HELP! Skylight tool corrupts my file

[Anonymous]

I tried to open a file today but it gave me a "Warning (Skylight Tool) Sorry - an invalid rectangle has been found" and then the file opens to a black screen. The navigator shows my saved views but when I click on them nothing ever shows up.

I was hoping I could open the file and delete the skylight and reinsert them but the whole model has disappeared.

The bpn file has the same problem.

How can I recover my file?

[Djordje]

bill wrote:
"Is there a way to import "View Sets" from another pln?"

couldn't you make a duplicate of the file with the view sets, delete everything and then merge your .pln

Don't delete the sections and elevations, as well as the detail markers. You can always move them around to the proper place.

Merge the good file to the bad one; if that does not work, merge the bad one into the good one, preferably a template. That should work.

Seems tome that you have a skylight object that is in some way corrupt. Did you speak to your reseller/sent the file to Graphisoft?

[TomWaltz]

Dumb question.... did you try just deleting the skylight and see if the problem goes away?

Worst case, you Boolean out a hole in your roof, change the GDL subtype on the skylight, and place it as a simple object.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the suggestion Tom, but when the file opens up there isn't anything to select and delete.

[Karl Ottenstein]

I think I have the trick that you need, Jeff...as long as you don't care if all skylights get trashed, but the rest of your file is OK.

First, with AC closed, go into your Add-Ons | Standard folder, and move the Skylight add-on to your desktop (temporarily)... don't copy it, make sure it is out of there. [You can mess with add-on manager as an alternative.]

Now, open your project. You'll get a message saying that the project contains data for an add-on that doesn't exist, and asking if you want to keep the data or get rid of it. Clear the check box and agree to delete the data. Save your file and exit ArchiCAD.

Now, move the Skylight add-on back to where it came from (above).

Start AC again, open your project, and you'll get a message about some content being deleted. OK. Save your file and close it. (Stay in AC if you want.) Open your file again ... no error messages.

Note to all: this works will all add-ons that store data in your file. If you have some kind of corruption, this trick will let you get rid of the add-on's data, leaving the rest of your file alone. As always, make a backup first, just in case. 😉

Cheers,
Karl

[Anonymous]

I appreciate the try Karl, but it had the same effect. After the skylight add-on was removed, the file opened up as usual but with out a skylight error, obviously. However, none of the objects are visible in either 2d or 3d, just like before. I "select all" and it says that there are 14 roofs, for example, but there are no hot spots or selection dots on the 2d screen.

I put the report on full and read which objects were still given the file problems. I did a "find & select" with there ID number and deleted them, but this still didn't allow the program to show any objects on the screen.

I am at my wits end.

I still have the file available for download, if someone would like the challenge of trying to open and delete whatever objects you see fit just to make the file open so I can actually see the plans. I can then redraw the offending/deleted object, no problem. You could save the fixed file and upload it back to me. PLEASE HELP!

You can download the file, "Hildner" (1.3mb) from the folder titled "Skylight Error" at: http://www.modernmagic.com/files
Don't worry I use a Mac and the files are on an Apple FTP site, so there is almost no chance of getting any virus, in case your worried.

Like I said I have been struggling with this for days and can't figure it out. I have only been using the program for a year so maybe I just am missing something simple.

[Karl Ottenstein]

Jeff wrote:
I appreciate the try Karl, but it had the same effect. After the skylight add-on was removed, the file opened up as usual but with out a skylight error, obviously. However, none of the objects are visible in either 2d or 3d, just like before. I "select all" and it says that there are 14 roofs, for example, but there are no hot spots or selection dots on the 2d screen.

Sorry. So, I've tried a few more things on my Mac, and what I see is quite weird. Someone from GS should download your file and check it for what seems to be an unusual corruption.

I get the same kind of behavior you're seeing ... select all gives me a count of selected elements, but no dots, nothing visible, can't zoom in on anything. Copy/paste gives something, but not the right thing. I show 15 columns on the roof story after a select-all, not 15 roofs. Every view shows "inf %" as the zoom factor. I cannot draw in any view with any tool. I even get the 'cloud' icon when trying to create a slab/etc ... and I've only seen the 'cloud' when working in 3D perspective in the past...never in 2D plan (??).

If I start a new file and merge your Hildner file into it, then I get stuff on each of 3 stories, but the only 3D elements are a bunch of columns (in several layers). A bunch of the 2D stuff is survey-related, but is laid out in a corrupt-looking way.

I am at my wits end.

Now I see why. Definitely call GS tech support and have them download the file if someone from GS hasn't yet read this thread and grabbed it.

You can download the file, "Hildner" (1.3mb) from the folder titled "Skylight Error" at: http://www.modernmagic.com/files

or in OS X Finder, Go | iDisk | Other User's Public Folder and enter 'modernmagic'

Sorry I couldn't be of more help, Jeff.

Karl

[Karl Ottenstein]

An update. After I posted last night, I got to thinking that the fact that I see "*****" in the x coordinate box (and elsewhere), can't draw, etc. that something in the file got corrupted in a way that one or more of its x, y or z coordinates is farther away from the origin than ArchiCAD can handle.

I suppose it's possible that this happened on importing a dwg, but I doubt it ... I'm sure it is something completely out of your control to cause and to fix. (GS will have to tell us.)

With the developer kit, there is a sample add-on called 'plan dump'. I compiled this and dumped the contents of your file, and, sure enough, there are bad coordinates for objects in the file. Most of the dump is attributes (pens, fills, materials), so I deleted that and have attached just the geometric part of the dump here. For example, here is part of one column:

COLUMN 6806 {
",[Ôw" 13 18 "Electrical" 1 "Roof" 0 
***** 3'-9 1/2" 0.000° 
0" 0" 0" 
***** ***** 
"???" 
13 "Brick Common " 
1 "Brick Common " 
0 
0.000000 0.000000 
0.000000 0.000000 

as opposed to this column placed (at a random spot) in a 'good' file:

COLUMN 37948 {
"Ftg Isol-001" 1 23 "Columns" 0 "Main Level" 0 
66'-8 5/8" 34'-2 17/32" 0.00° 
6" 6" 0" 
9' 0" 
" Walls Interior" 
2 "Empty Fill" 
2 "Patio Stone" 
0 
1.672255 0.000000 
1.672255 0.063713

You'll notice that for the column in your file, the ID field is corrupt, the x coordinate is too big for AC (*****), the base height relative to the story and height of the column are both too big (*****), and a material is missing ('???'). So, AC cannot cope. Not your fault of course!

So... only Graphisoft can help you AFAIK. But, I do believe your problem file will in turn help them, since this kind of thing shouldn't happen.

Sorry.

Karl

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all your efforts Karl. I submitted the file via: http://tr.graphisoftus.com/ask_us.asp

I hope this was how I was supposed to do it.

FYI: I was able to merge the file into a "new & reset" new file and the objects imported fine. I just would have to recreate all the view sets and import the layers and layer combos in. So the error objects, ie the columns and skylights etc., merge in correctly. Can you explain that one? Weird?

I guess I can always redo all the view sets but I'll just wait till the last minute, procrastination is healthy, right?

Thanks again all,
Jeff