effect,

Post by jwick »

Export/Import is a work in progress... It currently isn't anything more than just a file copy.

You can't go backwards in driver versions "too far". You can't cross a CfgFormatVersion number (go to a lower one--old drivers don't know about new file formats).

And you can't go forwards "too far". The driver will handle one CfgFormatVersion increment, and upgrade your files.

It might only attempt that upgrade when it starts. An import while it is running may not attempt an upgrade. I realize it is hard to run the import w/o the driver running. It is done by the GUI, which is a separate program - but we do tie them together.
You should be able to just restart the driver after the import is over. Its should then upgrade them. Or you can manually unzip them.

It also isn't smart enough to know about related devices. E.g., if you had a CadMouse before, then you bought a CadMouse Wireless and installed a new driver one a new machine to go with it and imported your old settings. Your CadMouse settings will not be applied to your CadMouse Wireless settings. This is regardless of file versions.

The good news is we don't change the format very often. But we did somewhat recently (in the last year or so, depending on when you last updated).

The driver is getting better about detecting and rejecting files it can't handle and warning you.

I'm glad to hear about issues so I can correct them.

I see you have CfgFormatVersion="1.2" files from driver version 17.5.12. The current CfgFormatVersion is 1.3 and driver 17.8.3.
After import your files are upgraded to CfgFormatVersion 1.3 when the driver is restarted. But there was a problem upgrading your Solidworks.xml file (at least). I could see how this could cause your RotLock button to not work.

Thank you for sending this batch of files along.
RichardB
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Re: Issues with Win v10.8.3.3389 driver: lumpy motion, 3DxVirtualLCD uses 100% CPU, Lock rotate button has no effect,

Post by RichardB »

Useful information; if a little disappointing. Thanks for sharing. I thought it reasonable to expect that import/export would just work but then there are always limitations. It is tedious to work through by application (3 in the case of SolidWorks because parts, drawings and assemblies have their own settings) and note down all the ticks and dropdown settings.

I did get a kind of stop error 'Unhandled exception has occurred in your application" and decided to proceed anyway. It seemed to work but of course it really didn't. This is easily reproducible on my system by importing the cfg file from previous into the current.

The reset all settings appears to revert everything to the defaults without needing to reinstall the driver. Problem solved: It's so good to have 6DOF and RotLock working as they should. Now I just to need to remember all the buttons I had set...

Thank you all for your replies and assistance.
RichardB
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Joined: Tue Nov 16, 2021 12:13 pm

Re: Issues with Win v10.8.3.3389 driver: lumpy motion, 3DxVirtualLCD uses 100% CPU, Lock rotate button has no effect,

Post by RichardB »

Useful information; if a little disappointing. Thanks for sharing. I thought it reasonable to expect that import/export would just work but then there are always limitations. It is tedious to work through by application (3 in the case of SolidWorks because parts, drawings and assemblies have their own settings) and note down all the ticks and dropdown settings.

I did get a kind of stop error 'Unhandled exception has occurred in your application" and decided to proceed anyway. It seemed to work but of course it really didn't. This is easily reproducible on my system by importing the cfg file from previous into the current.

The reset all settings appears to revert everything to the defaults without needing to reinstall the driver. Problem solved: It's so good to have 6DOF and RotLock working as they should. Now I just to need to remember all the buttons I had set...

Thank you all for your replies and assistance.
jwick
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Re: Issues with Win v10.8.3.3389 driver: lumpy motion, 3DxVirtualLCD uses 100% CPU, Lock rotate button has no effect,

Post by jwick »

I'll upgrade those files for you. No need to redo all that.
... email sent with upgraded files.
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