Autocad 2015 Review

Autocad 2015 was the first Autocad in ages that loaded reasonably easily. This lulled me into thinking that perhaps the developers had finally made some stability improvements. A month later using this beast of a program in my small Adelaide Architectural Practice & my opinion is that it is actually a huge step backwards. 

What is Wrong With the Newest Autocad?

So what is wrong with this version of Autocad? Other than messing with the way the interface looks & changing the file version yet again my biggest gripe is that Autocad 2015 takes much longer to load & runs much slower than my 2014 and 2013 versions. That alone is a huge backwards step. For an old bloke like me the icons on the toolbars are very faded. This is supposed to reduce eyestrain...it just means that everything looks the same & you need better vision to focus on what the icon actually is rather than recognising it by colour contrast. Editing text takes a lot longer to start the editing process. It used to be instant a few versions ago & now I wait a couple of seconds after clicking on the text.

Autocad 2015 stability issues

Another huge problem for me is that this years Autocad has stability issues. Every time I close the "refedit" window & save it I crash.  The backup manager doesn't work that well if you use the same drawing names for your drawings from job to job & so if you don't save every time before you do a refedit you can lose your work.... REALLY FRUSTRATING the third time this happens in one day.

Autocad 2015 file version is probably the cause of this. Every time the developers re-write the code (I presume to stop piracy  issues) the new version is always full of bugs. This one in my opinion is unusually unstable and reminds me of the problems I had with my first windows version of Autocad R13 was way back in the 1990's....we all remember what a dog of a program that was... Anyway the hope is that next year they will fix up all the things they messed up this year...Cheers Autodesk!!

Autocad Internal Error 2738 installing bug still a problem

I finally got the courage up to install my Autocad 2014 (version 19.1) & it was as big a problem as I had expected. Autodesk really needs to get its act together and sort out this problem. I first encountered error 2738 a couple of years ago when I was installing my Autocad 2012 in my Architectural practice & then again a year later when I installed version 2013.  I wrote how I fixed it in an earlier post on my blog mainly so that I had a record for myself next time I tried an Autocad installation. Doing this kind of thing once  a year it's easy to forget the exact procedure and as I had wasted days sorting it out I wanted to be sure I was prepared the next time it happened. Since then thousands of people have made use of this advice, indicating to me that this is a common bug.... yet Autodesk still haven't fixed it.

Autocad 2014 pre-installation procedure

I tried the usual method of lodging a support ticket with my local Autodesk reseller and went through the procedures they outlined to ensure a clean installation. I followed an A4 sheet of recommendations before the install, which was irksome & must make Autocad one of the trickiest programs around to load. Autodesk seems to have lost the plot a bit with so much concern over piracy & licensing that the installation process is a nightmare.

The sequence of the pre-installation process is to

1 Ensure that you have all your windows updates

2 Disable user account control

3 Start windows in Diagnostic mode

4 Clean out all temp files with a "disk cleanup".

4 Disable your firewall and virus protection (Trend Micro is a really big problem and it is recommended that it is uninstalled then re-installed after Autocad is installed)

5 Ensure that Autodesk is listed as a trusted site in your "Internet options" security tab

It is all good information to know, but it really shouldn't be this hard just to load a program. Just following the pre-installation procedure is beyond 50% of most users & will take quite a bit of time of research to ensure that it is done correctly and isn't affecting anything else on your computer..... All up this took me 2 hours & when I finally attempted it the instal still failed.

Autodesk subscription

I have been on subscription since Autodesk came up with the idea that yearly subscription was better for their cash flow. This means that I get my new seasons software each year. I get my Autocad as a disk mailed to me as it will not download properly from the net. I have to request this every year after the download fails. My subscription information has been messed up with either my name or my address information being wrong 3 out of the 7 years I have been on this system. You would really expect something better from a company that receives $800 a year from me just to use their product.

How I finally installed Autocad 2014

I ended up having to go the route of editing my registry (again) to fix this problem. This is something that has never been advocated by any help I have received from either my re-seller or from Autodesk.  This is reasonable, as registry editing is complicated and one error can cause havoc with your computer. I hate to fiddle with the registry as the entries are quite complex and above the skill levels of most users. I have now needed to do this for 3 consecutive years with 3 computers (refer previous post for instruction). Each time causes me some degree of stress as my computer is my livelihood & I really cannot afford the downtime of having to reload everything if I make a mistake & fry the system.

