topic Re: Masters Disappear At Random in Documentation

Masters Disappear At Random

Anonymous — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 13:51:20 GMT

I'm working on a project in which we've seen a lot of problems with the masters suddenly disappearing from the layouts. Sometimes only certain lines will disappear, sometimes the whole thing will disappear, and sometime everything including the gray grid numbers will disappear. Also, it doesn't necessarily happen on all layouts -- sometimes only a few will lose it and the rest are fine.

The only solution we have found so far is to go to the layout's settings, switch to a different master, then switch back to the master we want. It's an easy fix if we have a couple funky layouts, but if we have 50 of them, that's a different story.

So is it a bug, a feature, or just my luck?

Re: Masters Disappear At Random

__archiben — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 22:21:08 GMT

are you using cadimage revision manager?

if so, try without it and see if it makes a difference . . .

~/archiben

Re: Masters Disappear At Random

David Maudlin — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 13:19:03 GMT

Jay:

You might want to check out this thread:

Master Layout Not Visible

David

Re: Masters Disappear At Random

Rakela Raul — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 14:51:05 GMT

i agree, something wrong with that, been doing the same.

Re: Masters Disappear At Random

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 15:23:17 GMT

~/archiben wrote:
are you using cadimage revision manager?

Nope.

From what I read in the other thread, it sounds like AC will print the geometry just fine -- even if we can't see it on the screen. I'll give it a try next time we find a feisty layout.

Re: Masters Disappear At Random

Anonymous — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:18:29 GMT

UPDATE: In a Teamwork project AC12 doesn't print the missing Master if you don't see it on the screen. It just went Alzheimer's on my current project and I tried switching to another title and back, and I tried saving then switching the title -- no luck.

The only thing that worked was signing out of the project, then signing right back in. I'm not very fond of that method -- seems a bit time-consuming.

Re: Masters Disappear At Random

vfrontiers — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 06:29:51 GMT

Jay wrote:
UPDATE: In a Teamwork project AC12 doesn't print the missing Master if you don't see it on the screen. It just went Alzheimer's on my current project and I tried switching to another title and back, and I tried saving then switching the title -- no luck.

The only thing that worked was signing out of the project, then signing right back in. I'm not very fond of that method -- seems a bit time-consuming.

Been there, done that.

Although my fix was only to CLOSE the file then re-open (don't have to sign out).

I did notice that they disappear after SAVING! All is fine, then you hit save and the master items disappear. Usually only from one master. Eventually, simply switching masters will not work.

I've not really noticed it AS MUCH since the bug fix, but it still exists. I'll have to run the HOTFIX#2 tomorrow.

Re: Masters Disappear At Random

Erich — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 02:12:22 GMT

For what it is worth...

I have found that if I draw anything in the master and then go back to the layout the master reappears. I can then go back and delete whatever was added the the master.

Not using teamwork though, so I don't know how or if it will work there.

Re: Masters Disappear At Random

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 12:59:03 GMT

Mostly this problem related to layer settings, make sure that the information that you put on the master layout is always active in all your layer settings. Variations can be set for different layer sets if you wish. If you have simple information on your Masters that does not need variations then just put everything on the Archicad layer and this problem should not occur anymore.

Re: Masters Disappear At Random

Erich — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 13:40:31 GMT

This discussion and the related one are not a layer problem. I know in my case all master layout items are on the Archicad layer, as is anything else I draw in the master to make it reappear. I would have to say that this is a bug.

After waiting a few days, I installed the latest hotfix last night, so I should know today if it fixes this issues. It does appear to be listed in the fixes.

Re: Masters Disappear At Random

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 15:20:34 GMT

Erich wrote:
I know in my case all master layout items are on the Archicad layer, as is anything else I draw in the master to make it reappear.

Ditto.

Re: Masters Disappear At Random

vfrontiers — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:12:15 GMT

Jay wrote:
Erich wrote:
I know in my case all master layout items are on the Archicad layer, as is anything else I draw in the master to make it reappear.
Ditto.

Ditto to the ditto

Re: Masters Disappear At Random

Erich — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 21:41:27 GMT

Well, so far today, I haven't had the disappearing master issue and that is after spending a large portion of the day working on details and flipping back and forth between detail views and layouts.

I have my fingers crossed, but perhaps the hotfix worked...

Re: Masters Disappear At Random

Anonymous — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:48:45 GMT

It is very strange as it has never happened to me and I work with Master layouts every day of the week. I do keep my versions updated all the time so maybe the hotfix could solve your problems. Love to hear how your are getting on. I wish you success!

Erich wrote:
This discussion and the related one are not a layer problem. I know in my case all master layout items are on the Archicad layer, as is anything else I draw in the master to make it reappear. I would have to say that this is a bug.

After waiting a few days, I installed the latest hotfix last night, so I should know today if it fixes this issues. It does appear to be listed in the fixes.

Re: Masters Disappear At Random

Erich — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 03:38:09 GMT

Daniel,

I never had the issue either until several weeks ago, so who knows what changed, if anything. In any case, it still seems fixed several days on from when I installed the latest hotfix. I will continue to cross my fingers.

Re: Masters Disappear At Random

Erich — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 04:09:49 GMT

Well, I can uncross my fingers now. Today, with the latest hotfix, my master detail layout vanished while in the midst of working on details. This just occurred to one detail layout, others were unaffected.

