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Newly Installed 2014 C3D, new CUI nightmares

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Message 1 of 16
bcsurvey
630 Views, 15 Replies

Newly Installed 2014 C3D, new CUI nightmares

I am trying to bring in ribbon tabs that I'd been using with 2012 but am only getting the clouds with question marks.  Why Autodesk keeps changing the options for Ribbon tabs and partial cuis is beyond me, but it's very frustrating.  Here's what I'm doing:

 

I use the Transfer tab in the CUI and have the main cui for each version open on either window (2012 and 2014).  I drag the desired ribbon tabs from the 2012 cui to the 2014 one.  When I examine the support paths for each (C/users/username/AppData/Roaming/enu/Support) they each have their own civil.dll and the .mnr files are the same name and size.  I've searched this forum but can find nothing to resolve my problem other than a few threads where it seemed there was never a resolution.  I suspect it has something to do with 2 different .dlls being accessed by either 2014 or 2012 but with the same name.

 

Thanks!

Civil 3D 2019 (6.1)
Windows 10 Pro (21H2)
(i7-11850H @ 2.50 GHz)
32GB RAM
NVIDIA RTX A2000
15 REPLIES 15
Message 2 of 16
dgorsman
in reply to: bcsurvey

Question: are you trying to migrate your own tabs with your own content, or OOTB Civil3D tabs, or your own tabs with OOTB Civil3D content?

----------------------------------
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 3 of 16
bcsurvey
in reply to: bcsurvey

Specifically, I am trying to move the Map Drafting and Map Data & Analysis ribbon tabs from my 2012 cui to the 2014 cui.  These 2 tabs were part of the 2012 package (2ddrafting workspace).  I did not customize these tabs.  I have them currently in 2014, but there are only about 3 or 4 icons that show (including fly-outs).  The rest are "Cheech and Chonged" (aka Up In Smoke, aka Dazed and Confused).

Civil 3D 2019 (6.1)
Windows 10 Pro (21H2)
(i7-11850H @ 2.50 GHz)
32GB RAM
NVIDIA RTX A2000
Message 4 of 16
bcsurvey
in reply to: bcsurvey

Surely there must be more information somewhere . . . even a Google search only yields posts from various sites from pre-2009, no much in the last 3 or 4 years.  Are these posts/inquiries/gripes being swept under the rug?!  When I see a juggernaut like Sinc confused with regards to why software is behaving strangely, I don't take that lightly.  Now, being that we're talking about significant problems/shortcomings in the process of customizing the UI of a behemoth package such as Civil 3D, I ask again:  WHERE'S THE BEEF?!  Is there any resource out there that delves more into this subject than the plain-Jane Help section and various posts which are specific only to an individual's particular issue?  This is insane . . .

Civil 3D 2019 (6.1)
Windows 10 Pro (21H2)
(i7-11850H @ 2.50 GHz)
32GB RAM
NVIDIA RTX A2000
Message 5 of 16
jmayo-EE
in reply to: bcsurvey

I might try to make a stripped down CUI with only those ribbon tabs, save it to a new name and load it as a partial cui. Then I would modify the workspace to display those tabs. If all the support files are the same it I believe should load correctly.

 

 

John Mayo

EESignature

Message 6 of 16
rkmcswain
in reply to: bcsurvey

Just to throw my 2 cents in (not that anyone asked.....)

 

From C3D 2008 up the ladder each version, I've never had the need to migrate or copy or move or do anything with an older peice of the menu to the newer version. Custom stuff is kept in a separate menu file and loaded as a partial in each version. Nothing to do other than that.

 

Maybe I'm missing the point of the original poster though....

R.K. McSwain     | CADpanacea | on twitter
Message 7 of 16
dgorsman
in reply to: rkmcswain

There's more to the core program than the UI, so just copying OOTB panels from an older version to a newer one won't do much.  So I must be missing something as well.

----------------------------------
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 8 of 16
bcsurvey
in reply to: bcsurvey

Thanks for your all your replies . . . to restate, I'm unable to get the ICONS for some Ribbon Tabs to appear - I get the cloud/question mark instead.

