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In reply to Ryan: That gives me hope to hear that. And it looks as if they have done some groundwork about this old issue ? That X7 video above didn’t show any improvements in that specific area just yet ?

X10 Split Level Test Plan E1.pdf I will test X10 when I see enough evidence that I need to do very minimal or zero cleanup ? We had a big discussion about this very issue with Doug Park on the old forum over a decade ago now, and he admitted that some lines do show up that they couldn’t get rid of at the time from the view to cad method. Some of the users here like to make Chief Architect look perfect when it’s not. Without constructive criticism CA will not improve its functionality. I sincerely want and hope that we do have zero cleanup in X15 or later and when it has, then I will consider upgrading to it ? Edit: I will start with a basic plan in X10 and send an elevation to plot lines and see what happens ? I may even post it here if it has extra lines that need to be deleted for some reason. Edit: 2 Results above, please mind the pdf add mark. Wow ! I am pleasantly surprised that X10 did not put any extra lines on my basic elevation above. Door indicator lines can be easily turned off and on and I like them on. The window sizes can also be turned off too. I stand corrected. I like it when I am wrong. Thank you all for your input. Yippie !

Thank you very much for the Elevations with zero and almost zero Cleanup ? Most of us here should be able to build the model correctly to not have to use too many work arounds to achieve zero cleanup ? I am not going to waste my time on making Chief Architect do what it is supposed to do correctly many versions ago. I have used other CAD software many years ago as well and definitely got zero cleanup and nearly zero work arounds. This software is great for Builders and carpenters who don’t need the level of accuracy that the professional world demands of Architects and Architectural Draftspersons. CA will do a good job of building 3D framing and worth the money as other CAD usually needs add ons to do the job fully. It will also do a good job with interiors and 3D rendering straight out of the box. I have spent many hours on elevations and cross sections in CA cleaning up cad lines that I don’t need. Yes my model was always accurate. I have up to X10 but I am not going to bother testing it right now or wasting my time. Posting pictures of your elevations does not prove that you didn’t need to use any work arounds or clean up any cad lines ? If you would sincerely like to prove me wrong, then please by all means post a video here ? I didn’t see any official training videos yet that show elevations being done with cad plot lines, only with color images so far ? Chief is definitely fast is some ways and in other ways it is not. That’s just the reality of all CAD software packages available today.

I will definitely give it a go and thanks for the info that they still need a bit of cleaning up. It shouldn’t be too hard for the software engineers to get the cross section camera to exclude those lines that are not needed in a 2D representation ? After all the back clipped cross section camera can control what lines will show and not show, by limiting the back clipped distance. With the cross section camera we need the full distance but some of those offending lines can be excluded with the right program engineering. I would suggest that they could create a 2D plot line camera in the interface that can exclude those offending lines ? It could also be made to work with a 2D plot line cross section camera that also excludes those offending lines. I am surprised that they haven’t fully attended to that yet ? It could make a big difference in what CAD software people will choose to buy or go with ?

Thank you for your reply Michael. I saw a webinar by Scott Harris showing the options for sending views to layouts with X13. I didn’t see an actual example of sending a 2D black and white elevation to layout with plot lines in that actual YT clip. This video below shows what we used to have to do in tidying up 2D lines that appear on a black and white 2D elevation. This is an X7 example and things may have changed a bit since then ? So how much tidying up of 2D plot lines do we still need to do with later versions of Chief Architect ? I haven’t tried it yet in X10 but I am asking if things have changed since then because we are now up to version X14.

Hi, I haven’t used Chief in a while. I am asking what is the most efficient way to represent elevations on our layout drawings ? We used to send the view to CAD and edit and add some lines in to represent the elevations. I know some have used live elevations to send to layout so that they will automatically update if the model changes when revisions are made. With view to CAD in X10 or later versions, do you still get many lines produced that are not needed that need to be deleted ?

Yes, we all have to be aware of those who want to take our plan & run albeit in DWG format or others. Copyright protection on your plans is a must.

3D collaboration can be done in a number of ways. As mentioned above and also some people here like to export their 3D model views into other 3D rendering applications as well to work on them. Ideally for Chief Architect users, it’s good if the interior designers have a copy of Chief Interiors or even if you can do your model in home designer pro first or similar products ? For this to work with other Chief related products, you will need to confirm file transfers between these applications. Sending a 2D DWG file for the interior designer to draw their own walls over is another good option particularly if they have their own dedicated interior design software. Placing and editing cabinets and objects is very easy to use in Chief Architect. I think the first thing you need to know is, what application will your interior designer be using and then take it from there.

