Community
Civil 3D Forum
Welcome to Autodesk’s Civil 3D Forums. Share your knowledge, ask questions, and explore popular AutoCAD Civil 3D topics.
cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Slowdown when xref's contain Civil 3D objects in 2012

19 REPLIES 19
SOLVED
Reply
Message 1 of 20
enderak
2158 Views, 19 Replies

Slowdown when xref's contain Civil 3D objects in 2012

I am having a problem with C3D 2012 where if there are x-refs attached that contain Civil 3D objects (alignments, corridors, surfaces - doesn't seem to matter what) the cursor freezes for 1-2 seconds every time I zoom or pan, and some of my users also have the freeze when doing commands, even as simple as "line".

 

It doesn't matter if the x-ref is unloaded or if the objects are displayed on the screen or not, it still slows down. But, as soon as I completely detach the x-ref it goes back to normal. X-refs without Civil 3D objects have no problems, even huge 150MB+ x-refs. C3D objects in the actual drawing do not seem to cause a slowdown, only when they are x-refed.

 

The problem does not happen at all in C3D 2011.

 

I've tried all the usual fixes that are suggested on the discussion board for similar problems - updated graphics drivers, hardware acceleration on/off, disabled Logitech SetPoint, turned off tooltips, rollover tips, snaps, etc. all with no improvement.

 

Most of the computers are fairly new, my workstation is Vista 64-bit, i7-965 CPU, 12 GB RAM, good video card, etc. so it should be able to handle it just fine. I am also having the same issue with XP 32-bit and Windows 7 64-bit workstations, so it seems to be a universal problem.

 

Any ideas/suggestions?

Tags (1)
19 REPLIES 19
Message 2 of 20
wfberry
in reply to: enderak

I don't think you mentioned whether you opened each xref and saved it to the 2012 version.

 

Bill

 

Message 3 of 20
KirkNoonan
in reply to: enderak

Have you put 2012 into production already? You definitely get kudos from me for your bravery.

Message 4 of 20
rhdins
in reply to: KirkNoonan

I have a similar problem with 2010 and 2011.  If I have the properties window open I get the 1-2 second delay when working with C3D objects.  Maybe they have the properties window open when they are working and that is causing it?  Probably not, but just wanted to throw out some ideas.  I get a similar slowdown if I have the layer manager open and switch views, or drawings.  Try closing other windows or palettes and see if that makes a difference.

Message 5 of 20
enderak
in reply to: enderak

Thanks for the tips everyone.

 

Yes, all drawings have been opened and saved in 2012. (by the same token, when comparing to 2011, all drawings tested with 2011 were from before they were saved in 2012 so they aren't using the Proxy entities)

 

In fact, the problem even occurs if I create a brand new drawing in 2012, create a few alignments, and save. Then create a 2nd brand new drawing and x-ref in the first.

 

It also occurs whether the drawings are on my hard drive or on the server, so it's not a problem with network latency. (not using Vault, just a regular file server)

 

I have tried closing all the various windows - properties, toolspace, layer properties, x-refs, etc. with no difference.

Message 6 of 20
SethHall
in reply to: enderak

Hi justind-

 

I just tested this on my machine but opening a new drawing from the stock NCS template, and xrefing in  the pipe networks-3B.dwg tutorial drawing (contains profile view, alignment, surface, pipe network). I was able to zoom and pan without issue. Have you checked your graphics card to ensure it is running the latest driver?


Seth Hall
Product Owner
Model Builder
Message 7 of 20
enderak
in reply to: SethHall

Seth,

 

Yes I am running the latest driver, I just updated it prior to posting this topic last week.

 

We are using a custom template, but I just tried it with the standard Imperial NCS template and had the same issue.

 

I have found that there is a big difference between different drawings - some may only delay for about 1/2 second, while others are over 3 seconds. May not sound like much, but when you have to wait for 3 seconds every time you zoom, pan, or do a move command it adds up.

 

I've found auditing the drawings can help speed things up considerably, but does not solve completely.

 

On a side note, 2012 seems to introduce errors into drawings like crazy. For instance I audited a drawing, had 0 errors then purged styles and immediately audited again and had 12 errors.

Message 8 of 20
stacy.dunn
in reply to: enderak

We have found this behavior in 2009 also.  For use it seems to be related to a large number of points in a drawing (2000+).  To increase performance I have had to create dummy drawings for xrefs (points exploded to blocks, etc).

Stacy Dunn
Message 9 of 20
SethHall
in reply to: enderak

In regards to your comment about "2012 seems to introduce errors into drawings like crazy". This may not be the fact that 2012 is introducing errors, it may be due to the fact that every year the AUDIT command gets a little bit more robust and can uncover errors that previous version may not have caught.

