Graphical Glitches in the User Interface on Gaming Computers

Problem Description

Some users running COMSOL Multiphysics on gaming computers have started experiencing graphical glitches in the user interface. It looks like rows are replaced by magnified parts of themselves. The glitches may also appear in the Ribbon.

In some cases, the Graphics window also behaves strangely, with random zoom-ins.

Solution

This issue appears to originate from hardware acceleration in WPF, the graphical framework of .NET used for rendering the user interface in COMSOL Multiphysics.

Workaround

A workaround to this issue is to turn off the hardware acceleration in WPF. This only affects the rendering of the user interface; the Graphics window will still utilize hardware rendering.

1. Make sure that you have at least Update 1 for COMSOL Multiphysics 5.6 (5.6.0.341). If you have not yet updated your installation, you can initiate the update by going to File > Help, and select Check for product updates in COMSOL Multiphysics.

2. After installing the update, you need to launch COMSOL Multiphysics with the option -disablehwacceleration. You can accomplish this by editing the COMSOL Multiphysics 5.6 icon on your desktop in the following way:

• Right-click the icon and select Properties.
• On the Shortcut tab, add a space and then paste -disablehwacceleration to the Target field.
• If you have installed COMSOL Multiphysics in the default installation directory, the full text field should look like: "C:\Program Files\COMSOL\COMSOL56\Multiphysics\bin\win64\comsol.exe" -disablehwacceleration

Note that this option will only be active if you start COMSOL Multiphysics with the modified icon. It will not be used if you start COMSOL Multiphysics by double-clicking on a model .mph file.

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