Revit 2018 - renames assemblies after a sync

[ekrout]

We have been having an issue with creating assemblies and spooling in Revit. We have experienced on several occasions where we create several assemblies with specific unique names, and after we sync the model we get warnings popups. These warnings say "Edits caused a new assembly to be created". What Revit has done is rename these newly created assemblies just by syncing the model. Has anyone else experienced this?

We are using Revit 2018.3 and Revit commands for creating the assemblies, not an add-in software.

Eric

[Zsolt.Varga]

Hi @ekrout,

I am not sure what has happened on your side with the assemblies - I went on and searched through our system for similar cases. 

I actually found one other case with a  similar report, but our team, the development and the customer all weren´t able to reproduce that issue again - so that investigation was closed at the end without success. 

I´d be happy to start an investigation for your case - maybe we can catch the issue this time. 

For that I´d need the following dataset: 

1. File which you could reproduce the issue with
2. Exact (one-by-one) description of the steps to reproduce the issue on our end as well
3. Diagnostic Data generated on your environment when you reproduce the issue

I look forward to hearing from you. 

Best regards,

[henryalgermissen]

Typical response, how many times has everyone heard: 'Der. we can't
replicate the issue, closing the ticket'

"If you can't fix the software, beat the customer down with apathy. the
problem won't go away, but the customer will"

[ekrout]

HI @Zsolt.Varga

Well, this issue just happened to us again. This is probably the 4th or 5th time this has happened and it's getting quite frustrating. I do not have screencast loaded on my computer, but can easily walk you through the steps in which this occurs. Also, if you could let me know the easiest way to get you a copy of the model.

1. We use the create assembly command to generate assemblies with a specified name. 

2. After all of the assemblies are created (the latest instance is about 84 assemblies) we sync the file back to the central model, which is in C4R.

3. The next day when the model is opened we noticed all of the assemblies are now renamed to W-03-V4-1 through 84. Yesterday before closing the model the assemblies were broken out by service (V for Vent, W for Waste, SD for Storm Drain), this morning all of the assemblies are Ws and numerically linear…

In dealing with a separate issue with Autodesk, we have had an issue with the collector utility crashing.

[Zsolt.Varga]

Hi @ekrout, 

Thanks for getting back to me! 

Can you manually copy and send the journal file recorded during the session when the issue reoccurred?

Best regards,

[ekrout]

Journal 0314 is from the last sync last night.

Journal 0316 is from this morning.

[Zsolt.Varga]

Hi @ekrout,

Thanks for the journals. 

I´ll take a look and involve the development team for the investigation as well, if necessary. 

I´ll keep you informed. 

Best regards,

[Zsolt.Varga]

Hi @ekrout, 

Just another idea to check:

Can you confirm that there were no other actions taken during that Revit session in question. 

What does the Synch History under "Manage Cloud Models" tell about that time?

Were there maybe other Synch with Central Operations when the issue occurred?

If yes, gathering those journals might help with the investigation as well. 

Best regards,

[ekrout]

Below is the log of syncs to the model from Manage Cloud Models. I highlighted the ones that were the last syncs of the day when the issue occurred. There are no syncs that overlap.

[Zsolt.Varga]

Hi Community, 

Just for your information about the status of this case. 

We just had a call with, @ekrout but we weren´t able to cache the issue at this time with his project. 

There is an investigation still in progress with the development team based on the information that @ekrout was able to gather so far. 

We´ll keep you informed.

Regards,

[Anonymous]

Our detailing team has been experiencing the exact same occurrences as we create assemblies and sync.  We just haven't been able to pinpoint the the exact cause being that there are several people working on the C4R model at any given time.  The only other example I would add is that often the "new" assembly name seems to end up being the next available number in a sequence that the last user was creating.  It has nothing to do with what I may have been doing, but whoever was last creating assemblies in the model.  That being said we are very interested what might be the root cause so that we can alter workflow as needed to prevent wasting time renaming hundreds of assemblies.  Thanks.

[ekrout]

Our experiences are the same as @Anonymous's comments. Thank you for adding to the topic. At first we thought this was user error, but once it happened the 3rd time to different individuals we knew this was not the case. I'm hoping we can get to the root cause of this issue so we don't have to spend hours and days renaming assemblies.

[Zsolt.Varga]

Hi @Anonymous,

Thank you for your valuable feedback. I forwarded the information to the development team. 

Of course - if you could reproduce the issue while recording the steps using the Autodesk Screencast Recorder + colect  & send Diagnostic Data, that would be very helpful as well. 

Let´s stay in touch. 

