ARCHICAD might crash because of the AMD’s latest (6/29/2016) video card driver update.
Cause
Their newest driver update automatically installs the Plays.TV application which causes the crashes.
Solution
Plays.TV application should be uninstalled until the issue is fixed. It can be uninstalled in Control PanelProgramPrograms and Features.
Check before Reporting
If you start ARCHICAD, but it crashes during the launch, here are the steps you should take before calling Technical Support:
- Try another file or template - make sure it's not just one file or the template that you use that is causing the crash. If it turns out that the crash is file-specific, then send the file to your local tech support. If a template file crashes ARCHICAD, then there is a bad setting in it, most likely a bad attribute definition (e.g.a material or fill definition).
- Delete preferences files - preferences files store your user-specific settings, such as the WorkEnvironment, palette shapes, tool settings, etc... Deleting these could help, but note that you will lose your shortcut schemes, custom menus, etc. It's better to back up these files before deleting them. Read more about what to delete here: PreferencesCleaning.
- Reinstall ARCHICAD - Reinstalling ARCHICAD takes 15 minutes, and maybe you can save days of troubleshooting. None of the files that you have created will be damaged.
- Update drivers - Crashes are often caused by hardware drivers - mostly graphics card drivers, or less frequently by Printer drivers. Try to search for the latest one, or, if you have the latest driver installed, roll back to a previous one. (Note that intel on-board graphic card drivers are notorious for crashing ARCHICAD.)
- Remove System plugins that have a general effect over the system, such as applications that index files, modify the User Interface (i.e. the general appearance of system dialogs), or control the window/desktop management of the system.
- Remove the CodeMeter key - With the key removed, ARCHICAD will start in Demo mode. If that is successful, you either have a badly installed driver or a broken key.
- Search Help Center and ARCHICAD-Talk - There may be some known crashes that are reported on these sites
How to Report a Crash
GRAPHISOFT collects crash reports and analyzes trends and patterns. Similar crashes are grouped, and priorities are set by number of times a crash occurs. Therefore you greatly help us improve ARCHICAD just by sending in every crash report you have. If all your attempts fail, then
- Submit the crash report - via the Automatic Crash Reporting system. We highly appreciate if you write comments to the crash reports before sending it - describe what you were doing before the crash happened.
- Contact your local ARCHICAD reseller with the Bug ID - If you know how to repeat a crash, please send the file and step-by-step instructions to the technical support, so we can fix it as soon as we possibly can. You don't have to remember the Bug IDs. They are logged in a file called SubmissionLog.txt. Send this small text file to your local technical support.
What is a crash SubmissionLog.txt File?
The SubmissionLog.txt file contains all the Bug IDs that you have submitted with
Graphisoft Bug Reporter
Where to Locate the SubmissionLog.txt File?
- Windows: C:\Users\USERNAME\GRAPHISOFT\SubmissionLog.txt
- macOS: /Users/USERNAME/Library/Logs/SubmissionLog.txt or in case of earlier ARCHICAD versions: /Users/USERNAME/Library/Logs/Graphisoft/SubmissionLog.txt
macOS: No Library Folder? The Library folder within the
userhome folder is hidden by default. To browse to the ~/Library folder:
- In Finder choose Go, Go To Folder
- Type ~/Library
- Click go to navigate to the Library folder
- Or simply press option (alt) when the Go menu is open in Finder to show Library on the list
Note: Crash reports contain no private data, so GRAPHISOFT can not contact you - You need to contact GRAPHISOFT!
Analyzing Crash Reports on a PC
In the vast majority of cases, only Graphisoft developers are able to analyze crash reports. Please always make sure to submit crash reports with
Graphisoft Bug Reporter However, if the crash is caused by a hardware driver or a conflicting software, you may be able to find out what caused the crash by analyzing the call stack of the crash. Here are the steps:
- ARCHICAD 19: Find the latest crash report file (.rpt) file in C or ... :Documents and SettingsUSERNAMEGraphisoft BugReporting -19 (note that each crash or incident is logged in a separate .rpt file)
- ARCHICAD 20: and older: Find ARCHICAD.rpt file in C or ...:Documents and SettingsUSERNAMEGraphisoft folder (note that all crashes are logged in the same file)
- Open the .rpt find and look for the 'Call Stack:' section (in AC 11 .rpt files logs are in a historical order - the latest crash is at the bottom of the text)
- Look for any of the following files mentioned in the Call Stack:
ig4dev32.dll |
Intel video driver |
atioglxx.dll |
ATI video driver |
nvoglnt.dll |
Nvidia video driver |
QuickTime.qtx |
QuickTime |
QuickTimeStreaming .qtx |
QuickTime |
HPW8C32.dll |
HP printer driver |
hpltdrv7.dll |
HP printer driver |
ocewpdmui.dll |
OCE printer driver |
acpdfui209.dll |
Amyuni PDF converter |
mscorwks.dll |
Microsoft library file, commonly infected by malware |
C:AcerEmpowering TechnologyeDataSecurityx86PSDProtect.dll |
Empowering Technology should be turned off |