# Howto: Enable Solidworks realview graphics on gaming video cards



## Crazy9000

Just thought I would write out a guide to enable realview graphics in Solidworks, while using a normal gaming card, (Radeon or Geforce). I've used this method on both my Geforce 970m laptop at work, and my home PC with Radeon 290x in crossfire, as well as several Co-workers PC's. Even if you decide your GPU can't handle the realview graphics, it's pretty easy to reverse, or to just simply toggle realview on or off in Solidworks itself. I'm using solidworks 2016, but this should work for pretty much any version (possibly not super old ones though). Just navigate to "solidworks 2013" or whatever your version number is instead of "solidworks 2016" wherever mentioned.

- Close Solidworks, it only checks the settings we're going to change when it opens
- Open the registry editor. The easiest way to do this is to hit the start button, and just type in "regedit" and hit enter.
- Click "Yes" to the prompt asking for permissions

- Open the folders in there to get to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SolidWorks\SOLIDWORKS 2016\Performance\Graphics\Hardware\Current



- On the right side, double click the entry that is titled "Renderer"



- Copy the "Value Data" there by highlighting it with your mouse, then right clicking and clicking "copy". This is the exact name of your graphics card to Solidworks. Now we're going to tell it that your card is approved to run the Realview graphics.

- Click the "OK" button to close the "edit string" box we just copied the video card name from

- Now navigate regedit down to the "Gl2Shaders" folder (it's just a few folders down for me)



- Open the Gl2Shaders folder

- If you are have a Nvidia Geforce card, go to the "NV40" folder. If you are using AMD Radeon, go to the "RV420" folder

- Right click on either the "NV40" or "RV420" folder, and select New > Key



- Right click inside the name box it makes, and select "paste" to paste the name we copied earlier. If you messed up, you can go back and copy the name again, then follow the steps back. Instead of making a new key, find "New key #1" and right click, then select "rename", and paste your name in.



- Now click on your key, then on the right side of regedit, right click and select New > DWORD (32 bit) Value.



- Name the value "Workarounds". If you mess up, you can just right click and select "rename." Note the the "W" must be capitol!

- Right click "Workarounds", and select "modify"



- Under value data, enter in 30008



- Minimize the registry editor (don't close it yet) , and open Solidworks

- Open a solidworks part (preferably a native solidworks part, not a .IGS or .STEP file from a customer)

- Select the view menu, go down to Display, and realview should be able to be toggled on or off now. If it works, you're done! If it's not, don't worry there's one more thing to try.



- If realview is still grayed out, close solidworks. Go back to registry editor, right click your "workarounds" value, and try each of these until one works:

40008
40408
30408
60408
60008

- If one of those does not work, look at the current directory at the very bottom of regedit and triple check that your key is in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SolidWorks\SOLIDWORKS 2016\Performance\Graphics\Hardware\Gl2Shaders

- If you still can't do it, you're going to have to find the proper workaround value for your card. The best way would be to google your graphics card name, plus architecture. This will get you a "code name" the graphics manufacturer uses for their chip. It will be something like "kepler". Then, google that name and either firepro or quadro, to try to find out what workstation card uses the same chip series. In my case, I found my Radeon 290x uses the "Hawaii" architecture, and so does the "Firepro W9100". If I look in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SolidWorks\SOLIDWORKS 2016\Performance\Graphics\Hardware\Gl2Shaders\RV420, I see the two entries in the FirePro W9100 are using the workaround values of "30008" and "30408", so one of those should work for my card. Sure enough, the first value 30008 works great

- Intel's integrated graphics cards would use the "other" folder instead of NV40 or RV420. I do not know what workaround value would work for them, and do not recommend trying, as they are not very powerful.


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## Brendanp

Do you know the value data for a GTX 1070? I couldn't find it.


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## Crazy9000

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Brendanp*
> 
> Do you know the value data for a GTX 1070? I couldn't find it.


Workaround value of 3008 works for my 1080, so it should work for a 1070 as well.


