TonyWed

Wow, thanks for all of the comments. I've used various home design software and taken time to learn to use them reasonably well. I've designed many homes (though only a couple have been built) over the years but haven't had the need to do anything for several years. I now wanted to get a quick design just for a rear deck/verandah and front porch, on an existing house. I don't have a huge amount of time to learn to use this powerful tool, which I'm sure could do the job, if I had the time. Maybe I will, in the end, but I think I'll have to resort to pencil and paper to get some quotes for the work. Thanks to HumbleChief for doing that mock-up. It shows that's it's probably possible, even if the roof has to be done separately, though that mock-up had a flat roof that I wasn't quickly able to modify. It is similar to the photo in the OP but that wasn't quite what I was after, as I explained there. I'm always changing my mind so, you never know, I may come back to this with Chief Architect. Thanks, again.

Thanks DJP. I thought I was doing all of that but I started again, keeping in mind what you wrote. I did eventually manage to get a roof, sort of. The key may have been to not attach the deck to the house but make it a separate structure. I also removed the "invisible" check mark. However, putting a roof on actually removed part of the roof and wall of the house and I couldn't seem to get the right number of posts to the beam. There were many other issues which I think will take me too long to solve to make this a viable program. Meaning no disrespect to the product, which looks pretty good for the house design, I thought it was an architect grade product, at the main selling price, but it doesn't appear to have the flexibility I expected. I may have to resort to pencil and paper! Thanks for the responses. Adding a screenshot of where I got to, as context.

Thanks, Solver. However, this is the correct forum, I think. I said I tried Home Designer but couldn't modify the roof the way I wanted. So I'm trying the trial version of Chief Architect to see it that can do the job.

The answer to the question may seem obvious since the program docs say this is possible but I can't get it working. I tried Home Designer professional first and this created a roof but I couldn't modify the roof it generated. I've been trying to find a photo to illustrate what I'm trying to achieve but the attached photo is the closest I could get. It's a single storey home with a mono-pitch roof and the deck goes all of the way along the side of the house. This is what I want but I also want a complete roof (rather than the pergola seen here). The roof should also be a mono-pitch roof but with the high point just below the house roof, sloping the other way. The deck roof would be supported by posts to a beam, but no rails. I'm looking for some software to help me design the roofed deck and give me a materials list. I though Chief would do all this though Home Designer professional didn't quite make it. I'm happy to rent it for a month to get this done but, so far, with the trial version I can't even get any roof over the deck despite checking the roof over box and trying to set the end "walls" of the deck appropriately for a "shed roof". As an aside, I also tried to set the pier size in the foundation setting to less than 200mm but it doesn't let me go below that number. Why not? It also doesn't let me set the length of the pier to less than 600mm. Very frustrating, as there is no indication why not and I couldn't find the restriction in the docs.

Wow, the tips just keep on coming! Thanks again, Mick. Disabling the NVidia controller worked for me but I then tried re-enabling but using the NVidia control panel to set Home Designer to use the Intel chip (I'm angry with myself for not seeing that option before but I guess it wasn't obvious under the circumstances - thanks for the instructions). This also works. However, I will keep in mind the downgrade of the NVidia driver (I've actually downloaded it ready) if I ever feel the need to have Home Designer use it again, though it seems to work fine without. Cheers!

Thanks, Mick. The NVidia control panel didn't have the ability to select applications (though the Intel one did). I tried various settings on the Intel control panel but none seemed to help. The NVidia driver version was completely different to the one you mentioned, so I simply rolled back (only one roll back allowed, it seems) which took it to driver version 23.21.13.8831. Still didn't help so I tried disabling the NVidia controller and, hey presto, that fixed the problem. I can get 3D views and haven't noticed anything not working so that's certainly an option for me now. Thanks once again.

Thanks, Mick, and many apologies for using the wrong forum. I will use the correct one in future. I'll also be sure to check out your suggestions. I'm not sure what the graphics driver version has to do with this but I've seen enough strange software issues to not be too surprised. Thanks again for your assistance.

I'm just starting out in Home Designer 2018 on Windows 10 (a new laptop with 16GB of memory and the latest video drivers. The program works well until I try to use the Library Browser to add objects to the design. For example, with search, The first time I use the search is fine but after I add the object to my design and go to search for anything else, the library browser seems to freeze allowing no interaction (e.g. clicking anywhere does nothing) and outside of the Library Browser, in the main design panel, I see no pointer (though it sometimes returns after switching to other Windows apps). I can close the application and get prompted to save but I can't really work in this staccato fashion. The same thing happens when just browsing for the objects, it's OK for the first object but I can't select any more after adding to the design. Maybe the freeze only lasts a certain time but I did leave it for multiple tens of seconds before deciding it wasn't going to come back (it's impossible to work with that sort of a delay anyway. I have seen one crash, I think that's when I left it for a much longer time and tried to get at other design functions without success. I'm not doing anything unusual, as far as I can tell, so this is quite annoying. If anyone has any ideas, I'd be very grateful. If I try to close the Library Browser only during a freeze, it won't close but the second time I click the X on the Library Browser, I get prompted to save the design, as though I'd closed the design.