Summary: Frequently Asked Questions and Issues related to Microsoft Robotics Studio Simulation

Media Files

Mesh and texture files must be in the store\media directory. The simulator reads mesh files in the Alias .obj format and automatically generates an optimized version of the mesh in a .bos format file. You can also use the obj2bos utility to convert meshes to the .bos format. If a .bos file is present that is newer than the .obj file with the same name, it will be read instead of the .obj file to improve loading performance.

Texture files in the .bmp, .jpg, and .dds formats are supported. The sky entity requires .dds files that contain cube maps.

Supported Graphics Cards

The simulation runtime uses only the programmable pipeline in recent graphics accelator cards. It requires that the card supports the VS20 profile (or better) for vertex shaders and PS20 profile (or better) for pixel shaders. Most middle to high end cards purchased for PC gaming in the past two years will work. Alot of PC notebooks, basic configurations, will probably not support our simulator since they dont support the profiles we need. Recent notebooks however and some older ones seem to work.

List of cards we have verified that simulation works:
* ATI RADEON MOBILITY X1600 (found on notebooks)
* ATI RADEON MOBILITY X800
* ATI RADEON MOBILITY X600
* ATI RADEON 9400, 9600, 9700, 9800
* ATI RADEON X300, X600
* Intel 945GM Mobile Express
* NVIDIA QUADRO FX 540
* NVIDIA GEFORCE 7600 GT
* NVIDIA NV 5700, 6600, 6800, 7900
* NVIDIA QUADRO NVS 110
* NVIDIA GO 6200 (128MB)
* NVIDIA GeForce 5200, 6200

Note a lot more cards than the above work, but please update this wiki with your card that runs the simulation.

List of cards the simulation does not work or runs slowly:
* ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9000
* ATI MOBILITY RADEON 7500 (doesn't work, no support for shader)

		         * NVIDIA Quadro2 MXR/EX

NOTE: These shaders might fix the simulator on your graphics card: http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=255456

If your graphics card seems to be rendering properly but the frame rate is slower than 5 frames per second, try reducing the size of the simulator window.

Performance degradation due to other windows applets

When running any directX application, including our simulator, background UI applets that use alpha blending cause massive frame rate slow down. Task bar items and other similar processes that have UI with some alpha blending, will cause the simlulator to run slowly. Please disable or minimize their UI when running the simulation. Some graphics cards exhibit this problem when antialiasing is turned on. Try using the Render->Settings dialog to set Antialiasing to None.

3D Model Import

Please check out SimulationImportTutorials for an excellent tutorial on using solid works and exporting to OBJ for use by our simulation.

Summary%3a Frequently Asked Questions and Issues related to Microsoft Robotics Studio Simulation
 
 
%21 Media Files
Mesh and texture files must be in the store%5cmedia directory.  The simulator reads mesh files in the Alias .obj format and automatically generates an optimized version of the mesh in a .bos format file.  You can also use the obj2bos utility to convert meshes to the .bos format.  If a .bos file is present that is newer than the .obj file with the same name%2c it will be read instead of the .obj file to improve loading performance.  
 
Texture files in the .bmp%2c .jpg%2c and .dds formats are supported.  The sky entity requires .dds files that contain cube maps.
 
%21 Supported Graphics Cards
The simulation runtime uses only the programmable pipeline in recent graphics accelator cards. It requires that the card supports the VS_2_0 profile %28or better%29 for vertex shaders and PS_2_0 profile %28or better%29 for pixel shaders. Most middle to high end cards purchased for PC gaming in the past two years will work. Alot of PC notebooks%2c basic configurations%2c will probably not support our simulator since they dont support the profiles we need. Recent notebooks however and some older ones seem to work. 
 
List of cards we have verified that simulation *works*%3a
	* ATI RADEON MOBILITY X1600 %28found on notebooks%29
	* ATI RADEON MOBILITY X800
	* ATI RADEON MOBILITY X600
	* ATI RADEON 9400%2c 9600%2c 9700%2c 9800
	* ATI RADEON X300%2c X600
	* Intel 945GM Mobile Express
	* NVIDIA QUADRO FX 540
	* NVIDIA GEFORCE 7600 GT
	* NVIDIA NV 5700%2c 6600%2c 6800%2c 7900
	* NVIDIA QUADRO NVS 110
	* NVIDIA GO 6200 %28128MB%29
	* NVIDIA %5bGeForce%5d 5200%2c 6200
 
Note a lot more cards than the above work%2c but please update this wiki with your card that runs the simulation.
 
List of cards the simulation does *not* work or runs slowly%3a
	* ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9000
	* ATI MOBILITY RADEON 7500 %28doesn%27t work%2c no support for shader%29
%7b%7b
         * NVIDIA Quadro2 MXR/EX
%7d%7d
 
NOTE%3a These shaders might fix the simulator on your graphics card%3a %5bhttp%3a//channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx%3fPostID%3d255456%5d
 
If your graphics card seems to be rendering properly but the frame rate is slower than 5 frames per second%2c try reducing the size of the simulator window.
 
%21 Performance degradation due to other windows applets
When running any directX application%2c including our simulator%2c background UI applets that use alpha blending cause massive frame rate slow down. Task bar items and other similar processes that have UI with some alpha blending%2c will cause the simlulator to run slowly. Please disable or minimize their UI when running the simulation.  Some graphics cards exhibit this problem when antialiasing is turned on.  Try using the Render-%3eSettings dialog to set Antialiasing to None.
 
%21 3D Model Import
Please check out %5bSimulationImportTutorials%5d for an excellent tutorial on using solid works and exporting to OBJ for use by our simulation.

simulationfaq

Media Files

Supported Graphics Cards

Performance degradation due to other windows applets

3D Model Import