Use cardinfo for Windows | CPN Tools help |
Windows program to check for OpenGL support | How-to |
cardinfo
for Windows
The cardinfo
program can be used to check whether a graphics adaptor provides the OpenGL support that is necessary to run CPN Tools under Windows.
The cardinfo
is installed in the Utils subdirectory when you install CPN Tools. However, you can also download cardinfo.exe, if you have not installed CPN Tools.
cardinfo
progam
If you have installed CPN Tools, then cardinfo
can be run by
cardinfo.exe
, e.g. C:\Program Files\CPN Tools\Utils\
, and double clicking on the icon for cardinfo.exe
, or
cardinfo
, then it can be run by either
cardinfo
.
After cardinfo
has been run, its textual output will be shown. At the bottom of the output there is a large table with 20+ columns of letters and numbers. The second-to-last column in this table indicates whether or not your graphics adaptor has hardware support for OpenGL:
y
appears in the second-to-last column, then there should be support for OpenGL.
y
's in the second-to-last column, then your graphics adaptor does not have the necessary support for OpenGL, and CPN Tools will not run properly.
y
's in the second-to-last column, then this is not a guarantee that the graphics adaptor provides sufficient OpenGL support. We have seen several examples where CPN Tools did not run properly, even though the graphics adaptor should have had the necessary capabilities.
An example of cardinfo output can be found below.
Past experience has shown that many Nvidia cards do not use a good driver with the standard settings in Windows.
If the output from the cardinfo
program reveals that the OpenGL graphic vendor is Microsoft, or that the OpenGL renderer is generic, then
it may be helpful to install a better driver for your graphics adaptor.
Example of an extract from cardinfo output:
OpenGL vendor string: Microsoft Corporation OpenGL renderer string: GDI Generic
Many programs that use OpenGL, such as computer games, frequently reduce the screen resolution when the program is started. CPN Tools does NOT reduce the screen resolution during start up. This may be why you have problems using OpenGL with CPN Tools but not with other programs.
If your operating system is Windows XP and CPN Tools crashes with the following message immediately after starting the tool:
# Beta execution aborted: Access violation # Error during dump: Unexpected Signal. Aborting
then you may be able to solve the problem by disabling the Data Execution Prevention (DEP) facilities. The following excerpt was taken from the Windows Help information about DEP:
How can I tell if DEP is available on my computer? 1.. To open System Properties, click Start, click Control Panel, click Performance and Maintenance, and then click System. 2.. Click the Advanced tab and, under Performance, click Settings. 3.. Click the Data Execution Prevention tab.
cardinfo
cardinfo
output for a GeForce2 graphics card. This graphics card does support OpenGL hardware acceleration.
cardinfo
output
hDC: 0x2010f99 server wgl vendor string: N/A server wgl version string: N/A server wgl extensions (WGL_): N/A client wgl version: N/A client wgl extensions (WGL_): none OpenGL vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation OpenGL renderer string: GeForce2 GTS/AGP/SSE OpenGL version string: 1.2.1 OpenGL extensions (GL_): GL_ARB_multitexture, GL_ARB_texture_compression, GL_ARB_texture_cube_map, GL_ARB_texture_env_add, GL_ARB_transpose_matrix, GL_EXT_abgr, GL_EXT_bgra, GL_EXT_blend_color, GL_EXT_blend_minmax, GL_EXT_blend_subtract, GL_EXT_compiled_vertex_array, GL_EXT_fog_coord, GL_EXT_packed_pixels, GL_EXT_paletted_texture, GL_EXT_point_parameters, GL_EXT_rescale_normal, GL_EXT_secondary_color, GL_EXT_separate_specular_color, GL_EXT_shared_texture_palette, GL_EXT_stencil_wrap, GL_EXT_texture_compression_s3tc, GL_EXT_texture_edge_clamp, GL_EXT_texture_env_add, GL_EXT_texture_env_combine, GL_EXT_texture_cube_map, GL_EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic, GL_EXT_texture_lod, GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias, GL_EXT_texture_object, GL_EXT_vertex_array, GL_EXT_vertex_weighting, GL_IBM_texture_mirrored_repeat, GL_KTX_buffer_region, GL_NV_blend_square, GL_NV_fence, GL_NV_fog_distance, GL_NV_light_max_exponent, GL_NV_register_combiners, GL_NV_texgen_emboss, GL_NV_texgen_reflection, GL_NV_texture_env_combine4, GL_NV_vertex_array_range, GL_S3_s3tc, GL_SGIS_multitexture, GL_SGIS_texture_lod, GL_WIN_swap_hint, WGL_EXT_swap_control, GL_Autodesk_valid_back_buffer_hint, . visual x bf lv rg d st r g b a ax dp st accum buffs ms acc id dep cl sp sz l ci b ro sz sz sz sz bf th cl r g b a ns b ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 1: 32 wn . 32 . r . . 8 8 8 8 . 24 . 16 16 16 16 . . y . 2: 32 wn . 32 . r . . 8 8 8 8 . 24 8 16 16 16 16 . . y . 3: 32 wn . 32 . r y . 8 8 8 . . 24 . 16 16 16 16 . . y . 4: 32 wn . 32 . r y . 8 8 8 8 . 24 . 16 16 16 16 . . y . 5: 32 wn . 32 . r y . 8 8 8 . . 24 8 16 16 16 16 . . y . 6: 32 wn . 32 . r y . 8 8 8 8 . 24 8 16 16 16 16 . . y . 7: 32 wn . 32 . r y . 8 8 8 . . 24 . 16 16 16 16 . . y . 8: 32 wn . 32 . r y . 8 8 8 8 . 24 . 16 16 16 16 . . y . 9: 32 wn . 32 . r y . 8 8 8 . . 24 8 16 16 16 16 . . y . 10: 32 wn . 32 . r y . 8 8 8 8 . 24 8 16 16 16 16 . . y . 11: 32 wn . 32 . r . . 8 8 8 . . 32 8 16 16 16 . . . . . 12: 32 wn . 32 . r . . 8 8 8 . . 16 8 16 16 16 . . . . . 13: 32 wn . 32 . r y . 8 8 8 . . 32 8 16 16 16 . . . . . 14: 32 wn . 32 . r y . 8 8 8 . . 16 8 16 16 16 . . . . . 15: 32 wn . 32 . r . . 8 8 8 8 . 32 8 16 16 16 16 . . . . 16: 32 wn . 32 . r . . 8 8 8 8 . 16 8 16 16 16 16 . . . . 17: 32 wn . 32 . r y . 8 8 8 8 . 32 8 16 16 16 16 . . . . 18: 32 wn . 32 . r y . 8 8 8 8 . 16 8 16 16 16 16 . . . . 19: 32 wn . 32 . c . . 8 8 8 . . 32 8 . . . . . . . . 20: 32 wn . 32 . c . . 8 8 8 . . 16 8 . . . . . . . . 21: 32 wn . 32 . c y . 8 8 8 . . 32 8 . . . . . . . . 22: 32 wn . 32 . c y . 8 8 8 . . 16 8 . . . . . . . . 23: 24 bm . 24 . r . . 8 8 8 . . 32 8 16 16 16 . . . . . 24: 24 bm . 24 . r . . 8 8 8 . . 16 8 16 16 16 . . . . . 25: 24 bm . 24 . r . . 8 8 8 8 . 32 8 16 16 16 16 . . . . 26: 24 bm . 24 . r . . 8 8 8 8 . 16 8 16 16 16 16 . . . . 27: 24 bm . 24 . c . . 8 8 8 . . 32 8 . . . . . . . . 28: 24 bm . 24 . c . . 8 8 8 . . 16 8 . . . . . . . . 29: 16 bm . 16 . r . . 5 5 5 . . 32 8 11 11 10 . . . . . 30: 16 bm . 16 . r . . 5 5 5 . . 16 8 11 11 10 . . . . . 31: 16 bm . 16 . r . . 5 5 5 8 . 32 8 8 8 8 8 . . . . 32: 16 bm . 16 . r . . 5 5 5 8 . 16 8 8 8 8 8 . . . . 33: 16 bm . 16 . c . . 5 5 5 . . 32 8 . . . . . . . . 34: 16 bm . 16 . c . . 5 5 5 . . 16 8 . . . . . . . . 35: 8 bm . 8 . r . . 3 3 2 . . 32 8 11 11 10 . . . . . 36: 8 bm . 8 . r . . 3 3 2 . . 16 8 11 11 10 . . . . . 37: 8 bm . 8 . r . . 3 3 2 8 . 32 8 8 8 8 8 . . . . 38: 8 bm . 8 . r . . 3 3 2 8 . 16 8 8 8 8 8 . . . . 39: 8 bm . 8 . c . . 3 3 2 . . 32 8 . . . . . . . . 40: 8 bm . 8 . c . . 3 3 2 . . 16 8 . . . . . . . . 41: 4 bm . 4 . r . . 1 1 1 . . 32 8 5 6 5 . . . . . 42: 4 bm . 4 . r . . 1 1 1 . . 16 8 5 6 5 . . . . . 43: 4 bm . 4 . r . . 1 1 1 8 . 32 8 4 4 4 4 . . . . 44: 4 bm . 4 . r . . 1 1 1 8 . 16 8 4 4 4 4 . . . . 45: 4 bm . 4 . c . . 1 1 1 . . 32 8 . . . . . . . . 46: 4 bm . 4 . c . . 1 1 1 . . 16 8 . . . . . . . . ----------------------------------------------------------------------- visual x bf lv rg d st r g b a ax dp st accum buffs ms acc id dep cl sp sz l ci b ro sz sz sz sz bf th cl r g b a ns b -----------------------------------------------------------------------