Thanks Glenn, I think you answered my question in your first reply ? “Room Labels” are the answer because the room type will determine how the model will build. The room label will automatically add certain parameters into the room DBX for us. Just like “Open Below” does and so forth. Would it be possible for the programmers to create extra room labels that create the conditions mentioned in the two linked articles above ? “Split level Room” creates those parameters automatically without the confusion of following all those steps above. It can prompt us for a level to be inserted, either positive for shifting the room up or negative for setting the whole room down including the ceiling in this case. ”Split Level Entry” creates those parameters automatically as well, following the steps above to create this condition. Something to think about for X15 ? I and others like the “KISS” method or “Keep It Simple Stupid” lol.

Hi Glenn, don’t get me wrong, I like many things in Chief Architect and it is superior to other cad in lots of ways like cabinets and framing. It’s a very complete package for for home designing. Other more commercial developed cad software tools are too focused on commercial buildings and interoperability and they are leaving a gap for home design focused software like Chief to develop more into. I would like to see you post a video on your method of creating a split level home so we can all save time in the process. I would also like to hear from you what improvements Chief Architect could make so that this process is more efficient and streamlined. Like I said, I don’t expect Chief to change to how other software works but I do expect it to make simple split level homes much easier to create. Hope you are doing well in Australia. Current method link below. https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00932/creating-a-split-level-structure.html Split level entry with a landing, link below. https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-00269/creating-a-split-level-entry-with-a-landing.html

This is a perfect example of why I think Chief Architect needs to change the way it works with room modules being all interconnected. Sure you could leave the home designer versions stay just like they are. With Chief Architect Premier you could have the programmers re-write the software ware so that we can disconnect the room modules or in other words explode them. Then be able to edit individual elements like foundations, walls, roofs etc like other software can do because they don’t have a room module system like this in the first place. They have separate 3 dimensional areas that are usually defined by a cad line system of some sort, not by solid interconnected elements like Chief does. Ultimately if you could reconnect all your room modules again with a click and keep all your edited elements in place. That would be amazing. This is just a dream and I don’t really think Chief Architect will ever be able to work like I am proposing in the future either. Chief is good for single and multi story homes but when the level is split it becomes complicated just like this situation illustrates. Thank you for the links and videos references and yes I would need to watch them a few times through to get to know how to do this modification correctly. Anybody else up for the challenge ?

Success ! I was also able to get CAV9.5 working on the XPPC with 32bit windows XP pro. The drivers above were not quite old enough to run the HASP dongle for V9.5 but they are old enough to run for V10. I was able to manually install the driver for the HASP/USB key lock dongle for V9.5 from my installation CD, once I found the file. This is a good security protection measure because if you don’t have the right CD key and dongle to go with it, you will not be able to run CA at all. We paid big money back then to use Chief Architect and for the subsequent upgrades. I am very happy with my brand new PC with XP windows 32bit pro on it. I can access my old plans from previous versions no problem now. I have never seen XP run so fast. I do have an I7 2600 quad core CPU with 4GB ram installed, as XP will only see 4GB ram. My old 32bit XP PC was very sluggish and about to die so I upgraded for plan file storage of all my old plans and layouts. Cost me about $500 US delivered but it was well worth it. And of course my time but hey that’s cool. I don’t even have to edit the font now, I am very happy with the results. I am not quite sharp enough to start from scratch these days as I am retired. I hope this post helps others out there who have been using CA for nearly a quarter of a century ? Have fun using CA.