I don't know what packages you all have been using but I've gone from C3D 2010 to '12 and now to '14 and the partial CUI options have been different each time, and there has always been at least a minor hassle with replacing some old cui options with the new versions.  For my current issue, as stated, I was able to get all my '12 commands back WITH ICONS except the Ribbon Tabs "Map Drafting" and "Map Data and Analysis".  Even with these, I can still click on the icon and get the command, but that's a bit rag-tag and I don't want to work like that.  I've sorted through the "new" cui options with '14 and can't find the same functions on any of them. 

 

I did as suggested above and made a new cui with just the desired components.  I then copied/renamed the c3d.dll and c3d.mnr files from the '12 Support directory before putting them in the 2014 Support directory - didn't make any difference.

 

How simple would it have been for Autodesk to just set up a simple directory with small .bmp icons that could be referenced in the Tools/Options support folders?  Whatever losses or shortcomings this approach would introduce would surely be trounced by the increase in user-friendliness and saved time in waiting for replies in a forum or searching the internet for answers (I do appreciate your responses though!).

 

Thanks

 

Civil 3D 2019 (6.1)
Windows 10 Pro (21H2)
(i7-11850H @ 2.50 GHz)
32GB RAM
NVIDIA RTX A2000
Message 9 of 16
rkmcswain
in reply to: bcsurvey

I just trying to understand your workflow. I don't understand this -> "minor hassle when replacing some old cui options with the new versions"

 

When we move from version to version, we don't mess with the stock OOTB menus at all, other than to load our company partial menu (menuload command) on top of it.

 

There is no replacing or file copying or anything else that needs to be done.  Maybe you have a partial menu and you have referenced some stock OOTB commands and icons in there?

 

To your last sentence, that is exactly what we do for our company CUI menu. All the commands (even stock OOTB AutoCAD commands that are duplicated in there) are pointed to an image directory that is defined in OPTIONS. We've never had question marks (or way back in the day, smiley faces) on icons in over a decade.

 

 

R.K. McSwain     | CADpanacea | on twitter
Message 10 of 16
bcsurvey
in reply to: bcsurvey

What I meant by that was that some things that we would do in a previous version were moved to different ribbon tabs in the new version and/or even split out to another workspace.  For the sake of not having to switch workspaces all the time just for one command, I would go to the CUI routine and drag/drop or click the checkbox to get all my desired commands in one workspace.  With the '10 to '12 shift, it wasn't so bad.  This is about the time I began going back and forth between CAD and GIS, which is the focus of what I'm having problems with (commands that I used for this process aren't even found under the commands list in '14 cui, but they still function correctly).

 

The fact that you have a company partial says alot about the differences in our organizations.

 

My comment about the image directory was only to point out that there IS no directory in which one can see image files to reference.  When you set up your reference paths, are they links to locations of .dll, .mnr, and .cuix files or all three?  I'm still trying to get a grasp of how these files work together in the proper functioning of the cui components.  In one post I get the impression that the c3d.dll and c3d.mnr are the driving files, but then the question arises, why are there separate .mnrs for each partial cui?

 

If there is any combination of screenshots I can send that would help in diagnosis, I'd be happy to do it, but I suspect that something like this requires info on methodology and not just file locations. 

Civil 3D 2019 (6.1)
Windows 10 Pro (21H2)
(i7-11850H @ 2.50 GHz)
32GB RAM
NVIDIA RTX A2000
Message 11 of 16
bcsurvey
in reply to: bcsurvey

Says it all . . .

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/AutoCAD-Civil-3D-General/CLOUDS-and-QUESTION-MARKS-C3D-2010/td-p/28756...

Civil 3D 2019 (6.1)
Windows 10 Pro (21H2)
(i7-11850H @ 2.50 GHz)
32GB RAM
NVIDIA RTX A2000
Message 12 of 16
andrewpuller3811
in reply to: bcsurvey


@bcsurvey wrote:

Specifically, I am trying to move the Map Drafting and Map Data & Analysis ribbon tabs from my 2012 cui to the 2014 cui.  These 2 tabs were part of the 2012 package (2ddrafting workspace).  I did not customize these tabs.  I have them currently in 2014, but there are only about 3 or 4 icons that show (including fly-outs).  The rest are "Cheech and Chonged" (aka Up In Smoke, aka Dazed and Confused).


