OpenGL Troubleshooting Guide for LP360 2016 and Topolyst 2016

Versions of OpenGL Supported in LP360 and Topolyst 2016:

Previous versions of LP360 supported OpenGL 1.0 only.  OpenGL 1.0 was released on Windows in 1994. Both the LP360 standalone and Topolyst products now support two versions of OpenGL, OpenGL 4.4, or better if available, and OpenGL 1.1 are supported for these two products.   The LP360 for ArcGIS extension now supports OpenGL 1.1 only to remain compatible with ArcMap OpenGL limitations.

Video cards with Video Vendor drivers supporting OpenGL versions 4.4 or newer may use the OpenGL 4.4 support.  Optionally, users with cards supporting OpenGL 4.4 or newer may choose to use the older OpenGL 1.1.  For all video cards without Video Vendor support, OpenGL 1.1 will be used exclusively.

Visible differences between OpenGL 1.1 and OpenGL 4.4 or better:

1. 3D Contours with “hidden lines” will draw correctly in OpenGL 4.4.  The “hidden lines” are those that should not display in 3D because they go behind the terrain such as the sections of contours behind hills.  Due to display limitations of clean line drawing, OpenGL 1.1 displayed the hidden line sections behind hills.
2. The OpenGL 4 display font support will work with underlines and strikeout fonts for labels.  OpenGL 1.1 did not support underlines or strikeouts in the special OpenGL Microsoft font functions.
3. Under the OpenGL 4.4 display all characters in a font are supported.  Under the OpenGL 1.1 display only the first 256 characters are supported.
4. OpenGL 4.4 supports a larger texture (image) maximum size than OpenGL 1.1 supports.  Resolution of large raster files in the 2D map view may be better due to the increased texture cache size in OpenGL 4.4.  The size of the actual texture cache is video driver dependent and may vary from one manufacturer to another.
5. OpenGL 4.4 displays will utilize the video cards GPU if available.

Setting up a machine to use OpenGL 4.4 or newer:

1. Load the newest video vendor’s driver for the machine’s video card.

NOTE:  It is generally best to keep the video driver up-to-date to keep it compatibly with BIOS, chip set drivers and Operating System updates.

1. For workstations with one video card supporting OpenGL 4.4 or newer this should be all that is necessary.
   1. For notebooks with both an integrated video card AND a discrete video card, go to the video driver vendor’s driver setup tool and select the discrete graphics card for the application.
   2. NVidia Card (notebook with Optimus technology)
      1. Bring up the NVidia Control panel.  This can be found by right clicking on a blank are on the desktop and selecting “NVidia Control Panel” from the pop up menu.
      2. On the left side of the dialog, under “3D Settings” select “Manage 3D Settings” it should be similar to the following but will allow the user to select the graphics card to run the application on (Integrated or Discrete).
      3. On the right side of the dialog, use the Browse button to select the application.
      4. On a notebook there will be an additional selection available with a choice of graphics cards to use.  Typically, the user will select the discrete graphics card rather than the integrated graphics card.  However, either card may be selected using this dialog.   Some newer notebooks may offer OpenGL 4.4 or better on either video card types.  But on most current systems, OpenGL 4.4 if available, may only be available on the higher end discrete video card.
2. To switch from OpenGL 4.4 to OpenGL 1.1 on cards that are capable, hold the Ctrl+1 keys down during application startup.
3. For workstations with 2 video cards:
   1. Example:  On a machine with two NVidia Quadro K420 cards the following configuration settings work for the standalone products:
      1. Bring up the NVidia Control panel.  This can be found by right clicking on a blank are on the desktop and selecting “NVidia Control Panel” from the pop up menu.
      2. On the left side in the tree control select “Workstation” and “Manage GPU Utilization”. It should look something like this but should show 2 or more video cards for systems so equipped:
         1. Under Usage Mode:  Select Use for Graphics and compute needs for each video card.
         2. For a system with multiple video cards make sure that the NVidia “SLI mode” is “Disabled”