SpaceMouse Pro problems with NX7.5 and NX9 both loaded on system

[BazookaJoe]

Hey fellow NXers,

I have both NX7.5 and NX9 on my computer and I use them both. With my job, I can use NX7.5 on a new project. But, if I need to use any of my customer's files, then it's NX9. My main bark with NX9 is that NX9 drafting is SO slow that I want to avoid NX9 whenever possible.

So anyway, after installing NX9, my Spaceball 5000 lost most of its functions except zoon/rotate/pan/etc, so it's time to upgrade. Yeah, I know SB5000 is an OLD product, so no flames, please. But it still worked and I need two 3D controllers for my job, so why upgrade.

I recently bought a new SpaceMouse Pro and installed 3DXware 10. That all went ok with no installation errors.

When I run NX9, the SpaceMouse Pro works fine- all the buttons work with their default function and it's all good. I don't remember if I tried to customize the buttons.

However, when I run NX7.5, then problems arise. When I first launch NX7.5, I get some type of xxx.dll error, but NX7.5 opens the model ok (I think). I can manipulate the CAD model with the joystick knob just fine, IF I don't touch the other buttons. But, I cannot successfully customize any of the buttons, and I if push one of the canned view buttons, then the model rotation is locked out.

So, in the meantime, I reloaded my old software and am running the SpaceBall 5000. With the old software, I do not get the NX7.5 xxx.dll error. And, the SB5000 is working as before.

Does anyone have some ideas where to look? The .dll driver error is probably telling me something. I can reload 3DXware 10 again and take a screen shot of the error, if that will help.

Thanks in advance for help.

BZ Joe

 

[BazookaJoe]

Oops, I forgot to add this discussion from over at the Siemens community room. Is this what they are talking about?

http://community.plm.automation.siemens.com/t5/NX-Hardware/Using-NX-7-5-and-8-5-C-error/m-p/251130

Thanks again!

 

[Toost]

This is kind of confusing, do you have two spaceballs both attached to the same computer ?

You can maybe , depending on the spaceball driver install , install both drivers on the same computer but in different directories, then from the ugii_env.dat set environment variables such that the correct driver starts with NX. Maybe you need to make sure that the driver is started as a sidekick to NX instead of "when windows starts". ( from the ugii_env.dat)
I don't have the details for the spaceball drivers in my head, so i cannot advice further.

The other thread you mentioned is in the same line.

Regards,
Tomas

 

[JohnRBaker]

I've never had any problems using a single spaceball when running any number of NX sessions at one time. I often have three or four difference versions of NX running at once and I'm always able to move from one to the other with no problems whatsoever. One thing to be careful of is that when you install the 3DConnexion's driver that it be set-up so that it starts when Windows starts-up, NOT when you first launch NX.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Digital Factory
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[BazookaJoe]

Toost- Sorry if my description was confusing. No, just one Spaceball at a time.

John B- Thanks for the report that it *should* work fine. I wanted to be sure I wasn't chasing something way over my head. Good suggestion to restart Windows. I don't recall if I restarted Windows- I did stop & restart the 3DX driver. And, I did restart NX in both instances. I will give restarting Windows a try.

Thanks for advice.

 

[BazookaJoe]

Good news. I uninstalled the old 3DXWare and installed the new. Restarted system. No unhappy messages when starting NX7.5 and both versions appear to work fine. Maybe it was an unsuccessful installation last time? I can successfully assign functions to the buttons, so I should be golden.

The one thing to know with the Space Mouse Pro, it appears to assign a function to a button, that function must first have a hotkey assignment. Also important to note, is that the Space Mouse Pro does not know any difference between the NX versions with custom buttons. All it knows is that button X creates a shft+y type of output. This is not like old days (NX5 or so) when the NX functions were part of 3DXWare. So, this means that hotkey assignments must be the same function on both NX7.5 and NX9, or the particular button will react differently in the different NX versions. Getting the functions to be the same takes a little trial and error, but it gets done.