Dermot

There are no known issues with the 19.3.1.8 update. The latest update available is always the one you should be using for every version of Chief Architect.

I do not recommend this. This message is telling you that you are not using the latest version of X8 and an update is available. The update probably has some very useful things like fixes for crashes or other program bugs. Not using the latest version is only going to make your life harder, not easier. You should download and install the latest update and the message will then go away. Turning off the preference will then prevent you from getting any future messages if we ever need to update the older version again.

Doing new projects in X10 and keeping your older projects in X8 is a perfectly fine strategy. We work very hard to try and make sure that legacy plans will come forward with very few problems but they can sometimes happen. The older the plan file the more likely you will see problems. Your screenshots are missing so I can only guess what you are seeing. If you see this message when you launch X8: This means that you are not using the latest version of X8. You should download and install the update. Once you are using the latest version, you should not see this message again. If you see this message when you launch X8: This is just informing you that a new version is available. Since you already have X0, you should check the "Do not show this message again" box and then click "No". This message will not show up again unless you reset your message boxes in your preferences. Why not? Are you trying to open the file from the program or are you trying to open it from Windows Explorer? If you are trying to open the plan from Windows Explorer, you may have issues because of Windows file associations. A file type can only be associated with one program and there is no way to associate X8 files with X8 and X10 files with X10. I recommend that you only open the X8 files from within the program to avoid this problem. Another possibility is that you accidently saved the X8 file using X10. X8 will not be able to open any files that have been saved by X10. The program will automatically create a backup of the original X8 file for you when do this. You should get a message if you do this explaining where the program saved the backup. The message looks something like this: No. You should be able to continue to use X8 and X10 on the same system. I recommend that you develop a file management strategy that allows you to keep your plans separate and avoid any confusion. If all else fails, contact our technical support department for more help.

Your walls are on the second floor and are on the "Garage" layer which is turned off in your "All On" layer set. Go to the second floor, turn on this layer, then you can select and delete the garage walls. You have some other layers turned off in your "All On" layer set that you might want to turn on. You also have a missing symbol in your electrical defaults that you may want to reassign. I did not look for any other issues but I would recommend that you go through and review your other defaults (especially your room and floor defaults), purge unused cad blocks, delete unused cad details, get rid of saved cameras you don't need, and such.

Rather then purchase an older version of Chief Architect I would encourage you to consider taking advantage of our rent to own program or purchasing one of our other products, like Chief Architect Interiors or Home Designer Pro. Purchasing a current version of the software will always give you the most current features, best available support, best available training materials, and access to most current libraries. More information about our rental program can be found here: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/software-rental/ More information about Chief Architect Interiors can be found here: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/products/interior-design/interiors/ More information about HD Pro can be found here: https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/products/home-designer-pro/ If you have additional questions, please contact our sales department during our normal business hours. Someone here will be more than happy to go over these options in more detail to help you decide which product best fits your needs and budget.

SSA has absolutely nothing to do with program security. SSA is an annual subscription that includes program upgrades, technical support, training videos, bonus content, and more. The first year of SSA is included with every new purchase but is completely optional after that. If you decide not to renew your SSA, you will be able to continue to use your software as long as your computer and operating system will still support it. You can get more information about SSA here: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/products/ssa/ All versions of Chief Architect software come with some kind of program security to prevent unauthorized use of the software. Prior versions were available with either software security or hardware lock security. X10 is only available with software security which requires regular access to the internet to verify that it is a legitimate version of the software. If you have questions or concerns about any of this, please contact our customer service department during our normal business hours.

Technically, there is no way to turn off framing headers and still get the header labels. If you set the header fill style to "none" and the line style to "invisible", they are essentially hidden.

Currently, the program does not fill out the automatic header label when you switch from automatic to manual like it does for other objects. It's pretty easy to create your own custom header label using the insert macro menu. You don't even need to know ruby or purchase any third party packages. See attached plan and picture. One window is full auto. The other has a custom header label. You could just as easily make this the default label for all windows and doors by specifying it in your window and door defaults. I used the following: %nominal_size% x %length% HDR (%header_count%) header label.plan

X10 already has header label defaults. Look on the Framing panel of your window and door specification (or window and door default) dialog.

