Dermot

Regarding migrating template plans...

If we didn't think you should ever migrate template plans, then it wouldn't even be an option.

Tech support will often recommend creating a new template starting with the default one that we ship with the program.  This is because tech support sees lots of problem plans and they know that creating a new template can help prevent you from bringing any problems forward into all of your new plans.

We always migrate our shipping templates forward for every new release. We also have a testing team that looks at them very carefully to make sure that they don't have any problems.

If you have a lot of confidence in the template plan that you were using in X13, then you should have no problem bringing it forward and using it in X14.  I would be more hesitant to bring in a template plan from an earlier version though.  The older the plan is, the more likely it is that you will find problems when you bring it forward.

Please remember that X14 is currently available as a beta version.  This means that you may find some problems that were not in prior versions.  Please report all of these problems directly to our tech support team so that we can try to correct them prior to the actual release. 

Feel free to also report any problems that were in prior versions that have not been addressed in X14.  The more people that report a problem, the more likely that it will get addressed sooner rather than later.

Please remember that posting on Chieftalk is not the same as reporting problems to us.  Although Chieftalk is moderated by Chief Architect, it is really just a user forum where the majority of the content here comes directly from users.  While some employees may read and even comment on some posts, there is no guarantee that any given post will be looked at by an employee.

You can find out how to contact support here:

https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/

If you are having any issues with your SSA or digital locker, please contact our customer service or tech support team.

If you click on Scott's link above, you will see the official info about X14, including this:

Is your SSA current through May? Visit your Digital Locker and download the Beta version. You can expect to see the Official Release version of Chief Architect X14 by the end of May 2022.

Have you tried placing the niche while in a plan view?

Apparently, there is a problem in camera views if your wall is too thick.  Shouldn't matter how many layers you have or if any of them is marked as framing.  It's just the total thickness.

Unless it's back clipped.  

You could make your column out of a cabinet or soffit (because they can have moldings attached to them).

It's also in the Object Layer Properties.

General Plan Defaults

KB-00001 is about backing up.

KB-00091 is about restoring.

See if this tech article helps:

https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00091/restoring-chief-architect-content.html

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I brought this issue up in the thread below a few months ago...

It's not the same issue.  Adam found a brand new problem in the recently released 23.4 update that was causing a significant slowdown compared to 23.3.  This was a very specific problem having to do with our texture mapping algorithms and some pretty complex surfaces (nested arched mulled units with a custom molding profile).

We are working on a fix for this problem and hope to have this available in the near future.

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Since the problem is intermittent, I haven't figured out how to perfectly reproduce the problem with a simple example and exact instructions. I am working on this but it will take some doing.

When you do figure it out, then please let us know.  We will look into further and hopefully we can speed some things up.

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...the stair stringer on an L shape (which is open to a room) will sometimes become extra wide, for no apparent reason. 

That doesn't sound right.  If you can create a plan with this situation, then you should report this to our tech support team.

When you create a flared stair, you can edit the shape on each side independently. 

Maybe you are using a starter tread?  Starter treads will automatically build on both sides unless the side is against a wall.  If you have a situation where you don't have a wall but don't want the starter tread, you may be able to trick the program with a room divider or invisible wall.  You could also create your starter tread using a landing which will allow you to create it pretty much any shape you want.

If this does not help you solve your problem, then you may want to post a picture or plan.

I think this means that the raytrace engine could not find the texture you are using with your material.  It could also mean that there is something wrong with either the texture or the material that is causing a problem for the raytrace engine.

You might want to try using a different material, or posting a simple version of the plan to see if someone wants to look into it, or contacting technical support during normal business hours for additional help.

Here is a previous post from someone with a similar problem:

"Any ideas as to why this would happen?"

Too many reasons for me to want to make random guesses.  If you still need help, you should either post the plan so that someone can take a look at it or contact technical support.

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And for some (stupid?) reason this is the single item you cannot click on, find its layer then turn it off. I remember turning off and on many many different layers until I learned that those dashed lines were 'ceiling break lines'. There's absolutely no way to know this following Chief's traditional paradigm of clicking on an object and learning its layer, then turn that layer off. Never understood why this single item CANNOT be selected and turned off in plan view - and oh yeah, it's been this way for at least 15 years.

It's actually pretty simple.  You can't edit ceiling break lines.  We don't let you select things you can't edit.  We have a number of other layers that allow you to control how things display that you can't select and edit.

I wonder what happens if you select the "Walls, Beams" layer and then click on the "Reset Layer Names" button?

My guess is that you started this plan in a very old version of Chief.  We used to have a system layer called "Walls, Beams" but that was renamed "Ceiling Break Lines" a long time ago. 

So the ceiling break line is indicating that your ceiling height is higher than the bottom of the roof plane.  This is probably the same reason that you are seeing the bottom of the roof plane in your camera view.  You can probably solve your problem by either raising your roof or lowering your ceiling, depending on what makes sense in your model.

If you want more help, you should probably post the plan or contact tech support.

We will look into Adam's bug report to see if there is something in the 23.4 update causing the slow downs.  Hopefully, he has sent us all of the needed plan files as well as some information about what he is doing so we can reproduce the problems.

For anyone else that is experiencing general slowdowns in camera views, I recommend this tech article:

https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00521/troubleshooting-slowness-in-chief-architect-plans.html

Actually, I prefer to use the "End to End Dimension" tool instead of the "Point to Point Dimension" tool.  The "Point to Point" tool will place Markers if you don't pick up the object you are trying to dimension and the "End to End" tool won't do this.

If you are using the "End to End" tool you should set the "Locate End to End" settings in your dimension defaults.

This might be a better question to post on the Q&A forum rather than Suggestions.

If you have not already done so, you should check out all of the free videos here:

https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/

You might also want to check out all of the other services available through Chief Architect here:

https://www.chiefarchitect.com/training/

Including the free webinars that are coming up every Thursday.  There will be one on wall framing coming up on this Thursday and one on floor and roof framing coming up on 4/7.  More info about the webinars can be found here:

https://www.chiefarchitect.com/events/

Couple of things to add...

If your landing is not at the proper height, then it might not be connected to the stairs.  Landing are just polyline based objects and if you make the side of the landing along the end of the stair they should connect and be at the right height.  You can also override the automatic height for the landing in the landing dialog.  Sometimes it is useful to set the landing height where you want it and let the stairs use auto heights to connect from the landing to the floor platforms.

As for breaking stairs, if you click on the break tool, you will get a new edit sub-toolbar with the complete break tool as an option.  I sometimes find the complete break is slightly easier than adding a normal break and then using the disconnect tool.  The disconnect tool is also on the main edit toolbar so it's really more like 6 of one and half dozen of the other.  Use which ever tools make the most sense to you.  The end result should be the same.

Rene's method works good if you need to display the stairs on both the foundation floor and the main floor.

If all you want to do is add a landing to your stairs, just shorten them, manually draw a landing at the end, and then draw another down stair section from the landing.

Or you could add a complete break, pull the stairs ends apart by how long you want the landing and then click in between them.

Or, instead of converting it into a symbol, you could create an architectural block.  Both have their advantages but an arch block can be exploded later if you want to change out the knobs.

You might also want to check out the X13 migration guide:

https://cloud.chiefarchitect.com/1/pdf/documentation/chief-architect-x13-migration-guide.pdf