Open AC 5 file

[Anonymous]

How can I open and use an ArchiCAD version 5 file when I am working on a Mac with OSX 10.9.2 in ArchiCAD 17? I have ArchiCAD 10 but it will not work any longer since I upgraded to OSX 10.9.

[Karl Ottenstein]

You can't.

See the table towards the bottom:
http://www.archicadwiki.com/ArchiCAD%20versions

AC 9 is the last version to be able to open AC 5 files... and 9 never ran on Intel Macs... only the old PPC.

You either need to find an old PPC Mac.. or install Windows onto your 10.9 system using virtualization software (e.g., Parallels Desktop 9) - or Bootcamp - and the install then Windows version of AC 9. Pnce converted from 5 to 9... you can open the 9 file in any recent version.

[Karl Ottenstein]

I posted too quickly on Monday... other options include booting into Snow Leopard, if you still have a bootable SL disk around, or getting a junker PC.

I've kept a bootable SL partition just in case I needed to run an old PPC app, as SL still has the Rosetta emulation mode to run PPC apps on Intel Macs. I've not needed to use it to date.

Running Windows under Parallels in order to run old Windows versions of AC requires buying Parallela and a Windows license. You can probably find an old junker XP machine somewhere cheaper.