QCAD.org Forum

I used QCAD trial version and it worked fine. After I purchased commercial QCADCAM I have missing control elements - see attached pictures.

Why?

WinXP SP3 32 bit
trial not deinstalled just folder renamed
pro installed firt time throug zip unpack
reinstalled (without remove) once again through msi

Please try to install the zip archive.
Create a new/empty subdirectory like:
C:\Program Files\qcad-3.21.3-pro-win64
Download and unzip the installation zip into this folder
create a shortcut to the qcad.exe to launch qcad.

Note: If it makes sense to you you can keep multiple qcad version on your system but you can't run them at the same time. They will also share the qcad3.ini which contains your qcad settings.
Never mix qcad version in the same directory - that could lead to trouble ...

Note that the trial version is for QCAD Professional, the installed Pro version is for QCAD/CAM.

One of the differences is that QCAD/CAM comes with a 3D simulation widget that uses OpenGL and that's where these display problems come from.

There are different approaches to fix this issue:

1. Check / adjust your Windows display settings (color depth).

Right-click on your desktop and choose "Preferences" and then click the "Settings" tab. Set "Color Quality" to 32bit or 16bit (you might have to try both settings).

2. If the color depth does not fix the problem, you can disable the OpenGL plugin altogether:

Delete the file "plugins\qcadgles3d.dll" of your QCAD/CAM installation or alternatively, rename it to "plugins\qcadgles3d.dll_". This will definitely fix the display problem, but you won't have the 3D simulation widget.

3. Update to Windows 7, 8 or 10 which does not have these problems.

Hello Andrew
First I fully removed both Trial and purchased versions then reinstalled paid from MSI and:
> 1. 16bit didn't work - app window was fully black
> 2. plugin disable works fine HOWEVER app yelds now to be TRIAL version (WHY???) so I do not know if it really helped or it's just a trial
> 3. planned soon but not yet done

Why my prog is trial again? What did I wrong?

If the application runs in trial mode that would indicate that you have installed the trial package from our public web site. Please download, install and run the package from your personal download page instead. See also:
https://qcad.org/en/accessing-downloads-updates

If the application runs in trial mode that would indicate that you have installed the trial package from our public web site.

nope - I did reinstall from my pay-files. Just to be sure I downloaded one again and it is 1:1 with the previous.
BUT...
I've found the reason...
instead of renaming qcadgles3d.dll to qcadgles3d.dll_ I've put underscore in front _qcadgles3d.dll. This made soft crazy and made it "trial".

Now it works as it should...

Well not quite because w/o 3D but I do not use it yet anyway and I hope before i use it I'll be W10 already.

Many thanks for help...