Civil 3D 2017 x 2018 files interchangeble
Those that know can't say.
But if Autodesk holds to there more recent norms, it should work.
Rick Jackson
Survey CAD Technician VI
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Civil 3D 2017 objects have never been compatible with 2016. Originally the next release of Civil 3D was never compatible with the previous ones. Lately they've been trying to hold the format for three to four years. So going by recent patterns 2018 would probably be compatible with 2017. It's not a guarantee and we won't know until the release.
It's not the AutoCAD drawing format that creates the incompatibility but the way the Civil 3D objects are built. With minor changes you could have most of them compatible and maybe one or two classes of objects not revertible. With large changes nothing will work.
This was not done maliciously. It was not done to mess people up or "force" everyone to upgrade. It's a natural process in the upgrading and improvement of the program and we can guess that it will happen every few years.
Allen Jessup
CAD Manager - Designer
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As I mentioned above the AutoCAD Drawing Format did not change. The Civil 3D objects changed. When you open a drawing in Civil 3D there are styles and blocks created and saved. You'd have to open a drawing in plain AutoCAD 2017 to see it open in 2016. That may also depend on what template you used and what's in it.
If you have clients that need 2016 file formats you're stuck waiting for them to upgrade. Some backward compatibility can be achieved by using LandXML but it's not worth the effort if you have to do it a lot.
Allen Jessup
CAD Manager - Designer
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It'll be approximately the same release date in North America. We may get some info a week or two before that date but that's all. I've been thinking. The real kicker would be if the Civil objects remained the same but the AutoCAD drawing format changed. They're not handled by the same teams so that could be a possibility. One of the joys of working in a vertical.
Allen Jessup
CAD Manager - Designer
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@Cadguru42 wrote:
Basically the Civil team made a mess of things because they felt the need to upgrade the C3D object format regardless of the DWG format for 2017.
No, not quite. The Civil 3D team made decisions regarding the C3D object format based on the 'normal' (i.e., what had been the norm for many release cycles) to update their format when the dwg format updated, which had been a 3 year life cycle. SO changes were actually slated for the 2016 version (2013, 2014, 2015 were the 3 year cycle). When Autodesk broke that cycle for the 2016 version, the C3D team had to change their update accordingly. When it was then found out during the next development cycle that 2017 would also keep the same dwg format the C3D team had to make the tough decision to go ahead with their object format change, otherwise their new tools that had been intended for 2016 would also miss the 2017 release.
So, please don't put the blame on the C3D team for things that were out of their control...there's enough other things that they are accountable for 
Instead, be thankful that we got the 4 years of interoperability after each of the previous 9 versions all being completely on their own.
@Jeff_M wrote:
@Cadguru42 wrote:
Basically the Civil team made a mess of things because they felt the need to upgrade the C3D object format regardless of the DWG format for 2017.
No, not quite. The Civil 3D team made decisions regarding the C3D object format based on the 'normal' (i.e., what had been the norm for many release cycles) to update their format when the dwg format updated, which had been a 3 year life cycle. SO changes were actually slated for the 2016 version (2013, 2014, 2015 were the 3 year cycle). When Autodesk broke that cycle for the 2016 version, the C3D team had to change their update accordingly. When it was then found out during the next development cycle that 2017 would also keep the same dwg format the C3D team had to make the tough decision to go ahead with their object format change, otherwise their new tools that had been intended for 2016 would also miss the 2017 release.
So, please don't put the blame on the C3D team for things that were out of their control...there's enough other things that they are accountable for
You're acting like the Civil Team isn't part of Autodesk. They would know when the DWG format is changing and when it's not. The changes made that required a new Civil object format could have waited for another cycle while they fixed many broken items. It would be much less of a head ache to the actual users if they did this. Then it would be only 2018 that isn't backwards compatible and keep with the way base AutoCAD has been setup. Instead, look at how confused many people were regarding 2017 and how Autodesk's lack of communication compounded the issue.
In Short, NO! See attached image for Clarification...
That seems to be right based on later information. Hopefully the Civil 3D team will be able to synchronize their upgrades with the DWG format changes by the next release.
Allen Jessup
CAD Manager - Designer
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