Hi, I bought my new PC set up with XP 32 bit pro installed on it. I have never seen XP run so fast lol. I installed CAV9.5 and the premium content CDs 1 & 2 and I manually installed the 32 bit driver for the HASP/USB key and the program would not recognise the key once again. Although this is a 64 bit machine or motherboard, it was able to run CAV10 from my old XP 32 bit hard drive that I connected with a USB adapter kit. I was able to open the layout file from my old job that I did with version 9.5 with CAV10 from a back up CD that I saved all my plans and layouts on. All the stacked layouts plans cross sections etc showed up fine. The font may have to be adjusted slightly but apart from that I am very happy with the results. I think this worked because CAV10 was designed to run on XP 32bit and 64bit as well, from what I can gather ? If you want to go back further than that, to open old plan files, you will definitely need an older O/S with a 32 bit machine to do so. Read the program specifications for the older versions of Chief before you buy. I am glad that it worked but because I have many plans that I saved and did with much older versions of Chief. That’s why I could justify the expense of a brand new gaming PC with XP pro 32 bit installed on it. Gamers also like windows 98SE and they still have these machines running this old O/S just for pc games. Thanks to them we can use much older versions of the program if we really need to. Once again have fun using Chief Architect and the current version X14 looks great to me with all the improvements. Update: I did a fresh install on this new PC of CAV10 and everything went well and it’s working fine. I can easily open all my Chief plans & layouts from older versions with CAV10. From what I remember, there was not much of a variation in the plan and layout files from opening them with V10. So I am content with that and if the re-modeling of this older house plan is minimal ? I will probably edit the plan with V10 so I don’t have to re create a new set of full layouts. All to save time. Thank you to all for your suggestions.

Conclusion for all who are interested. You must have a 32 bit operating system to install the correct drivers for HASP/USB key locks in order to run CAV10 or lower. You can have a 64 bit PC with a 32 bit O/S but you probably need windows XP if possible ? Please be careful when you google drivers because you end up finding driver scan programs that want to install their software on your PC. This was the best site for me to find the old drivers. “DeviceInBox” website. ALADDIN USB KEY DRIVER V.7.54 WINDOWS XP, WINDOWS VISTA, WINDOWS 7, WINDOWS 8, WINDOWS 8.1, WINDOWS 10 You may have to do a manual install and please note that there are two folders containing HASP drivers, 32 bit & 64 bit, for the download above. I manually installed the driver for my HASP key lock and since all my PC’s are 64 bit with 64 bit O/S the 32 bit drivers would not install for me. So if your PC can run CAV10 its probably because it has a 32 bit O/S and you have been able to install the correct driver ? I chose to purchase a new PC with 32 bit windows pro SP3 installed from eBay Australia. You can find gaming PC’s in the US eBay site with windows XP installed on them. like DJP did, you can have a dual boot with windows XP 32 bit installed. I tried to do that but my PC would not cooperate, probably because W7 64bit was already installed on it and it didn’t like the older O/S. If you have IT experience you may be able get into the BIOS yourself to create dual boot ? I recommend you get an IT specialist to do that for you if you can’t because you can ruin the PC if you do not know what you are doing. Have fun using Chief.

Thank you Mick, for this resource and information, I will definitely read up on this and test it out. I have found drivers for Windows 10 & 7, the HASP/USB key lights go on but the program fails to recognise the hardware lock as per the error message again. I will have to uninstall CAV9.5 and reinstall it again and hopefully it will load the correct drivers and the error message will go away during the loading process ? If that happens ? I am back in business again. “Windows 7 64-bit Disable Driver Signature Enforcement“ Here is a YT video link to a tutorial, Incase someone needs to try this as Driver Signature Enforcement applies as far back as 64bit windows 7, 8 & 10. I will let you know if this fixes the problem for me ? I tried this boot up option for my windows 7 64bit PC and tried to install CAV9.5 install was successful. I got this screen notification below, the problem was when I once again booted in DSE mode and put in the CD key in, the hardware lock was not recognized. I booted it again normally and still had the same problem. I installed Sentinel SDK 8.0.1 prior to installing CAV9.5 also in DSE mode and the light came on the HASP/USB dongle and pc notified me that it was successfully installed. Please note that later version of Sentinel LDK may not have the legacy drivers as reported on the Thales website. Sentinel LDK software must be prior to version 8.15 as reported by Thales. I may still have to find more Aladdin legacy drivers online for it to work ? I will try CAV10 to see if that will work on this windows 7 64bit PC first. I will update this post with my results later on. Just as well I am semi retired otherwise I would just buy an XP PC with 32 bit pro loaded on it and hope for the best lol ? Thank you all for your help so far. CAV10 installed ok on the windows 7 64bit and still the HASP key is not being recognized. Please see the first picture for the error message. I don’t understand why CA cant provide us with the correct drivers to be able to run this legacy software on our newer systems ? We have all invested much time in drawing plans for previous clients and its common sense to go back to your older files and update plans from there. Thats it for me, I am done. I am buying an brand new windows XP pro 32 bit gaming pc to do the job for me. Thank your for all your help fellow users. Have fun.

