Revit 2018 Collaboration Issues

[resullins]

Ok... bear with me... this is kind of a weird one. 

 

I recently started at a new company, who has always managed their Revit projects with a by-the-seat-of-our-pants workflow. As far as I can tell, they've always just downloaded other trades' models, linked them in locally (or used Vault, which I didn't really even realize was possible), and never really done a TRULY collaborative project. Until I came along and started working on projects in the cloud, with desktop connector, linking in the live models, etc. And we're getting into REALLY large projects, where this workflow is mandatory per contract. 

 

Well, they asked me to start working on a model for a project they've had for a couple of years now. Not a problem until I realized that the entire project is being done in Revit 2018 (my subscription doesn't go back that far), is using BIM 360 TEAMS (which is SERIOUSLY no longer supported), and requires the C4R plugin (which is no longer available). Yes, I've asked if they were going to upgrade to a newer version and collaboration platform, but they seem to be in no hurry as Autodesk is literally suspending sunsetting 360 TEAMS for this client so they can continue working like this. If I told you what the project was, you'd understand why. 

 

Now... my question is... how the **** do I do  this? We have ONE person that still has access to 2018 with the collaboration plugin, but she doesn't know how to model. Literally the only thing I could think of would be to create a virtual machine on her CAD computer that I could come into and use her setup. But that seems RIPE for issues. 

 

Any suggestions? Is there something I'm missing here? Or is this just another case of Autodesk-needs-to-stop-changing-platforms-every-6-months situation? 

 

Thanks.