paraview-interface-common-failures

name	paraview-interface-common-failures
description	Sub-skill of paraview-interface: Common Failures (+1).
version	1.1.0
category	engineering
type	reference
scripts_exempt	true

Common Failures (+1)

Common Failures

Error	Cause	Fix
ERROR: In vtkOpenFOAMReader	Missing case.foam or wrong path	Create empty .foam file in case root
ERROR: no mesh regions selected	Reader has no regions enabled	Set reader.MeshRegions = ['internalMesh']
Cannot render: display not available	No X display on headless server	Use pvbatch or --force-offscreen-rendering
Segfault in pvbatch	Mesa/GPU driver conflict	Try --mesa flag or update drivers
SIGSEGV in vtkSMParaViewPipelineControllerWithRendering::New()	ParaView 5.11 on Ubuntu 24.04 + NVIDIA 580	Use Snap/conda ParaView install, or upgrade to ParaView >= 5.12. VTK layer (pip) works as fallback for data operations
SaveScreenshot: view size 0x0	ViewSize not set	Set view.ViewSize = [1920, 1080] before save
KeyError: 'U'	Array not loaded by reader	Check reader.CellArrays or reader.PointArrays
Empty output from PlotOverLine	Line doesn't intersect data	Verify Point1/Point2 are within data bounds
paraview.simple not found	Wrong Python interpreter	Use pvpython or pvbatch, not system Python

Diagnostic Script

from paraview.simple import *

def diagnose_paraview_setup():
    """Check ParaView environment and data loading."""
    import paraview
    diag = {"version": paraview.compatibility.GetVersion(), "issues": []}

    # Check rendering
    view = GetActiveViewOrCreate('RenderView')
    if view.ViewSize == [0, 0]:
        diag["issues"].append("ViewSize is 0x0 — set explicitly before rendering")

    # Check GPU rendering
    try:
        from vtkmodules.vtkRenderingOpenGL2 import vtkOpenGLRenderer
        diag["rendering"] = "OpenGL (hardware)"
    except ImportError:
        diag["rendering"] = "Mesa (software)"
        diag["issues"].append("Software rendering — renders will be slow")

    return diag

def diagnose_openfoam_case(case_path):
    """Diagnose OpenFOAM case loading issues."""
    import os
    diag = {"issues": []}

    foam_file = os.path.join(case_path, os.path.basename(case_path) + '.foam')
    if not os.path.exists(foam_file):
        # Try any .foam file
        foam_files = [f for f in os.listdir(case_path) if f.endswith('.foam')]
        if not foam_files:
            diag[].append()
             diag
        foam_file = os.path.join(case_path, foam_files[])

    reader = OpenFOAMReader(FileName=foam_file)
    reader.UpdatePipeline()

      reader.MeshRegions.Available:
        diag[].append()

      reader.CellArrays.Available:
        diag[].append()

    time_steps = reader.TimestepValues
    diag[] = (time_steps)
     (time_steps) == :
        diag[].append()

     diag