Mac mini won't open archicad

[Anonymous]

Hi, I have just upgraded my computer from a Mac Mini with a hard drive to ope using SSD. For some reason ArchiCad will not open in the new computer. I have tried a fresh installation of the software, but it still will not open. Any suggestions?

[Karl Ottenstein]

Are the specs of the SSD mini the same or better than the previous one? How much free space is on the SSD? How much memory on your mini?

Do you have the same verson/release of OS X on both minis?

Are you trying to open the same version of AC on the new as worked for you on the old? (What version are you using?)

Does anything at all appear on-screen when AC attempts to launch?

Open the Console app and click on "All Messages". Try launching AC again and observe what messages are written to the console log by AC and share those.

[Anonymous]

Hi Karl,

Thanks for your reply.
The SSD is a much faster and updated Mac mini
The SSD is running 10.9.3, the older is running 10.6.8,
Both are running ACAD11,
The message onscreen is 'ArchiCAD quit unexpectedly. Click Reopen to open the application again. Click report to see more detailed information and send a report to Apple.'

No other Msg is received, no matter how many times I try.

It doesn't give much information.

Peter

Ps I started using ArchiCAD with version 4.5. version 11 is as far as I will ever need to go.

PPS : SSD specs
Model Name: Mac mini
Model Identifier: Macmini6,2
Processor Name: Intel Core i7
Processor Speed: 2.6 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 6 MB
Memory: 8 GB
Boot ROM Version: MM61.0106.B04

[David Maudlin]

Peter:

You can't run AC11 on OSX10.9 (version 12 is the oldest one that will run). You need to install OSX10.6.8 (I don't know about OSX10.7 or OSX10.8 ). In the Help Center see:
Operating Systems.

David

[Karl Ottenstein]

Peter,

Thanks for posting your specs and to David for the fast reply on compatibility.

If you want to continue to use the latest OS X OS for current software (recommended for speed, security, features and compatibility with modern software), then you can set up your new Mini to dual-boot so that you can boot into an earlier version of the OS to run AC 11... or create a Virtual Machine that runs an earlier version of OS X and AC 11. If you want SSD speed for AC, either of these would require that your new SSD be large enough to be partitioned into two boot volumes. You can store all of your files on your main current OS X boot volume so that they are backed up by Time Machine and available to all of your other apps when running 10.9.3 or newer.

Rebooting will be a hassle; running a Virtual Machine will offer AC less system resources and hence slower performance.

Of course, the cleanest solution is to upgrade to AC 17/18 - but that'll be pricey jumping from 11. And... the mini's onboard graphics adapter is not recommended for recent versions of AC which perform best with dedicated graphics cards. On-board cards such as the Intel in your mini are below the required specs:
http://www.graphisoft.com/support/system_requirements/AC18/index.html

Yet, for AC 17, the graphics card page does note (as have other users here) that the Intel 4000 that you have can work:

For the best performance choose Mac computers with dedicated graphics cards. Integrated Intel HD 3000, 4000 cards work with ArchiCAD, but their performance is limited.

Since you were running 10.6.8 before... I have to wonder if you also have some old PPC programs that require Rosetta - not available after 10.6.8 - to emulate PPC and allow them to run. For example, AC 9 and earlier can run on 10.6.8 but cannot run in more recent versions of OS X.

[Anonymous]

Thank you both for your help. i have been able to update my ArchiCAD to 17 (with 18 included when available) and have been wading through youtube tutorials to begin to understand the improvements since ACAD 11: SO many improvements.

Because of the great step forward, I have been learning much from the tutorials which actually showed that I wasn't even using ACAD11 as well as I should have been.

thanks again for your advice

[Karl Ottenstein]

That's great to hear that you were able to upgrade and that it is a positive experience so far! Hopefully, the benefit of all of the improvements will make the expenditure more palatable.😉