https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/discover/ChiefTalk Forum - All Activityen..another reason for the user to create a pdf from the downloaded excel, import into CA plan file....simple no headache or just screenshot the excel file, even easier (but loss of pixel accuracy)Wed, 16 Sep 2026 19:13:07 +0000@SHCanada2 Try zooming out on the view or close the tab, then update. When you zoom in and update an open elevation tab, for whatever reason it hides the labels on any windows out of the current view.Wed, 16 Sep 2026 18:47:59 +0000THANK YOU!!!!!Wed, 16 Sep 2026 18:23:01 +0000The wall is still there on the 'Walls, Demo' layer. Turn that layer on and delete the wall.Wed, 16 Sep 2026 17:53:53 +0000Wed, 16 Sep 2026 17:24:22 +0000I'm in a pretty unique position on the installation side of this because I've installed thousands of versions of my products for people over the years, and having the user put an .rb file in the Scripts folder is a BIG pain in the arse once this gets out into the real world. I'm going to play the "trust me bro" card pretty hard on this one. I would never even attempt to document every installation problem I've seen because the list would be ridiculous, but here's the reality: a LOT of users cannot successfully follow four written instructions, four recorded instructions, or sometimes four written AND recorded instructions. I'm not trying to insult anybody either...this is just what happens when you sell software/tools to a large enough group of normal users. I've had users who couldn't figure out how to download the product after purchasing it. I've had users who couldn't unzip the downloaded folder. Asking somebody to locate the correct Chief data folder, find the Scripts directory and install a Ruby file into it? That actually used to be part of my system and it generated a shocking amount of support. It became enough of a problem that I wrote actual Mac and Windows installers whose entire purpose was basically to put the required files where they belonged. People still managed to break that. And here's another one you're going to run into immediately: the Scripts directory is very likely sitting somewhere inside a OneDrive-backed Chief data folder for a bunch of users. A lot of people have OneDrive set to Files On-Demand/selective sync, meaning portions of that folder can be online-only. So right out of the gate you're potentially dealing with a script that looks like it was installed correctly but isn't actually local when Chief goes looking for it. Now you're troubleshooting why Ruby isn't being read at all, why OneDrive hasn't hydrated the file, why one user's Documents folder is redirected and another user's isn't, why somebody's Chief data folder lives somewhere unexpected, etc. At that point you're no longer troubleshooting SmartSTRUC. You're troubleshooting everyone's individual Windows/OneDrive/file-sync configuration because you chose an installation method that exposes you to all of those system-level problems. Eventually this is one of the reasons I created an Assisted Install service. And I mean this very specifically: my year 3 garnered no profit. None. Technical support consumed all of the profit for that entire year. That wasn't "support reduced my margins." It wiped out the profit. So if you're planning to scale this beyond technically sophisticated Chief users, my biggest product-development advice would be: KEEP IT WAYYYYY SIMPLER than you think it needs to be. Every additional manual installation step, external dependency, folder somebody has to find, path somebody has to maintain, file somebody has to move, update somebody has to understand, or OS/cloud setting somebody can have configured differently eventually becomes a support ticket. The architecture can be technically brilliant and still become commercially miserable if the end user has to understand any of it. That's also why I'd still encourage you to spend a few minutes testing the schedule approach before completely writing it off. The current Pro Plan you already have is actually set up where you could test this with a CSV export in probably two minutes. And I think there's an important distinction between: dynamically creating exactly the number of Notes you need and pre-populating WAY more Notes than you could ever reasonably need and letting the external data determine what gets reported. If your maximum realistic beam schedule is 50 rows, put 100 Notes in there. Same for footings, headers, whatever. Now you don't have an end user adding and deleting Notes every project. The container already has more available schedule objects than the data could realistically consume. The external lookup populates the ones that have data and the unused ones simply don't need to report anything useful. That's much closer to how I would productize it. And I think it's worth testing because once you're using actual Chief schedules you inherit a ridiculous amount of functionality for free. You can change column widths, reorder columns, reorder or filter rows, add columns later without rebuilding a text-table generator, add information that isn't coming from SmartSTRUC, supplement the imported information with information coming from Chief, perform additional calculations, expose additional fields, create different schedules from the exact same underlying data, change formatting without rebuilding the table parser, and generally let the end user manipulate the output using tools they already understand inside Chief. That's the part I'd be reluctant to give up. Your single text-box approach is undeniably clever, and I completely understand why the unknown row count led you there. Four members or sixty members requires no additional setup on your end. That's a legitimate advantage. But my concern is what happens AFTER you sell it. Someone is absolutely going to say: "I just need one more column over here..." Then another person wants to move this column. Someone wants an extra calculation. Someone wants to add a field manually. Someone wants one piece of Chief information mixed into the structural data. Someone wants the footing schedule formatted differently from the beam schedule. And they're going to start hacking at those text boxes because that's what users do. Schedules give them a structured system for doing all of that