Autodesk Product Support October 9, 1992 AutoCAD(R) Release 12 -- Answers to Frequent Questions Issues Covered Configuration Networking Plotting Digitizers General AutoCAD AutoCAD Render Advanced Modeling Extension (AME) TM AutoCAD SQL Extension (ASE) TM AutoLISP (R) / AutoCAD Development System (ADS) TM PostScript Configuration 1) The following error occurs when attempting to start AutoCAD: "BASE.DCL: can't open file." AutoCAD cannot find the file BASE.DCL because the support directory has not been added to the ACAD environment variable. The ACADR12 batch file contains an example ACAD environment variable setting. BASE.DCL contains the layout for dialogue boxes used by AutoCAD and application programs. 2) AutoCAD offers only 3 drivers during configuration. The ACADDRV environment variable has not been set to the default directory \ACAD\DRV, which contains the AutoCAD drivers. To correct this, use the ACADR12 batch file to start AutoCAD, or see Chapter 4 of the Interface, Installation, and Performance Guide for information on the ACADDRV environment variable. 3) The following error occurs when starting AutoCAD: "Out of environment space." There is not enough DOS environment space available to hold the set variables defined in AutoCAD's startup batch file. To increase the DOS environment space, add the SHELL command to the CONFIG.SYS file. For example: SHELL=c:\command.com /p /e:1024 The /e:1024 parameter expands the DOS environment space to 1024 bytes; the default is 160 bytes. For more information on the SHELL command, consult your DOS manual. 4) Cannot locate or add additional protected-mode ADI drivers to Release 12. All protected-mode ADI driver files (with an .EXP extension) must use the correct file name prefix, and must be in the search path specified by the ACADDRV environment variable. Driver file name prefixes must begin with the following two characters: DS for video displays, DG for digitizers, and PL for plotters and printers. See Chapter 4 in the AutoCAD Interface, Installation, and Performance Guide, and read the file README.DRV for more information. Note: some pre-4.1 ADI drivers require changes to Phar Lap switches. See the next item, # 5, for more information. 5) The following error occurs when attempting to start AutoCAD: "General Protection Exception." The -PRIV Phar Lap 386|DOS-Extender TM switch may need to be set for compatibility with pre-4.2 ADI drivers. See Chapter 4 in the Installation, Interface, and Performance Guide, and the file README.DRV for additional information. Note: some pre-4.2 ADI drivers will not work with AutoCAD R12. If problems persist after the -PRIV switch is set, please contact the driver manufacturer for additional help. 6) Cannot reconfigure AutoCAD after selecting the wrong driver. To reconfigure AutoCAD during startup, type ACAD -R at the DOS prompt. To reconfigure AutoCAD while in the drawing editor, type CONFIG at the Command: prompt, or select Configure from the File pull-down menu. To reconfigure AutoCAD Render, type RCONFIG at the Command: prompt, or select Reconfigure from the Preferences pull-down menu. 7) ACAD -R doesn't reconfigure AutoCAD when using SHROOM. SHROOM.COM intercepts all command line switches that start with a dash; however, AutoCAD can be reconfigured by placing double quotes around the -R option. For example: SHROOM "-R" 8) The following error occurs when attempting to start AutoCAD: "FATAL ERROR: Unable to open temporary configuration file." AutoCAD cannot access the file ACAD.CFG. If the machine is on a network, then consult the "Networking" section of this document. On a non-networked machine, check for conflicts with programs or utilities (TSR's) installed in memory (RAM). The easiest way to eliminate all installed programs is to rename the system startup files (i.e., AUTOEXEC.OLD and CONFIG.OLD), and create simplified versions. For example: the new AUTOEXEC.BAT file should only contain the line PROMPT=$P$G, and the CONFIG.SYS file should only contain the line FILES=40. Reboot the machine after the simplified files are complete. Note: when the above error no longer occurs, recreate the system startup files by adding one line at a time to AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS until the offending program or utility is located. After adding each line, reboot the machine, and attempt to run AutoCAD. 