AD 2019.0 under new Win10 May2019 Feature Update
- Thread starter tk1247
- Start date
jcdammeyer
Senior Member
Updated and up comes a dialog D3DCOMPILER_47.DLL not found on computer. Try reinstalling application. So what next?
jcdammeyer
Senior Member
AlibreCAM is missing from the toolbar.
It appears that you may need to go to System Options -> Display -> General, and select the "Use Legacy Display" option at the bottom of the page until MecSoft can deliver an update.
jcdammeyer
Senior Member
Use Legacy Display Option doesn't work. And since Alibre2019 requires D3DCOMPILER_47.DLL and it's not on my system it should never have installed itself. That's unacceptable behaviour.
I think perhaps a Support ticket may be the best avenue for resolution here. We've had a lot of folks install and this is the first we're hearing of this. It's possible it's machine specific. Give us a ring with a support ticket and we'll get to the bottom of it.
JST
Alibre Super User
This seems to be why it does not work for me. It ALMOST works..... it displays, but then fails.
jcdammeyer
Senior Member
I found that link but I wasn't sure that that would be a valid upgrade that wouldn't break all sorts of other things and programs from other vendors. Not a lot of trust here when it appears that ALibre2019 wasn't tested on WIN-7 with AlibreCAM 2018 which again is totally unacceptable.
So far I have a really good solution that works. I am fortunate to still have a functional Windows Home Server even if it's no longer supported by Microsoft.
I renamed "C:\Program Files\Alibre Design" to C:\Program Files\Alibre Design2019"
I mounted the backup from the day before to "Z:\Program Files\Alibre Design" and then copied it to "C:\Program Files\Alibre Design"
Then ran Alibre2018 Tab to Utilities and selected AddOn Manager. Reselected "AlibreCAM 2018" which was probably deselected in the registry when 2019 was installed.
That allowed me to continue working for the rest of the day.
I keep promoting Alibre on all the different forums I visit as a much better solution than Fusion360. Yesterday's experience has soured that tremendously. I'll put up with the occasional lockup on 2018 and decide next year next year July 2020 when my support expires as to what I will do next.
simonb65
Alibre Super User
The D3DCOMPILER_47.DLL component of Win7 was installed back in 2017 as a routine Microsoft issued Windows Update. If you haven't got it on your machine, I suspect you may have not been doing automatic windows updates or even have them disabled (by choice or if your on a corporate network, forced disabled!).
I would also say that it is a little unfair to say that the Alibre team is not testing when it may be just your specific platform that is not up to date and ready to accept the latest software. The permutations of what is and isn't up to date is very hard to cater for, so the assumption must be that it is tested on a windows platform that is fully up to date on the day of testing!
I would add that as a software developer myself, when external libraries are required, I check at install or dynamically check for the files existence at run time and issue a friendly popup. Doesn't work very well if a 3rd party provider is using that library though! and, from experience it does become an absolute nightmare to manage as time goes on! Hence things shift back to the assumption that the target machine is (and must be) fully up to date.
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I hear you, but I really don't think this is quite fair.
We did test on Windows 7, and many people on Windows 7 are using 2019 right now. There are so many possible permutations of configurations that it's not possible to account for everything. AlibreCAM does not work with the new graphics pipeline - however it should work if you use the compatability mode which was put in specifically to deal with addon partner issues, and to give people enough time to upgrade their hardware if they needed to. We just can't test every OS along with every OS sub-release to make sure it works on every possible KB release from Microsoft. Given Windows 7 SP1 is 8 years old, that is what we test against.
As an aside - our support for Windows 7 at all is coming to an end soonish. Microsoft stops extended support for Windows 7 in January. Their last major update to Windows 7 (Service Pack 1 - 6.1.7601) was 8 years ago. The reality is that, despite some people's love for it, Windows 7 is ancient in software terms, over 10 years old. We have to look forward. We will announce the timing of such a decision months ahead of time after further consideration, but I would say there's a high chance it is within 12 months and may be within 6.
jcdammeyer
Senior Member
Thank you. You caught me on a bad day. I've installed the DLL update and I'll know in the next few days if it breaks anything else. I'm installing the AlibreCAM 2019 and will try it with the legacy mode set. I've already seen that it's asking for a new key and registration so I have to spend valuable time trying to get that straightened out.
However, I might ask this rhetorical series of questions to outline where I'm coming from. I have two PCs, a laptop and a workstation running WIN-7. They are both old relatively speaking and are fully functional. The cost to shift to WIN-10 to run the same software (and to have to replace lots that will no longer run under WIN-10) or even replace a PC to run this is fine if the people suggesting this are willing to buy the software and hardware for me. Not to mention pay for my time as I set up the new PC. But that never happens does it? How many million man hours were lost with Windows VISTA?
I have a band saw from 1939 which works as well as anything new off the shelf. My milling machine is now over 10 years old and it's what this CAD/CAM software is for. Should I replace the Mill as a regular upgrade to "enhance my user experience" at the same rate as Windows?
My previous experiences with Microsoft is that their upgrades slowly and secretly slow down older OS versions with updates until the new OS is so much faster that it only makes sense to upgrade.
Just look at the sort of things Apple did with their iPhone upgrades. New OS. Battery life suddenly sucks. Impossible to revert back to older OS. My wife ended up after a long struggle to get her battery life back and finally succeeded by buying a newer phone. I didn't update. Still have battery life and the old phone. It works as a telephone, sends texts and the alarm clock, timer and some of the other apps still work. Web browsing not so much but that's because it doesn't handle the advertising based html that has crept into the language.
So in short, when support from Alibre for WIN-7 based systems vanishes there won't be any reason to pay for support either I guess. There are times where I really wish I'd just stayed with my Geomagic USB dongles for CAD and CAM. Odds are I'd get another 10 years out of the software or until the PCs or USB dongles died.
My point is I have to pay to get software that is marginally if at all any better. Both for installing this upgrade and time spent to get back to where I was before the upgrade.
One can rave about how this new car would be able to do 200km/hr on the German Autobahn but if the local speed limits here are 90km/hr who cares and unfortunately most software nowadays seems to be headed in that direction.
miegorengman
New Member
Following up on this conversation, I just attempted to run the Trial of Alibre Cam / Free Mill from MecSoft and I received the following notification:
I am currently running a Win 10 Pro 64 bit, Intel i5-4570 @ 3.2 GHz, 16 GB RAM, with a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760.
Based on the information above and my search of the web, "Use Legacy Display" does not appear to be an option in Windows 10? I have attempted to locate this function within System options with no success and have been unable to locate a how to and thus far.
As I was unable to locate this function attempted to run AlibreCAM in windows 7 and 8 compatibility mode with the same result. I also attempted to make use of the "Changed High DPI" option with the same results.
Any suggestions would be appreciated, thank you.
I am currently running a Win 10 Pro 64 bit, Intel i5-4570 @ 3.2 GHz, 16 GB RAM, with a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760.
Based on the information above and my search of the web, "Use Legacy Display" does not appear to be an option in Windows 10? I have attempted to locate this function within System options with no success and have been unable to locate a how to and thus far.
As I was unable to locate this function attempted to run AlibreCAM in windows 7 and 8 compatibility mode with the same result. I also attempted to make use of the "Changed High DPI" option with the same results.
Any suggestions would be appreciated, thank you.
miegorengman
New Member
I see where I got lost. Thank you for the print screen and the explanation. With your help I shall making a truly enviable waste board.