Thank you Bob, I will give that a try as well. I decided against getting an old laptop PC with XP on it because they don’t quite have enough memory on them. Plus they are used and they will not last long. I have managed to find a brand new PC with XP on it, probably leftover unsold stock ? I think the older PC’s were totally 32 bit architecture and I believe that’s where the problem lies ? Probably up for $500 US or more ? I have a spare PC that I have tried to boot my old XP 32bit hard drive on it but it didn’t load properly. I think the problem is that is a 64 bit architecture PC and that’s why it will not work ? Having sufficient back up is very important in this business. I have backed up my work on floppy disks, Zip disks, CD’s and USB drives in the past. I managed to find a CD with all my plans from V10 & 9.5 back to V6.0 on it, I will try those CD files and hope they are not corrupt ? I don’t give up easily and if I have to buy an old PC to back up my past work properly, then I will. Accessing some old plan files and remodeling them saves allot of time. Software providers just don’t care enough about that as shown by this problem once again, I found this site below but I think these drivers will only work on a XP 32 bit architecture not on a XP 64 bit architecture pc ? https://www.rainbow.com.my/support.php?id=1 Thank you all for your suggestions. I will let you know when I have the problem fully resolved.

Thank you Bob, I will give that a try as well. I decided against getting an old laptop PC with XP on it because they don’t quite have enough memory on them. Plus they are used and they will not last long. I have managed to find a brand new PC with XP on it, probably leftover unsold stock ? I think the older PC’s were totally 32 bit architecture and I believe that’s where the problem lies ? Probably up for $500 US or more ? I have a spare PC that I have tried to boot my old XP 32bit hard drive on it but it didn’t load properly. I think the problem is that is a 64 bit architecture PC and that’s why it will not work ? Having sufficient back up is very important in this business. I have backed up my work on floppy disks, Zip disks, CD’s and USB drives in the past. I managed to find a CD with all my plans from V10 & 9.5 back to V6.0 on it, I will try those CD files and hope they are not corrupt ? I don’t give up easily and if I have to buy an old PC to back up my past work properly, then I will. Accessing some old plan files and remodeling them saves allot of time. Software providers just don’t care enough about that as shown by this problem once again, I found this site below but I think these drivers will only work on a XP 32 bit architecture not on a XP 64 bit architecture pc ? https://www.rainbow.com.my/support.php?id=1 Thank you all for your suggestions. I will let you know when I have the problem fully resolved.

Thank you Dermot, I will definitely try that suggestion. I am not sure on how to relink the layout file to the updated plan file. If I cant figure it out, I will ask. I will purchase a good small used gaming laptop here in Australia that runs XP 32 bit pro to view my old plan files from CAV10 and earlier. I can get one for under a $100 US. That’s the “Lew Buttery” method lol. I tried to boot my old XP hard dive last night, that has all my old programs on it. It nearly started then stopped part way. I think I have to repair my Windows XP installation to get it to load properly. like I said, I don’t give up that easily. have fun.

The plan file I opened was definitely a V9.5 plan and it opened it no problem with X2 and later. I may have to do the X8 save the plan to see if I can also open the layout file as well ? I have saved copies of the layout files on USB thumb drives as well as on older hard drives that I can access with a kit. Those layout files unfortunately didn’t open for me either. I moved house recently and shredded the hard copy of the plans for this job. I may be able to search for a PDF file of the plans, if I indeed made a PDF copy that we should always do for backup. As Ben Palmer suggested and he is right as I agree that it would be best to re do the whole plan in the latest version of the program. The reason being is that this house is split level and has half set down levels in it as well. Unfortunately very older versions of the program struggled with this type of design especially with external stairs and in trying to get the floor levels correct as well. I know that Chief Architect works with room cubic modules that are all interconnected and that raises issues when these modules are set down or raised up. That’s why I had problems in the past with this type of design in the very older versions of the program. I hope that most of these issues would have been ironed out by now ? I have been retired since mid 2014 and I have upgraded up to version X10 so far. I am coming out of retirement now part time to do some more work. I am very tenacious and don’t give up easily but there comes a time when you have to give up or you will just waste too much time fighting an old operating system. If I had my time over again I think I would chose Macintosh operating systems rather windows. But having said that, Windows 10 is pretty good so far and I hope that Windows 11 would be on a par with Mac ? Does anyone have a link to the “Aladdin virtual device driver for windows” for either windows 7 or 10 ? That’s what the install error messages are about with CAV10 & 9.5. I think it would be more than fair for CA to put this link on its support page for this issue above and please stop giving us all the run around. We use cad software to save our time and not to waste it. Thank you all for your input and suggestions so far.

