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Autocad is better than civil/Map at opening files

16 REPLIES 16
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Message 1 of 17
Mpendlebury
673 Views, 16 Replies

Autocad is better than civil/Map at opening files

I have a 400mb File that just has contours made up from poly lines with lots and lots of points. 


If i open it up with civil3D or Map3d 2014 it just locks up and nothing happnes. I can see all the contours have displayed but it locks up, still saying opening drawing.


If i open it up in autocad it opens in about 20-30 seconds and behaves normally!

 

I tired diffrent profiles thinking it might be some setting i tinkered with but it makes no differnce. I did manage to open them in civil3D using the planning and anaylis tab by attaching the drawing and running a query insert them into a drawing that just dosent seem right to me though.

 

 

 

 

 

16 REPLIES 16
Message 2 of 17
Neilw_05
in reply to: Mpendlebury

Civil 3D and Map utilize more resources than plain Autocad so if you are running in a 32 bit OS you may be running out of resources. At least 8GB of RAM in a 64bit OS is recommended.

 

If there are Civil 3D objects in the drawing, then those objects could also cause your machine to use more resources when you open it in C3D vs. plain Autocad. The reason being those objects are static when opened in plain Autocad but they become dynamic when opened in C3D. There will always be differences in performance between C3D and plain Autocad, especially when the files are large or when you have limited hardware resources.

Neil Wilson (a.k.a. neilw)
AEC Collection/C3D 2024, LDT 2004, Power Civil v8i SS1
WIN 10 64 PRO

http://www.sec-landmgt.com
Message 3 of 17
Neilw_05
in reply to: Neilw_05

I just now noticed you were running Map 2014 so I assume you are running C3D 2014 as well. That eliminates the 32 bit OS question.

 

It is a good practice to post your system specs as it helps with troubleshooting. Note how many users add their specs to their credentials when posting (see mine below).

Neil Wilson (a.k.a. neilw)
AEC Collection/C3D 2024, LDT 2004, Power Civil v8i SS1
WIN 10 64 PRO

http://www.sec-landmgt.com
Message 4 of 17
Mpendlebury
in reply to: Neilw_05

Dont think its a resource issue i  have pretty beffy system, this is all on the local drive to.

 

Intel Xeon 3.07Ghz

24GB Ram Samsung

SSD 238 GB

Quadro 4000

Windows 7 Enterprise x64

Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D 2014 – Service Pack 1

 

the drawing only contains linework and no civil objects,  i found it surpising how well autocad opened it, i thought it would take alot longer, but that civil dosent open but looks up seems a bit wrong.

 

 

 

Message 5 of 17
Neilw_05
in reply to: Neilw_05

So getting back to the problem, since you are able to open the file in Autocad but not Map or C3D, there may be a problem with one of the custom ARX objects in the drawing. That problem would only show up when loading the file into an environment that supports those objects.

 

A few things to try"

 

1) Open the file with the recover command.

2) Open the file in ACAD, SaveAs to a new file and then try opening it in C3D. Just writing to a new file sometimes clears up problems.

3) Make a copy of the file, open in ACAD and start removing C3D objects in batches and saving, then open in C3D. If it doesn't open, then repeat, removing more objects until you get it to open. Make note of what obejcts were removed (perhaps by selecting them from specific areas of the dwg) so you can narrow down the object(s) that are causing the problem.

 

Neil Wilson (a.k.a. neilw)
AEC Collection/C3D 2024, LDT 2004, Power Civil v8i SS1
WIN 10 64 PRO

http://www.sec-landmgt.com
Message 6 of 17
Neilw_05
in reply to: Mpendlebury

So no civil objects.

 

Try purging your Temp files.

Neil Wilson (a.k.a. neilw)
AEC Collection/C3D 2024, LDT 2004, Power Civil v8i SS1
WIN 10 64 PRO

http://www.sec-landmgt.com
Message 7 of 17
Neilw_05
in reply to: Mpendlebury

Are you sure there are no C3D objects? If you run QSELECT with the filter set to Entire Drawing and Multiple, what objects come up in the list of objects found?

Neil Wilson (a.k.a. neilw)
AEC Collection/C3D 2024, LDT 2004, Power Civil v8i SS1
WIN 10 64 PRO

http://www.sec-landmgt.com
Message 8 of 17
drazen-ars
in reply to: Neilw_05

I have the similar experience with AutoCAD and C3D. No C3D objects at all. In some cases AutoCAD is significantly faster than C3D. Even I do not have pure AutoCAD installed, but just AutoCAD profile made from C3D installation.

Message 9 of 17
AllenJessup
in reply to: Mpendlebury


Mpendlebury wrote:

 

the drawing only contains linework and no civil objects,  i found it surpising how well autocad opened it, i thought it would take alot longer, but that civil dosent open but looks up seems a bit wrong.

