Performance Enhancement Tool

[jmayo-EE]

Anyone see and/or test this?

[AllenJessup]

No. I hadn't seen it. I'm running 2017 SP! and if anything I think opening a file is taking a little longer. I don't use sheetsets so that part doesn't apply.

[Cadguru42]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Anyone see and/or test this?

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That's new to me as well. I'm no longer a CAD manager so I can't just install anything like I used to, but I'm going to pass this along. We're currently working on two major projects that are in 2014 and 2016. This might help speed things up.

[jmayo-EE]

Thanks folks!

[Joe-Bouza]

Best to talk to your Doctor, and make sure your heart can take it.

[tcorey]

Oh my dog, thank you, John!

I have a client who has been struggling with this very issue for weeks and we have been pulling our hair out trying to resolve it. Having read many many many posts complaining of slowness in opening, there were no concrete solutions, but I had read one post (from who, I forget) that mentioned Autodesk knows about this aeccnetwork.dbx issue and is working to resolve it. It appears they have. I am going to pass this on to my client and will post results here.

Where did you hear of this? I have an active support case and Autodesk never mentioned it. Was it released just today?

Tim

[jmayo-EE]

Not really sure where on the web i found it. Think it was released a coupple of weeks ago.

I look foward to your replies.

[tcorey · Accepted solution]

Hello John and all,

Yes! It works! Simply by installing Service Pack 3 on Civil 3D 2016, we have cut drawing load times by at least two-thirds. 

Thank you, Autodesk!

Tim

[Matt.Anderson · Accepted solution]

John - 

Based on the description of the file change - yes - it is something that should be done.

Matt

[jmayo-EE]

Thanks a bunch and kudos to all.

[troma]

http://civil3detcetera.blogspot.ca/2016/08/civil-3d-2014-civil-3d-2017-performace.html

[jmayo-EE]

A big thanks to 'Lou' and all the desker's responsible.

[jmayo-EE]

FYI, If anyone isn't comfortable with the script suppled and you only need to update only a few files in a project or two just use recoverall on the sheet file twice (I think). This will open and resave all xref's in the sheet as well.

...but make sure you are fully updated and all service packs are installed first.

[Jeff_M]

FYI, I have been working with another EE trying to find why 2014 files are bloated and take minutes to open...even an empty file saves at ~1mb and took close to a minute to open. After installing the new dbx file, opening, and saving these files, they reduced in size by 400kb-600kb and now open in 2-6 seconds. What a find! Thanks @jmayo-EE for bringing to our attention!

[rkmcswain]

I've been trying to diagnose slow drawing load times, slow Dref sync times, etc. in 2014 for a while now.

I have not plugged this "fix" in yet, but I'm about to.

Presuming this works, what I'd love to know is "What exactly changed in this new DBX file for 2014?"

As @Jeff_M pointed out, brand new empty (no template) drawings here are 1MB in size. If this "fix" is somehow "cleaning" the  DWG files, getting them back down to say 350K, then what was all the bloat? I've got some pretty good tools and methods for finding drawing bloat and I can't find anything on these 1MB files.

I know exactly when I have on of these "bloated" files, because PURGE and SCALELISTEDIT (and maybe other commands?) take 20-30 seconds to run, while the progress bar indicates some sort of "scan" is happening. Yes, I'm still talking about a blank, empty drawing too.

Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.

[rkmcswain]

Also.........  (presuming someone that knows stumbles across this)  @louisa_holland, your name is on the PDF.....

Why is this not being pushed out via the Autodesk App, or available as a HotFix for 2014 and 2015?

Is this not an official fix, or patch? Can we put this "fix" on production machines?

[jmayo-EE]

I am pretty sure it's in the SP's for 16 and 17. 14 and lower is a manual install. So if your luckier than I and using the current release.... 🙂

If I had to gues what the file is doing I would hope it is optimizing network file access? Perhaps optimizing the files' indexes? But this is just hopes and wishes maybe we will hear forom Louisa soon. 

[rkmcswain]

jmayo wrote:

If I had to gues what the file is doing I would hope it is optimizing network file access? ...... But this is just hopes and wishes maybe we will hear forom Louisa soon. 

No, I don't think it's this ^^. If you read the document, it has to do with *saving* the files.

In other words, just applying this fix doesn't help by itself. You have to open the "infected" DWG file and save it. It's at that point the file size is reduced and it no longer hangs when opened. It also states that if someone without the fix opens the DWG and saves it, the "infection" will return.

So the stock, defective DBX file is writing something to the DWG file database that AutoCAD is choking on during a file open, file save, and God only knows what else.

[AllenJessup]

Since installing 2017 SP1 creating a new drawing from my template seems to take longer. Sometimes I get the barberpole progress bar in the status line. Can take 70 seconds. I thought it might be network speed but it's the same off my SSD. I seem to have stabilized it using QNew and keeping the template on the SSD. But I get variable results.

I thought I might uninstall the SP to test. So I open the readme to see if there are any additional steps to uninstall. I see this:

Due to an issue with the Microsoft^® Windows^® operating system, the uninstall process may take longer than expected. For example, you may wait for several hours before the service pack is uninstalled. It is recommended to have the original installation source files for the uninstall to be successful. If the source files are unavailable, installing the following Microsoft hotfix prior to uninstalling the service pack will prevent the delay:

So I follow the link to the MS Hotfix and see:

Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing the problem described in this article. This hotfix might receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next software update that contains this hotfix.

So should I try uninstalling and possibly waiting or "several hours" or install the hotfix that might not be needed.

I answered that myself. I didn't do either. But I find this a little frustrating. I've been trying to tune up my template and opening it and some OOTB templates on different drives for the past few hours. No resolution on what the problem was but I'll see where things go form here.

[louisa_holland · Accepted solution]

Hi All! I'm so glad you found my performance PDF.

Attached is an updated version with the CORRECT link to the Civil 3D 2017 service pack.

VERY IMPORTANT If you installed Civil 3D 2017 sp1, uninstall it and install sp1.1 instead.