without touching your underlying data mechanism. Also, using schedules does NOT mean giving up the external JSON/CSV as your single source of truth. You can still have the external data driving everything live. You're just changing the presentation layer from one generated text string into Chief schedule objects. So your portable JSON can absolutely remain the product output format and source of structural truth. Another reason I'd test this before dismissing it is that you've already made the best architectural decision for schedule performance: you're putting this into a dedicated non-model plan. You're not drawing walls there. You're not inserting windows there. You're not rebuilding the model there. It's basically a schedule container being sent to Layout. So you have a LOT more freedom to abuse schedule evaluation there than I would ever recommend inside someone's actual working model. Your concern about %schedule_number% being positional is also something I'd attack as a scripting problem before deciding schedules can't work. I would not want the integrity of a structural schedule dependent on: "row 17 means JSON record 17 forever." I agree with you completely there. I'd want a stable identifier/key involved so the schedule object asks for its member, not simply whatever happens to currently occupy its index. That's another place where I think there may be more room to develop this than it initially appears. And since you already own the current Pro Plan, you don't have to speculate about whether any of this feels workable. Export some dummy structural data as CSV, throw a ridiculous number of Notes into a schedule-only test plan and abuse the hell out of it for half an hour. Add members. Delete members. Reorder the source data. Add more rows than you think you'd ever need. Change columns. Add a calculated column. Mix a Chief value into it. See what breaks. If after that the text-table approach still clearly wins, then you've validated the decision. But I wouldn't make the decision solely because dynamically maintaining the exact number of Notes per project would be awful...because I wouldn't maintain the exact number at all. I'd massively over-provision the available Notes once in the template and never make the user think about them again. The same philosophy applies to the installer: If the end user has to understand how the clever part works, simplify it again. That's probably the single most expensive lesson I've learned selling Chief tools.Wed, 16 Sep 2026 17:19:33 +0000Only pain points I've run into is that a team member opens the caproject file in chief, does some work, hits save and shuts down and thinks that the caproject file they opened is updated. Just had to teach them that they have to delete and export every single time...IOW teach them that save doesnt exist, and relate the process to doing Save As every timeWed, 16 Sep 2026 17:06:25 +0000I need a plan review in the next several hrs, paying $300, for a SW Style 4400 sq.ft. Ranch 1 Story, take about an hr of your redline time. any takers, feel free to call. Douglas Burgmann Accurate As-builts (941)236-0420 cell Dreamcraft Luxury Homes Plan 3237 - (13 Shts-WM).pdfWed, 16 Sep 2026 16:57:16 +0000Even though my computer said my NVidia driver was up to date, it wasn't. Installed the newest driver, X18 works again.Wed, 16 Sep 2026 16:39:15 +0000Wed, 16 Sep 2026 16:08:41 +0000After the latest Windows update I have the same problem with multiple machines here in the office. Went the the nVidia control panel and updated the graphics driver and that fixed the issue.Wed, 16 Sep 2026 16:07:48 +0000I can start X18 this morning but when I click on a file to open, X18 shuts down. Windows update first thing this morning. Anyone else experiencing this? X17 opens files normally.Wed, 16 Sep 2026 15:54:42 +0000If it affects the model, then in one form or another we could assume it's still there. Did you accidentally place it on an non-displayed layer instead of deleting the wall? If you can post the plan file, I could take a look and let you know what I find.Wed, 16 Sep 2026 15:20:24 +0000Yep, I purchased one, shipping Friday.Wed, 16 Sep 2026 15:14:40 +0000Hi! I'm having an issue I've never had before -- I deleted a wall that was originally connected to a linen closet and it is still showing cut out of the plan. I have tried "rebuild walls, floors, and ceilings" and it did not work. I'm not sure how to fix it, please help! Again for reference, I am using Chief Architect x18 Angled wall shown (unselected) with room selected): As-built reference plan showing original footprint with linen closet: Orthographic view showing wall cut out in ceiling and floor: Thank you! Katherine PierceWed, 16 Sep 2026 14:42:23 +0000@Renerabbitt I appreciate that, and I can see that working for teams of 3-5. Have you implemented it to teams of 20, and has there been any pain points with it.Wed, 16 Sep 2026 14:04:38 +0000I have this problem when I have an elevation that I previously sent to a layout open. When I have it zoomed in to an area and some of the windows are out of view, it seems when you force the update in the layout with that tab still open, it removes the labels that are outside the current view area. If you close the tab first or zoom out to the extents to make sure all the windows are in view, and then force the layout to update, the labels should display automatically per your display options. Definitely a bug.Wed, 16 Sep 2026 13:46:55 +0000Post the plan and we'll find out for you. From here, we can't know your wall specs, or whether walls are vertically aligned.Wed, 16 Sep 2026 12:15:40 +0000https://www.chieftutor.net/helping-plans.htmlWed, 16 Sep 2026 11:53:02 +0000https://www.chieftutor.net/daveterrtoolsfun.htmlWed, 16 Sep 2026 11:50:01 +0000Will it also create a Chief logo in my front lawn?Wed, 16 Sep 2026 07:39:42 +0000This is what I started with...Wed, 16 Sep 2026 07:19:44 +0000Here is another iteration, by using a concrete texture overlaying the normal, AO, metalness and roughness mapsWed, 16 Sep 2026 07:13:28 +0000Rendered in X18 - New addition to front of existing home.Wed, 16 Sep 2026 06:58:40 +0000Created a wall art piece using Lazy Nezumi in Photoshop, then Quixel mixer to get the depth. Focus was combining mechanical, electrical and radio waves.Wed, 16 Sep 2026 06:57:08 +0000