The latest versions of the most common desktop browsers have built-in WebGL. To test whether your browser has WebGL enabled, open get.webgl.org. To troubleshoot WebGL-related issues, visit WebGL troubleshooting. Make sure you keep your browser up to date as WebGL is an evolving technology and each browser version brings improvements that CityEngine Web Viewer uses for optimal performance.

CityEngine Web Viewer requires optimal browser functionality to perform properly. You will see messages that state there is a problem loading CityEngine Web Viewer in the following situations:

Your browser isn't using hardware acceleration for rendering

When CityEngine Web Viewer doesn't detect hardware acceleration in your browser you get an error. Common reasons the hardware acceleration isn't enabled can be that your browser settings aren't configured properly or the browser has blocked your graphics card .Each browser has its own configuration options, and the hardware acceleration may be disabled. To enable hardware acceleration for rendering in your browser, see below.

For Chrome, do the following:

1. In the browser menu, go to Settings > Advanced > System .
2. Click the Use hardware acceleration when available toggle key.
3. Click the Relaunch to restart your browser.

For Firefox, do the following:

1. In the browser menu, go to Menu > Options > System.
2. Click General.
3. Under Performance, check the Use recommended performance settings checkbox.
4. Restart your browser.

For Microsoft Edge, do the following:

1. In the browser menu, go to Settings > System.
2. Click the Use hardware acceleration when available toggle key.
3. Click Restart to restart your browser.

Your browser has blocked your graphics card

Some browsers determine that a specific graphics card doesn't meet the requirements of the browser and block the graphics card. In this case, you still have the option to bypass the browser's decision to block your graphics card. Although this is not always recommended, it may resolve the issue in CityEngine Web Viewer.

For Chrome, do the following:

1. Type chrome://flags in the address bar.
2. Click Enable under Override software rendering list.
3. Restart your browser.

For Firefox do the following:

1. Type about:config in the address bar.
2. Type webgl.force-enabled in the search bar.
3. Set the value to true.
4. Restart your browser.

Make sure that your computer hardware has a graphics card that supports WebGL and that your graphics drivers are up-to-date. To get more detailed information about WebGL requirements, visit WebGL Troubleshooting.

1. Ensure WebGL is enabled through your browser settings.
2. Ensure that your browser and hardware meet the CityEngine Web Viewer requirements.

Due to the large file size of CityEngine Web Scenes, and depending on your Internet connection, it can take up to several minutes for the scene to load in CityEngine Web Viewer.

WebGL uses your system’s graphics card; therefore, the performance of CityEngine Web Viewer directly depends on the power of your graphics card. Larger Web Scenes with more complex content require more system resources. On less powerful systems, this can lead to slow interactivity.

Below are some recommendations for improving the performance:

• Turn off direct and diffuse shadows in the Settings pane.
• Open only one CityEngine Web Viewer at a time. Close other browser tabs or windows that are running CityEngine Web Viewer or other WebGL content.
• Close other 3D applications that are using the graphics hardware, for example, ArcScene.
• Make sure your video drivers are up-to-date.
• A Web Scene that requires more memory than your graphics card's video memory can result in a significant drop in performance and cause slow interactions. Try opening a more lightweight Web Scene or consider upgrading your graphics card.

Some systems can automatically switch between integrated graphics and dedicated graphics cards to render 3D graphics. CityEngine Web Viewer works best with a dedicated graphics card; therefore, in your graphics card driver settings, make sure the per-application settings for your web browser are set to the dedicated graphics card.