----Bummer-----

Re: Masters Disappear At Random

kevin b — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:59:30 GMT

We have the same problem, since the bugfix it still happens. Some files seems to come back after signing out and back, some after switching masters, I have one now I can't seem to get back. This is another huge bug.

EDIT:Nevermind.
Show Master Items on Layout view option was deselected. Why is this even here? When do you not want to see what's on the master? And how does it get turned on or off if it is not set as a shortcut in the user's WE.

Re: Masters Disappear At Random

toofuerte — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:47:58 GMT

I have been having the same problem. I went through got everyone of them showing, saved and then went back and they are disappearing again. My computer and Archicad are up to date. I have tried deleting and pasting the stuff back and sometimes that has brought them back but nothing has helped lately. I hope someone can fix this!

Re: Masters Disappear At Random

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 03:23:45 GMT

Have any of you experiencing this "disappearing masters" tried having your masters in a separate Masters.pln?:
Using "place external drawing" to to a master, that populates your layouts?
Never in 3 yrs doing this have I had masters disappearing, or other masters problems.
However, I don't use add-ons or teamwork, so maybe one of those is it?
Bier

Re: Masters Disappear At Random

Anonymous — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 09:16:28 GMT

Guys,

I'm so glad this isn't just me! (In AC12)

Bier.. Yeah, I'd love to be able to put views from external .pln's into a project, but they don't display. I've seen other folks mention similar issues with PMK's, but not with hotlinks from external files ("views" - see below). After doing a lot of research on the forum this evening, I see people having a host of problems related to the layouts and how they interface with the model, external files, different file types, disappearing masters, etc. Not meaning to hijack this thread, but I'll give my litany of 'issues' with AC12...

1. Disappearing master layouts. Yep... totally random, pain to fix. Especially when I need to send PDF sets out overnight for printing in the AM. I've done ONE project on AC12. This problem is the MAIN reason I haven't done more... I CAN NOT have this type of unpredictable behavior going on, PERIOD. Apparently, it's still unresolved, right? In the meantime, I'm still using AC9 and PM 3.1.

2. I've tried placing views from external PLN's, and they don't display. It puts in the hotspots for the view (not at the right size), but there's no bounding box and no content.. no matter how I set the drawing's preview options. I wish this worked, as I like to keep my layouts seperate from my model.. like the old days... Which brings us to...

3. HUGE file size. I do high-end residential, and it's not unusual for our projects to have 40 sheets and a couple hundred details, coupled with a Tuscan style building of 8,000 SF and curly trims, guardrail pickets, corbels and Corinthian columns all over the place... and modelled pan-and-barrell tile roofs. As a matter of fact, on some houses I have a seperate layout book just for the interior design drawings... every wall of every room, every outlet plate, dentil mouldings, custom GDL doors and door hardware, everything. The buildings are modeled down to the sticks... about the only thing we don't model are the studs. In AC9, this is no problem. In 12, by the time we get to our required level of detail, the files move like mollasses. If I could deal with issue #2, that might solve the problem... seperate files for the model and the layout book. Call me a Luddite if you want, but SPEED is king... I get paid dearly... and hourly. Speed is part of what makes my shop competitive, and justifies my hourly rate. I work for four or five different principals, so they DON'T understand when problems on some other guy's project are slowing THEIR project down.

4. Snapping to the drawing in layout mode. I wish I could tell AC12 to NOT snap to the placed drawing elements in layout mode. On buildings with tile roofs, The computer is brought to it's knees searching for snap points on spanish tile roofs if I happen to brush over one with the cursor. We do all our keynote annotation in the layout book, and doing leaders is a pain when the cursor is trying to snap to everything in sight. The old Plotmaker didn't do that. Don't know why they changed that... or at least made it switchable.

5. 3D editing. I used to be able to select multiple elements and vertical stretch them all simultaneously. AC12 doesn't allow me to do that. Maybe I've got something set up incorrectly? I do about half my work in the 3D window... which, by the way, 'moves' much slower than in AC9. In AC9, my cursor never 'drags' or 'thinks to hard', if you get my meaning. In AC12, my brain quickly outruns the software.

6. And finally, the right-click screen menu. They put all the basic editing commands in a subheading called 'Move', instead of in the first page of the menu. I use the right click method all the time... it's a hard habit to break, and I'd rather not if I could just get Drag, Drag A Copy, etc. on the first page of that menu. WHY did they change this!!!???!!! OR... make it user-changeable (It's not, far as I can tell... And I tried HARD)

I'm still running AC9 / PM 3.1, but I'm concerned that I'll have problems when I move over to my new machine. It'll be Win XP, but this time 64 bit. I'm concerned about problems, especially with the PDF output... I've seen discussion here that Amyuni doesn't like 64 bit systems. I take delivery of my new machine next week... we'll see what happens. My bottom line is this... AC12 feels like bloatware. I love it's enhanced 3D output options, but other than that, it's aggravating at best. I need a NASCAR, not a Cadillac Seville. Just my observations, FWIW. I'd just assume spend the rest of my life running AC9, but that may not be an option, I know, due to incompatibility with later hardware.

Sorry to ramble... I'll watch for further developments. This whole thing really harshes my buzz... I wish I could go to 12 with a smile, but it's too slow and editing too restrictive. I'll try again on the new platform and see if I can make the leap.