General Question Orbiter won't work

[Dreamer]

I gave a friend orbiter but it won't play on his laptop or his desktop both of which are running win 7 I am not sure of the graphics card but i can tell you that a program i developed works on his computers and orbiter on my computer win 7 works fine. He starts orbiter and gets the launchpad, he clicks on a scenario get the splashscreen that's it after 4 or 5 minutes still nothing. One time he got a dialog bok the said something like graphics ng no graphics. Any ideas?

Dreamer

 

[Loru]

try reading Orbiter.pdf located in DOC folder (from page 10 you have installation and getting started guide)

 

[palebluevoice]

I gave a friend orbiter but it won't play on his laptop or his desktop both of which are running win 7 I am not sure of the graphics card but i can tell you that a program i developed works on his computers and orbiter on my computer win 7 works fine. He starts orbiter and gets the launchpad, he clicks on a scenario get the splashscreen that's it after 4 or 5 minutes still nothing. One time he got a dialog bok the said something like graphics ng no graphics. Any ideas?

Dreamer

The graphics card could be the problem. Even if it can run your program, that doesn't mean he can run orbiter, which is more intensive. I suspect the error is saying that he has integrated graphics card(his graphic processing is handled by his motherboard or processor) rather than a dedicated one. You can pick one up off of newegg.com or tigerdirect for under $100 and it plugs right into your motherboard.

Anyways, you can use this website to see if you meet the system requirements of particular software. Orbiter isn't listed, but FSX(flight simulator x) is, and it has similar requirements(though perhaps a bit higher).

http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/intro.aspx

 

[Zatnikitelman]

*snip* One time he got a dialog bok the said something like graphics ng no graphics. Any ideas?

Dreamer

Could he perhaps be clicking on orbiter_ng.exe instead of orbiter.exe?

 

[Wrangler]

Could he perhaps be clicking on orbiter_ng.exe instead of orbiter.exe?

That is what I was thinking as well. Also, did you give him your Orbiter folder, or the Zip file you downloaded from the website? The source zipfile is set to run a compatibility check at the start. Nothing elaborate, but definately DXDiag. So that might reveal if there is indeed a problem there.

Though Zan's idea sounds more plausible.

 

[Ripley]

Could he perhaps be clicking on orbiter_ng.exe instead of orbiter.exe?

I think this one too.
Maybe you can obtain a copy of his orbiter.log file and post it here?

 

[orb]

If you run orbiter_ng without a graphics client, there won't be the splash screen displayed when you start a scenario, because this is done in the render window, so it isn't the case here, unless there is some graphics client installed and enabled, but he wouldn't get the console window stating there is no graphics client instead of the render window with splash screen in such case, while starting the simulation from orbiter_ng.

Also, did you give him your Orbiter folder, or the Zip file you downloaded from the website?

If it's copied Orbiter folder, he should try deleting Device.dat and Orbiter.cfg from Orbiter's root directory. There could be also file permissions issue if it was copied with preserved Access Control Lists (moved on a media using NTFS file system).

The source zipfile is set to run a compatibility check at the start. Nothing elaborate, but definately DXDiag.

The installation verification tool also installs Visual C++ 2005 redistributable libraries if they weren't found, but since the Orbiter launchpad appears without error, missing C++ libraries aren't the problem either.


There could be an error dialog box hiding under the splash screen (render window). He should try pressing alt-tab to check that. This could tell something more along with the Orbiter.log, like missing hardware T&L support, which can be worked around, without need for buying a new graphics card / a better laptop. Orbiter can run just fine with integrated graphics cards.

 

[Ripley]

Tell your friend to run the testinstall.exe program, found in his MAIN_Orbiter_folder\Install folder.

 

[Dreamer]

he tried installing the older version of orbiter 06 and it works great on his desktop so it might be his graphics card, I will tell to run testinstall as Ripley suggests but i am thinking it must be his card. Thanks for your quick replies

Dreamer

 

[orb]

he tried installing the older version of orbiter 06 and it works great on his desktop so it might be his graphics card.

