HELP! 2d plan performance is SO SLOW!!!!

[Anonymous]

BIM Managers!

I need some help.


I have one project with unacceptable 2d plan performance. I’d like someone to open the file, and determine why it behaving so badly, and adjusting the file so that it is usable again. (DM me please with a consulting proposal if this seems suitable)

Some links of note:

Original Archi-Talk post/cry for help.
https://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=72467


Link to a screen recording showing the problem. Note, I turned off 2d antialiasing in an effort to improve performance(it didn’t) before I made the movie.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/t42md581iq86ho0/GBL5%20Performance%20Movie.mov?dl=0

And here’s a link to a .PLA. (please forgive the modeling quality. The model continues to disintegrate in my efforts to repair it):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4hzwjcxl7hpm8rf/GBL5%20to%20SG%20reassembly%20PASTE%20%2024.49.pla?dl=0

In an effort to find the problem elements, I deleted all the walls, and pasted them back in after cleaning them up. The walls file ran smoothly, and the file without any walls ran smoother…. But the poor performance returned once the walls were reintroduced.

I’ve already gone through an Archicad audit and received some advice from GS Tech support (they say my file behaves normally and my computer is too old, although none of my other projects perform so badly).


Here are some of the behaviors that trigger a 25 second slowdown (spinning beachball)
Changes to Graphic Overrides, Model View Options, Reno Status ( Existing plan doesn’t trigger slow down, only views with new elements.)
Go up/down a story following change in Reno status.
Change layer combination after change in Reno status
New Reno status after change in layer combo.
Pan - zoom or Zoom - pan. Although if no other change to 2d setting, this pan and zooming works without lag.

My IT consultant is looking into adding an external graphics card, but again other files with nearly 5x the polygons behave fine.

[Jp1138]

I tried your file at home in an old i970 con 12GB of RAM and a geforce 970 (a late 2009 computer with a 2014 GPU) using A24 trial version on Windows 10 and the file runs fine, I can´t reproduce the long seconds delays you are describing. I saved a video too - using the screen capture software made archicad a little slower, but nowhere near what you are getting, I think:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xwzg4mgqedjvk8x/Prueba%20archicad.mp4?dl=0

[Anonymous]

JP1138, Thanks for the effort.

I installed AC24 on my boss's old PC, and sure enough, the file didn't exhibit the 2d lag i observe on my machine.

I also tried it on my old retired mac. Same slow performance in 2d. That's a 2010, so i expected the lag.

Anyone with a current mac out there want to try the file?



Beyond that, I'm trying to figure out the best approach to moving forward.
New computer?
Separate layout book from model? As mentioned, the file without walls is 95% better, and therefore usable. I might be able to make a few modules for different areas of the house... bring them into a host file, and then bring the host file into a layout book.

[Eduardo Rolon]

Just opened it, reading objects directly from file and I don't see any 2d slowdowns.
Macbook Pro 16" 2019.
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Looks like your 8 year old workhorse needs retiring.
Also remember the good old days when a new version of Autocad also meant getting new hardware.

[Anonymous]

Do you think this machine would provide adequate performance for the file?

iMac Retina 5K 27" (2017) i7 4.2GHz 4-Core 64GB 512GB SSD/2TB Fusion Drive Radeon Pro 580

is this substantially better than my current machine?

[Karl Ottenstein]

Nathan wrote:
JP1138, Thanks for the effort.

I installed AC24 on my boss's old PC, and sure enough, the file didn't exhibit the 2d lag i observe on my machine.

I also tried it on my old retired mac. Same slow performance in 2d. That's a 2010, so i expected the lag.

Hi Nathan,

Before you go for a new computer... I am suspicious that the issue happens on your retired Mac Pro as well as your 2013 Mac Pro... and that your signature says you are running Mojave.

It seems possible that you have stuff installed on your Mac - migrated from your old one to current one - that could be causing the problem. The specs of your 2013 Mac Pro are certainly more than adequate, making a system software issue more likely to my mind. Of course, as the audit showed, you do have a lot of SEOps ... and hopefully you've cleaned up the library issues. But the fact that there is no issue on any computer other than yours is a little fishy.

Upgrading from Mojave to Catalina or even Big Sur is totally possible on your 2013 Mac Pro according to the Apple compatibility pages. But, as you probably know, you will lose all 32 bit software as well as some kernel extensions in the process. There may be other "lint" in your system from having migrated over many years from older computers. Some of that will get purged just in the process of updating.

If you get a new Mac, you will lose all of that 32 bit software anyway (on that machine - a reason to keep your old machine if you need it). So... what I would suggest to save some money and get a better picture is to get an external drive and do a complete clone of your Mac Pro volume(s) onto that drive as a bootable backup. Go to System Preferences after the cloning and make the external drive the boot drive and reboot to verify that the clone worked correctly and is bootable.

Now, reboot from your internal SSD and upgrade your Mac Pro to Catalina. Try your file. Upgrade to Big Sur; try your file. (I'm just guessing that the upgrade process which deletes 32 bit apps and kernel extensions might be enough to fix whatever is going amiss- or the improved AMD graphics drivers in Big Sur will do it. Otherwise, I would try a clean install of Catalina on an external volume, install just AC 24 and then test again.)

Karl

[Karl Ottenstein]

Nathan wrote:
Do you think this machine would provide adequate performance for the file?

iMac Retina 5K 27" (2017) i7 4.2GHz 4-Core 64GB 512GB SSD/2TB Fusion Drive Radeon Pro 580

is this substantially better than my current machine?

See my last post... I don't think you need a new "old" (2017) machine, certainly not one with lower specs than your current one. In any case, I would never purchase a Mac with an old Fusion drive - the hard drive part will eventually fail. SSD only.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply.

Proposed machine is a short term rental, in an effort to see if a more modern machine would be better.

I'm hesitant to invest in a new machine if its a user created file problem. None of my other perform so poorly on this machine.

[martin-b]

Before someone with the same issue will go and run to buy a new computer in panic, I can only say that I have exactly the same issue on PC and AC24.

A project of mine that was running smoothly up until recently has suddently problems with extreme lagging when changing Model View Options / Graphic Overrides. Which is basically what AC does when switching between different sets of Plan Views.

So no, this issue is not HW related and not limited only to MAC.

[Barry Kelly]

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@martin-b wrote:

A project of mine that was running smoothly up until recently has suddently problems with extreme lagging when changing Model View Options / Graphic Overrides. Which is basically what AC does when switching between different sets of Plan Views.

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This would suggest then something in the model.

Especially if it is just this file?

Time to investigate by comparing with a backup if you have one.

Or make a copy of the file so you can basically destroy it - delete elements, layers, MVOs, GOs, cancel Solid Element Operations, delete hotlinks, etc.

Maybe do an 'Open & Repair' on the file.

If it is suddenly happening on more/all files, then maybe hardware is starting to fail.

Or not enough hard disc space?

Barry.