Calcitriol, Cisplatin, and Gemcitabine Hydrochloride in Treating Patients With Advanced Solid Tumors That Cannot Be Removed by Surgery

Inclusion Criteria: * Patients with a diagnosis of advanced unresectable non-hematological malignancy that has no known standard of care or for which the use of gemcitabine plus cisplatin constitutes a reasonable option * Have an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) Performance Status of 0-1 * White blood cell (WBC) \>= 3.0 x 10\^9/L * Neutrophils \>= 1.5 x 10\^9/L * Platelets \>= 100 x 10\^9/L * Hemoglobin (Hgb) \>= 10 g/dL * Bilirubin =\< institutional upper limit of normal (ULN) * Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) \< 2.5 x institutional ULN unless metastatic to liver in which case AST and ALT should be \< 5 x institutional ULN * Creatinine =\< 1.5 x institutional ULN * Corrected calcium =\< institutional ULN (corrected calcium = (4- Albumin) x 0.8 + calcium) * Patients of child-bearing potential must agree to use acceptable contraceptive methods (e.g., double barrier) during treatment * Patient or legal representative must understand the investigational nature of this study and sign an Independent Ethics Committee/Institutional Review Board approved written informed consent form prior to receiving any study related procedure * No treatment with investigational agents within 4 weeks prior to study drug administration, except patients receiving targeted therapies such as kinase inhibitors with half-lives \< 48 hours may be treated if \> 14 days have elapsed after the last dose and related toxicities have recovered to =\< grade 1 * No chemotherapy within 4 weeks prior to study treatment administration; nitrosoureas and mitomycin C are not allowed within 6 weeks prior to initiation of study treatment * Palliative radiation, including whole brain radiation therapy (WBRT), is allowed prior to enrollment as long as it is completed \> 2 weeks from initiation of study treatment, and provided patient has recovered from treatment toxicities to =\< grade 1 * Patients should be able to take oral medications Exclusion Criteria: * Known hypersensitivity to any of the study drugs involved * Brain metastases are excluded unless treated and shown to be controlled more than 1 month from after craniotomy or more than 2 weeks after gamma knife radiosurgery and not associated with central nervous system (CNS) symptoms * History of clinically significant hypercalcemia * Evidence of nephrectomy * History of (within 24 months prior to enrollment) of kidney, ureter, or bladder stones with clinically significant sequelae (e.g. (painless gross hematuria; pain with or without infection; hydronephrosis, etc); patients with otherwise stable non-occluding kidney stones regardless of stone type incidentally found in computed tomography (CT) scans are eligible; patients with prior history of uric acid stones are eligible regardless of time of onset * Unwillingness to stop calcium supplementation (during the first cycle of treatment) or vitamin D supplementation throughout the study * Thiazide (e.g HCTZ, Hydrochoirthiazide) or digoxin therapy (e.g Lanoxicaps, Lanoxin) * Pregnant or nursing female patients. * Unwilling or unable to follow protocol requirements * Any condition which in the investigator's opinion deems the patient an unsuitable candidate to receive study drug * Received an investigational agent within 4 weeks prior to enrollment, except patients receiving targeted therapies such as kinase inhibitors with half-lives \< 48 hours may be treated if \> 14 days have elapsed after the last dose and related toxicities have recovered to =\< grade 1 * Nut allergy