You can retain your legacy wall framing by not rebuilding it. You can always manually specify whatever labels you want. You should probably make a proper suggestion if you want more control over header construction styles.

Reread Bill's last post. You will get multiple header labels if you bring in a legacy plan that already has wall framing. When you rebuild the framing in X10 you should then have only one label.

If by "chief people" you mean employees of Chief Architect, then I would recommend you make your request in the suggestions forum. We don't look for suggestions in any of the other forums.

Please note that once you save a plan in X10 that you will not be able to open it in X9.

The height that you specify in the "Make Room Molding Polyline" dialog box will determine which doors and windows the molding will get cut out for. More information can be found here: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00070/adding-a-belly-band-to-a-structure.html

You could turn off the labels for your interior doors by selecting them all and checking "suppress label". This will turn them off for all views regardless of the layer settings. If you never want labels on interior doors, you could also set this in your interior door defaults before placing any doors.

Regarding templates, you should not modify the ones installed in the program folder. In fact, you should probably not modify anything installed in the program folder. If you have, I would recommend that you uninstall and reinstall the program. Modifying the ones in your data folder is OK but I think it is preferred to create new templates rather then modify the ones shipped with Chief. You can always make your template the default for new plans by changing your preferences so there really is no reason that you need to modify the ones we ship. On a side note, I would never trust that a template plan posted on this forum is actually the same as the most current one that gets installed. If all else fails, contact tech support for more help.

So every time the label was drawn, it would execute the macro which would then force a redraw which would draw the label again. This is what we call an endless loop. I'm not sure what problem you are trying to solve but I don't think this is the solution you want.

Copying your schedule is a pretty easy solution but you could also use the Import Default Settings tool.

Scott, That looks like a very nice laptop and Chief should perform very well on it. I personally would have a hard time justifying the price though. At almost $3000 it's pretty much on the high-end of the price range for laptops. I suspect that you would also get good performance out of a machine that is half as much. Typically, spending twice as much will not give you twice the performance of a good machine (on the low-end maybe but not on the high-end). I would guess that you would only get something like 10% better performance. Whether or not spending that much more for the added performance is worth it to you depends a lot on your business model and personal preferences.

My guess is that you went into your preferences and turned off "Use Enhanced Lighting". If this is the case, then turn it back on. Reflections won't work unless use enhanced lighting is turned on. There is no reason to turn off use enhanced lighting unless you are working with tech support and trying to troubleshoot video card problems.

I would recommend that you keep the option to automatically connect island rooms turned on. An "island" room is created when you have an interior room that is not connected to any exterior walls. If they are not connected, you could have problems with things like room definitions, floors, ceilings, moldings, and possibly other things. If you don't like where the program puts the automatic room connectors, then you can manually draw your own. Once you have drawn your own, you can then delete the automatic one and it should not come back. If you don't want to see these room connectors, then just put them on their own layer and turn off the layer.

You could also use a manual dimension line. Just draw a dimension going from the wall to the framing, select the dimension and drag the end to the wall sheathing.

It looks to me like you added the molding to the toe kick area and then tried to move it out so it is flush with the cabinet box. You will probably have better luck adding the molding to the cabinet box (raise it up some). If you need to, you can adjust the bottom separation (face frame) so that you have something to attach the molding to and not conflict with your drawers.

You could try looking at this help article: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00958/message-couldn-t-find-electrical-objects-in-the-electrical-library.html

Room schedules won't display the heights of any custom ceiling planes. You can have any number of custom ceiling planes at various slopes that may cover any portion of a room and the room schedule is just not smart enough to determine which height(s) you want to display. From what you have described, you might be better off using a shelf ceiling instead of a custom ceiling plane. Shelf ceilings allow you to have an interior room with a lower ceiling and lower walls that are independent of the overall structure. They will also display the correct ceiling height in the room schedule.