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

[sparkle814]

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 The cause of this problem is usually an outdated or disabled video driver, or disabled hardware acceleration in your video settings.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 suppor@empirisoft.com. 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

[Trevor Newell]

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.

[sparkle814]

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

[sparkle814]

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?

[jarvis24]

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 www.empirisoft.com/download.aspx. 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

[sparkle814]

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?