3D scene atomic connection lines cracked

[narin]

Hi,

In VNL, the lines showing the atomic bonds seems cracked in whatever I build as shown in the attached figure below. Do I need to install some driver to make the VNL scene seem as expected?

Thanks.

[Petr Khomyakov]

Please describe what is the material structure that you are trying to visualize, and provide the corresponding python script. Also, let us know what operating system (LINUX, Windows and which version) and version of the QuantumATK you are using.

[narin]

1. This happens in any structure, lines that denote bonds seem cracked in the scene.
2. I'm using VNL 2014.3 64-bit on Windows 10 64-bit.
3. My graphics card is AMD Radeon 5570 and its drivers are correctly installed.
4. The graphics ofall games, apps etc. are OK on my PC except the VNL scene.

Thanks.

[Petr Khomyakov]

Unfortunately, the support for the 2014 version has been terminated. It may not be fully compatible with the Windows 10 operating system and/or your hardware.  Please consider upgrading your version of VNL-ATK to a new version of QuantumATK; there have been significant changes in our product since 2014.

We are expecting to release a new version very soon. You may register for an online seminar on the New QuantumATK O-2018.06 (former VNL-ATK) software package to get an overview on the new features, functionalities and performance of the QuantumATK, see https://quantumwise.com/forum/index.php?topic=5752.msg24630#new.

[narin]

You're not helpful at all here. I think you don't know the answer and also taking this as an opportunity for pushing to buy a new version. I don't need new features, as most other users don't (take a look at the recent publications, 95% of them can be simulated even using Version 11.2: https://docs.quantumwise.com/scientificpublications/listofpublications.html) and I don't have a few thousand Euros project budget to buy a new version for getting a few new pseudopotentials...

1. What is the support period for Quantumwise products? Do I need to pay each year in order to get free support on this forum?
2.  " It may not be fully compatible with the Windows 10 operating system and/or your hardware." Sorry but this is a nonsense comment on a technical forum.  I don't expect may not be... sentences. Don't you know the compatibilities of your products. Or does it mean that because I have bought my product 4 years before, I shouldn't expect any helpful answer?
3. I'm using 2014.3 version and this version was released on 21 July 2015: https://quantumwise.com/about-us/quantumwise-news/item/894-update-vnl-atk-2014-3-released.  Windows 10 was released on 29 July 2015. Therefore the OS compatibility argument is weird.
4. I think you shouldn't take questions like this as an opportunity to try to push your customers to upgrade to a new version. When I buy 2018.0 and I experience a problem in 2020, you'll recommend to upgrade to the 2020 version. This is ridiculous.

Quantumwise AS were being a friendly company with core developers like Anders Blom and Kurt Stokbro questions answering even the silliest questions on this forum back on 2009-2010. A lot have changed since then obviously... even when Quantumwise is now a part of Synopsys...

[Petr Khomyakov]

I apologize for this inconvenience. Given that the version is quite old, I gave you a possible (plausible) explanation for this issue, not the answer or any solution to it, and I am deeply sorry for not expressing myself clearly. I assume that this is not uncommon issue of old version of software being not compatible or partly incompatible with a newer version of operating system or hardware. This is why technical support is terminated at some point (for any kind of software). 

It might also be a bug indeed, but unfortunately there is no support for 2014, meaning that developers will not be able to fix it for that version - I apologize for that.  It is totally up to you to use the old one indeed, provided that it is compatible with software and hardware required to run it.

I would like to notice that this forum is not an official support channel. You may send your support request to quantumatk-support@synopsys.com for this technical issue. Please also provide your license information to the support request.

[Anders Blom]

Hi narin,

Petr's response is completely reasonable, if perhaps a bit vague. Unlike many other vendors, we release a new version of ATK/VNL every year with many new features, which means we spend a lot of resources developing the code. At the same time, this means we cannot afford to support older versions, and thus if there are issues, people are encouraged to upgrade to the latest version. This is not so much a matter of being friendly or not, it's rather an economical reality - we reserve the right to limit the amount of support we can offer to customer who are not actively paying the maintenance fee. In fact, we often answer scientific or technical questions without checking if the user has an active maintenance contract, but when the question is related to a specific old version of the code, or indeed is particular to one user (I haven't seen any other user with this problem, so it might only appear with your graphics card/driver combination) then yes, you do in fact have to pay every year to get support. Actually, why would you expect to get it for free in the first place?

Btw, was this an issue also in 2014, or only when using the latest drivers today? If it was a problem in 2014, we could have fixed it then if it was reported, but if it only appears now then as Petr indicates it may be that the old code is not compatible with newer drivers (or hardware) - this happens to a lot of software, and is why one sometimes needs to upgrade.

You might want to try ATK/VNL 2017 using a trial license - the upgrades since 2014 involve way more than just a few new pseudopotentials!

With regards,
Anders Blom