7.0 Doors/Windows placed in Composite Walls and opened in ArchiCAD 8 or later versions

Written by László Nagy

Recently we came across a minor glitch in the ArchiCAD 7.0 Library which could cause problems. The situation was this:

The user had a Project he did and completed or started in ArchiCAD 7.0. After upgrading to ArchiCAD 8, an Archive was saved from the 7.0 Project. The Archive was opened in ArchiCAD 8. Library Objects contained in the archive were extracted to a folder. What the user saw was that Doors/Windows placed into Composite Walls could not be displayed in ArchiCAD 8 on the Floor Plan, and sometimes not even in 3D. On the Floor Plan, all that could be seen is a large dot. The same thing happened when opening an old 7.0 Solo Project File with 7.0 Library loaded with it.

The problem is caused by a Macro Library Object. One line of this Library Object was incorrectly coded at the time it was written. ArchiCAD 7.0 was more permissive with bugs like this. However, ArchiCAD 8 is stricter and that's why it came out with this version. The problem is that an array index becomes 0 because of this error. ArchiCAD 7.0 changed this value to 1, but ArchiCAD 8 is not so permissive. It comes up with an error and the Door/Window Object calling this Macro Object does not get generated.

The solution is simple. You need to modify one line in the Macro Object. Here is how to do it:

• Find the following Macro Library Object:
  ArchiCAD Library 70Object Library 70MACROS 70D-W Macros 70D-W Accessories 70comp_wall_end_70.ism
• Open this file for Editing in ArchiCAD 7.0 (You might want to use it with ArchiCAD 7.0 as well after this).
• Go to its 2D Script.
• Go to line 286.
• Change this line from:
  pen wall_skins_params[wall_skins_num][3]
  to the following:
  pen wall_skins_params[wall_skins_number][3]
• Save the Macro Library Object file.

On the Floor Plan, do ALT-Rebuild (OPT-Rebuild on Mac) to force ArchiCAD to fully regenerate it. The Doors/Windows will now be correctly generated and displayed.

Page last updated: Saturday, December 19, 2009