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Houdini in Windows 10 Bootcamp


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Im currently using a MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013) and running El Capitan, and its a well known issue but the viewport performance in Houdini is extremely slow... I got so frustrated I took what might have been an extreme action and bought windows 10 and installed bootcamp to see if it would run any quicker on there.. (is that possible?). After spending a few hours installing windows/bootcamp drivers etc. I finally got round to installing Houdini on windows and now that doesnt even work! I get an error saying:

 

"The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable"

 

Does anyone know why i'm getting this error or if theres a fix for this? I tried Houdini 14 and 15 (64-bit) and Houdini 13 (32-bit) but all gave the same error....

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File downloads do sometimes not finish from the SideFx site- you should check that the downloaded size is the same as the download page:

 

https://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_download&Itemid=208

 

Yes, Windows is significantly faster in OpenGl and Mantra rendering than OsX

 

The best is to use Linux, something like Ubuntu will give much better memory management than Windows.

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Bummer - try the latest daily build. 15.0.385. Also turn off virus checkers etc. 

 

H15 installs in Ubuntu and OsX no probs. Win 7 should work - not sure if available any more though.

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I would think the Macbook Pro natively will barely run Houdini why would you think bootcamp would help that? Have you checked the hardware specs for running Houdini?

 

 

Can you clarify what you mean? The MacBook Pro Retina, 13 inch Late 2013, has Intel Iris with 1.5GB Vram, and the windows drivers are always significantly better than OsX.

 

Anyways it looks like the downloads are corrupting for many people currently, so far only the old H15.244.16 is working for some. I'm sure it'll be fixed asap! 

 

Edit: Ya the MD5 checksum is off:

 

15.0.385 should be:

15a83e766ce93fcb49a43621b8435e2c

 

is:

a4cd802678378998369cf5500e85a6c9

Edited by tar
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I would think the Macbook Pro natively will barely run Houdini why would you think bootcamp would help that? Have you checked the hardware specs for running Houdini?

 

Just wishful thinking I guess, I was getting desperate! My hardware should be fine, I think its just the graphics card is no good - although it used to run fine with Houdini 13. I have the following:

 

2.4 GHz Intel Core i5

8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

Intel Iris 1536 MB

 

I've spent about 4 hours with windows support but they couldn't fix the problem so i'm re-partioning the drive and trying a fresh install of windows.....

 

Marty, i'm not sure what that means by the checksum being off.. I might try H15.244.16 like you suggest and see if that works, otherwise I give up!

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The MD5 checksum is used to check what is on the server as being the same as the downloaded one. When they match it should be fine, currently they don't so it impossible that the file will work as expected.

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So after nearly two days of trying its finally working! I ended up deleting my bootcamp partition, recreating it and re-installing windows. I don't think this actually helped as I still got the same error when trying to run the installer for the latest production build. However.... After Marty's suggestion I tried using H15.244.16, and it works! 

Plus Houdini's viewport is fine! I can actually lay down a cube without it locking up for 5 seconds!

 

Obviously it would be better if it just ran smoothly on OSX so I didn't have to go through bootcamp but this is the best alternative, and hopefully this will help someone else if they are in a similar position. Thanks for the tip Marty!

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Can you clarify what you mean?

Intel graphics with less than 2Gb are no longer supported.

http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2680&Itemid=390

I cried a river, my MacMini is Houdini dead as well. Sure, Houdini launches and I can create a box or other simple objects but fluids are an instant crash and there are many viewport anomalies. This is running El Capitan, I have heard others who did not upgrade are in a little better shape.

Edited by Atom
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Intel graphics with less than 2Gb are no longer supported.

http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2680&Itemid=390

I cried a river, my MacMini is Houdini dead as well. Sure, Houdini launches and I can create a box or other simple objects but fluids are an instant crash and there are many viewport anomalies. This is running El Capitan, I have heard others who did not upgrade are in a little better shape.

 

 

Thanks - that's just a recommended amount of Vram -in Houdini you can see usage in the Display Options, top right 'i'.  The more features used, such as HDR, antialiasing, high quality lighting, AO etc use more ram.

 

Not sure which Mac Mini you're using but from experience the one with Intel 3000 doesn't support GL 3.3 in HW properly, and at 512MB Vram it really only has a little bit of headroom; it fails in Linux and OsX.  Luckily the Intel diver on OsX is garbage compared to Windows, or Linux presumably, so it may be worth trying it booted up in those. 

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