Intellicad/Civil Crashes

[SurveyOne]

I tried emailing support today but the email was returned as not delivered. I am very unhappy with the instability of the Civil/Intellicad release. It is simply unacceptable that I can not process a simple Surface without crashing, when the same surface can be processed in the Survey Standalone version. Every time I try and edit a surface I must save after every change because invariably it will CRASH. That happens in the standalone as well. I am so tired of beta testing for companies. I won't even open the Civil software unless forced to and I dread working on surfaces with Carlson.You need a major overhaul in these programs....I am sorry but I am extremely frustated after 50 crashes today.
Cliff Wagner

[ColC]

I fully agree, I have had the Intellicad version for twelve months and I would be lucky to have one job done without lots of problems. I have used Embedded 2009 to do the bulk of my work, but I have relied on the Intellicad for the Civil side of things. Every session would have 3-10 crashes. I know that a lot of work is going on trying to rectify these problems as I have received a half a dozen updates in the last 4 months. And the responses to my problems has been first class. A lot of the little problems are being solved, but it seems to me there is a more serious problem occurring which has yet to resolved. The reason I say that is, that the crashes that I have are more difficult to recover from. Ctrl Alt Del often will not recover the computer to close the faulty program. I suspect a more serious structural or memory problem is occurring.

I am very keen to support the Carlsons software as I believe it has been cleverly constructed and designed. However, the Intellicad path has been a disaster to date. I would like to be reassured that there is some light at the end of the tunnel. And the solution is not light years away. Some honest feedback would be appreciated.

[entov]

Cliff...
Back in March I have contacted you based on your crash reports, but you were in the middle of the project and could not work with me on your issue.

I am not sure which support email did you use, I am not aware of any email problems.

The crash reports which users submit have proved to be an invaluable tool to address the problems in IntelliCAD and it is our hope that users who have installed the updates get to benefit from the stability improvements.

Please contact me at entov AT carlsonsw.com so that we can figure that the issue is and to fix the problem.

Thank you,
Leonid

[SurveyOne]

I will be glad to help if Carlson will agree to assign a team and at least do updates as we address these problems. I will find the problems. I know of many already. I will donate my time, but only if the fixes are addressed as we go. Waiting for the next release is not an option for me.

[ColC]

Further to my log of the 12th, another recurring lock up occurs when the program is on and the computer goes into standby mode. When
I return to the computer the computer is fully locked up. The windows logon appears but I cannot get it to respond. I have not had any other software so completely lock up windows. This is why I believe there is serious structural flaw in the program, probably in the memory allocation.

My other concern is speed or lack of. Simple operations still take an excessive time.

Is anyone else having similar problems?

[ColC]

I have solved my crashing problem and the excessive time delays. And the good news is it was not a major structural flaw in Carlsons as I suspected. The problem was with my Internet Security Package(PC Tools).

Carlson support (Leonid) suggested I look at the Internet security program as a possible source of the problem. And is right on the money.

PC Tools support responded to my request for help almost as quickly as Leonid does. They provided a link to a later version. I have installed that and all those problems I mentioned earlier have disappeared.

The program runs with normal response times and so far no major crashes.

So for those having major hang ups with Intellicad, check your Internet security package.

[ColC]

It seems PC Tools Internet security is not to compatible with networks. With the latest upgrade I replaced my earlier problems with a new set. When I contacted the Support for PC Tools they were not happy with its operation with networks and suggested a fix was on its way with a new, yet to be released, version. Too late for me so I have set up Zone Alarm which at this stage is running fine and has no immediate Problems with Intellicad.

[ColC]

Further progress with my Intellicad Crashes. The Zone Alarm( mentioned earlier) was not all roses while it went through a "learning process". It slowed my computer very significantly. Now it seems OK. I am sure that PC Tools Internet security could be tweaked to reduce the problem. PC Tools support have been in contact with me to rectify the problem.

I have also discovered another trick to reduce some crashes. I increased the virtual memory windows uses to 2000mb or 2500mb. This stopped a problem I was having saving a coordinate file after editing and other some other less common operations. Previously it could several minutes to save if it did not crash before hand. Now it operates as it should with a simple mouse click.

My Intellicad is beginning to function more like it should. I hope this info is of help to others.

[yode]

I too have memory problems with Carlson Civil using included Intellicad. I recommended our office purchase Carlson Civil rather than AutoCAD Civil because I read a lot of positive comments on internet and it was less expensive. My work PC has 4 gigabytes of RAM on Windows XP. From my experience, Intellicad is a CAD system designed for small projects. Regularlly Intellicad freezes or terminates before I can save dwg file. I'm constantly checking memory usage in Windows task manager process tab so I can save dwg file, exit program to recover RAM, and restart program before Intellicad crashes. Intellicad memory management is especially poor when working in paperspace containing drawings with map images.

Carlson Civil may be a good tool but I don't see any point in buying AutoCAD then buying Carlson Civil as an add-on. If I'm going to use AutoCAD I'll use AutoCAD Civil.

[ColC]

My problems with Intellicad have rapidily diminished. I have received first class support from Carlson which I doubt could be matched by Autodesk. Over the last 20 months I think I had more regular contact with Leonid than the rest of my family.

The number of bugs & crashes has significantly reduced. My demands on Leonid have dimished and I am now speaking more with my family. At present I am not running Civil as regularly, but I have not have memory problems as I did previously.

Make sure you have the latest patch. The intellicad 7 is still not fully functional yet, but it will help close the gap with Autocad.