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Why don't things look right on my screen?

Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2021 8:26 pm
by Glenn Schroeder
    First, go to Tools > Options > System Options > Performance. If the option indicated below is turned on, turn it off. I've seen a wide variety of issues reported with it on, and I haven't seen or heard of any ill effects from having it turned off (I'm not saying there aren't any; just that I'm not aware of any).

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    If you aren't seeing all the options you should in Property Managers and/or drop-down lists, it might be because you have your Windows icon scale set to something other than 100%. Try setting it back and see if that helps.

    If it's neither of these issues, it's probably a problem with your graphics card, or its driver. Solidworks is particular about the graphics card, and don't assume that a high end graphics card intended for gaming will be just fine. It probably won't be. Go to this site to check your specs: https://www.solidworks.com/support/hard ... fba4608a4a

    If everything was working fine, and now it isn't, it's possible an automatic Windows update is the cause. Try reverting to the previous graphics card driver.

    If you're stuck with a non-certified graphics card, and nothing else works, close all SW files, then go to Tools > Options > System Options > Performance and check the box near the bottom that says "Use software OpenGL." This might help, though the results will likely be less than spectacular. If nothing else, it can be a useful diagnostic tool, since if checking that box helps you'll know the problem is with your graphics card.

    Edit: I just remembered something. A while back everything on my computer would slowly move down to the bottom of the page. This was on web pages, Word documents, you name it. As you can imagine, it was a bit disconcerting. I hollered to my son, who worked in IT for a few years, for help. It turns out that the problem was caused by my 3d mouse. I unplugged it, left it unplugged for a few minutes, then plugged it back in. That fixed it. It's happened one more time since them, and the same fix worked again.

    Re: Why don't things look right on my screen?

    Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2021 3:45 pm
    by SPerman
    For the last couple of years, disabling "Enhanced Graphics" has been the answer to the majority of these questions.
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    Re: Why don't things look right on my screen?

    Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2021 4:09 pm
    by Glenn Schroeder
    SPerman wrote: Tue Mar 23, 2021 3:45 pm For the last couple of years, disabling "Enhanced Graphics" has been the answer to the majority of these questions.

    image.png
    Yes, I know. That's why it's the first thing I said to check above.

    Re: Why don't things look right on my screen?

    Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2021 4:13 pm
    by SPerman
    I searched the post for "enhanced" and it didn't show up. (Obviously I didn't bother reading your post.) :(