Orbiter 2010-P1 requires a DirectX 7 capable graphics card, so he needs to get a card from around 2001 year.

He can try the latest Orbiter beta, which instead may work for him, or adding a MaxLights=8 line to Orbiter.cfg configuration file could also resolve this issue.

 

[Dreamer]

His desktop is only 6 months old and his laptop just over 2 years old;
Here is the readout from testinstall orbiter 2010



This diagnostic utility performs a few tests to verify a valid
Orbiter installation. Normally, this test needs to be executed
only once after installation. To run it again, execute the
'testinstall' utility in the Install subdirectory.
-----------------------------------------------------
Test 1: Directory structure
Orbiter root directory: C:\Users\Vince\Desktop\Orbiter\Orbiter2010
Folder Config found.
Folder Meshes found.
Folder Textures found.
Folder Scenarios found.
Folder Doc found.
Folder Script found.
Folder Modules found.
Folder Flights found.
Folder Html found.
Folder Install found.
-----------------------------------------------------
Test 2: C++ runtime libraries
Runtime libraries ok.
-----------------------------------------------------
Test 3: Checking DirectX
Scanning dxdiag output:

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-2130 CPU @ 3.40GHz (4 CPUs), ~3.4GHz
Memory: 6144MB RAM
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
Card name: Intel(R) HD Graphics Family
For full DirectX diagnostics, see file dxdiag.log.
-----------------------------------------------------
Orbiter installation verification complete.
No problems found.



Dreamer

 

[RisingFury]

Orbiter 2010-P1 requires a DirectX 7 capable graphics card, so he needs to get a card from around 2001 year.

Yea, don't say things like that because some people take things too seriously :lol:

 

[orb]

Card name: Intel(R) HD Graphics Family

Most Intel(R) HD Graphics cards miss Hardware Transform & Lighting. No Hardware T&L reports maximum number of local light sources as -1, which causes an error in Orbiter 100830 if "Local Light Sources" are enabled (if Orbiter is being run in full screen the error message box is most likely displayed under the render window).

There are 3 solutions to this issue: one is to install Orbiter beta 100905 which fixes this issue or newer (like 111105), another is to disable "Local Light Sources", and the third, which allows local light sources in Orbiter 100830 without Hardware T&L support is to change one line and add another in Orbiter.cfg (red - removed, green - added):

EchoAllParams = [color=#c00][s]FALSE[/s][/color][color=#0a0]TRUE
MaxLights = 8[/color]

 

[Keatah]

OHHHH wow!!!! Any my 10 year old lappy isn't slowing down 1 iota! Intel Extreme Graphics2 roXeRZ HArD! I think the framerate even went up just a tiny bit too. Boomdaddy.. Boomdaddy.. BOOMDADDY-O!

 

[Dreamer]

He tried to disable Local light sources that made the graphics all messed up he said, then he changed the orbiter cfg lines and graphics was poor. he said he got this message, the colors were changes to windows 7 basic. Maybe you can post a link for him to download the orbiter beta, though i have a feeling it won' work very well with his card

Dreamer

 

[orb]

Maybe you can post a link for him to download the orbiter beta, though i have a feeling it won' work very well with his card

http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/orbitervis/index.php?title=OrbiterPublicBeta (new betas aren't there)


I have in a laptop from year 2005 an integrated graphics card, but not Intel only VIA/S3, and I don't have such problems that Orbiter 2010-P1 or the latest betas can't work with it, and even better, the latest betas work much better with it than the "stable" release.

 

[depoman]

Many blessings for the betas! I was unable to get Orbit to work on Windows 98SE (it would never create testinstall.exe even when I moved orbit.bin into the main folder and renamed it).
After I installed the 121103 beta, the program started.
Dr. Martin mentioned something similar to my problem, except that I never had a testinstall.exe to start with so how could it be removed?
Anyway, it works now.

Many thanks.