9) Invalid configuration in Release 11 after using Release 12. Each AutoCAD version requires its own configuration file, ACAD.CFG. To specify the location of configuration files, use the ACADCFG environment variable in each AutoCAD startup batch file. See Chapter 4 in the Installation, Interface, and Performance Guide for more information on AutoCAD's environment variables. Networking 1) The following error occurs when attempting to start AutoCAD: "CANNOT FIND DISPLAY DRIVER, display disabled. See file: \\.EXP FATAL ERROR: Can't start display driver." AutoCAD is unable to locate the display driver because it has been moved or erased. On a network, this error occurs if the logical drive where AutoCAD resides has been remapped. To correct this, change the drive mapping or delete the file ACAD.CFG, and reconfigure AutoCAD. 2) Dialogue box reports the following error when accessing drawing files on a network drive: "Unable to write to that directory. Do you want to continue?" AutoCAD Release 12 makes a DOS file open call that some networks do not support. When this happens, AutoCAD reports that the drawing directory is read-only, and will not allow access to drawings located on network drives. To correct this, either run AutoCAD from a local disk, or install the R12LAN patch (R12LAN.ZIP) which is available on CompuServe, or from Autodesk Product Support. Affected networks include: MicroSoft LAN Manager, Lantastic, IBM LAN Server, 3Com, and DEC Pathworks (some other networks may also be affected). Artisoft, the maker of Lantastic, has made a patch available to repair their software. Please contact Artisoft for more information about their patch. 3) The following error occurs when attempting to configure Release 12 on a network drive: "FATAL ERROR: Unable to open temporary configuration file." This error is caused by the problem noted above. See previous question, # 2. 4) Dialogue boxes do not show directory dot symbols ".." when accessing a Novell network drive. Novell's software has an option to show directory dots. To turn on directory dot symbols, add the statement SHOW DOTS = ON to Novell's SHELL.CFG file. Consult your Novell documentation for more details. 5) The following error occurs when running AutoCAD on a network drive: "Too many open files." This error has two possible causes: a) The FILES setting in CONFIG.SYS is too low. AutoCAD requires a minimum setting of 40 (i.e., FILES=40). b) Some networks have their own file handles setting. On Novell the setting is in the network's SHELL.CFG file. On PC-NFS the setting is in the network link driver in CONFIG.SYS. See your network configuration manual for more information. 6) AutoCAD R12 will not plot to a captured network parallel port. AutoCAD ADI drivers must communicate directly through a network node's physical parallel port, and will not communicate through a captured network parallel port. To plot to a network printer which is configured through a captured parallel port, use the AutoCAD AUTOSPOOL feature which is documented in Chapter 5 of the Interface, Installation, and Performance Guide. Further details are given in the attached paper, AutoCAD Release 12 386 -- Network Plotting. Plotting 1) Plotter pens do not lift between letters in text entities. The PLOT command's pen width setting is too wide. This can happen if the pen width is specified in millimeters rather than inches when the plotting units are set to inches. For example: a plotter pen width of 0.35 millimeters should be specified as 0.014 inches if the plotting units are set to inches. 2) Plotted dimension arrowheads do not touch extension lines. The pen width is set wider than the actual plotter pen, and the Adjust Area Fill option is on. To correct this, either specify the correct plotter pen width or turn the Adjust Area Fill option off. 3) AutoCAD plots much more slowly in Release 12 than in Release 11. This problem is corrected in Release 12 c1. We recommend that you install this incremental update to Release 12. There are also updated plotter drivers residing on CompuServe which correct this problem. The file containing these fixed drivers is named PL386.ZIP. 4) AutoCAD draws random lines on plotted output. This problem is corrected in Release 12 c1. We recommend that you install this incremental