 


I don't think it's a question of opening the drawing. Rather it's the fact that when you open the drawing in Civil 3D you also have to load all the overhead of the program. If you open your Text Window and notice everything that is loaded with Civil and/or map. That may explain the difference.
.

I've attached a text file with what loads in Civil 3D that I don't believe loads in vanilla AutoCAD,

 

Allen



Allen Jessup
Engineering Specialist / CAD Manager

Message 10 of 17
dgorsman
in reply to: Neilw_05

If the drawing is opened in Civil3D, then it has Civil3D objects.  It may not have Civil3D entities - objects can exist as data-only.  Thats how other programs such as vanilla AutoCAD know to load the Civil3D object enabler even if there are no Civil3D entities in the drawing.

----------------------------------
If you are going to fly by the seat of your pants, expect friction burns.
"I don't know" is the beginning of knowledge, not the end.


Message 11 of 17
Neilw_05
in reply to: dgorsman

If there are C3D objects in the file they will show up in plain Autocad when you run QSELECT. That is how you can check.

Neil Wilson (a.k.a. neilw)
AEC Collection/C3D 2024, LDT 2004, Power Civil v8i SS1
WIN 10 64 PRO

http://www.sec-landmgt.com
Message 12 of 17
Karen_Dowling
in reply to: Neilw_05

Hi,

Couple question, to confirm, are you using the Civil 3D As AutoCAD program that installs with Civil and Map or are you using an actual separately installed AutoCAD?   

 

Also does the application allow you send in a CER or is the program locking up - or crashing to desktop without any option for sending a report?

 

Thanks

Karen Dowling, Autodesk, Inc


Karen Dowling
Sr. Quality Analyst
Autodesk, Inc
Message 13 of 17
Mpendlebury
in reply to: Karen_Dowling

I was using Autocad 2014 not Civil3D as Autocad.  

 

The application locks up, and shows 1 cpu running at 100% , the contours are displayed on the screen, in the bottom left where the loading bar is it says opening drawing, but it just remains frozen, so it doesnt generate an error report. i have left it for 20 - 30 mins without sucsess.

 

 

 

 

Message 14 of 17
MikeEvansUK
in reply to: Mpendlebury

As Allen has stated, in the background the Civil3d application will load all of the civil arx & dll files & resources not only that it will also load all of the map dll files & resources and any other 3rd party applications you have installed.

 

Also if your file is not created from a civil3d template it will create all the default settings and styles required for a basic civil 3d model template as you open it and generate & save all the place holders & containers in the drawing data base for all the civi3d & map elements that store the information. So under the hood you can see you have a lot going on if the file is not a civil3d template.

 

I suggest you open civi3d and start a new drawing from a civil3d template then insert the file into that.

 

NB> You can also disable the map application using a vb module, this was around for some previous versions but I haven't seen it yet for 2014. There again I did not see a dramatic performance difference when I used it.

 

Edited: Pls see the attached log file. If you turn on the AEC Diagnostic reports you can see a lot going on behind closed doors. I suspect not all.

Mike Evans

Civil3D 2022 English
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3820 CPU @ 3.60GHz (8 CPUs), ~4.0GHz With 32768MB RAM, AMD FirePro V4900, Dedicated Memory: 984 MB, Shared Memory: 814 MB

Message 15 of 17
Karen_Dowling
in reply to: Neilw_05

HI MPendelbury,

Woudl you be able to send me the file you are seeing this behavior with?

 

My direct contact is karen.dowling@autodesk.com.  We can sort through large file transfer as needed ...

 

Thanks

Karen


Karen Dowling
Sr. Quality Analyst
Autodesk, Inc
Message 16 of 17
AllenJessup
in reply to: Mpendlebury


@Mpendlebury wrote:

I was using Autocad 2014 not Civil3D as Autocad.  

 


Update. If that's the version of AutoCAD 2014 that ships with Infrastructure Design Suite then the Civil 3D Object Enabler will be installed in core AutoCAD. This will make the drawing behave as if it had been opened in Civil 3D. The only way to stop this behavior is to set DEMANDLOAD to 0. That will prevent the OE from loading in any new drawings but any existing drawings will still have C3D elements in it.

 

I just worked this out with Autodesk Support because I couldn't use Partial Load in the core AutoCAD program.

 

Allen



Allen Jessup
Engineering Specialist / CAD Manager

Message 17 of 17
Joe-Bouza
in reply to: Mpendlebury

I'll throw a dart at this: Do you have any layer filters? If the answer is yes, try a copy of the file delete all the layer filters and then try in c3d or map. Just a hunch

Thank you

Joseph D. Bouza, P.E. (one of 'THOSE' People)

HP Z210 Workstation
Intel Xeon CPU E31240 @ 3.30 Hz
12 GB Ram


Note: Its all Resistentialism, so keep calm and carry on

64 Bit Win10 OS

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