SpaceNavigator and CosmosDesignStar 2008

drspock · Post by **drspock** » Thu Oct 16, 2008 5:07 am

I just installed CosmosDesignStar 2008, but the 3Dconnexion driver (3.6.

does not work with it yet. I tried to load the SolidWorks driver manually ("File"->"open"->"TDxSW.dl"l) without success (DesignStar crashes). I can't imagine working with DesignStar without my SpaceNaviogator, so I would like to know if there is a solution to make it work till 3dconnexion releases an upgrade of the driver. Thanks in advance for your help.

Post by **ngomes** » Thu Oct 16, 2008 7:56 am

Hi drspock,

Have a look at the "Add-In Manager" panel in DS. Can you find the "3Dcontrol" add-in there? If yes, it is set to load when launching the application?

drspock · Post by **drspock** » Thu Oct 16, 2008 8:36 am

Hi ngomes,

Thank you for your answer.
3Dcontrol is not in the add-in manager at all.

Post by **ngomes** » Thu Oct 16, 2008 8:41 am

drspock wrote:3Dcontrol is not in the add-in manager at all.

It seems the installer failed to properly register the add-in for DS.

Logged in as an administrator, open a command-prompt, change directory to where the "TDxSW.dll" file is stored (normally this is C:\Program Files\3Dconnexion\3DxSoftware\3DxSolidWorks" and run the command "regsvr32 tdxsw.dll". Launch DS and see if you can find the 3Dcontrol add-in on the add-in manager panel.

drspock · Post by **drspock** » Thu Oct 16, 2008 10:03 am

No success, the 3Dcontrol does not appear on the add-in manager panel...

Post by **ngomes** » Thu Oct 16, 2008 10:11 am

We're going to have to look deeper into this. Can you give us your system details and exact application version?

drspock · Post by **drspock** » Thu Oct 16, 2008 10:20 am

I am running windows XP professional version 2002 SP2.
DesignStar is version 2008 SP0.0.
3Dconnexion is release version 3.6.8, driver version 6.6.1 and firmware version 4.04.
Computer is a DELL Precision PWS390 Quad [email protected], 2.00GB of RAM.
I had the following message from 3Dconnexion email support:

Space navigator PE user only get forum support.
http://www.3dconnexion.com/forum/
Create an account
Login
post 1 time in the test forum.
This will allow you to create new post and you can get answers to your questions.

Cosmos Design star 2008 is currently not supported.
The programmers are still testing it.

What you can try is load the 3dconnexion solidworks plugin manually.

Go to Tools
Addins
Browse to:
C:\Program Files\3Dconnexion\3Dconnexion 3DxSoftware\3DxSolidWorks Locate and click on TDxSW.dll

This will load the addon.

Without success

Thank you for your help, but if it is really too compicated, I will wait for the driver update...

Post by **ngomes** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 8:15 am

Hi drspock,

There is a bug in the add-in installer and we're tracking as issue #4808. It is marked "critical" and we're fast-tracking a fix for it.

drspock · Post by **drspock** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 8:25 am

Hello,

Does it means that I have no choice but wait for the update?
How long is it supposed to take to get the update?

Thank you

Post by **ngomes** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 8:42 am

drspock wrote:Does it means that I have no choice but wait for the update?

Bug #4808 is the problem with the automated installation. You can workaround that by "drag-and-drop" the TDxSW.dll file into a running instance of DS. The TDxSW.dll is normally located under "C:\Program Files\3Dconnexion\3Dconnexion 3DxSoftware\3DxSolidWorks".

How long is it supposed to take to get the update?

The updated is planned to be made available before the end of the month.

Let us know if the above "drag-and-drop" workaround enables you to use your 3D mouse in DS.

drspock · Post by **drspock** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 8:46 am

You can workaround that by "drag-and-drop" the TDxSW.dll file into DS.

The .dll has to be in which folder? DS root (C:\Program Files\DesignStar 2008)?
I tried to drag-and-drop in C:\Program Files\DesignStar 2008\Geometry without succes...

Post by **ngomes** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 8:53 am

drspock wrote:The .dll has to be in which folder?

I'm sorry. I should have made that more clear (I've edited my previous post).

From Windows Explorer, you should drag the TDxSW.dll file and drop it into a running instance of DesignStar (not into a folder). An alternative method (as the our support line suggested) is to, from DS, go the "File" menu, select "Open", select "All files", browse to the location of the TDxSW.dll file, select it and press the OK button. This will load the add-in into DS in a similar way to the drag-and-drop method.

drspock · Post by **drspock** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 10:24 am

I already tried this. 3D mouse software looks like it wants to open, but after a while, it makes DS crash without opening.

Post by **ngomes** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 10:29 am

drspock wrote:3D mouse software looks like it wants to open, but after a while, it makes DS crash without opening.

That seems to be a separate issue. We cannot reproduce the crash in DS2008. We'll be running additional tests on different hardware and see if can see anything like you reported.

Note that DS2008 is based in SolidWorks 2008 and we use the same add-in (same file) for both applications. We can have had no crash reports in SW2008.

Post by **ngomes** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 6:41 am

An updated: the fix for issue #4808 (add-in installation in DS2008) was included the 3DxSoftware v. 3.6.10 release of last week.

The software is available for download here.

drspock: we re-ran our testing procedures in different hardware and we cannot reproduce the other problem that you reported (application hang followed by a crash).