When I go to the Nividia web site to download the latest driver, there are several options.
One option is to get the latest driver which is 30.82. Another option is a driver that is next to the SESI Houdini. Which driver is the better bet :?: My main concern is to get houdini working the best it can :!: I just got my system on monday and have had some problems with it already. After data mining these forums and odforce.net, I have discovered that getting the latest drivers will probably fix most all of my problems.

I discovered that I need to make sure that I have service pack 2. At the moment, the most current service pack for win2k is service pack 3. Is it safe to install service pack 3?


Below are the specs on my system:


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HP workstation x4000
product description:
Includes: Windows¨ 2000 Professional, 2.4GHz Intel¨ Xeonª processor, NVIDIA Quadro4 900 XGL high-end 3D graphics, 1GB PC800 RDRAM, 36GB Ultra 160 SCSI hard drive
I also have two sony 21" monitors connected to the Quadro4 900 XGL and a wacom tablet.
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I am currently having issues with the reel one player locking picture and continuing audio. I read in a post that turning off sharpening may fix that. The other option is usiing reelplayer 8….

SP3 is safe to install for Houdini. 30.XX Drivers from Nvidia were OK with my GeForce 3. Detonator 4.0 drivers are signifcantly faster, but have a very annoying bug in Houdini, they display a phantom pointer. You may have better luck with a Quadro though.

Real Media files… I had the same problem, but it's only a couple files. It doesn't matter if you use RealOne or RP8, they won't work. I've tried them on Real G2, Real One, Real 8, and Real 8 Linux. no dice. Sometimes you can play them through if you click the playbar past the point where they lock up. There is deffinitely a problem with a few files though. I tried several pieces of software to convert the broken files to another format (avi or mpg) and they always error out with an unexpected end of video stream. It's only a few of the files though. So I guess since you still get audio, just deal with it and listen very carefully

Well I just got off the phone with HP and solved my first problem of the night. The battery in my machine was not seated properly and that was causing the blinking LED on my box. I have to say that my experience at least for the first three days of having my new HP has been great. Awesome customer support. Worth the extra money that the HP cost me.


I wanted to also say that I was a little intimidated by all the power users in this forum and the odforce.net forums. So far I the responses are so quick and I am so thankful to the people that have helped me so far.. Thank you Marc for your advice.

The problem with the reelMedia files is that I can't get objectstates1 to play through.. I kept trying to place the playback bar in the right place to see how to select cam3 in the other viewports.. But I was having redraw prolems anyway. Hopefuly the new nvidia drivers will make tonights session more enjoyable… Something tells me if David Rin*ner can keep dealing with all the little idiosyncracies then I can too…. :twisted:


Just out of curiosity why is there a need to press space bar + x to select a view in a 3d viewer pane instead of just a click or a mouse over?

My nvidia drivers just finished downloading so I am going to install them and everything will magically just work perfect.

About space+x… I'm relatively new to Houdini, and I found it wierd at first too, but it's not the hinderance I though it was going to be. It seems that you can perform any operation in any viewport including maximizing the view with space-t without explicitly selecting the viewport. The only time it seems that you must switch to a view with space+x is when you are trying to do something specific with that viewport like changing cameras, drawing modes, or setting up background images.