PC Archicad 15 on a MAC with Parallels

[Anonymous]

this is how a company I'm trying to do a short term contract for does their archicad. Why they do it this way is not my concern and is out of my hands.

I was able to load PC AC 15 on my 2011 MacBook Pro, using Parallels, an I can open the program, however, every time I try to access a teamwork file from the BIM server I get a message like "your computer does not have enough memory for this operation".

My laptop is pretty new, I don't have huge amounts of movies, or large files, I've added memory to the virtual machine, but I just don't know what else to try.

Any ideas?

[Karl Ottenstein]

It's hard not to be judgmental about this situation! It seems pretty crazy to me.

I run Parallels on my Mac Pro to be able to run those Windows programs without a Mac equivalent ... and, very rarely, to be able to run an ArchiCAD add-on that is Windows-only. But, I only run ArchiCAD for the few minutes it takes to run that add-on - and then continue my work on the native Mac version...

There were some TW issues that arose in a mixed environment of PCs and Macs and perhaps that firm ran into some of those once and just stuck with a Windows-only workaround. Hard to guess. These are the current known PC/Mac mixed TW issues:
http://www.archicadwiki.com/Teamwork/CrossPlatform

There should be no reason that you cannot join their TW file from 15 running natively on your Mac, regardless of their server.

But, if for some reason you must run the Windows version under Parallels, note that you must allocate enough memory to the Parallels Virtual machine in the configuration dialog if you are getting messages about insufficient memory. (You also have the issue under Windows of choosing which of 32 bit or 64 bit ArchiCAD 15 to install and run...) You should also make sure that you've allocated the maximum possible memory to your the Parallels virtual display adapter.

Good luck,
Karl

[Anonymous]

Karl,

no one here seems to be able to explain the decisions that lead to this cross OS situation, but...

After it told me I didn't have enough memory, I increased the hard disk space devoted to the virtual machine, but it still didn't work. How do I tell it, either AC or windows that I want to run the 64 or 32 bit version of AC? That's one thing I wanted to try but couldn't figure out.

[Ralph Wessel]

Arlouper wrote:
How do I tell it, either AC or windows that I want to run the 64 or 32 bit version of AC? That's one thing I wanted to try but couldn't figure out.

This depends, to a large extent, on which version of Windows you are using. If you are using a 32-bit version, you will not be able to install or use the 64-bit version of ArchiCAD. If you have a 64-bit version of Windows, I think the ArchiCAD installer will automatically install the 64-bit version (in which case the installation will be found in the Program Files directory - the 32-bit version would be in Program Files x86).

Also, check the amount of RAM allocated to your virtual machine. This is not the same as the amount of hard disk space.

[Anonymous]

okay, a couple good points Ralph. I have checked, I am running 32 bit windows, so looks like 64 bit AC will not work. And to be precise I did increase the RAM allocated to the VM.

[Anonymous]

I have now increased both the RAM and the hard drive space of the VM and still no luck. still getting the memory error. Error message screen shot attached. There are similar machines in the office doing what I'm trying to do, so there has to be something. Do I need to delete music or photos or something? at a complete loss.

[Karl Ottenstein]

Deleting stuff won't make any difference. Attached is the Parallels version 6 configuration screen for the VM memory. I've been able to do what I need with just 1.5 GB, but you can see that you can allocate as much as 8 GB of your machines actual memory to the VM...

How much physical memory does your Mac have?

Karl

Edit: PS my screen shows 2 CPUs (cores) allocated to the VM - which is out of the 8 total on my Mac. If you only have 2 cores, I would probably only allocate 1 to the VM is you want your system to stay responsive...

[Karl Ottenstein]

And here is the PD 6 configuration screen for graphics - you should have video memory at its max, which is 256 mb here. Might be more in PD 7...

[Karl Ottenstein]

Since you're on a 32 bit Windows version, see this, even though it is aimed at send/receive issues:
http://www.archicadwiki.com/Bugs/Teamwork/SendReceiveSlow

Is the project you're trying to join a huge one? It might be that 3 GB, the max of real and virtual memory for 32 bit, is just not enough for the model?

Might want to compare notes with the remote office to see what version of Windows (and 32 vs 64) they are using, size of file, etc...

[Anonymous]

attached is a shot of my hard drive info to show memory