Best regards, 

[Zsolt.Varga]

Hi @ekrout,

Hi @Anonymous,

Thanks again for reporting this. 

News about the status of this investigation:

Unfortunately, the journals, that @ekrout collected so far did not record enough information to identify what exactly happened, when the assemblies got renamed.  We will need more data for the investigation.

Please, make sure that you gather and send the following information, once you can reproduce the issue again: 

1. The username for the user that created the assemblies.
2. The approximate time that the assemblies were created.
3. The last time that the model was synched without the name duplication.
4. The time when the duplication first was seen (and the username of the user that saw this, if different from 1 above).
5. Get a collector utility dataset ( from every user working with the cloud workshared model over the time in question (from 2-4)

I hope, we can catch this behavior this time.

I look forward to hearing from you. 

Best regards, 

[henryalgermissen]

Mr. Varga sent the following email, typical of Autodesk support:  The user base couldn't find a solution, so the ticket will be closed by Autodesk Support because they don't know how to do their job...  Zsolt, if you close this ticket; I will contact Andrew Anagnost.  This will not be the first time... and based on the level of support you provide, nor the last.  DO YOUR JOB!!  It is not the responsibility of the user base to provide support for Autodesk's products.

I am back from my holidays and I´ve just checked the status of this case. 
It seems that there hasn´t been anyone on the forum or in our team being able to reproduce the issue and collect more information for the investigation. 

At this time I will go ahead and put this support case on hold, but I will keep an eye on the forum thread in case there are some more data which would allow our team to continue the investigation.

I hope you won´t experience this strange unexpected behavior in Revit again, but if you do, please, feel free to update the forum thread with new data as soon as such are available. 
Alternatively you can send me a private message through the forum in case you don´t want to share all information with the community. 

With your support request on hold, it will appear in a Closed status but can be immediately reopened within the next 30 days by updating the case in Autodesk Account or by replying to any case e-mail.

Best regards,

Zsolt Varga
Autodesk Inc.

Autodesk GmbH
Aidenbachstrasse 56
81379 München

Geschäftsführer: Roland Zelles, Paul Underwood, Deborah Clifford
Sitz der Gesellschaft: München, HRB 96324 (Amtsgericht München)

[Zsolt.Varga]

Hi @henryalgermissen,

I´ve seen your feedback on the forums regarding this investigation.

I understand you were out on holidays, so that explains why I haven´t heard back from you for a while. 

Of course, I am happy to continue assisting you with this issue. 

I´ve reopened the related ticket with Eric Krout and I will try to contact him again. 

I will also contact the team who was involved in the investigation so far and discuss available options again. 

The challenge, that we are facing here, is that we don´t have enough information at the moment for identifying what exactly has happened, when you saw those unexpected results after syncing the project. Also: we couldn´t reproduce the same behavior again. The last time I contacted Eric, he wasn´t able to show me the issue via Desktop share either, so we agreed that we will both continue trying to catch that behavior, and collect more information which I listed in the forum thread in more details. I haven´t heard back from you since then and the investigation got stuck.

Have you or your colleagues seen this issue since then? Is it still happening in your office?

It would be crucial to collect the data I described as soon as you see this again.

Thanks for your understanding and for your cooperation.

Let´s stay in touch. 

Best regards, 

[henryalgermissen]

Zsolt,

Here is the issue, we don't sit around and try to replicate errors.  OUR job is to design and complete projects.  YOUR job is to replicate errors and fix issues with the software that costs us $ 4,300 (US) per seat.  Based purely on the forum thread, we are not the only people having this issue.  Have you reached out to  dglenn7QH84?

We have given access to our project, sent screenshots, sent journal entries and screencasts.  The problem is simple.  Create 100 or so assemblies, sync, let a couple other users sync and then eventually Revit will eat itself...  Does it do it everytime, no.  Does it happen fairly often, yes.  

Far too often Autodesk Support relies on their user base to diagnose and fix issues within the Autodesk product suites...  maybe this time you guys can do the work?  While you're doing your job, we're going to continue to use the software to do our jobs; which is to design buildings...  

[RobDraw]

Wow, just wow. That was totally uncalled for.

If an issue cannot be replicated, how do you expect anyone to fix it? Magic wand?

[henryalgermissen]

 Obviously, it is replicatable; it's an ongoing issue.  We're not the only people experiencing this issue.

[RobDraw]

Okay, genius, until you can come up with how to replicate it, it appears to be random.

If it's repeatable, then there are steps to make it happen. Someone that is experiencing the issue, needs to determine those steps. How do you expect Autodesk to mimic your exact working environment in order to investigate something that is random?