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## Tafjord79

Anyone with a Titan X Pascal made this work? I've tried all the workaround values including the one in 'current' (using sw17)


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## Crazy9000

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tafjord79*
> 
> Anyone with a Titan X Pascal made this work? I've tried all the workaround values including the one in 'current' (using sw17)


Pascal should use a Workarounds of 31408.

I got this number from the "Quadro P6000" folder in Gl2Shaders/NV40/


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## Tafjord79

I have actually tried that one, the thing is that I can use any workaround value in this guide and realview toggle is no longer greyed out, but it doesn't render..


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## Crazy9000

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tafjord79*
> 
> I have actually tried that one, the thing is that I can use any workaround value in this guide and realview toggle is no longer greyed out, but it doesn't render..


What do you mean by doesn't render? The screen goes black?

I think all this really does is unlock the option for Realview, so if it's unlocked you've done it. I would try updating your graphics drivers if you haven't done that yet.


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## Tafjord79

I am sorry, poor choice of words. There is no difference if it is enabled or not. No matter what value I am entering in Workarounds the Realview toggle becomes selectable, but no eyecandy...
I would think the value for the P6000 would be the correct one, as the P5000 uses a different GPU (GP104).
Just tried installing it on my girlfriend's computer with a 970, and it works perfectly.
Thank you for your help btw


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## Crazy9000

Quote:Originally Posted by *Tafjord79* 

I am sorry, poor choice of words. There is no difference if it is enabled or not. No matter what value I am entering in Workarounds the Realview toggle becomes selectable, but no eyecandy...
I would think the value for the P6000 would be the correct one, as the P5000 uses a different GPU (GP104).
Just tried installing it on my girlfriend's computer with a 970, and it works perfectly.
Thank you for your help btw










I'm not sure if there's too much left to try. The P5000 and P6000 look like they use the same Workarounds value anyways. The default of 30008 is working good on my 1080. I'm honestly not sure that the workaround value even does anything besides enabling the Realview button.

You could try installing the newly released SP1 for SW2017 and see if it fixes your realview.


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## Tafjord79

I will try that, thank you


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## Caffinator

hi, AMD RADEON RX 480 works with default value 0x00030008. please note that in your screenshot, it was typed 3008 instead of 30008

regarts



Code:



Code:


Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SolidWorks\SOLIDWORKS 2015\Performance\Graphics\Hardware\Gl2Shaders\R420\Radeon (TM) RX 480 Graphics]
"Workarounds"=dword:00030008


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## Crazy9000

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Caffinator*
> 
> hi, AMD RADEON RX 480 works with default value 0x00030008. please note that in your screenshot, it was typed 3008 instead of 30008
> 
> regarts


Whoops, fixed it.Glad to hear it's working.


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## fsc137

Brilliant! This worked for me with Radeon RX 480 as well. Many thanks for this posting!


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## play150

Worked for me too! (Used 30008 with a Nvidia GTX 1070) Thank you so much!


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## Necrodox

I've tried just about every code available in my registry to try and enable RealView on my 1070. I managed to enable it on my GTX 960 in another rig using 30008, however know such luck with the 1070. However, it seems that others have codes working for the 1070 that are similar to what I've tried. Perhaps there is another stipulation that might affect the ability to enable RealView (for instance, having a certain program installed).

Not entirely sure, but would love to get this working on my 1070! Cheers.


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## Necrodox

Re-installed Solidworks and used 30008, the same code that previously DID NOT work.

Happy to report it's working well! When in doubt, fresh install.


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## Crazy9000

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Necrodox*
> 
> Re-installed Solidworks and used 30008, the same code that previously DID NOT work.
> 
> Happy to report it's working well! When in doubt, fresh install.


That is strange. Glad you got it working.


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## Necrodox

After uninstalling Solidworks I noticed that the folder was still present within the registry, I removed this folder manual and then installed the program. Maybe some can get away with simply deleting this folder with a current installation and have Solidworks repopulate these entries.

Hope it helps someone out there, cheers!