In my install of civil 3d 2014, the Map cuix's are located in the directory C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D 2014\Support, but the corresponding DLL's for the icons are located in C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D 2014.

 

You could try copying the Map icon DLL's from C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D 2014 to C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D 2014\Support (assuming that is where your cuix is stored that the tabs are in - check in the cui editor for the name and location of the map cuix)



If a post provides a fix for your issue, click on "Accept as Solution" to help other users find solutions to problems they might have that are similar to yours.

Andrew Puller
Maitland, NSW, Australia
Windows 10 Enterprise 64bit
Intel core i7 11800 @ 2.30 GHz with 32GB Ram
Civil 3d 2021
Message 13 of 16
bcsurvey
in reply to: andrewpuller3811

Considering that my 2012 installation functions normally, I examined where its .cui and .dll files were located.  All the cui's I'm using for 2012 are located in:  C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\Autodesk\C3D 2012\enu\Support

There are only 2 .dlls in this location, c3d.dll and civil.dll

Additionally, under the support folder and working folder locations (in 2012 version), there are paths in both sections to C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD Civil 3D 2012\Support AND C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\Autodesk\C3D 2012\enu\Support, but nothing to C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD Civil 3D 2012 in either one.

 

Why there are cuis in C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD Civil 3D 2012\support or .dlls in C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD Civil 3D 2012 is a mystery to me - maybe as a backup to the ones under the User path?  At this point (spending over a day trial-and-erroring the problem to find a solution) I have to cut my losses and move on.  Perhaps I'll seek the advice of a local CAD center, but this is getting ridiculous.  I guess I could follow Sinc's manual method and just export the .bmps for each command in 2012, then import to 2014, but I really wanted to stick with the intended framework of the cui file system.  

Civil 3D 2019 (6.1)
Windows 10 Pro (21H2)
(i7-11850H @ 2.50 GHz)
32GB RAM
NVIDIA RTX A2000
Message 14 of 16
dgorsman
in reply to: bcsurvey

The intended framework of the CUIx system is still to use independant icon files.  AutoDesk "cheats" and uses resource-only DLLs, but its their software - they can do what they want on their end.

----------------------------------
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 15 of 16
bcsurvey
in reply to: dgorsman

Is there no way to convert/export these .dlls to show a list of the image files contained within?  Are we back in 1994 or is this 2014?  Perhaps the better question is:  Have we come to the point in the free market (relatively speaking) where an organization can maintain their dominance of the competition in part by sticking it to their own customers (increase in training revenue)?  I've been a cheerleader for C3D in my department for the past 3 years while my coworkers were slogging away on 09 companion, refusing to migrate.  But now that I see how Autodesk is changing things around so much from version to version and that this change occurs YEARLY now, my pom-poms aren't swinging around as much . . .

Civil 3D 2019 (6.1)
Windows 10 Pro (21H2)
(i7-11850H @ 2.50 GHz)
32GB RAM
NVIDIA RTX A2000
Message 16 of 16
bcsurvey
in reply to: bcsurvey

For the sake of closure, after going through several other partial cui's options, I believe I was able to find all the commands that I'd been using in the Map Drafting and Map Data and Analysis ribbon tabs.  I won't be completely sure until I've gone through a few projects to see if there were some tools I can't find. 

 

Sidenote: I heard back from a 3rd party support firm that we're contracted with and after telling him that I'd isolated .dll, .cui, and .mnr files to try and recover icons with no luck and that it almost seemed as if the images were actually stored inside the .dwt (sarcastically), his response was "they may be".

*wow*

 

Anyway, I appreciate all your replies!

Civil 3D 2019 (6.1)
Windows 10 Pro (21H2)
(i7-11850H @ 2.50 GHz)
32GB RAM
NVIDIA RTX A2000

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