update to Release 12. There are also updated plotter drivers residing on CompuServe which correct this problem. The file containing these fixed drivers is named PL386.ZIP. 5) Houston Instrument plotters work with Release 10, but not Release 12. The Release 12 driver uses different communication settings from earlier versions. Set the plotter to use 9600 baud, no parity, 8 data bits and 1 stop bit. 6) Release 11 plotting script doesn't work in Release 12. Some older plotting scripts will work after the system variable CMDDIA is set to 0. In Release 12, AutoLISP remains active during the PLOT command so AutoLISP routines can be written to do an even better job of plotting than scripts. Here is an example of a Release 12 PLOT command written in AutoLISP: Command: (command "PLOT" "e" "n" "filename" "") 7) EPSON LQ printer does not work when connected via a serial port. The cable configuration specified in the Interface, Installation, and Performance Guide is incorrect. The proper cable configuration is: Printer Computer 2 -------- 3 3 -------- 2 7 -------- 7 -- 6 | -- 20 Digitizers 1) The cross-hairs freeze or become jumpy. This problem is corrected in Release 12 c1. We recommend that you install this incremental update to Release 12. There are also updated digitizer drivers residing on CompuServe which correct this problem. The file containing these fixed drivers is named DG386.ZIP. 2) The digitizer doesn't respond in Release 12, but it worked in Release 11. This problem is corrected in Release 12 c1. We recommend that you install this incremental update to Release 12. There are also updated digitizer drivers residing on CompuServe which correct this problem. The file containing these fixed drivers is named DG386.ZIP. 3) The following error occurs when entering the AutoCAD drawing editor: "Digitizer Not Responding -- Analog Circuitry Failure." Release 12 has a new command, REINIT, which will re- initialize the digitizer and other peripherals. This command replaces the old work-around for this problem, which was to issue a PLOT command followed by a Control-C. 4) Dialogue slider bars will not operate when configured for the digitizer. Access to dialogue box slider bars requires ADI 4.2 drivers. To obtain a newer driver, contact either the manufacturer of the tablet, or the original supplier of the ADI driver. General AutoCAD 1) Release 12 drawings display degree, diameter, and tolerance symbols as question marks ("?") in Release 11 Extension for Windows (AEW). Release 12 drawing files are compatible with Release 11, but Release 12 font files have changed. Release 12 fonts contain 8- bit international characters. To allow drawings created in R12 to display degree, diameter, and tolerance characters in R11 AEW correctly, do the following: a) Confirm that the directories in the R11 ACAD search path contain only R11 fonts. b) Start AEW, and use the STYLE command to modify the text style so that only the font name is specified without the associated font path. To do this, select TYPE IT from the style dialogue box when it requests a text .SHX file name, and enter the text style name at the command prompt. 2) Spacer files, *.AC$, are no longer in the drawing directory. AutoCAD Release 12 no longer uses spacer files. The timed AUTOSAVE feature is provided to protect against data loss due to disk full conditions. See the AutoCAD Reference Manual and the Interface, Installation, and Performance Guide for more information on AUTOSAVE. 3) ZOOM Extents or ZOOM All causes the drawing to regen. In order to calculate the extents of the drawing, AutoCAD must perform a regen. To ZOOM to the full size of the drawing without a regen, use the VMAX or DYNAMIC options instead of EXTENTS or ALL during ZOOM. 4) What is the small box centered on the cross-hairs? The box on the cross-hairs is an entity selection box for GRIPS and PICKFIRST. To turn off GRIPS, set the system variable GRIPS to 0. To turn off PICKFIRST (noun-verb selection), set the system variable PICKFIRST to 0. 5) Some of the pull-down menu items are grayed out. AutoCAD has loaded the menu lisp file ACAD.MNL, which contains AutoLISP functions required by the AutoCAD menu file, ACAD.MNU. ACAD.MNL sets the grayed-out status on some of the pull-down menus. To correct this, if a customized menu is being used, rename it from ACAD.MNU to something else (CUSTOM.MNU), or rename ACAD.MNL to something else (TEMP.MNL) so that it will not load automatically. 