SNestor

@BruceKC - I was looking at the way you built the front porch thought I'd mess with it and try to build it a different way. You might take a look at the attached and see what I did. FYI - I used a post-to-beam railing wall. Made the wall wide enough so that the beam is centered on the columns. I removed the floor from the porch room...used a "solid" in it's place...I put this solid on the "slab" layer. I also used the stock columns from the Chief library and made a few basic edits to the 2D cad block. I also changed the rafters in the porch roof to 2x6...and the ridge board. You're original plan had 2x10's with a 2x6 sub fascia. This was lifting the soffit and creating issues. Not sure you want to frame it this way...just wanted to let you know what I did. Builder.TEST PLAN-Edited.plan.zip

@BruceKC - Bruce, all I did was open the plan and rebuild the foundation and all the footings were aligned...I didn't spend a lot of time reviewing the plan but you might also review your defaults then reset the foundation level to the "default".

@BruceKC - have you tried to create a new test plan and dimension....if so, are you getting the same result? I'm wondering if it's a plan issue. Did you start this plan in an older version of Chief and bring it forward into X15? I open X15, draw a quick test plan, set up the manual dimensions to grab the centers of interior walls and the dimensioning works fine. But - your plan doesn't...and I'm not sure why.

Go to the foundation level, turn on your reference display (F9 is the hotkey). Now...click on the "0" floor level and click the define in the reference display window...in this layer set make sure you have "checked" the layer "walls, railing". You should now be able to see the newels in your deck railing. If not, then make sure in your railing wall definition, under the "newels/balusters" tab you have check "draw newels" and "draw balusters/panels" boxes listed under the "Plan Display" section of the tab.

We are all just guessing...can you post a plan or sample plan? Or...at a minimum post some screen shots of the deck structure tab so we can see what you are doing. Thanks!

Yes...it's a computer program that knows the VSD when you set the top chord parameter in your defaults. I think the software should default to this as the heel height...and allow us to change it as needed. But - alas, I may be in the minority.

I understand that we can set the heel height to the vertical structure depth...but, why for sake do we have to? There is no one that would build a truss where the top chord intersects the outer surface of the main layer. I mean it's just dumb. How does having to set this dimension help any of us get our work done quicker or more accurately? And...how do new users know that if they don't want a raised heel that they need to minimally enter the vertical structure depth as the heel height? Crazy... Chief engineers need to start over and fix this tool...my two cents.

Just FYI...I built the roof using "auto rebuild". I set the heel height to zero. You would think that the truss would build normally...with the bottom chord extending the outer surface of the main layer. The "auto truss" tool needs a lot of work to get me to use it on a regular basis.

Actually...if you look closely it's clipping the ceiling. So...something isn't working properly. I think I'm going to send in a report.

So, if you specify "roof trusses" in the structure tab of the roof build dialogue and specify zero inch heel height...the top chord of the truss sits at the outside edge of the wall main layer. Is this a bug...or, do we always have to specify a heel height when specifying trusses?

You should be posting a copy of your Chief plan...not a DWG file. Thanks!

It would be nice if we could have a “raise/lower off plate” setting in the wall DBX like we have for roof pitch.

You solution seems like a lot more work in order to get Chief to auto build the roof you want. I like your first solution...just build the roof to default settings then make manual adjustment. Job done.

I offer 1-1 training if interested. Check out my website - link is in my signature. www.mychiefskills.com

Lisa - lots of little things going on in your plan. The dormer fix is very simple. Watch the video...should answer most of your questions. Well...I was going to upload the fixed file - but you are using X12 and I used X14. I'm sorry...I didn't notice this in your signature. The fixes are similar in X12 so I think if you watch the video you will be able to figure things out. Lisa - DefinedDesign - dormer fix and other things - Watch Video

Yes…I pulled the walls out 18 inches. Chief won’t put a ceiling on the underside of the cantilevered area. You can use a molding polyline to add a soffit if you desire.

Wall don't sit on top of roof planes...well, you can make it work but it's not worth the effort

You need to mark the porch room to have a roof above...in the room dialogue. That will fix the boxed eave. Then...open the disformed gable end wall, go to the structure tab, and check "default wall top height".

Don't use a roof plane. Just build another balcony room using railing walls. Use a molding polyline for the gutter.

@Chrisb222 - Yea, I'm not sure if this is an Apple problem, such that Apples graphics hardware is extremely sub-par, or...is it that Chief is unable to justify the resources required to play in the Apple world. That's what it sounds like...but, it's hard to know. It doesn't matter that much to me (I hardly ever need RTRT) however, for MAC users that have invested 5K or more for a robust M1 or M2 Apple system it must really piss them off that this feature is not accessible to them.

@Ryan-M - Thanks so much for that great explanation. Lots of things I did not know.

You could use landings for the first two steps/treads. For the railing wall...the sloped section should be a railing pony wall.

There's just too many steps to just write it down. If I get time I'll make you a short video...no promises.

Not totally sure what the issue is...but, I deleted the deck roof. Redrew the roof and placed a new skylight and it worked fine.

@Cadwork22 Here you go; Kinzler1 - fixed.plan.zip