Incompatible resolution, color depth, color bits, colour buffer, etc. (case 17147)

Hello, we just bought a new laptop for our lab recently and I have installed and licensed DirectRT and MediaLab, and I'm getting an error when I run DirectRT. (Didn't have this problem on an older laptop.)
"800x600 with 16-bit color is not supported on this system. The most likely case of this problem is color depth. If you are requesting 24 or 32 bit color via 'colour.txt' in your experiment folder, make sure your graphics card supports this (many support one or the other but not both)."

I checked the properties of the computer display and changed the settings in the style file to 1366x768, but then I got the same message again, substituting the new dimensions.

I also at one point (but only once) got the error -
"DirectRT can not determine your display's refresh rate which is critical for accurate timing. The cause of this problem is usually an outdated or disabled video driver, or disabled hardware acceleration in your video settings. If you need help resolving this issue please report this error to [EMAIL="suppor@empirisoft.com"]suppor@empirisoft.com[/EMAIL]. Error #6 Overflow"

I checked out the trouble shooting guide and downloaded the latest DirectX and it didn't help. I ran DxDiag and have attached the resulting file.

I don't know if this information is helpful, but this is a Windows 7 computer, and I am running DirectRT and MediaLab in Windows XP Mode via Virtual PC, which I downloaded from the Microsoft website. This is a Dell Latitude E5510, and it's a wide screen. I initially thought it was a compatibility problem with the Windows 7/XP Mode, but it seems (to me at least) to be more of a problem with the display or some of those settings.

Any ideas? Are there some settings I need to change? Or...does the beta version of the software for Vista also work with Windows 7? (Maybe that would be worth a try if it doesn't seem to want to work with XP mode?)

Thanks in advance for for any ideas!

Thanks,
Angie

PS - I am getting the same error message when I try to run a sample.
MediaLab will run, but it is not displaying correctly. (I have a fill in the blank with image background and the image is way too big and part of it off screen, and the fill in the blank box is not located where it is supposed to be.) Also this is version 2008 of the software that we are using. Thanks

Ah. I'm fairly positive that the problem may be arising because the Virtual PC's emulation isn't capable of giving DirectRT full access to the machine's (non-virtual) graphics hardware. If this is the case, there isn't much that can be done, other than reformatting the machine to Windows XP or installing the 2010 version of DirectRT. The 2010 version won't experience the same incompatibilities with Windows 7 that our previous versions do.

Are you currently running DirectRT 2008? Btw - thank you for posting your DxDiag file. It's very helpful to have as many resources as possible, provided.

Hi, thanks for your response.
I had emailed sales to see about trying the Vista/ Windows 7 version, and John said the same thing about the virtual PC problem.

He sent me the beta version and said I should select the 2008 version, since we are licensed for 2008 currently. I did that and was able to install it; however, I'm still getting error messages, just different ones this time:

Problem In: DirectX.2
System.Exception: No compatible resolution was found.
at [].[](Int32 A_0, Int32 A_1, Int32 A_2)

and

Problem In: DirectX New2 Sub
System.Exception: Could not verify that the selected resolution is compatible with the hardware.
at [].[](Control& A_0, Int32 A_1, Int32 A_2, [] A_3)

and

An error occurred while trying to load a style's font.
The font: Verdana, was not found or is inaccessible.
Please make sure the following font was not the result of a spelling error, and that it is installed on your system. If the error persists try running the font at different sizes and under a different font family.



Now I had downloaded the most recent version of DirectX, I believe, before installing, but I am going to try again and see what happens.
Also, I did check the fonts on the computer and Verdana is there, so I'm not sure what's happening there.

I will post an update if I make any progress, but I appreciate any insights in the meantime if you have them!

Thanks

Update:
I tried to download DirectX again and it said the same or newer version was already installed, so I guess it worked right the first time. I also checked my style file, and Verdana isn't even one of the fonts requested. Also...when I opened my style file in Windows 7, it still seemed to want to go via virual pc because it asked me if I wanted to log out the current user in XP Mode, and then opened the style file...

Do I need to uninstall DirectRT from the virtual PC so it doesn't interfere or something like that?

