trouble with AutocadLT file upload

[joeatsea]

I used to use Nanocad and just recently started using Autocad again.

I sent a .dwg file to an engineer which is a drawing I had started in Nanocad and then imported and finished in Autocad 18 and he says he can't upload it. He says he gets a fatal error. Even though I saved the file as an AutocadLT 2013 format from the file save menu.

I really would like to know if there is any Autocad or AutocadLT user with Architectural experience I could send a sample drawing to or can try the attached file so I can determine if the problem is really with my files or with the program or method the engineer is using to try to upload my drawing when I email it.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

PCS electrical FINAL ACADlite2013.dwg

[Tyke]

I tried opening your file and also encounted a fatal error, but first of all a message saying the DWG was not created by AutoCAD.

 

A trick we used a lot with troublesome DWGs was to save them in DXF format, open the DXF file in AutoCAD and save it as DWG. It didn't work every time but had a very high success rate.

[joeatsea]

What a find so is I can open the Nanocad file in Auto cad and when I get that message I simply say to open it smyways and it opens without an error.

But, after I open the file in Autocad, I maje changes to it and finish the drawing in Auto cad (the file I uploaded) at which point I believe I am saving an Auto cad file, from Auto cad. So, why would that message still appear?

[joeatsea]

I meant to write "what I find so strange" at the begging of my reply.

[Cad64]

I get the fatal error also when trying to open the file. I also tried opening it using the RECOVER command but still no luck.

 

If you can open the file, run an AUDIT and see if it can detect and fix the errors in the file. Or try saving to DXF format as Tyke suggested.

[joeatsea]

First of all realizing I neglected to thank you both for taking the time to help. I apologize. Ok, I will try to save as dxf and will upload again to see if it works and would like to try the file audit.

[joeatsea]

First of all realizing I neglected to thank you both for taking the time to help. I apologize. Ok, I will try to save as dxf and will upload again to see if it works and would like to try the file audit.

[Cad64]

Have you tried the Audit or the DXF suggestion? Any luck?

[welldriller]

Just for your information. I am using DraftSight (free version).

 

I opened your drawing and got a pop-up saying -> one or more externally referenced documents could not be loaded

 

I clicked on the X at the top right corner of the pop-up and it disappeared leavening your drawing.

 

In the view command i could enlarge any part of the drawing using zoom window

 

I also could use the MOVE command and move stuff around in your drawing.

 

Hope this may help you

[Cad64]

It's interesting that Draftsight can open it but Autocad can't. It shouldn't have anything to do with xrefs though. I open files all the time with missing xrefs and don't get a fatal error.

 

I used the external "Reference Manager" to find out what files are externally referenced in the drawing and it shows 10 jpg image files and 1 pdf file. So I made a dummy folder with 10 random images and a pdf, named them all the same as the missing files, stuck the drawing file in the folder and tried to open it. Still getting a fatal error.

[Organic]

The file works fine in NanoCad for me. Have you tried saving it as a 2004 DWG?

 

The programmers of a civil design software I use were saying that they can't support 2018 DWG until its file format is unencrypted (not by them but by other programmers) and that it would likely take a year. NanoCad, Draftsight etc would all be in the same boat in terms of supporting 2018 DWG.

 

Saving as a 2004 DWG file in NanoCad opens fine in AutoCad 2014. I don't have any newer versions to try.

 

I generally always save files as 2004 format when sending to other companies. Some even request 2000.

[Dana W]

The issue is not just the new 2018 file format. I am running AutoCad LT 2018, and I cannot manipulate the drawing after it opens. I get a fatal error trying to do anything to it. I will try again and run AUDIT before trying anything else and get back to you.

 

OK, back. I had a fatal error just opening it this time. Here's the RECOVERED drawing. It was a trainwreck. The recover utility repaired 26 messed up multileaders after skipping over hundreds of unknown database handles. Never seen one, a database handle, but there was a bunch of ugly ones in that drawing. Hope they are gone.

 

BOTH 2013 AND 2018 VERSIONS HERE.

PCS electrical FINAL ACADlite2013-RECOVERED.dwg

PCS electrical FINAL ACADlite2013-RECOVERED 2013.dwg

[Organic]

The issue is not just the new 2018 file format. I am running AutoCad LT 2018, and I cannot manipulate the drawing after it opens. I get a fatal error trying to do anything to it. I will try again and run AUDIT before trying anything else and get back to you.

 

OK, back. I had a fatal error just opening it this time. Here's the RECOVERED drawing. It was a trainwreck. The recover utility repaired 26 messed up multileaders after skipping over hundreds of unknown database handles. Never seen one, a database handle, but there was a bunch of ugly ones in that drawing. Hope they are gone.

 

BOTH 2013 AND 2018 VERSIONS HERE.

 

I'm guessing multileaders wern't around in DWG 2004 format hence why that also worked?

[Dana W]

I'm guessing multileaders wern't around in DWG 2004 format hence why that also worked?

That is correct, I believe.

[joeatsea]

Im so confused.

Although I had been able to open the drawing I created with Nanocad with Autocad, then work on it and save it. I went back and opened it multiple times yesterday. Today, I could not open it any more in Autocad without a fatal error.

I opened it again successfully with Nanocad without any error messages and created a dxf file. Then, opened the dxf file with Autocad and was able to work on it.

This would not be important for me to solve if I didn't have dozens of drawings in Nanocad that I need to be able to share with engineers who use Autocad LT and other versions of Autocad.

At some point, once I can figure out how to best convert all of them to an Autocad friendly format, I will hav to stop using Nanocad to avoid these difficulties.

In this case then, my actiones were. 1. created the drawing using Nanocad and saved it as a dwg file. 2. Opened it in Autocad to find that the text on leaders was not legible and could not be edited (which was the engineer's complaint). 3. Deleted all leaders and text and added new ones on Autocad. 4. Saved as an Autocad LT2013 file (that's the version nobody can open without error messages). 5. Opened the same file with Nanocad without error messages. 6. Saved it from Nanocad as an Autocadv2013 dxf file. 7. Opened it with Autocad without issues and can read, and edit all entities and annotations.

Again, I would appreciate it is someone could try opening the dxf file I created of the same drawing using Nanocad to see if it now works with Autocad LT and/or other Autocad versions. I tried to attach it buy it seems to barely exceed the file size limit so I will try to zip it.

[joeatsea]

I tried saving it as a 2004 dwg file and the problem with the text and leaders persists. Autocad shows them as an ACAD_PROXY_ENTITY

which cannot be edited or moved.

If it wasn't for that, there would be no problem.

[joeatsea]

Here is a screenshot of how the leaders and text shows as opposed to an mtext or note.

[joeatsea]

I was able to open the recovered files with no issue in either program.

[joeatsea]

Ok, I tried to zip the .dxf file I created. I would appreciate it if someone could try to see if it opens in AutocadLT or other Autocad version

PCS electrical FINAL ACADlite2013.zip

[Cad64]

I still get a fatal error when trying to open the DXF file. Why did you save the DXF from Nanocad instead of saving it from Autocad?

 

Try saving as a 2004 DXF file from Autocad and post that file here.