 

What happens if you run the AUDIT command in succession and skip the purge styles step? Does it still uncover new errors?


Seth Hall
Product Owner
Model Builder
Message 10 of 20
enderak
in reply to: enderak

stacy, I've seen that too (but in LDT, not C3D) and had had to go through similar workarounds as you, but this problem occurs even with x-refs that don't have any points at all.

 

Seth, no it will typically say 0 errors found on the second audit. I just tested another drawing, did an audit and found 0 errors. Did purge styles and got rid of 35 unused styles, then did audit again and found 4 errors. (I also tried importing styles the same way & after importing 100 or so styles, I ended up with 8 errors when auditing)

 

This might be getting too far off on a tangent, but I've also seen at least one instance of purging styles removing a style that was in use. In my case it was a Shape Style that was used in the Material Area Fill of a Code Set Style, which caused some hatching in my corridor to disappear. (And this error is repeatable)

 

Message 11 of 20
hgohel
in reply to: enderak

We have logged Civil 3D defect 1396998 for the slow performance with XREFs, and are actively investigating this.  Thank you all for your reports.

Himanshu Gohel
Autodesk, Inc.
Message 12 of 20
m.ndegwa
in reply to: hgohel

We are having similar issues with projects that have a large amount of xrefs. What is Autodesk doing to help resolve this issues?

Message 13 of 20
enderak
in reply to: hgohel

I have found that going through all the x-refs and doing an Audit on each one can provide a significant improvement, but even then it is noticably slower than working with the same drawings in 2011.

Message 14 of 20
m.ndegwa
in reply to: enderak

Awesome, I will try that for starters. Thanks

Message 15 of 20
klugb
in reply to: enderak

Justin,

 

I have a similar issue but I found out what's going on for me and wonder if it's the same issue.

 

After some serious testing I found that 2012 (at least for me) is having an issue with unreconciled layers. When I open my production drawing that has 3 other xref's I get the same laggy slow down. It reminds me of when I used to remote to the office using dial-up and running Autocad.

 

Our setup has "layereval" set to 0, so we don't see the unreconciled layers. Open one of your laggy drawings with xref's and set layereval to 1 and then open the layer dialog box and highlight all of the unreconciled layers and RT-click then select "Reconcile Layer", close out of the layer dialog and see if your issue is gone.

 

It works for me, but I would like to see if anyone else has this before I submit to Autodesk.

 

Testing 2012.

 

Bruce Klug, P.E.
AutoCAD Expert Elite Alumni
AutoCAD Civil 3D Certified Professional
Civil 3D 2023.2.1

Win 10 Enterprise, 64-bit
Message 16 of 20
klugb
in reply to: hgohel

Himanshu,

 

Can you give us any updates on this? This is keeping us from moving to 2012.

 

I thought it was linked to the layer reconciling, but after further testing here it is not. The only things that gets rid of the lag/delay is to remove all the xref's, which is not realistic.

 

I did test two other tests

 

1) Disabled Symantec Virus scan (even ended task to make sure)- Did not change issue.

2) Disabled Virus scan, moved all files to my hard drive and disconnected from the network- Did not change issue.

 

Thanks

Bruce

Bruce Klug, P.E.
AutoCAD Expert Elite Alumni
AutoCAD Civil 3D Certified Professional
Civil 3D 2023.2.1

Win 10 Enterprise, 64-bit
Message 17 of 20
hgohel
in reply to: klugb

Hi Bruce,

 

At this time I do not have any updates to post except that we are looking into this defect.  I would like to make sure we have your situation covered; would you please send me an email at himanshu.gohel@autodesk.com

 

Thanks

Himanshu Gohel
Autodesk, Inc.
Message 18 of 20
hgohel
in reply to: enderak

Thank you to everyone for your reports, support requests and patience while we sorted this issue out.  Please see the following links for a resolution:

 

 

Himanshu Gohel
Autodesk, Inc.
Message 19 of 20
enderak
in reply to: hgohel

I applied this hot fix, and at first glance, it seems to work great! I will post again if I run into any issues.

Message 20 of 20
tombaumberger
in reply to: enderak

You too? I have some support requests in about this. I keep getting errors. Once I discovered this I try to audit more than I save. My drawings always have errors. Autodesk tells me they have no problems. I have a big boy computer and the identical files in 2010 were bomb proof and so was our network.

 

I can tell when someone has been working in an xref file and not done an audit. It will take sometimes 20 minutes to save a file that in 2010 took 1 minute. The save time is killing me. So far I'm not real impressed with 2012. I continues to have the power to leap mountains but can't do it for stumbling over the bumps.

Can't find what you're looking for? Ask the community or share your knowledge.

Post to forums  

Rail Community


Autodesk Design & Make Report