Dear Angie,

I would suggest starting clean here. We have a pretty stable (non-beta)version of DirectRT for Windows 2010 now that does not require any emulation of XP. I would try to do a complete uninstall of v2008 (whether it be the regular 2008 version or the beta version of 2008/2010). And then try doing fresh install of v2010 from the main download webpage located at [URL="http://www.empirisoft.com/download.aspx"]www.empirisoft.com/download.aspx[/URL]. We haven't received much in the way of problem reports for the official 2010 release so this may resolve the issue. If not, please let me know--especially if it will not properly run any of the samples that come with it.

-Blair

Oh great, thank you for that update.
As we are licensed for 2008, can we run 2010 as is, or will we need to pay an upgrade fee?

If you are licensed for 2008 and want to keep it that way, just select the 2008 option when doing the install. If you select 2010 the program will be open to updates and new features as we continue to develop them. But yes, that would be an upgrade if you are currently licensed for 2008. Choosing the 2008 option would be at no charge of course and you could always upgrade later. You could also try the 2010 option as a trial for a few weeks at no charge and see if that resolves the issue (e.g., if the 2008 option does not).

Okay, great, thanks for the information!

Okay, I downloaded the non-beta version and I am still getting those exact same errors. Ideas on what else to try? Thank you

Can you uninstall the XP Virtual Machine software and then reinstall DirectRT so it's running directly on Windows 7 with no link to XP? The new version, when run on Windows Vista or Windows 7 should be run directly in the native OS. And virtual connection to the hardware could cause errors like these. That's the best I can give you at this point.

Hi, thanks for your response. I actually did have it running on Windows 7 - after Trevor said earlier in the thread that the virtual pc wouldn't run it properly, I had uninstalled it from the virtual computer and installed the beta version of DirectRT on the actual computer in Windows 7. That didn't work, so then I tried the official release 2008 version of DirectRT for Windows 7/Vista, and am getting the same problems. That being said, after reading your post, I thought maybe the virtual machine was somehow still interfering with it, so I uninstalled XP Mode and tried running DirectRT again (again, in Windows 7) and still the same. Do you think it would make a difference to try the 2010 version of the 7/Vista compatible software, or no?

No probably not. Maybe, but I think I should take a try at running your experiment here and see if I can replicate the error. Can you zip it (or some reduced version of it that still produces the error) and attach it? Be sure to include the style file and the stim for whatever version of the input file you attach.

Thanks. There are two attached.
Your post got me thinking...I had tested the samples when I was still using virtual PC and the samples wouldn't run, but I didn't think to test the samples again after I switched to the Vista/7 version and ran it on the real operating system - the samples do seem to be running correctly in Windows 7, so I suppose it must be something in my experiments not translating properly to the new version. Neither of the attached experiments is working. (They do work in XP.)

I appreciate you taking a look, let me know if you need anything else. Thanks!

Jarvis, have you had a chance to take a look yet? Any luck?
Thanks

Yes, I was able to replicate the error exactly as you described it when running your first task "operations task". I love errors I can replicate!!

OK, so of course I expected as you did that it had something to do with the Verdana font. But it turns out, at least here, that it was to do with screen resolution. I looked in your drt file and saw that you had the session set to run on 640x480 display mode. I wondered if perhaps Windows7 was tried of accommodating such an old (albeit classic) display mode. So I changed it to 800x600 and then 1024x768 and it ran great in both with no errors. Personally, I would suggest 1024x768 or larger for you as I saw that some of your images are larger than 800x600. Of course, you can go as high as you like. Anyways, try it out and see if that resolves it on your end as well.

Note--I wondered if you tried samples that were set to run in 800x600 or 1024x768 mode. And that if you had chosen one of the few set to run in 640x480 whether you would have seen the same error. I also noticed that on the display properties here on my MacBook Pro w/ Windows 7 that the minimum resolution it will allow me is 800x600. So that may be part of it too if your system has a lower limit higher than 640x480. Let me know how it goes!
-Blair

Ah THANK YOU!
It's working now, this is great.
I had tried adjusting resolution and all that when I was still running it in XP Mode, guess I didn't do it in Windows 7. So many different little things that can go wrong, guess it takes an expert to figure it out, thank again!

