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AC16 file to AC17 - large file?

Anonymous
Not applicable
I'm using educational versions of ArchiCAD. And in Finnish. Therefore I might have some wrong translations here concerning ArchiCAD's commands, menus and other texts. Sorry for that.

In AC16 I have a project (let's say FILE1.pln) and the file size is about 110 MB. Then I:
  • - duplicated the file in Mac OS X's Finder
    - changed the new file's name (let's say FILE2.pln)
    - opened FILE2.pln in AC17
Then, in AC17, I saved the file in AC17 format. I did nothing else. The file size increased to 280 MB, so it's ca. 2.5 times bigger than in AC16 format.
Any reason for that? Have someone else noticed this?

There are tens of drawings listed in Drawing Manager. Only 4 of them are saved in the project file (meaning: drawing on layout activated > Settings > "Save drawing in project file" crossed. If crossed, that will increase the size, right? Well, I removed the crosses of those 4, saved again and now it's ca. 300 MB.
After undos those 4 files are "Saved in project file" again, then save. Still ca. 300 MB.

I already thought I'll continue using AC17 after some snapping problems in AC16 (described here: http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=44255). But if it's possible that file size keeps on increasing, I don't dare because my hardware is not so "hot" anymore.

Thanks for any hints!
5 REPLIES 5
Laszlo Nagy
Community Admin
Community Admin
Maybe compression was enabled in AC16 but not enabled in AC17.
When you are in the Save As Dialog, click the Options button and you can check whether the Compress File checkbox is checked or not.
Loving Archicad since 1995 - Find Archicad Tips at x.com/laszlonagy
AMD Ryzen9 5900X CPU, 64 GB RAM 3600 MHz, Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB, 500 GB NVMe SSD
2x28" (2560x1440), Windows 10 PRO ENG, Ac20-Ac27
Anonymous
Not applicable
laszlonagy wrote:
Maybe compression was enabled in AC16 but not enabled in AC17.
No, that's not it. It was compressed in AC17, too.
Laszlo Nagy
Community Admin
Community Admin
Then you might want to read through this article to see if it gives you the solution to this issue:

http://www.archicadwiki.com/FileSize
Loving Archicad since 1995 - Find Archicad Tips at x.com/laszlonagy
AMD Ryzen9 5900X CPU, 64 GB RAM 3600 MHz, Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB, 500 GB NVMe SSD
2x28" (2560x1440), Windows 10 PRO ENG, Ac20-Ac27
Anonymous
Not applicable
Hi,

I got the same issue. I have followed the file size guide trying to troubleshoot the issue but can't see a clear reason for what's causing the problem.


I've been cutting down the modell step by step and resaving it at every step to 17. Always as compressed file size. Here are some numbers.



ArchiCAD 16 original file: 216mb
ArchiCAD 17 original file: 456mb
Difference: 240mb


ArchiCAD 16 (without embedded objects): 210mb
ArchiCAD 17 (without embedded objects): 451mb
Difference: 241mb

ArchiCAD 16 (without embedded objects, layouts): 182mb
ArchiCAD 17 (without embedded objects, layouts): 423mb
Difference: 241mb

ArchiCAD 16 (without embedded objects, layouts, worksheets): 118mb
ArchiCAD 17 (without embedded objects, layouts, worksheets): 198mb
Difference: 80mb

ArchiCAD 16 (without embedded objects, layouts, worksheets, section/elevations): 73mb
ArchiCAD 17 (without embedded objects, layouts, worksheets, section/elevations): 121mb
Difference: 48mb

ArchiCAD 16 (without embedded objects, layouts, worksheets, section/elevations, layers): 12mb
ArchiCAD 17 (without embedded objects, layouts, worksheets, section/elevations, layers): 5mb
Difference: -7mb


So it's interesting to see between which steps the difference changes. As we can see, the worksheets seem to cause a whole lot of added memory when saving to 17 as the differences drops from 241mb to only 80mb. The sections and elevations also seem to cause a small portion of the increased memory size.

What's interesting is that the file size actually decreases when having also the layers deleted and saving to 17.

I can't really make any isolation of the issue as for now. There are many worksheets in the project and almost all of them only contain external references. I will delete all those containing external references and reconstruct them once the file is saved to 17 if that would make a difference.

Any suggestions?
Eduardo Rolon
Moderator
As a test, leave the worksheets and just remove the content placed in them.

If the references are Autocad files the problem might be exploded hatches from Autocad which can create millions of objects.
Eduardo Rolón AIA NCARB
AC27 US/INT -> AC08

Macbook Pro M1 Max 64GB ram, OS X 10.XX latest
another Moderator