ArchiCAD mouse pointer insanely small Windows 10

[Paul King]

Is anyone else finding that on a 4K screen, following the recent Windows 10 Creators update, that the ArchiCAD mouse pointer is now insanely small? (for all ArchiCAD versions)

ArchiCAD is the only application so affected, and while increasing windows UI scaling, and increasing windows mouse pointer size to maximum within Windows Control Panel generallyworks as expected for everything else, the mouse pointer once moved over the ArchiCAD application window) becomes so tiny it is barely visible - and certainly the ArchiCAD dynamic pointer style context feedback is utterly undetectable.

This seems to stem from ArchiCAD's non compliant method of handling the custom mouse pointer DPI scaling rather than anything with the OS - as is demonstrated by nearly ALL other applications that predate the windows update being unaffected. (perhaps a compromise or carry over from the way custom mouse feedback is implemented for the Mac platform?)

Rolling back to or reinstalling an earlier version of Windows 10 are not good options in my case.

What have others done to solve this serious problem?

[Keckelhoff]

dkovacs wrote:
Hello everyone,

We have just released the final version of the first update of ARCHICAD 21. The preview update (4004) had part of the solution for this problem, but the final version (4022) has the full solution, so make sure you have that installed!

In most cases installing the update should solve the issue, but sometimes (like in case of Paul King) this fix won't change a thing. In these cases you will have to manually set the cursor size from the Registry. You can find a full description of this issue and the solution in this Article:
http://helpcenter.graphisoft.com/?p=74887

Good Luck!

Hi Daniel,

I am working on ArchiCAD Solo 20 and have the same issue. Do you expect an update for Solo 20 anytime soon? I have tried to change the scale through the registry key. However, I do not have HDPI cursor scaling in my files.

Thanks,
Katrina

[Daniel Kovacs]

Hey Katrina,

We will release the same fix for ARCHICAD 20 (and 20 Solo as well) in the next update, later this year. The registry key (and the fix) is only available in the updated version.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

[Paul King]

Hi all - I have found what seems to be the issue that prevents the HDPI registry setting workaround from surviving past the first system reboot - and a solution:

If present, the motherboard onboard Intel GPU needs to be **fully disabled** in BIOS (set GPU boot priotity to 'PCIE', NOT 'Auto' or 'CPU'), otherwise windows appears to interrogate this GPU during boot, which impacts the default DPI scale factor windows thinks needs to be applied to non DPI aware applications like ArchiCAD, and also seems to prevent windows from responding to the registry HDPI scale factor setting for ArchiCAD - for reasons unknown.

With the Intel GPU disabled, suddenly the ArchiCAD mouse pointer responds to the HDPI registry setting, and looks as it should.

It may be that if my Intel GPU had been connected to another 4K monitor, that the issue would not have arisen as the default DPI scale factor windows calculates during boot up would then have been correct for 4K resolution, but in my case it had been connected to a lower resolution secondary monitor.

The only reason I have been using the onboard Intel GPU at all, was as a way of offloading some demand on my Nvida GPU - I use 4 Nvidia connected GPUs for GPU rendering in Octane Render - every extra bit helps, and it is nice to be able to read my emails and perform other graphically undemanding tasks on the secondary monitor (with no slowdown) while all 4 Nvidia GPUs are 100% dedicated to the rendering.

Until ArchiCAD becomes DPI aware, it seems I need to sacrifice this functionality and/or throttle some GPU rendering performance on one of my Nvida Cards

Hope this helps someone out there

*** Edit 29/03/18 for some reason, even fully disabling the onboard GPU no longer works for me, and ArchiCAD mouse pointer is again tiny. Possibly a more recent windows update is to blame

[Paul King]

dkovacs wrote:
Hey Katrina,

We will release the same fix for ARCHICAD 20 (and 20 Solo as well) in the next update, later this year. The registry key (and the fix) is only available in the updated version.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Looks like that update for AC20 last year never happened, which means I am pretty much crippled on projects still running under AC20. When will AC20 realistically be patched with a windows 10 Creators update DPI fix now?

[KeesW]

I use Erwin Ledel’s cross hair curser by choice because I’ve found the standard pointer too small. I have a big display (27”) and was always loosing track of it. Try it - you might like it!

[Daniel Kovacs · Accepted solution]

Paul wrote:
Looks like that update for AC20 last year never happened, which means I am pretty much crippled on projects still running under AC20. When will AC20 realistically be patched with a windows 10 Creators update DPI fix now?

Hi,

Yeah, the ARCHICAD 20 7001 update got a little bit delayed (was stuck in preview phase), but last week it was publicly released. You can download it from here!

Regards,

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have problem with a cursor pointing wrong? When it looks like a pen, the target point is in the middle of the pen, not in the end, so exact drawing (lines) is difficult.
7001, Win 10, 4K has caused some problems earlier...

[Daniel Kovacs]

JenniKemppainen wrote:
Does anyone have problem with a cursor pointing wrong? When it looks like a pen, the target point is in the middle of the pen, not in the end, so exact drawing (lines) is difficult.
7001, Win 10, 4K has caused some problems earlier...

Hello JenniKemppainen,

It looks like there is indeed a glitch like this in the 7001 update of ARCHICAD 20. We have already identified the issue, and working on the solution.
This problem only happens to ARCHICAD 20 7001 on Windows with High Resolution displays scaled up (eg. 4K with 150% scale). Other versions are not affected.

It is definitely inconvenient like this, but it is still usable (the target is offset, but precise). If you feel you can't work like this you can roll back to a previous build, or lower the resolution of your screen and set the scaling back to 100%.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

[Daniel Kovacs]

JenniKemppainen wrote:
Does anyone have problem with a cursor pointing wrong? When it looks like a pen, the target point is in the middle of the pen, not in the end, so exact drawing (lines) is difficult.
7001, Win 10, 4K has caused some problems earlier...

Good news! We have fixed the bug, and released a new version of the latest ARCHICAD 20 update, in which we addressed this issue! See the thread below for details:
https://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=58435

[Paul King]

Neither this ArchiCAD update nor the suggested Registry entry change make any difference to mouse pointer size issue for ArchiCAD 21 v5021 under Windows 10 Creators update, with multi monitors.

When can we expect a working fix?