I admit to being an inexperienced user of the program. I transferred a project in Media Lab/Direct RT 2008 from an ailing XP based laptop to a laptop running Win 7 Professional 64 bit (downloading the latest version and selecting 2008 on install when prompted). The questionnaire part of the study runs fine, but when I get to the direct RT bit I get the attached error messages. I have adjusted the resolution in DRT to the native resolution of the laptop (1366*768) and, interestingly, instead of creating a log folder containing a csv file, as it does when it runs normally, it creates a folder named ‘voice’ before the project crashes. The folder is empty. Is this, in part at least, a video incompatibility. (In regard to the accompanying error messages, compatible is spelt with only one ‘a’ J)

If you could supply any help that would be great.

Regards,

Grenville Rose
Aftercare/

IN your folder where the DirectRT input file is located--is there a .drt style file? If so, is that where you set the 1366 x 768? If so, Is it listed as available on the pull down list of available resolutions? Also, does the same error occur if you run the input file outside of MediaLab?

Yep, I set the display using the dropdown menu in DRT. I'm not experienced with the program so its the simple way for me.

Gren.

Gren-- does it happen if you run the input file alone with no other programs running (including MediaLab). And if you run it in an alternate resolution such as 1024x768 (just for testing purposes)? If yes to both of those, what about the sample files--do they produce the same error? If yes again, then can you please check the exact version of DirectRT you have installed, i.e., 20xx.x.x.x?

I tried Direct RT by itself and it was exactly the same. Then Direct RT by itself with the resolution set to 1024*768 and it was exactly the same. The file was originally written by a PhD student who has gone on to better things and completely forgotten about Direct RT. If I drop the whole folder/drive path into an XP based computer it just runs. That wasn't possible for the Win 7 computer as the Documents and Settings folder is managed differently.
The other odd thing is the creation of an empty 'Voice' folder in the data folder.

Version is 2008.2.103.1115.

Regards,

Gren.

And what about that one last test I mentioned--i.e., running the samples that come with DirectRT--same thing?

RE errors such as "no compatible resolution" "can't determine refresh rate" "no compatible color depth" "color buffer" and such.. It turns out it can be a very important issue as to whether or not your system can detect that Windows DirectX has been properly installed. This applies to most ALL versions of DirectRT because they DEPEND tremendously on the proper installation and operation of Windows DirectX. Fortunately there is a way you can tell if your system is setup to go. Try creating a [I]dxdiag.txt[/I] file and see if anything looks like this (below) in the "display properties":

Video Accel:
Display Memory: n/a
DDraw Status: Not Available
D3D Status: Not Available
AGP Status: Not Available

If so, then DirectRT is extremely unlikely to run. If this is the case, then take a look here:

[URL]http://www.empirisoft.com/Support/showthread.php?t=5697[/URL]
[URL]http://www.empirisoft.com/Support/showthread.php?t=550[/URL]

Note: If you want to try running a system diagnostics test like this, here is how you do it: Type "dxdiag" from the "Run" command on the Windows "Start" menu. You will get a complete diagnostic description of your system. If you then click "Save All Information" you can save it as a text file and view it in notepad or wordpad etc. Scroll down to the "Display Properties" area to check out values mentioned above.

Dear Blair,

we have a similar problem and neither the manual nor this thread did help in solving it. The attached study does not run on some of our machines. I ran the DirectX diagnostics and it seems to be everything in order (see attached). Changing the resolution does not help. Using a colour.txt file with both 24 and 32 does not work either.

The error message indicates a 13xx x XXX resolution, but neither the screen,the style file inside the experiment folder, and not the style file inside the drt specify this resolution. In fact, bot define HD resolution (the native screen res.).

We are running DRT2010 (latest build) on a up to date Win7 machine.

So you cannot get your DirectRT files to run in DirectRT at all on some of you machines? Could you please be a bit more clear as to exactly what the error is? And do you have the exact wording of any error or message boxes from the machines that don't work?

Also, is the attached dxdiag report for the machines that do or don't work? And is it different from the other kind of machines (does vs. don't run your DirectRT files)?

Rene,

Do you get the same problems if you try to run one or two of the files in the Samples folder inside the DirectRT program folder?

I noticed that you are missing entries in the MinMax field of style codes 8 and 9 of the styles file that you uploaded in an earlier post. What happens if you put something in them? Try using 0 there and running your input files.