Thank your Dermot, my plan was done in CAV9.5 and the problem is that my layout files will not open in later versions of the program. X2 will open the plan files right up to X10 so far but they will not open the layout file that I need because that’s where the plans are all stacked edited etc. A person called Bobby S had a driver ID of 7.92.0.0 from 2019. I managed to install that driver but the program didn’t run even though the dongle light was on. The operating system was asking for further installing of the driver or on another machine it was asking to troubleshoot the driver. I download a diagnostics tool from Thales to test the drivers and they come up as not working. My guess is, that they are old 32 bit drivers from the windows XP drivers cache ? These cannot be downloaded from Thales because they are out of date but if you happen to be a vendor you may be able to access those old drivers for us ? I will give Bob Medvetz suggestion a try first. The pictures below show the install error numbers, the first one is from the V9.5 install and the second is the V10 install. I have no clue what they mean because I am not an IT specialist. A simple download link to the drivers needed would be enough for me and many others of us to use to get our old plans as drawn open including layout files. I would then print the plans as a pdf and then work on them in my latest version of the program. How hard is that for CA ?

Yes Bob, I have read this and CA support are asking us to go to Thales and ask them for support to get the old drivers for the HASP/USB dongles on our older versions of the program to work. I haven’t asked them yet but I will if I can’t get it to work on my surface pro 3 tablet. Thank you for your help. Hi Bob, I was able to install CAV9.5 to MSSP3 tablet no driver was available for the HASP/USB dongle. I tried asking Thales but they replied that I needed to contact the Vendor for support. The Vendor is Chief Architect in this case so they will need to help us with this issue if they are indeed willing and able to do so ? Thank you once again.

DJP, what will you do when your computer fails and XP will not load anymore ? I think it would be fair to all us long time users to be able to run our software from CAV10 and earlier with no hardware lock required, just a CD key and maybe a software key as well ? I propose that CA provide us with a patch to be able to disengage the hardware locks on any version of the old software from V10 and prior that we have owned so that we do not run into these problems again. Wouldn’t that be what software assurance is all about ? Just a serious suggestion from me to support.

Thank you Maureen. Does that mean that a correct driver for the HASP/USB dongle for CAV10 has been installed on your surface laptop with windows 10 ? Or is CAV10 running without a HASP/USB dongle on you surface laptop ? I do have a surface pro tablet with windows 10 on it and it does have a USB port on it as well. I will try install CAV10 on it and see if this tablet will recognize the HASP/USB dongle or run without it ? I have no problems opening the plan file with much later versions of the CA like X8. The layout files were many and quite complicated with this split level home. Since it was about 17 years ago that I did that job and I need to get my head around the plans before remodeling the house and adding new rooms to it. I need to open the layout file in the early version of CA if that is possible ?

Thank you for your reply DJP. I had my old CA versions running on Windows 7 with XP mode virtual machine in the past but I dismantled that PC years ago. I maybe able to still find the XP mode file on an old hard drive and re install it but I would much rather prefer to find the correct drivers first to install on the Windows 10 PC. Since others have done this with CAV10. CAX1 and above Sentinel hardware locks or dongles are being recognized no problem with my Windows 10 PC and run fine. I would hope that someone here might be able to tell me, by going into the device manager and clicking on the dongles and then tell me what driver is being used by the system to get Chief Architect version 10 or 9.5 to run on Windows 7 or higher ?

Has anyone been able to get Chief Architect version 10 or 9.5 working on a PC with windows 7 or higher? I have done much research here and read the support information about this issue above. I have been able to install CA version 9.5 and 10 on a Windows 7 PC and a Windows 10 PC. I have downloaded the drivers from the Thales website and the dongles light up but they are still not being recognized by Chief Architect after I put the CD key info in. I get the usual prompt to run the trouble shooter etc. I am not willing to go backwards to XP or Vista as those operating systems are not quite stable enough for my liking. I have heard of a user here being able to run CAV10 on a laptop with windows 10 on it. If you have had any success with this issue please help. I have spent many hours trying to get these older programs to recognize the hardware locks. Thank you very much for those who have posted in the past.