SHX File Issue

[Anonymous]

I need help getting a .SHX file into a drawing. I downloaded the data from a Pennsylvania data sharing website and every time I try to COMPILE/LOAD the .SHX file into a drawing file I get the following error-

"file name.shx is a normal text font file, not a shape file" and my CAD experiences a fatal error and closes.

The .SHX file I am trying to insert are contour lines so I am not sure why CAD is telling me that I have a font file. I get this error message with every file I download from this data source. 

I have tried saving the file to the folder where the font .SHX files are saved and I don't appear to have access to it.  

Can anyone make sense of this? Someone else in my office was able to do this a few years ago and I have those files as reference but for the life of me I cannot figure it out. Any help would be appreciated. 

*using CAD 2009

[john.vellek]

HI @Anonymous,

Can you provide a sample drawing with a few of the contour lines that are using this SHX file?  Do you also have the SHP file?  I am happy to see if I can get this to work. Please also tell me from where you downloded the file so I can take a look there too.

An easy way to test the SHX file is to create a text style in your file and use that as the font assigned. Can you then use it for Dtext or Mtext?

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

[ChicagoLooper]

If you downloaded surface contours then it's a shapefile and not a font file. 

To open or use shapefiles you must do it with Map 3D or Civil 3D, both from Autodesk. You may also use non-Autidesk products such as ArcGIS, QGIS, or Global Mapper. 

Shapefiles consists of four parts, .shp, .dbf, .prj, and .shx, with each part playing a different role: geometric objects, database, geospatial projection, and index. All parts must be in the same Windows folder. A folder can have more than one shapefile but each shapefile must have all four files. If the four files are separated then the program won't be able to find them. 

If you're using plain Autocad and don't have all four parts of the shapefile, then you've successfully faked out the program because it is only looking at the shx and doesn't know what the other 3 parts exists. Even if it did find them, plain Acad won't do, you still need GIS capabilities likre those found in Map or Civil.

In leiu of a GIS capable program, you may try the ArcGIS for Autocad, a plugin from ESRI. Check it out >>HERE<< over here.

[TerryDotson]

The .SHX file I am trying to insert are contour lines ...

When you have a collection of files with a .SHX, .SHP, .DBF extension what you have is an ESRI Shapefile.  Notice that the files of substantial size are .SHP and .DBF, not the index .SHX.  There is a low cost add-on that can enable your stock AutoCAD to import Shapefiles (and other tasks).

[john.vellek]

Hi @Anonymous,

I am checking back to see if my post or others helped you with your problem. Please mark a post or posts as accepted solutions if they resolved the issue or give me a bit more detail on this issue so we can continue to work towards getting this solved.

Please hit the Accept as Solution button if a post or posts solves your issue or answers your question.