I am trying to complete construction documents for a house and I am already two weeks behind schedule.
The model in SketchUp is done. It’s been purged and checked.
I imported the model into LayOut, setting up 8 34" x 22" sheets, and everything was going along swimmingly, until I decided to heed the warning that my operating system (Win 7 Pro) was inappropriate. So I finally bit the bullet and had the machine reconfigured to Windows 10 Pro. I get the machine back and other than a few minor configuration glitches, SketchUp and LayOut seem to work just fine.
Then as I’m closing in on completing the set, LayOut starts to crash. Randomly. Black screen, that requires my shutting the computer off, restarting it, and recovering the LayOut file. (That feature in LayOut works, thankfully, but it’s still nerve wracking to have to pause in the workflow to reboot.)
I suspected the display adapter (Nvidia Quadro 2000) and reloaded the drivers, ensuring they were up to date. I got two whole hours worth of work done before LayOut crashed again. Sometimes the crash just blanks out everything. once in awhile I get a bugsplat, and those, I fill out with full descriptions of the problem, what I was doing, etc.
I would really like to know what I can do to make this issue go away. Here are the files I’m using. Everything referenced in this project is in the same computer (a Dell T-1650 with newly installed Windows 10 Pro). RattayCabinII.skp (5.8 MB) RattayCabin_CD.layout (12.8 MB)
Thanks for the detailed bugsplats that you sent in. Most of them were one type of crash, and some other people have had that crash as well. Nobody else has sent in useful information about what was being done at the time.
I will let @trent have a list of your crashes, to see if it’s a known issue.
Now that you’re on Windows 10, would it be worth trying LayOut 2023? If it ends up not helping you can Save As the LayOut file back to 2022.
Already heard from Trent. He has added your post and your bugsplats to an existing issue we had logged, that hadn’t made much progress. Your detailed steps as to what you had been doing should help a lot.
Thanks, Colin.
The last time I switched versions middle of the stream, I wound up not just two weeks behind, but six.
I see that you have a reply from Trent. hang on.
Yeah, thank Trent for me. Thing is about what I was doing, the actions were KIND of similar, in that all of them (except the last one) required re-rendering the viewports. Or I have a viewport active, and I click outside it to retrieve my cursor to do something else, and wham! black screen, OS shutdown. That’s what led me to believe it maybe had something to do with the display adapter.
Then when windows said "Windows has stopped this device (the Nvidea) because it has reported problems. (Code43), I was convinced. And sure enough in Device manager there was the dreaded yellow triangle icon. So I updated the drivers. And all seemed well for an hour or so, then wham! again.
So I do ONE operation, save the file, purge, do one operation, save the file, purge, and maybe by the 4th of July, or the World Series, I’ll have this project completed.
P.S. I have the same programs on a laptop, and I haven’t experienced anything like this. But to do this work on that machine would require relinking all the pretty picture garbage that may well be contributory to this issue.
I sent a bugsplat a couple weeks ago, I didn’t know what was causing the crashes on layout for windows, I realized that every time I wanted to add a keyboard shortcut the program crashed, sometimes while I was trying to do it and sometimes a few seconds after doing it I didn’t detailed this on my bugsplats reports, I’ve been working on Mac since then and haven’t had that issue so far.
Although you’re using 2023, it’s basically the same issue Thom sees. Which I guess means Thom need not try 2023 for now!
In our system I can order the search results in various ways. I ordered them by user description, and that gathers together the ones where someone said something about what they were doing at the time.
Colin:
I don’t know how pertinent this is to the overall issue of crashes, but @francisquitof comment about customizing the menu/shortcut is pertinent to me. As I was being attacked by the crash monsters, I was also attacked by custom menu thieves. I HAD some really useful docked menus when the 2022 version of LayOut was installed on Windows 7. When I upgraded to 10, they came through, but THEN, in one of the responses to the bugsplat(s) I was advised to delete all the .plo files in my app data. Which I did. And was left without any customization at all. So I made a half-a$$ed attempt at rebuilding them just so I could have some semblance of productivity, and WHAM! I was once again advised to delete the .plo files. Which I did NOT do, and as a result, or perhaps by coincidence, the crash monsters returned. sigh.
Maybe this is useful.
Thanks, Colin, for all you do for us.
PS: Also at this same time, Windows was trying to install updates. I know, why do they DO that in a brand new install??? Anyway, the installs kept failing. And I kept getting crashes.
Then why, when I deleted them (there were two) did all my customizations disappear? This just happened again, BTW. I had rebuilt a convenience tool bar, and then there is a crash, and Windows is insisting it needs to update, but then it can’t because something with Windows is wonky, and then I open the recovered LayOut and the toolbar is GONE.
And yes, I save the file now every minute or so, especially after every new operation.
I figured that out, just now. A warning to others: merely saving the file doesn’t save customizations. Nor does auto recovery.
It would be nice if there was a save preferences option, right there in the customization window.
Update, 5 minutes later. I was switching pages in the LO file. The screen went blank. LO crashed. Then it returned, but now my screen resolution looks like an old commodore 64. Brings back memories, but at the moment, not pleasant ones. Crash # 458670
It is very possible that your issues are actually with the operating system rather than with sketchup/layout.
If you are still having problems with windows update itself you need to resolve those issues.
Updating a Win 7 machine to Win 10 doesn’t always work. Some hardware just doesn’t cope with the newer system. Graphic cards can problematic, and sketchup/layout require these to work well.
Also, when you installed Sketchup did you use the ‘Right click on the installer .exe and choose Run as Admin’ method. If not do so and choose Repair when given the option.
Box:
I do not disagree with you. The “update” to Windows 10 was actually a clean install on a brand new SSD. I didn’t do the work; I hired my trusted tech service to do it. While I was moaning to you guys about my dilemma, he dug around in the system and discovered the Nvidea drivers were dated 2015. Now they’re up-to-date, and I’m not getting black screens anymore. Once I get this project off my desk, I will invest in a more modern display adapter.
I’m hoping the issue is display adapter related, Then I will have only to deal with the strange idiosyncrasies of LayOut.
Thanks to all who have come to my aid with suggestions and solutions. You guys rock.
I work with a team of 40 designers who have lived with Layout crashing for years. It costs us a tremendous amount of wasted time and frustration. Even when it does not crash, the awkward and slow way it handles text boxes is painful and causes some of our staff to simply screenshot their SketchUp model to PowerPoint!
The latest setback is the sporadic requirement to login into Trimble when using SketchUp. This usually happens when we are at a site with no internet rendering the software useless.
We are reviewing other options for our needs as a result.