6) The following error message is given when menu items are selected: "Unknown command. Type ? for list of commands." AutoCAD was unable to locate the file ACAD.MNL, which contains AutoLISP functions required by the AutoCAD menu file, ACAD.MNU. ACAD.MNL and the compiled menu file, ACAD.MNX, must be in the same directory. 7) Will a customized Release 11 menu work with Release 12? Yes. Existing customized menus will work without modification in AutoCAD Release 12. If your custom menu is called ACAD.MNU, then rename ACAD.MNL to another name so unnecessary AutoLISP routines are not loaded. 8) Do I need to translate Release 12 drawings into Release 11? No. Release 12 drawing files are compatible with Release 11. To convert a drawing file into a Release 10 compatible format, use the utility DXFIX.EXE, which is located in the \ACAD\SUPPORT subdirectory and is documented in the AutoCAD Extras Manual. 9) Why does the Release 12 STATUS command report that only 60% of the program is loaded into memory, while 99% of the program was always loaded in Release 11? Release 12 uses the -DEMANDLOAD Phar Lap 386|DOS-Extender switch to speed loading the executable into RAM. This switch allows AutoCAD to load only portions of the program needed on startup instead of loading the entire executable. Phar Lap's configuration utility, CFIG386.EXE, can be used to remove the - DEMANDLOAD switch. See Appendix E of the Installation, Interface, and Performance Guide for more information. 10) How much hard disk space is needed to install AutoCAD Release 12? Installation of all files requires 26 Megabytes. A minimum of 11 Megabytes is needed if only the Executable and Support files are installed. 11) The following error occurs when using the DXFIN or IGESIN commands: "Not a new drawing -- only ENTITIES section will be input." To correct this, unload AVE Render if it is loaded, quit the current drawing, and begin a new drawing without using a prototype drawing. Issue the DXFIN or IGESIN command in the new drawing. 12) How can I change the colors of AutoCAD's dialogue boxes? On the 386 platform, use the command DLGCOLOR. On other platforms, use the native desktop color editor. AutoCAD Render 1) Why does a different view appear when I render in a viewport? You have chosen a specific view in the SCENE menu. If you wish to render your current view, modify your current SCENE and change the view to *CURRENT*. 2) Why does the surface information attached to an AME part no longer apply after the part is changed or updated by AME? Whenever an AME part is changed or updated, AME rebuilds the database for the part. This destroys the connectivity between AME's original entity handle and the Render surface. To correct this, re-apply the surface finish to the entity. Note: this does not affect surfaces attached by reference to the AutoCAD Color Index (ACI). 3) The following error occurs when initializing the AutoCAD Visualization Extension (AVE): "AutoCAD's combined Display/Rendering driver supports < 128 colors." The AutoCAD display driver must be able to display 256 colors for AVE to render to a viewport. To correct this, configure both AutoCAD and AVE Render for 256-color displays. Advanced Modeling Extension (AME) 1) Will AME version 1.0 or 2.0 work with Release 12? No. Only AME version 2.1 is supported with Release 12. 2) Are AME 2.0 models compatible with AME 2.1? Yes, they are completely compatible. AutoCAD SQL Extension (ASE) 1) The following error occurs when attempting to access a database with ASE: "Error opening database." ASE requires a DOS environment variable to specify the location of available databases. The name of the environment variable depends on the database driver being used. When accessing dBASEIII+ files, any name can be chosen for the environment variable. For example: SET INVENTORY=C:\PROJECT\DBASE. Note: the environment variable name must be supplied to ASE's ASESETDB command. See appendix A in the SQL Extension Reference Manual for additional information. 