Revit 2023 Bad behavior with decal not found

[btmsoftware]

We've got some projects with a lot of decals in them

We had to move around the different files (new servers/drives).

In previous versions of Revit, when opening the project, it would just tell us that there were unfound decals and that's it, we could then reload them from the new location.

In Revit 2023, when opening the project, the only options are to delete the instances of the decal or cancel the opening of the project.

Cancelling is obviously no option as we need to work on it HOWEVER, deleting the instances is a VERY BAD option because then, when the project opens, we need to reload them from the new location and create the new instances anew. That's a lot of work, not to mention that it means we need to know where each decal goes......

Could the old behavior be restored, to me, that would make much more sense....

[barthbradley · Accepted solution]

I can't replicate the issue you are describing, but try adding the decal path to the Rendering tab of the Options dialog. 

[Basam.Yousif]

If the decal is in the same folder as the model, do you still get this error? at least temporarily place them there to prevent their deletion then re-path. Maybe?

[treyk]

Hi btmsoftware-

We're sorry that you're experiencing this difficulty!  Would it be possible for you to send us a Revit file (a simple one would be fine) and a journal from a session in which you experienced this problem?

I just tried this experiment:

1. In R21, make a simple file with decals. Save and exit Revit.
2. Move the decals to a different location on the server.
3. Open the file in R22.  The file upgrades and opens with no warnings. The blank decals display in the model at the correct locations. In the Decal Types dialog, select a decal in the list, navigate to the decal's new location, and click Open.  OK.  The decal is now loaded correctly in the project, as expected.  Close and exit.
4. Open the R21 file in R23 RTS (the build that you have).
5. For me, the behavior is exactly the same as in Step 3 above.

Clearly there's something else happening with your project and it would be most helpful for us to examine your file and journal.

Thanks very much!
Trey

[ToanDN]

What you described is not happening here.  Revit 2023 opens the file with missing decal images normally as in any other versions.

[btmsoftware]

Yes, it still happens but no matter, the solution from Bradley does the trick for me.

[btmsoftware]

Actually, I've been pushing my investigation further and it seems to happen if the decal is placed on the surface of an IFC link. If it's placed on an element belonging to the current projects, then I have the regular behavior (file not found) and I don't need to delete the instances.

In previous versions of revit, it worked as expected

[Basam.Yousif]

Hmmm. Might be a bug. Does this occur whether the IFC link itself is found or not found?

[btmsoftware]

Well, I've been pushing even further and I found out this doesn't happen only with IFC files (if the .RVT is not found actually). I happens if a decal is placed on any RVT link.
If the link is found then no problem, it only says the file is not valid until I locate it in the Decal UI. However, if the RVT link is not found, then I get that.
I guess, it is kind of logical since if the link cannot be loaded, the element on which the decal is placed is also not found therefore, the instance of the decal cannot be resolved either.
I suppose it works as designed in this case.....