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Xilinx Modelsim XE-III 6.2g no more Systemverilog support?

I upgraded my Modelsim XE-III 6.2c starter edition to Modelsm XE-III 6.2g starter edition. Before isntalling the new software, I uninstalled 6.2c (from Control Panel), and then I deleted the \modelsim_xe_starter directory on my hard-drive.

After the upgrade, I recycled the license.dat file from the old modelsim starter edition. (The license checker says it's valid.) I tried running some Systemverilog testbenches I had... all of them produce the same fatal error. I can compile the code without problem. But when I try to start the simulation (using the 'vsim' command from the Modelsim command-line), I get the following error message:

\modelsiim_xe_starter\win32xeoem/../sv_std is not compiled with XE simulator.

My Systemverilog testbenches have a combination of Verilog-2001 and Systemverilog modules, but I tried a simple testcase with just a single Systemverilog module -- same problem. This was just a simple .sv file with an interface declaration (but no 'advanced' features that require the Questa license.) I also compiled a simple (single-file) VHDL testbench and (single-file) Verilog-2001 testbench. Both compiled and simulated just fine.

i was going to suggest buying a few XE-III (full) licenses, but that was contingent upon, apparently, an undocumented/unofficial support for Systemverilog. Now, I'll probably suggest getting (Mentor) Modelsim-PE.

Anyway, Modelsim XE-III 6.2c starter-edition ran Systemverilog simulations just fine. So did Xilinx remove this feature from XE-III 6.2g? Nowhere in Xilinx's online documentation, does Xilinx claim to support Systemverilog. But I'd like to get a definitive/official answer.

Reply to
Xilinx User
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If this is indeed the case then I believe Mentor has changed their OEM agreement with Xilinx since the difference has always been simulation speed and number of instances.

This might just been an oversight on Xilinx's part?

Do you have the sv_std folder in your installation directory? (I have it on my PE installation).

Hans

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Reply to
HT-Lab

I checked my \modelsim_xe_starter dir, and the sv_std subdir is there. From what I can tell, the 6.2g installer puts the files there, but the simulator refuses to load them if the simulation contains any Systemverilog modules/submodules.

Mentor's free Modelsim PE Student Edition (6.3p1) runs Systemverilog simulations just fine...though I hope there isn't some kind of weird interaction when multiple Modelsims are installed on the same PC!

Reply to
Xilinx User

I think Mentor mistakenly thinks that further restricting their licenses will make customers purchase more expensive licenses because they can't live without Mentor products.

With the upgrade from Modelsim Designer 6.1f to Modelsim 6.2f, you lose the ability to run Designer in PE mode--this without any notification, and without grandfathering in upgrades for existing paying customers at no charge.

A while ago, they similarly restricted USB based key licenses so that you couldn't run multiple copies on a single machine, even if you did have valid licenses and keys.

I'm going to switch to Riviera--Linux versions at reasonable pricing, nearly twice as fast as Modelsim PE, and hungry enough to actually think the customer might need real support.

Terry Brown

Reply to
Terry Brown

Same experience on my machine. Luckily I kept a backup of the old Modelsim XE-III 6.2c. If you still have 6.2c laying around, you can try this 'hack' to XE-III 6.2g:

simple copy over 6.2c's \modelsim_xe_starter\sv_std\* directory to your new 6.2g installation.

So far, 6.2g compiles and simulates simple Systemverilog simulations, but whether it'll crash on sims using more complex Systemverilog syntax, who knows.

Reply to
Alan

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