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## Idyllic

*Can't Get This Working With GeForce GTX 1070 Ti*

Has anyone had any luck getting this to work on the GTX 1070 Ti?

I copied out the name of the card under "Current", which is "GeForce GTX 1070 Ti/PCIe/SSE2". then created a new key in the NV40 and even tried in the "Other" folder per a user from another forum's suggestion and have tried all kinds of different "Value data" numbers. I believe the correct number for the 1070 Ti is 31408 because it has Pascal architecture and that's the same as cards such as the P6000, so I just used that number. No matter what variants of this I try I still can't get it to work.

I don't believe it matters but just in case, I am using SolidWorks 2011 x64 Edition with SP3 on Windows 10.

Any help is greatly appreciated!


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## Crazy9000

Idyllic said:


> Has anyone had any luck getting this to work on the GTX 1070 Ti?
> 
> I copied out the name of the card under "Current", which is "GeForce GTX 1070 Ti/PCIe/SSE2". then created a new key in the NV40 and even tried in the "Other" folder per a user from another forum's suggestion and have tried all kinds of different "Value data" numbers. I believe the correct number for the 1070 Ti is 31408 because it has Pascal architecture and that's the same as cards such as the P6000, so I just used that number. No matter what variants of this I try I still can't get it to work.
> 
> I don't believe it matters but just in case, I am using SolidWorks 2011 x64 Edition with SP3 on Windows 10.
> 
> Any help is greatly appreciated!


The 1070Ti uses the GP104 chip like the plain 1080, so it *should* use the same workarounds of 30008. Can you take a screenshot of your registry key to make sure it's done correctly? I don't think any sensitive info is shown there, just the registry stuff that Solidworks puts on every computer. Registry stuff is pretty picky, it has to be "Workarounds" not "Workaround" or "workarounds", etc.


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## Enginnerd

*Radeon RX Vega M GL Graphics*

Thanks crazy9000, the steps worked for my dell xps 2 in 1 with the Radeon RX Vega M GL Graphics. Used Rv 420 with code 30008.


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## CrazyCPH

*Macbook Pro Radeon 560 pro*

Hi, thanks for the great tutorial.

Anyone got this working with a Radeon 560 pro??


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## JR Thort

*AMD READON RX 570*

I have many problems with this GPU "AMD READON RX 570" dont work any code


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## Phongvo.engr

I have many problems with this Nvidia 1650ti dont work enable review solidworks 2021. pls help me.


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## Caffinator

Phongvo.engr said:


> I have many problems with this Nvidia 1650ti dont work enable review solidworks 2021. pls help me.


yes hello

RIP you card, not powerful... cry...

but...

i can help 

pls put










yes see, the key is GeForce, not use the GL2SHADERS key yet. put 0x04000000

but now, pls continue the steps in tutorial but not use the name...

put only GeForce in GL2SHADERS










put 0x00032408

now, the deed is done

the luster...,,, exquisite

oh wow, the shiny parts











regarts


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## RClare

I am using a RTX 3070 dual from Asus and I have had no luck so far. My card uses the Ampere architecture, the same one as the A6000. But it doesn't seem to work


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## RepresenativeHawk45

RClare said:


> I am using a RTX 3070 dual from Asus and I have had no luck so far. My card uses the Ampere architecture, the same one as the A6000. But it doesn't seem to work


Follow The Post Above Yours, I just did it with success including enabling performance pipeline on an rtx 3070 equipped laptop


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## RClare

Thanks it now works well.


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## Caffinator

RClare said:


> Thanks it now works well.


regarts


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## samcbr1000r

Has anyone had any luck getting this to work on the RTX 3050 Ti?


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## nikunjmordiya414

Hey this works and turn on realview graphic.

But, it not showing decals or any decals images.

i have 3060ti graphic card. i don't know how to turn on and show decals.

anyone can help me 

Thanks
Regards


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## simonsocm

Caffinator said:


> 1650 ti instructions


 Thanks! This worked for a 1660 Ti as well


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