3-D Map not loading in Topo 5.0 Windows Vista

[T_Toise]

Recently installed Topo 5.0 and Service Pack 2 on a new computer. My previous installation worked fine.

3-D maps are not loading in the secondary window. The message :"Preparing 3-D map..." appears in the grey window and the image never loads.

When I move the cursor over the window I see the normal cursor with a red "no entry" symbol to the lower right.

Searched tech support and this forum but could not find any similar issues. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

[eminhize]

I'm having the exact same problem...DeLorme - help us out!

[Sanaghan]

This is a pretty common problem, although it's been a while since I've seen Topo 5 mentioned.

We've seen a lot of this since Vista came out and was put laptops. Vista is a resource hog. Combine that with lower-cost laptops that don't have dedicated video cards and share the limited RAM (kept low to keep the price low) and your computer will not be up to the task of 3-D processing.

Some basic questions to help others answer you:
- What processor and RAM do you have?
- Do you have a dedicated video card? If so, how much RAM does it have?
- Have you tried lowering your colors from 32-bit to 16-bit? What were the results?
- Have you tried combining the above step with a lower screen resolution (like 1024x768) What were the results?
- Have you loaded a "newer" driver from the video-chip company? If so, go back to the laptop manufacturer and get their latest driver, that actually solves many of these problems.

The simple alternative is to move the divider bar between the two panes all the way to the left, eliminating the left pane display.

If you change your resolution a lot, I recomend one of these two programs:
- http://users.rcn.com/taylotr/icon_restore.html
- http://www.midiox.com/html/desktop.htm

I use the first one, haven't tried the second.

Here is a similar thread: http://forum.delorme.com/viewtopic.php?t=16745

[eminhize]

Thanks Sanaghan.

I tried all the suggested techniques (resolution, dpp, etc.) to no avail. Additionally I have experimented with run-as-administrator, disable desktop composition, xp sp2 compatability mode, also with the same failed result.

Is it possible to enable any sort of diagnostic tracing to narrow down the problem? My guess is that there are some 3d advanced settings which may enable a workaround, but we'll need to know what call is failing. I'll see if I can catch anything in the debugger.

Kind of moot since my topo 7 and pn-40se should be arriving momentarily .

Still would like to get this working, so any more suggestions are appreciated.

[Sanaghan]

Unfortunately, that's all I know. You didn't list what your system was, that might help people.

The only other option I have is to call DeLorme and see if they can walk you through it. Someone else might also chime in with an idea.