2) The following error occurs when initializing ASE's dBASE IV driver: "Driver was not initialized" Before ASE can initialize the dBASE IV driver, the following conditions must be met: a) The SQL portion of dBASE IV must create the file SYSDBS.DBF, which points to all available databases. b) The environment variable SQLHOME must be set to the directory containing the file SYSDBS.DBF. 3) Can drawing attributes be converted to a database for use with ASE? Yes. The Release 12 Bonus CD contains the program ASEUTILS.EXP, which will convert drawing attributes into a database file. 4) Can the key column in an ASE table be changed? To change the key column, first delete all links to the table, then re-establish each link. AutoLISP / AutoCAD Development System (ADS) 1) What C compilers are supported? 32-bit: MetaWare version 1.73, Zortech C++ version 3, and Watcom version 9.0. 16-bit: Microsoft C version 5.1 or later, Borland C++ Version 2, and Turbo C++ version 2 or later. 2) Will Release 11 ADS routines work with Release 12? Yes. Most Release 11 ADS routines work fine; however, if you have problems, consult the manufacturer of the ADS routine for more information. 3) What has happened to AutoLISP function (atomlist)? The (atomlist) function was used to list all the names of the AutoLISP system-defined functions and symbols. In Release 12, this function has been replaced by the (atoms-family) function. To get a list of all the AutoLISP system-defined functions and symbols, enter: Command: (atoms-family 0) To get this list in a string form (so it can be used for later processing), enter: Command: (atoms-family 1) PostScript 1) Where can I get more PostScript fonts? AutoCAD uses Adobe Type 1 Fonts. They are sold under the name "Adobe Type Libraries," and are available at local computer stores. See Chapter 10 of the Customization Manual for additional information. 2) Can I distribute an .SHX file which I have compiled from an Adobe .PFB file? No. Adobe's copyrights prohibit distribution of any files derived from PostScript fonts. 3) AutoCAD plots PostScript fonts as outlines. AutoCAD will plot filled PostScript fonts only if the PSOUT command is used to generate the PostScript file, and if the file is then sent to a PostScript printer. AutoCAD's PLOT command will not generate filled PostScript fonts. 4) Why do Courier fonts appear on the PostScript plots? Either your PostScript printer does not contain the font which you specified, or the font file mapping table in the file ACAD.PSF is incorrect for your printer. To correct this, download the correct PostScript font to the printer, or update the font mapping in the ACAD.PSF file. See Chapter 14 in the Reference Manual and Chapter 10 in the Customization Manual for more information. 5) Images imported with the PSIN command have a gray rather than a white background. AutoCAD's color palette does not contain white, so the PSOUT command uses gray instead. Note: images imported into a system using a white display background will print with a black background. 6) Entities print lightly or with dashes when using the PSOUT command. Color PostScript files print in shades of gray on a monochrome printer. To generate monochrome PostScript files, add the following lines into the file ACAD.PSF, immediately before the line containing the text "*sampleprolog": *bwprolog /ACADColor {pop pop pop pop} def 7) Fill patterns created with the PSFILL command obscure geometry. Since PostScript files are sensitive to the order in which the geometry is drawn, and PostScript fill patterns are always opaque, any geometry under a fill pattern will not show through. For example: to display a word in a box which is filled with a 50% gray pattern, first draw the box, fill the box, then write the text. Note: the following steps will move objects in front of a filled area: Command: COPY Select object: Select the objects you wish to move in front of the fill area. /Multiple: 0,0,0 Second point of displacement: Press Return. Command: ERASE Select object: Issue P for the previous selection set. Select object: Press Return. Autodesk Trademarks AutoCAD and AutoLISP are registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by Autodesk, Inc. ACAD, Advanced Modeling Extension, AME, AutoCAD SQL Extension, ASE, AutoCAD Development System, and ADS are trademarks of Autodesk, Inc. Third-Party Trademarks MS-DOS is a registered trademark and Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. 386|DOS-Extender is a trademark of Phar Lap Software, Inc.