I'm trying to get Houdini 9 Apprentice running so that I can learn Houdini. I would just run it on windows but 64bit Vista isn't supported so I've set up a dual boot system with OpenSUSE 10.3 64bit.

I got around the initial error of houdini popping up then vanishing by running:

export HOUDINI_ENABLE_LINUX_THREADED_UI=0

Now onto problem number two. I get the “could not obtain GLX visual” error but I know my 3D acceleration is up and running fine. Everything else that uses openGL works fine. I get this when I run glxinfo:

name of display: :0.0
display: :0 screen: 0
direct rendering: No
server glx vendor string: SGI
server glx version string: 1.2
server glx extensions:
GLX_ARB_multisample, GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating,
GLX_EXT_import_context, GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap, GLX_OML_swap_method,
GLX_SGI_make_current_read, GLX_SGIS_multisample, GLX_SGIX_hyperpipe,
GLX_SGIX_swap_barrier, GLX_SGIX_fbconfig
client glx vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
client glx version string: 1.4
client glx extensions:
GLX_ARB_get_proc_address, GLX_ARB_multisample, GLX_EXT_visual_info,
GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_EXT_import_context, GLX_SGI_video_sync,
GLX_NV_swap_group, GLX_NV_video_out, GLX_SGIX_fbconfig, GLX_SGIX_pbuffer,
GLX_SGI_swap_control, GLX_NV_float_buffer, GLX_ARB_fbconfig_float,
GLX_EXT_fbconfig_packed_float, GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap,
GLX_EXT_framebuffer_sRGB
GLX extensions:
GLX_ARB_multisample, GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating,
GLX_EXT_import_context, GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap, GLX_SGIX_fbconfig,
GLX_ARB_get_proc_address
OpenGL vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
OpenGL renderer string: GeForce 8500 GT/PCI/SSE2
OpenGL version string: 1.2 (2.1.1 NVIDIA 100.14.19)
OpenGL extensions:
GL_ARB_depth_texture, GL_ARB_imaging, GL_ARB_multitexture,
GL_ARB_point_parameters, GL_ARB_point_sprite, GL_ARB_shadow,
GL_ARB_texture_border_clamp, GL_ARB_texture_cube_map,
GL_ARB_texture_env_add, GL_ARB_texture_env_combine,
GL_ARB_texture_env_dot3, GL_ARB_texture_mirrored_repeat,
GL_ARB_window_pos, GL_ARB_texture_non_power_of_two, GL_ARB_vertex_program,
GL_ARB_fragment_program, GL_EXT_abgr, GL_EXT_bgra, GL_EXT_blend_color,
GL_EXT_blend_func_separate, GL_EXT_blend_minmax, GL_EXT_blend_subtract,
GL_EXT_draw_range_elements, GL_EXT_fog_coord, GL_EXT_multi_draw_arrays,
GL_EXT_packed_pixels, GL_EXT_rescale_normal, GL_EXT_secondary_color,
GL_EXT_separate_specular_color, GL_EXT_shadow_funcs, GL_EXT_stencil_wrap,
GL_EXT_texture3D, GL_EXT_texture_edge_clamp, GL_EXT_texture_env_add,
GL_EXT_texture_env_combine, GL_EXT_texture_env_dot3, GL_EXT_texture_lod,
GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias, GL_EXT_texture_object, GL_EXT_vertex_array,
GL_ATI_texture_mirror_once, GL_IBM_texture_mirrored_repeat,
GL_NV_blend_square, GL_NV_texgen_reflection, GL_NV_texture_rectangle,
GL_NV_texture_env_combine4, GL_SGIS_generate_mipmap, GL_SGIS_texture_lod,
GL_SGIX_depth_texture, GL_SGIX_shadow
glu version: 1.3
glu extensions:
GLU_EXT_nurbs_tessellator, GLU_EXT_object_space_tess

visual x bf lv rg d st colorbuffer ax dp st accumbuffer ms cav
id dep cl sp sz l ci b ro r g b a bf th cl r g b a ns b eat
———————————————————————-
0x2c 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 1868967532 1700946252 None
0x2d 24 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1919903278 1953720652 None
0x2e 32 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 1936280618 174483046 Ncon
0x2f 32 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1853190002 1735091041 Ncon

Can anybody help - it's really irritating me now - I want to see what houdini can do.

Wolfwood might jump in regarding nvidia driver versions since he's played a bit with it and found the latest and greatest seriously wanting.

The first bit is a known problem at SESI and will be looked at, but it's a fairly serious one unless you're running a single core system. It's totally your call, but if I were you I'd consider installing SUSE 10.2 64 bit since that runs H9 perfectly fine with all the bells and whistles. It might be less of a headache taking the non-bleeding edge route.

Cheers,

J.C.

Thanks JC - thing is I already tried openSUSE 10.2 and then upgraded because the nvidia driver install is so much easier on 10.3 :roll:

I did get the nvidia drivers working on 10.2 but I got the same glx visual error - I just figured I'd got something wrong somewhere and thought 10.3 would install everything correctly which it seems to have done.

I'd like to stay with 10.3 if I can rather than roll back even if the solution is long and painful! If the only way forward is to roll back then I guess that's the route I'll have to take - I'd like to exhaust all other possibilities first though.

Thank again

Could you post your xorg.conf and the /var/log/Xorg.0.log file? Glxinfo output seems okay. Newest driver do work with houdini but might be a bit slower when displaying point numbers in scenes with 500,000+ polygons…

direct rendering: No

That's the culprit. Your GL setup must be capable of direct rendering. I am using 100.14.11, and this is set to “yes” for me. Is your desktop X GPU-accelerated? I'm really not sure what would cause this to indicate ‘no’ other than perhaps that.

lloydwood
I'm trying to get Houdini 9 Apprentice running so that I can learn Houdini. I would just run it on windows but 64bit Vista isn't supported so I've set up a dual boot system with OpenSUSE 10.3 64bit.

Why wouldn't Houdini run on Vista x64?

I have it working!

I had compiz installed which seems to have messed everything up. I uninstalled compiz and it broke KDE so I did a fresh install of the system. Installed and set up the nvidia drivers, turned UI threading off and hey presto!

Thanks for the tips guys.

the day that compiz works along with high end 3D programs is going to be amazing.