C3D 2025 - Event Viewer Error "Sheet number could not be validated"

[Cadguru42]

I have a couple of drawings with layouts created from the plan production tools in C3D. We're using ACC and SSM for the Web (not by choice). Since Autodesk has no way to change what drawing/layout is being used in SSM-W by an existing sheet, I replaced the drawings with the same name and layout names. The fields that read the SSM all seem to be working, but the matchline label used by the view frames doesn't seem to be reading the SSM-W properly. I get an error now whenever a drawing with those view frames is used.

The view frames themselves have the proper sheet name shown.

What's going on? How can this be fixed?

[Cadguru42]

Was not able to fix that particular issue. I ended up having to delete my sheet files, delete the view frames, remove the sheets from the SSM-W, then recreate the view frames, recreate the sheet drawings and add them to the SSM-W. 

One thing I've noticed is that the SSM-W will time itself out if you're actively editing it. This causes a drawing that has a matchline label that reads the SSM-W sheet number to no longer work. Once the SSM-W is reopened and a REGEN is done will the next/previous sheet matchline label work properly.

ACC + SSM-W does not work well in a production environment for a C3D project.

[Cadguru42]

It looks like when manually adding layouts to the SSM-W that have viewframes with next/previous matchline labels that C3D cannot read the sheet numbers. This does not fix itself as it did before. It also happens to others working on this same project and they have different versions of C3D and in completely different system environments. 

I've been waiting over 11 days for Autodesk to even address this in a support case and still haven't received a response from Autodesk. Autodesk has not prepared C3D to work well with ACC.

[tcorey]

Have you tried using the legacy sheet set manager with your ACC project? SSMDETECTMODE = 0.

[Cadguru42]

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@tcorey wrote:

Have you tried using the legacy sheet set manager with your ACC project? SSMDETECTMODE = 0.

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Yes, I did try on the suggestion of a reseller since Autodesk has still not responded to my support case created 14 days ago. It didn't help.

Using ACC for a C3D project has been a nightmare for us. We told the client that there are issues, but they forced everyone to use it instead of ProjectWise. Now we're running into constant issues like this with no real support from Autodesk.

[Cadguru42]

Here's an update on what I found out after finally getting Autodesk to respond after 17 days. 

1. The corruption of our sheet set was caused by Autodesk itself when they implemented an update to SSM-W back in May. A fix was implemented last month (August), but any DSTs that were worked on between May and August were corrupted with no fix. Autodesk did not notify anyone that they corrupted users' sheet sets and caused dozens of hours of lost time/money by us trying to troubleshoot what happened. 😠
2. SSM-W is really just a webpage being loaded into an AutoCAD tool pallet. Desktop Connector does not play a role at all when editing a sheet set in SSM-W. It directly edits the DST file on ACC, which is how multiple users are allowed to edit the sheet set at a time.
3. The SSM-W interface is completely controlled by Autodesk directly and is not a part of Civil 3D, or AutoCAD or any other ACAD toolset. It is a known bug that using the SSM-W Open Sheet Set button does not work. This produces a non-Windows file dialog box to select a DST on ACC and will produce an error that it cannot be found.
    
4. C3D has not been updated to work directly with SSM-W. When using the Create Sheets wizard from a view frame group you are prompted to select an existing sheet set or create a new one. When selecting an existing DST on ACC, Desktop Connector is used to edit the local cached version of the DST. This can cause issues if the DST was not locked by the user prior to running this wizard to add sheets. Desktop Connector is also very slow at uploading and updating sheet sets, which is one of the reasons why Autodesk created SSM-W to replace it, but it’s missing functionality from the legacy SSM.
5. When the Create Sheets wizard is used to add sheets to the SSM-W, C3D hard codes the DST, drawing and expected sheet for that view frame. This cannot be edited or changed once done. If the sheet drawing is deleted or layout is changed, or the sheet set is deleted/recreated even with the same name, the view frame becomes unable to read the next/previous sheet number. This error shows up in the Event Viewer for each view frame and says “Sheet number cannot be validated”. The only way to resolve this is to delete the view frame group, recreate the view frames, remove all sheets from the OG view frame group from the sheet set, run the Create Sheets wizard again, and select the DST again.
6. The variables CLOUDCOLLABMODIFIEDOPTION and ENABLEDSTLOCK only affect Desktop Connector versions 15 or older. They have no affect at all when using Desktop Connector 16+. In fact, setting those two variables to be different than the default can cause C3D to crash when accessing a drawing that is associated with SSM-W.
7. Autodesk stated that using the legacy SSM to edit a DST file on ACC is not supported by Autodesk. They want everyone to use SSM-W, even though C3D itself does not work directly with SSM-W. It uses the cached DST file from Desktop Connector to edit the files. Thus, Autodesk has created a problem where C3D is supposed to be supported on ACC, but if you use a sheet set it's not supported. 

[Cadguru42]

I've found another issue caused by C3D not being compatible with ACC & SSM. We have been working with our DST using the legacy SSM because that's the only way it works. But now we've run into an issue where a view frame group that was used to create sheets previously becomes corrupt if the same view frame group is used to create new sheets. The 2nd set of sheets overwrites the view frame's associated sheet number and the original sheets no longer have the correct sheet numbering for match line labels. This makes view frames completely useless to create multiple layouts (sheets) for different disciplines. 

Here's how it's setup:

1. A view frame group (we'll call it VFG1) with 25 frames and match lines.
2. Create Sheets using VFG1 and add to the DST that's stored on ACC. We'll call these the 'C' sheets.
3. Set sheet number and other sheet properties using the legacy SSM for each of the 25 'C' sheets. 
4. Create another set of sheets using VFG1 and add to the same DST stored on ACC. We'll call these the 'G' sheets.
5. Set sheet number and other sheet properties using the legacy SSM for each of the 'G' sheets.

Now the view frame group only shows the 'G' sheets associated with the view frame group. The C3D match line labels only show the next/previous sheet numbers as 1, 2, 3, etc. for the 'G' sheets instead of the G001, G002, etc. they are associated with. Opening the original 'C' sheet drawings also no longer show the C001, C002, etc. sheet numbering. 

Creating a 2nd set of sheets using a view frame group corrupts the view frames and the match line labels no longer work.

C3D + ACC + SSM is simply broken at this point. Autodesk needs to either fix it or tell everyone that C3D isn't compatible with ACC + SSM.