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Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
9 years ago

Free (starter) version of ModelSim-Altera can't be lauched

Dear Forum members,

I have encountered a problem with Quartus Prime and ModelSim-Altera. The tool properly analyzes and elaborates my model but refuses to perform an RTL simulation with the following error message:

Error: Error: Can't launch ModelSim-Altera Simulation software -- make sure the software is properly installed and the environment variable LM_LICENSE_FILE or MGLS_LICENSE_FILE points to the correct license file.

Error: Error: NativeLink simulation flow was NOT successful

The NativeLink log file is not very informative:

Info: Start Nativelink Simulation process

Info: NativeLink has detected VHDL design -- VHDL simulation models will be used

========= EDA Simulation Settings =====================

Sim Mode : RTL

Family : cyclonev

Quartus root : /home/*username*/altera_lite/16.0/quartus/linux64/

Quartus sim root : /home/*username*/altera_lite/16.0/quartus/eda/sim_lib

Simulation Tool : modelsim-altera

Simulation Language : vhdl

Version : 93

Simulation Mode : GUI

Sim Output File :

Sim SDF file :

Sim dir : simulation/modelsim

=======================================================

Info: Starting NativeLink simulation with ModelSim-Altera software

Sourced NativeLink script /home/*username*/altera_lite/16.0/quartus/common/tcl/internal/nativelink/modelsim.tcl

Error: Can't launch ModelSim-Altera Simulation software -- make sure the software is properly installed and the environment variable LM_LICENSE_FILE or MGLS_LICENSE_FILE points to the correct license file.

Error: NativeLink simulation flow was NOT successful

================The following additional information is provided to help identify the cause of error while running nativelink scripts=================

Nativelink TCL script failed with errorCode: issued_nl_message

Nativelink TCL script failed with errorInfo: Can't launch ModelSim-Altera Simulation software -- make sure the software is properly installed and the environment variable LM_LICENSE_FILE or MGLS_LICENSE_FILE points to the correct license file.

while executing

"error "$emsg" "" "issued_nl_message""

invoked from within

"if [ catch {exec $vsim_cmd -version} version_str] {

set emsg "Can't launch $tool Simulation software -- make sure the software is properly installed..."

(procedure "launch_sim" line 88)

invoked from within

"launch_sim launch_args_hash"

("eval" body line 1)

invoked from within

"eval launch_sim launch_args_hash"

invoked from within

"if [ info exists ::errorCode ] {

set savedCode $::errorCode

set savedInfo $::errorInfo

error $result $..."

invoked from within

"if [catch {eval launch_sim launch_args_hash} result ] {

set status 1

if [ info exists ::errorCode ] {

set save..."

(procedure "run_sim" line 74)

invoked from within

"run_sim run_sim_args_hash"

invoked from within

"if [ info exists ::errorCode ] {

set savedCode $::errorCode

set savedInfo $::errorInfo

error "$result" $savedInfo ..."

(procedure "run_eda_simulation_tool" line 334)

invoked from within

"run_eda_simulation_tool eda_opts_hash"

I have found the same or similar problems on the Altera forum and at various other locations of the web for various versions of Quartus II. However, those users either didn't receive proper answers or the answers didn't work for me (appending an "/" character at the end of the path in Tools/Options/EDA Tool Options, for example).

I'm using Quartus Prime Version 16.0.0 Build 211 04/27/2016 SJ Lite Edition on Linux Mint LDME, without any license (the free version).

What could I do to make it work?

Thank you for your help in advance,

bela

9 Replies

  • SRieck's avatar
    SRieck
    Icon for New Contributor rankNew Contributor
    7 years ago

    I fixed this bug by running the following. It seems like there are missing 32-bit libaries. (Lubuntu 16.04)

    sudo apt install lib32ncurses5 lib32z1

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    9 years ago

    In your EDA settings, make sure you have Modelsim-Altera selected rather than Modelsim. Also make sure that the path to your project is short "like C:\Altera-proj\MyProject" and that there are no spaces, non ASCII, or special characters anywhere in any directory or file name.

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    9 years ago

    I've got a similar problem, but (luckily) a solution as well. Model analysis and elaboration are OK, as well as waveform editing, which produces a .wvf file. However, if then I try any of the three commands under the Simulation menu, e.g. Run Functional Simulation, then at first I get the error notice:

    Determining the location of the ModelSim executable...

    ModelSim executable not found.

    To specify a ModelSim executable directory, select: Tools -> Options -> EDA Tool Options

    Note: if both ModelSim-Altera and ModelSim executables are available, ModelSim-Altera will be used

    In spite of the quoted note, in the EDA Tool Options table I must then specify the ModelSim executable directory as requested, by filling its entry with a copy of the ModelSim-Altera executable directory entry, that is

    /opt/altera_lite/16.0/modelsim_ase/linuxaloem

    in my installation.

    The boring side of this solution, is that I don't see how to make this setting persistent, that is to say, the fix is to be done at each new run of Quartus Prime Lite (16.0).
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    9 years ago

    In windows that setting is saved with the project, so it would need to be made with each project rather than each time you start Quartus. I don't know if that is true of Linux.

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    9 years ago

    It is not, at least in my Ubuntu 16.04 installation of Quartus Prime Lite. Yet, regardless of the OS environment, I find it somewhat strange that, on the one hand, ModelSim-ASE is the only model simulator installed in the free edition, and indeed this is the one selected in the EDA settings, while, on the other hand, running the simulation requires a directory path for the ModelSim rather than ModelSim-ASE executable. I think this is a sort of inconsistency that ought to be fixed in some future release of Quartus.

  • JFrye7's avatar
    JFrye7
    Icon for New Contributor rankNew Contributor
    5 years ago

    It looks like I am having the same issue on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. I try to point the ModelSim-Altera path to <install-dir>/modelsim_ase/bin, then it is tilling me I need to set LM_LICENSE_FILE. Okay, where is the license file in the install? Isn't this supposed to be free?

    https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/programmable/support/support-resources/download/licensing/lic-q2se_licenses.html

    The free Quartus Prime Lite Edition, legacy Quartus II Web Edition (v8.1 and later), and ModelSim-Altera Starter Edition software do not require a license.

    Tried the regular ModelSim path suggestion above, pointing it to <install-dir>/modelsim_ase/linuxaloem/bin but I get the same error.

    Am I missing something here?

  • Sharafat's avatar
    Sharafat
    Icon for New Contributor rankNew Contributor
    2 years ago

    I am Installing QuartusLiteSetup-20.1.0.711-linux in Ubuntu 20.04.6 LTS. After Installing I faced the same message Can't launch ModelSim-Altera Simulation software -- make sure .

    Luckily this is solved by installing the following package in my lenovo intel machine.

    sudo apt-get install libxft2:i386

    This is a permanent solution for me.

    • sohamc1909's avatar
      sohamc1909
      Icon for New Contributor rankNew Contributor
      2 years ago

      Hi, I cannot find the package libxft2:i386 on my Ubuntu 23 machine. I am running on an Intel i5. What could a possible fix for this?


      Reading package lists... Done
      Building dependency tree... Done
      Reading state information... Done
      E: Unable to locate package libxft2:i386