wkshank

Thanks - yeah that wall drag thing doesn't correct it. Thank god for slabs and solids.... ( :

Holy cow, @VHampton you did it! It was related to #1 in your sketch. The corner walls were already connected (the area of sheathing showing probably has to do with my wall layers -- but they were connected) and my roofs were snapped together just fine... but the roof against the brick wall (adjacent to the one you pointed at) was slightly crooked along the line where it sits against the wall. I fixed that and immediately the sword was gone. What a relief. The sword was not a ceiling plane but a soffit plane... when I had tried unchecking the "boxed eave" option on both roofs, the sword changed angles (changed to a plane that would have been like an extension of an open eave's soffit). Clearing that up in case anyone else is having the same issue and sees this some day. @PitMan71, @RL-inc - Thank you so much for taking the time, everyone!

My plan file is 36.7 MB -- can't attach it. Solution?

This happens from time to time, and can't be fixed by deleting the roof and creating another, or re-joining the roofs, etc. I have solved this before and it seems like it was simple, but can't remember what the fix was. Does anyone recognize this issue ... I'll call it a "spear" ... and know what's up? Notice in the one screenshot when I click on the roof plane there is a little gray rectangle that corresponds to the spear location. and also to note, if I remove the adjoining roof (over the wall with windows), the white spear disappears, but comes back if I re-create it. I have re-generated both of these roofs from scratch as well, and same spear is there. Also -- it is definitely SOFFIT, and in this case it's a boxed eave, and if I turn off boxed, it just becomes a slanted sword higher up.

oops nope, can't set more than one thickness. : (

Swap only works if you're alternating large and small blocks... maybe I'll try doing that, and set the small one at zero thickness with zero space between ??

Setting the bottom of course just moves where the quoins begin, but the "outie" sections stay where they are. I need the bit at the frieze NOT to have a quoin sticking out, and the way it's generating is exactly opposite of what I need (need 3 bricks out, then 3 bricks in, but it's doing the reverse order vertically). Workaround? A setting I can't find?

Well good grief. Yes. I had no idea. I don't use hotkeys at all because... well because I'm an idiot, apparently. I know most on here wouldn't draw without them. Must learn about hotkeys.... Thank you so much.

Normally if I draw a rectangle, when I click on one side of it, the dimension across to the other side will appear. Sometimes it just doesn't show up, which is highly inconvenient. I have saved, shut down, started my computer up again, and it is still doing this (or NOT doing it, which is the problem). It doesn't matter what file I open... in other projects the program is giving me the same problem. Is there a setting where this feature is turned on and off? (why would anyone ever want to turn this off??) Haaallllpp. (Edit: ALSO - not showing distances for anything, really -- click on a wall and it does not show distance to nearby parallel wall.) Wendy Shank - Chief x14

THANK YOU! knew it had to be simple.

Most basic of questions, I'm sure, but I just want a circle, not a circle with a cross mark in it (center cross). How to turn this off? (This only happens in layout screens, not plan screens, BTW.)

Both of you have my thanks... now I know oob, the 3 shortcut, AND that boxes look JUST like rectangle polylines, and cannot be broken. Sheesh. Grateful -

Saved, closed, and re-opened the plan and it still is not there.

Yep - it's there (works fine) if I start a new plan. rgardner I'm trying to decipher your hint. ?

Normally, if I create a simple rectangle and then right click it, the menu that appears will include a zigzag symbol that allows me to add a break in the polyline. Or if I simply select the rectangle, a menu appears at the bottom also offering that symbol. The symbol has disappeared, in both lists. I searched for that tool in the menu and don't see it. Help? It appears and works fine if I click on a roof edge (add break option appears).

oh for pete's sake... YES apparently I did flick that icon. Had no idea you could toggle that off... thank you so much!

Yes! sorry -that wasn't very clear.

This has happened before and I think resolved when I shut down computer and re-started... but now even that does not work. I did not change any default settings or toolbars, but suddenly when I click on the side of a rectangle, it no longer shows me the dimension across the opposite side. Similarly, when I click on a wall, it no longer shows distance from nearby walls. SO ANNOYING!! Anybody else have this happen, and how do I fix it?

thank you so much everyone for weighing in. I am the sole station for CA, so networking/sharing is not needed. Sounds like my current plan of manually backing up periodically is reasonable, but I will show your comments to my tech support and see if he thinks the new system would work well with a cloud-based system, given what you're saying about how the auto-save and backing up actually works.

I am using my computer's memory as I work, rather than use dropbox or OneDrive, etc. My understanding is that using a cloud as your auto-save as you work can slow down the program. Help me geeks... is this true? I am having a new computer (details in signature) built for me with lots of RAM/power... when I load Chief on this new machine, how do you recommend setting up the program files, auto-backup files, etc? (I do manually backup my client CAD files to dropbox pretty often.. though not the program autosave files. I haven't lost anything so far.) Thanks for your advice!

perfect. thanks so much. i was looking all over TOOLbars...

nope - and god help me i don't even know how to get that back

My recollection is that until very recently when I clicked on an item, a word would pop up in the (bottom) toolbar to at least tell me what type of object I've clicked on (such as "slab" or CAD object or cabinet, etc.). I don't see that any more and wonder what I did to lose that handy feature! HELP?

Thanks Stephen -- I had thought of trying a build framing route, but as I've never had to do that before to get a normal floor to show, I didn't pursue (thinking I could find a box checked or unchecked that should fix the whole thing). Just weird.

You know, I just deleted all my roofs and started over with roof-build, and that worked. Why this happened will keep me up tonight, but unless you're curious to solve a mystery, ne'ermind... I recovered but still no answers as to why. Just like life.