TroubleShooting

Answers to many common trouble shooting questions can be found at our support site: http://support.empirisoft.com.  If you can not find the answer to your question there, you may register a username and password and post your question directly on the support site. This is often the fastest way to get an answer from us or maybe even one of our other helpful users. If for some reason, you can not get the answer you need via the support site, then contact us directly through email at support@empirisoft.com.

No matter which route you take, there are two basic types of trouble you might experience while trying to use DirectRT. The first is trouble associated with a particular input file and the second is trouble associated with the program in general. Here are some questions we're likely to ask depending on your situation.

Input File Trouble

If you're having trouble with an input file you're working on, but otherwise DirectRT is running fine (e.g., samples work ok), then:

•Send us a copy of your input file with as few trials as possible to illustrate your question. This will help us see as quickly as possible what's going on. If we can quickly see and replicate the issue here, then we can usually solve the problem very quickly.

•Send us a copy of the Styles file you are using. This is the file with a .drt extension on it usually located in the same folder as your input file. This isn't necessary to send but is often helpful depending on the issue. See Style Files for more detail.

System or Software Trouble

If it's an apparent bug that you've found, or some unusual behavior, try to tell us the following in your email:

•Does the same thing happen on multiple machines, or just one? Problems that replicate are usually much easier to fix!

•Is it seemingly random or predictable? Do you have to do something specific to make it happen?

•Does the same thing happen with any of the samples that come with DirectRT or is it specific to a single input file that you've created (see above)?

•What version of DirectRT (i.e., ver20xx.x.xxx) are you using? You can find this by clicking "About" on the Help menu. What version of Windows are you using? Have you tried making sure that no other programs are running at the same time that might be causing some kind of interference?

Note that the samples that come with DirectRT should always run fine. If they don't, you may have a system problem. In this case, the first thing to try is usually making sure you have the latest version of DirectX and an up-to-date video driver.

Another thing we can do is look over your system diagnostics and see if there are any obvious problems that could be corrected. If you want to try that, 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" and send the resulting file to us, we'll take a look at it and see if we can see anything problematic. You can also check for some obvious problems here yourself--the display tab in particular may indicate you could benefit from a driver update or other action.

Note: When checking your diagnostic file you might check to see if you have one of the following three video systems that are known for their problems with DirectX applications:

Nvidia Riva TNT2, ATI Rage Pro Turbo, Intel 810e Chipset

If so, a video card upgrade-an Nvidia brand card should be a safe choice-may be the fastest solution.