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SOLVED!

Hard Crash at Page Setup. Apple Silicon v26.

Robert Nichols
Advocate

Is anyone else seeing hard crashes upon selecting the Page Setup menu item on M1 chip? I'm running current v26 on Mac Studio with macOS 13.0.1.

 

Bug report is submitted. It's nasty! 

Mac Studio, 32gb ram, ArchiCAD v26 (Apple Silicon) MacOS 13
30 REPLIES 30

Unfortunately, this fix didn't work for me.  The one file I have that crashes on page set up still crashes.

 

Here's what I got in Terminal: 

Last login: Sat Mar  4 18:15:35 on ttys000

carrot@nathans-mbp ~ % ls -1 ~/Library/Preferences/com.graphisoft.AC*.plist

/Users/carrot/Library/Preferences/com.graphisoft.AC 24.0.0 USA v1.plist

/Users/carrot/Library/Preferences/com.graphisoft.AC 25.0.0 USA v1.plist

/Users/carrot/Library/Preferences/com.graphisoft.AC 26.0.0 USA v1.plist

carrot@nathans-mbp ~ % /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "set ':PrintPlot:Discard Print Settings' 4” "/Users/carrot/Library/Preferences/com.graphisoft.AC 26.0.0 USA v1.plist"

dquote> 

 

Is there a syntax error?

I’ve had the same problem. I ended up having to install the preview version of Update 3, open and repair the affected files in the Preview 3 update and then save. I can then open the file and select page setup successfully in the current build of AC26. 

Lee Hankins
ArchiCAD 4.5 - Archicad 27UKI Apple Silicon 27.2.0
macOS Sonoma (14.4.1)
Rick Thompson
Expert

I am on Venture/Intel but had the same issue.  The first instructions were unclear to me (and evidently had a syntax issue) , and maybe what is posted above.  I later received the instructions below that solved the issue.  It might be the same as above however, not sure.  The down side is now AC does not "hold" the same sheet size anymore so required opening print setup each time I need to generate a pdf, which can be many times a day.  Much better than crashing 🙂

 

Try this procedure to help with page setup crashes:

First quit all sessions of Archicad.
Then open Terminal, copy & paste the content below 1st Line) then hit enter, repeat for content below 2nd Line).

1st Line)
/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "set ':PrintPlot:Discard Print Settings' 4" "/Users/rickthompson/Library/Preferences/com.graphisoft.AC 26.0.0 USA v1.plist"
2nd Line)
/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "set ':PrintPlot:Discard Print Settings' 4" "/Users/rickthompson/Library/Preferences/com.graphisoft.AC-ARM 26.0.0 USA v1.plist"

Hopefully you will not see any errors.  I think you may have had a syntax issue with the two parts of the command.

Once those are entered properly, run through these steps:
3. Launch Archicad.
4. Open the plan file that crashes Archicad at Page Setup.
5. Open Page Setup. We believe it should not crash with the above setting.
6. Save the plan file.
7. Quit Archicad.

Lastly launch I Archicad again, open a blank Archicad Template file and/or a different problem file and test for the page setup crash.
 

Rick Thompson
Mac Sonoma AC 26
http://www.thompsonplans.com
Mac M2 studio w/ display

HOLY SH!T IT WORKEDiiii

 

Thanks so Much @Rick Thompson I've been struggling with this for months(low priority project).

 

Huge relief.

 

 

Rick Thompson
Expert

Great 🙂 I was worried since it was for Intel not silicon, but great.

Rick Thompson
Mac Sonoma AC 26
http://www.thompsonplans.com
Mac M2 studio w/ display

Rick,

Your instructions above somehow dropped a step, which is why AC is no longer remembering sheet sizes. After your step #7 above, enter the following Terminal command:

 

/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "set ':PrintPlot:Discard Print Settings' 0"

 

That will restore AC to its original behavior. The previous step, setting the "Discard Print Settings" to 4, is intended to let you open the troubled file (presumably AC was choking on the existing page setting for some reason), then select a sheet size, thus creating a non-corrupt internal setting. Once that's done, you restore AC's behavior by setting the "Discard..." value to zero, and you will be all set.

Mac Studio, 32gb ram, ArchiCAD v26 (Apple Silicon) MacOS 13

Are you on a Mac using M1 chip, or other Apple silicon? If so, you're modifying the wrong .plist file. See my command below that has been working well: 

 

rn@Ben-RN ~ % /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "set ':PrintPlot:Discard Print Settings' 4" "com.graphisoft.AC-ARM 26.0.0 USA v1.plist"

 

I don't see that "ARM" bit in yours. (Actually, I don't see the ARM version showing up in your -ls query. I thought this problem was only happening to Apple silicon installations????)

 

The latter portion of my command (following the 4), is shorter than yours because I have navigated to my Preferences folder via Terminal. Does this makes for shorter commands and thus fewer opportunities for error. But, if you enter everything correctly, the command should work as you have attempted.

Mac Studio, 32gb ram, ArchiCAD v26 (Apple Silicon) MacOS 13

I am on an old iMac.. 2017, so the Core i5 Intel.  I appreciate the instruction on the sheet size dementia.  I assume being Intel would change it a bit?  I assume I would I re-enter the steps I posted and then add the new line, but not sure since you mentioned after step 7?  So does that mean to just open terminal after quitting AC and add your new line?

 

Thank you for your help.

Rick Thompson
Mac Sonoma AC 26
http://www.thompsonplans.com
Mac M2 studio w/ display

Yes, that last step via the Terminal is intended to set the AC prefs BACK to the state it was before you issued the first command. The first command tells AC to ignore any existing page settings. This lets you open the file without crash, because it is some incompatibility with the existing (presumably AC 25) page setting that is causing the crash. With the file successfully opened, you open the Page Setup dialog and select a page. This setting, generated by AC 26, will not cause crashing.

 

But you don't want AC to always ignore you latest page setting, so you want to tweak the prefs file again, setting that particular DiscardPageSettings value to 4, instead of 0. Presumably the 4 value is consistent  with normal, unmodified AC behaviour.

 

Mac Studio, 32gb ram, ArchiCAD v26 (Apple Silicon) MacOS 13
nbrauer718
Contributor

I can't believe it, but I'm having the same trouble with a file in AC 27!  Going to go back and try the old solution and see if it works on the new software.

 

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