Old Chief Materials library

[Designer1]

Im wanting to find chiefs old library materials from past versions.  I know X11 premier has new updated textures that are suppose to be better and some are but a lot of my old favorites are gone and I miss having them.  My computer crashed and had to reinstall the operating system earlier this year (first time and hopefully last time in my life!) so I don't have previous versions of chief running, just X11 premier.  I cant remember what version of chief started the HD or whatever you call the new images but Im looking at just getting the chief standard library materials only.

 

I went back in my files and found the install catalogs for X7 etc etc but I don't want to install the whole program, just want the materials library from the core catalog.  Where can I go just to find this? I looked on chiefs help articles but they had other articles that weren't dealing with just core library materials it was the entire core library.  Tech support said that the articles would help but they haven't.

 

Thanks!

[Chopsaw]

C:\ProgramData\Chief Architect Premier X7\Referenced Files\CoreCatalogFiles.zip

[Designer1]

Hi Chopsaw, thanks for the reply.  Since my computer was wiped out, I only have x11 data folder on here.  Other then that in my X7 folders on my computer I saved is the chief windows file 17.3.2.2 Win 64 file.  If I click on that it starts installing X7 and I don't want all that on my computer, just the materials portion of the library.  Im just trying to think where else I can look.  I wish I could log onto chiefs content library on the website, like you can for manufacture libraries and then just download the materials from previous versions, that would make it so much easier.

 

Had my computer not wiped out, this wouldn't be an issue because I could have exported one of the many versions of old Chiefs on my computer.

[Chopsaw]

23 minutes ago, solver said:

Install X7, copy the files you want, uninstall X7.

 

Will that even work Eric ?   Would you not just get the latest library items with a fresh install of even X7 ?

 

I would think it would be the same as keeping your X7 libraries current and up to date.

[Designer1]

I tried this for a smaller sample using manufacture libraries and it erases the ones I have and installs an older one... so Im hesitant to mess with my X11 libraries as it seems to delete X11s when you click on even older x7 manufacture libraries.    I tried renaming the folder like Simpsondoor2017 yet it ignores it and still overwrites the new.

 

I might just need to call chief to get the old stuff. 

[DavidJPotter]

7 hours ago, Chopsaw said:

Will that even work Eric ?

 

Chop, I have X1 through X11 on my PC and they do not bother each other including library files (I can run several of them simultaneously which used to not be true). Each application has its own folders and so they do not overwrite each other at all. It is importing those legacy materials that will be a little complicated.

 

DJP

[DavidJPotter]

7 hours ago, Designer1 said:

I might just need to call chief to get the old stuff. 

Older versions of Chief are "No longer supported", remember?

 

The trick is you do the installation manually (automatically you are quite correct in that the newly installed files with the same name will overwrite each other). You have to use common sense and keep the files separated. The old files must be added manually as "Custom Materials" to the LB. A bit of a pain but that is what you are confronted with.

 

DJP

[Kbird1]

18 hours ago, Designer1 said:

I tried renaming the folder like Simpsondoor2017 yet it ignores it and still overwrites the new.

 

Unless it has changed in the last year , the Trick is to rename the OLD Chief Library before you import it , this causes chief to NOT update that Library.

 

I can't confirm it works with every CA Library but I found this out as I had a habit of giving Library Files a more descriptive name when I downloaded them,

and then only later noticed that I didn't have the latest Options in some Library  eg Sliding Barn Doors was missing the Hardware Folder.

 

I now use this to my advantage , for example I have 2 CertainTeed Libraries ...the old Library still has their Fiber Cement Siding while the new 2019 one does not.

 

[Designer1]

Thanks for all the replies and help!

 

  There were a few moving parts with all this so a variety of things ranging from a bad link to one of the libraries, to old libraries replacing new ones.  Bottom line from my several day adventure with this is, you have to download a fresh library download from chiefs website, don't use one that's already downloaded into a folder (even if its not uploaded into Chief), even if its the same one that your about to download from the website.  For some reason once the folder is on your desktop you cant make any changes to it, even if you change the name before uploading into chief and then it replaces your newest libraries.  This can be a headache because then your running around trying to figure out which library is old and new, as neither one of them have different names and don't create two libraries its just one replaced manufacturer library.  So then its like is this the new or old library?

 

So by me downloading several old manufacture libraries and also the old core materials library fresh off chiefs website and before allowing it to save, change the name.  Once it goes onto your desktop folder, even before uploading to chief, any name changes made no difference for me.  So that appears to be the magic of the whole thing.  I kept getting frustrated over the fact that, for the old manufacture libraries, it didn't matter if I already had the library item downloaded to my computer it still would erase the new one.

 

Ahh, glad that whole ordeals over with...now to remember this topic so I can refer to it in the future should I want to do something similar in future chief releases.