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Can I use NI-IMAQ 3.8 with CVI 8.0?

We run CVI 8.0, we can't use the 8.1 CVI RTE becuase NI re-wrote the serial library and it breaks our (probably poorly implemented) serial port.
 
We have a new OCIe-1427 camera link framegrabber, it came with NI Vision 8.5 (NI-IMAQ 3.8) which insists on installing CVI RTE 8.1 which we can't use.
 
How can I use our PCIe 1427 with NI-IMAQ on CVI 8.0 without upgrading the RTE?
 
Thanks, we are mildly desperate.
 
Menchar
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Hi Menchar.

Thank you for posting on the National Instruments discussions forums.

Firstly, we make every effort to ensure that our CVI Run-Time Engines are fully backwards compatible.  If the newer version of the run-time is causing your application to stop running properly, I would recommend that you make every effort to determine why this is occurring and fix it.  Any work around we find that will allow you to continue using version 8.0 of the run-time engine would be ignoring the underlying issue.

That being said, the CVI Run-Time Engine only consists of a few files which are installed in the System32 directory of the Windows installation.  One thing you could try is to copy the 8.0.1 versions of these files to a new location, then go ahead and install the Vision Acquisition Software 8.5 with the CVI Run-Time Engine 8.1.  Once this is complete, manually replace the version 8.1 files in the System32 folder.  Here is a list of the folders and files you would need to copy and replace:

C:\Windows\System32\cvirte (directory)
C:\Windows\System32\cvirt.dll
C:\Windows\System32\cvirte.dll

After you do this, the Windows registry will still have your CVI Run-Time Engine listed as version 8.1, but it will actually be the version 8.0 that is being used.

I tested this on my machine and found that I was still able to run the shipping examples on CVI 8.0 fine.  However, there is no guarantee that this will resolve the issue with your application or that it will not cause any unexpected behavior on your machine.  Again, it would be a better solution to get your application working with the CVI version 8.1 Run-Time Engine.  Thanks.


Rishee B.
Applications Engineer
National Instruments


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Thanks for the response.

I generally don't like copying dll's around like that, it's easy to get things crossed up or miss a dependency, though I know it would "work" but mis-report the version.

I believe that there are several more NI DLL's that can be involved, depending upon what's being used, though these may not be the RTE strictly speaking.

We are trying to work our way out from under the faulty FPGA design that's preventing us from using CVI 8.1 and up.

Menchar

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Hi Menchar,

I understand your trepidation about editing the DLL's.

The only other suggestion I can give you is that you may be able to install an older version of the Vision Acquisition Software.  I have installed versions 8.0 and 8.2.0 of the software on a test machine, and neither of them appears to install CVI Run-Time 8.1.  Older versions of the Vision Acquisition Software are available on our website here:

http://joule.ni.com/nidu/cds/fn/p/sn/n23:13.79.7820/lang/en


Regards,

Rishee B.
Applications Engineer
National Instruments
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Somebody else at NI has said that PCIe-1427 needs the IMAQ 3.8 version, it's not supported on the earlier versions that distributed correspondingly earlier versions of the RTE.  And 3.8 distributes the 8.1 RTE.

BUT they also said you could remove the 8.1 rte and it would not remove the IMAQ SW (but it does remove CVI !) and then re-install just the 8.0 rte.  I'd have to re-install CVI 8.0 then too.

Thanks for your help.

Menchar

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Hi Menchar,

I had not considered that as an option because on my machine, when I tried to uninstall the CVI Run-Time 8.1, it forced me to uninstall many dependencies including LabVIEW and many different drivers.  If uninstalling CVI Run-Time 8.1 on your machine only forces you to uninstall CVI 8.0 and not the NI-IMAQ drivers, then this certainly seems like a good option and a much safer one than replacing the DLL's.

I would go ahead and try uninstalling the CVI Run-Time 8.1, which will also uninstall CVI 8.0.  Then go ahead and reinstall CVI 8.0, which will also install CVI Run-Time 8.0 and allow you to continue using your application.  If this does not cause any problems with the CVI  functionality of the IMAQ drivers, then it should resolve the issue.  Please let me know if that works.  Thanks.


Rishee B.
Applications Engineer
National Instruments
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