StevenJ

Yes, i had already moderated my original post, it was originally unfair. Also, there is no anti-virus running during my tests. i expect that anti-virus would make it dramatically worse.

I am not an architect, I am a Software Engineer. I had to help someone work out why their chief architect (Version X9) was getting slower and slower the more they used it. They were convinced it was the speed of their PC. They have an 8 core AMD Phenom and 2 x 128GB SSD's a 500GB HDD and 16GB ram, the processor is a bit old but certainly not slow. I have read a number of reports on here about similar problems, none of them with real solutions. This is what happens. As you use CA your design file will grow, initially things seem fast but over time they get slower and slower as your design becomes more complex. The end result for the one i was looking at is it was taking in excess of 30 seconds just to turn a layer on or off. So slow that the program was effectively unusable. The curious thing was the CPU was idle the whole time. So what is going on? This: I limited my testing to a single case, changing layer visibility. Every single layer visibility change was taking ~30 seconds. Horrifically slow. Every time you change the layer visibility CA-X9 saves the undo state, because you might need to undo that. The Undo State in my case is 305,347KB yes 300MB. The data file itself is only 155,868KB. So the undo is ~ twice the size of the data file. Every single time i do something that is "undoable" like layer visibility a new 300+ MB file is created and saved to disk. The CPU sits idle this whole time. Perfmon reports that for a test run of 4 Visibility changes CA was writing 9 writes a second to disk and each write is about 267Kb in size. and cpu time was a whole 1.9% for CA. CA is bogged down writing these undo files. Why is it soooo slow for my friend. His SSD's aren't beasts but they are OK. However his C: drive is about 70% full and SSD's will slow down the fuller they get. A 305MB file is a huge allocation, and as each undo state is a brand new undo file, every 3 undo's he is down 1GB of disk space. Also, writing 305MB files for every edit action and then deleting them once the undo level is reached and writing them again, for every single edit, is slowly but surely wearing out his SSD and making it slower and slower in the process. Worse, if CA runs out of disk space for undo files, which could easily happen for him because his SSD's are only 128GB each, it crashes. Hard crash. So i did some more analysis, what is in these massive undo files? Well between each of them, for a layer visibility change exactly four bytes changes. That right 32 bits. fc /b undo_TestHouse_3512_14.undoplan undo_TestHouse_3512_15.undoplan Comparing files undo_TestHouse_3512_14.undoplan and UNDO_TESTHOUSE_3512_15.UNDOPLAN 094F5227: 03 02 12A0D5D3: 02 03 12A308C8: 5E 6D 12A30A33: 6D 7C Yes, CA records 305MB of data to remember that 4 bytes of data changed. This seems a waste of resources and massive (and variable) speed penalty to inflict on users. Not to mention the progressive and unnecessary damage such massive writes will do to SSDs over time. But there is a workaround: 1. Buy lots of ram. My friend has 16GB, if you are doing lots of plans I would recommend at least 32GB and better 64GB. 2. Download ImDisk and set up a ram drive, you need at least as much space as two times the size of your biggest plan file times the number of undo levels you want. (Use any ram disk software, i just found this one first) 3. Go into CA and Preferences -> General -> Folders Change BOTH "My Temporary Folder" and "My Undo Folder" to point to the new ram drive. 4. Go into Preferences -> General Change Undo levels to a small number that is enough that you wont fill your ram disk. (I chose 10) I would also turn off Auto Save and set Auto Archive Files to "Previous Save" in "General -> File Management" but they are not necessary for this speed up. Doing this, layer changes went from 30 seconds to almost instantaneous. The WHOLE PROGRAM is now phenomenally faster. Alternatively, just turn off undo altogether.

I set my eave overhang in Build Roof, to 600mm. But for some parts of the roof, i want a reduced overhang (like over the porch). I can reduce the overhang on a gable wall by setting the ovrhang property in the wall specification for the roof. But for the non gable wall, that setting does nothing and Chief always just uses the global value. Is this correct, or am i doing something wrong? Its a simple roof and there are only a few places where i need a non-standard roof overhang, but the only way i have found to do it is to manually change the roof planes.

I have a design with a concrete slab foundation, and i have the stem wall set to 200mm, but on my porch Chief is forcing the Stem Wall to be 250mm, and it wont let me click the "default" check box (it immediately clears) and if i set any value other than 250mm, it reverts to 250mm when i close the dialog. Any idea what causes this?