Is this a matter for Tech Support or can someone on the forums tell me...

[Keith_K]

...why using the software has become increasingly clunky and bordering on the unusable?

The plan I am currently working on is pictured in the attachments. Surely it can't be that the plan is too big for the software to handle properly??

Each operation that I try and do (from moving a cabinet to changing a dimension and everything else in between) takes anything from 8 to 25 seconds to actually happen during which time I just have to sit and stare at the egg timer waiting for it to disappear so that I can continue. Even using the sliders at the bottom and side of the window to move the plan takes as much time but another problem occurs in that sometimes, even if I move the slider by only one or two centimetres my whole plane disappears from view and I have to scroll in and out, up and down and from left to right before I can find it again with the interminable wait described above in between each roll of the mouse wheel or click of the cursor.

I've reached the stage where I don't even want to open my plan any more because of the frustration these long waits cause.

I've checked my memory and note that I still have 213.28GB free of 232.88GB. This incredible slowness only occur es when I am using my HD software. Everything else I do on my computer is working as it has always done.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

[Taylex]

The memory you are reporting sounds more like hard drive space than memory. Check your RAM (memory) usage and CPU usage and report back. Sounds to me like you need more physical memory.

[Keith_K]

Thanks for your reply. Are the following the sort of information you asked me for? I took the screenshots with only Home Talk and the plan previously mentioned open on my PC.



And thgis is what I saw when I tried to move a cabinet with the task manager open...

[David J. Potter]

Keith, have you imported any third-party symbols from non-Chief Architect Inc sources?

I recently read a thread (post) on Chief Talk where similar phenomena was observed and Tech Support narrowed it down to a 3D Warehouse symbol that was poorly constructed by its author and caused the lags.

When the symbol was repaired (In Chief Architect Premier) the lags vanished. Over the years, I have seen this reoccur and to have similar descriptions and solutions.

In my experience (twenty years plus) with this software an accumulation of short-falls (poor wall connections, too many-unnecessary wall breaks, roof planes that cross over each other or have unnecessary line-edge breaks, dialog box settings set in argument with system defaults, etc generally things not methodically done and laid out) an accumulation of these sorts of things can unbalance and or corrupt a plan file's performance.

But a corrupt or poorly made symbol can do this faster than other sources.

Check for that and see if it does not improve performance as you find and eliminate them.

A plan file, if opened in an application like Microsoft Word and in fact is merely a document of prose, like a book or story. If the author has used care with his grammar and syntax, then the story flows and if poor grammar and syntax is used it lags, crashes and displays poor results, so it is incumbent upon the end user to learn and apply proper "grammar" and "syntax" so that their story then flows smoothly on being read per unit of time.

DJP

[JoAnn]

I have also noticed that if a plan is complex (especially with landscaping) that you can't make changes with the 3D window open. It bogs down tremendously!

P.S. It appears that you have lots of ram memory, and that's a good thing.

[Keith_K]

David, I haven't imported any symbol from a third party source at all. In fact I don't think I'd even know how to.

This problem started quite mildly on Tuesday of last week and then progressed to the stage, as mentioned, where I really couldn't be bothered to even try and work on the plan any longer. In this particular plan I haven't got to the roofing stage yet and, as far as I am aware there are only four wall breaks where the outer surface of some walls changes from stone to brick. I have also checked my wall connections and the all seem to be in order (though the problem I raised some time ago (and asked the developers of the software to try and fix to which I have had no reply despite prompting them on the suggestions forum) about different types of walls "bleeding into another.

JoAnn, I thought that I had enough memory too. I haven't done any landscaping at all on this plan and only occasionally do I have the plan and 3D windows open at the same time. The problem is there when only the plan file is open.

I must confess that I don't fully understand all the information on those technical illustrations that I posted as I am by no means a computer fundi. I did wonder though why Western Digital stuff seemed to be running when I don't have my external hard drive connected. But that is something only a techie would know.

Maybe tomorrow I'll refer this thread to Tech Support and see what they have to say.

Thank you for your replies.

[David J. Potter]

Is the plan you are working on located on an external hard drive that you plug in to only when you work? If so that is it! external hard drives are notoriously slow and do not work well with this software. They are fine for backing up but not as fast as your motherboard attached hard drives or usb devices (I have even found instances of end users working on files that are located in a USB device, Dropbox or Google Skydrive and getting non-optimum results and odd, unwanted behavior. You will get best performance from devices directly plugged into your hard drive as opposed to ports and that is NOT recommended unless of course you seem to have a dearth of real problems in your Life

DJP

[Keith_K]

Nope, the plan is on my normal hard drive. I only use the external hard drive once a week on Mondays when I do a complete back-up of my system. That is why I was wondering why Western Digital was using 79980K of memory when its device wasn't even connected. I only connect it when I actually do the back-up because if I let it run continually it messes up the settings on my computer. My non-existent understanding of all that bumph on the processes illustration I posted earlier is the reason I am too scared to end the Western Digital process.

[Bradleywhites]

i am getting the sense how much troubling it is as too have faced the same but still do not know how to fix it

[Katalyst777]

Are you using any detailed fill patterns for your rooms or walls (hard to tell based on your floor plan)? If so, try setting them to transparent or a solid fill. I've observed drawing lots of extra CAD lines in floor plan view can really slow a system down.

[Keith_K]

Hi Katalyst777. Welcome back to the forums. I've missed your unput.

There are actually five different types of walls in this particular drawing illustrated below.

Incidentally I called up some of my other plans to see if they were affected as well but they are all OK so it's definitely something to do with his particular project.

[Katalyst777]

So you ARE using a bunch of vertical lines. Try setting those wall layers to either solid or transparent and see if that offers any improvement. What about fill styles for other things like that yellowish looking room in your screenshot? Maybe do a File> Save As to make a copy of your plan and get rid of all the fill styles in your wall types, rooms, terrain objects, etc, and see if your time improves.

[Keith_K]

I'll give your suggestion a try in the morning, thanks. I'm off to bed now.

The yellowish looking room is depicting gravel in the courtyard formed by the five dwellings. It's the erm..."best" colour I could come up with from the limited choice available.

[Katalyst777]

Did you use a custom fill style for the "gravel"? If so, try changing it to a solid color, because that looks like a huge room to have a tiny fill style applied to it and could well bog your system down.

I found this Knowledge Base article on the Chief site that you may want to take a look at as well (it mentions about the fill style/patterns too).

http://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00521/

[Keith_K]

I've done the changes you suggested to the lines in the walls (making them solid colours) and have also changed the gravelled area to transparent for the time being.

The difference in the delays is, however, sadly infinitesimal - just a second or two.

I raised a ticket with Tech Support on Sunday and included a zipped copy of the plan but haven't had a reply as yet. Maybe they'll come up with some other suggestions. Maybe.