The revised pre-installation process

What I did this year was to follow the 5 previous pre-installation tips, then delete the registry entries as per my previous post advice and then turn off my Trend micro for the half an hour necessary for the install. I did not remove Trend Micro from my computer as I have had trouble installing Trend Micro in the past & I didn't want to go down that path again. One troublesome program is enough!!! The other advice is that on my successful install I also left everything selected on the disks first installation screen. Autodesk usually tries to market its new products by bundling trials with their product. For the first 3 unsuccessful attempts I had removed a  (pre-ticked) product from the install called Recap. I actually forgot to un-tick this on the final install, which just happened to be successful. I am not sure if this was part of the solution but it makes sense to instal with all the manufacturer defaults in place. Any changes from a default install could be part of the problem so it is best to proceed with the most common scenario. Another point to note is that this year the Wow6432Node registry entry deleted & reloaded correctly but the other registry key entry wouldn't delete. This didn't seem to matter as Autocad 2014 still installed properly after I had reinstalled the one problem entry that I managed to delete, proceeding past the 6 put of 11 module error 2738 sticking point without a problem. A screenshot of this registry issue is included below. I also tried to delete this key unsuccessfully from REGEDIT & the windows error message was simply "Cannot delete...error while deleting key"

Time taken to install Autocad 2014

This year I took 2 full days to install my legal version of Autocad
2014 and then get the interface looking and acting like my old version.
In my experience this is about average for the product. Something goes
wrong almost every year. Make sure that you have a weekend to yourself
and lots of patience... you will need it. I am hoping to try installing
my 2015 version next weekend while I am still familiar with the
procedure. Hopefully things will go smoother then....I'm not getting my
hopes up!!!!

AUTOCAD HAS INSTALL PROBLEMS AND CUSTOMER SERVICE IS LACKING

I Dread The Yearly AutoCad Upgrades... There Are Always Problems

Autocad is a mongrel program. I am on subscription and although the costs have now come down to $700 a year (mainly due to the Aussie dollar performing well compared to the American dollar) in my opinion it is about $700 overpriced. I am particularly annoyed at the moment as I have just spent most of the day trying to load my new Autocad 2013 upgrade. I had to fill out several questionaires and forms earlier in the year just to get my upgrade on DVD rather than just as an internet upload. For the money you would think that the default service would be to give you a disk. So much easier to load and portable if you do a bit of contract work like me.

I slipped the disk into the drive and started the install with some trepidation as there always is some issue when it comes to Autocad upgrades and installs. After about 5 minutes I got the first error message "error 2738 could not access VB script run time for custom action". Over the following 15 minutes there were 2 more of these errors...the first being "the installer has encountered an unexpected error installing this package. This may indicate a problem with the package. The error code is 2738" The next was just "internal error 2738". Phew!! I sighed and drew a breath. I knew instantly that this was going to be another long haul.

No Help From AutoCad Support... Luckily Others Have Had Similar Problems & Posted Fixes

Last year I had trouble with my install and it took me 2 days to figure it out by myself after days of useless interaction with my Autocad support tech by email from some-where on the subcontinent. I had a nagging feeling that this error was the same as last years, but it was so long ago that I couldn't be sure. Luckily I managed to find the same helpful posting again. My many thanks to Osman from Turkey. He managed to do what my Subscription Tech support technician could not. I have cut & pasted his post into the extended text below. It assumes that you are a little tech savy and know a bit of basic dos. It also messes with the registry which is a bit scary. Luckily windows 7 OS has a good  "System Restore" function that is easy to use if a mistake is made. I did a quick check to see if there were any recent restore points available before proceeding as I have been caught out once before when still using my old XP OS. Basically 2 registry entries need to be deleted and new ones put in. Osman's steps 1 & 2 I ran through the command prompt, which was in itself hard to find in my new Windows 7 OS. I just hovered my mouse over the "All programs" tab in the start button & waited until the programs and folders appeared. The command Prompt was hidden away under "Accessories". After deleting the entries and replacing them everything worked fine.

How Long Did the Upgrade Take from AutoCad 2012 To 2013?

AutoCad has cost my business as an Adelaide Architect a lot of money in down-time over the years. This year was no exception.  I started the main install at 10.30 and finished
at 2.30. The steps here only took about 10 minutes to actually do but hours to research and check before proceeding. The rest of the day was then spent getting Autocad back to looking the way my previous version did and having a quick look at all the new features. All up I wasted an entire day just getting back to the point I had been the day before with my old Autocad 2012. This is actually not bad as I wasted about a week on last years upgrade!! Editors Note: see my later blog post for updated information concerning this error & later versions of Autocad.

Autodesk Support Service Opinion

I completed an Autodesk customer experience survey this morning. I vented a bit and then figured I could cut and paste my reply to Autodesk here. Perhaps someone else has had similar problems and may be comforted by the fact they are not the only one receiving such lousy service.
Funnily enough the most I hear from them is in the last month or two before I need to renew my license. I have already had 3 emails in the past week as there is about 60 days left on my current subscription. My reply to the two comment sections of their questionnaire is below...

Autocad Price is Excessive and Support Poor- My Complaint to Autodesk

Promises Promises and no delivery!!!! Also expensive at over $1000 a year just for subscription without buying the product. Poor support for any tricky problems and I only need support for tricky problems.  I could not load my upgrade (never has been easy but this was worse than usual). There is usually a problem loading my upgrades
(almost the only support I ever need), so I quite often do not load them, they just sit unopened as very expensive paperweights. My last support question I answered myself by the internet. It was a common problem and my Autodesk support person could not solve it, yet there were forums where the exact thing had happened to others.  I still have one support request unsolved for over 600 days. I wasted about a full working week trying to resolve that one. I should be billing you for my time!!!(publishtoweb command only works with Internet Explorer, other browsers see it as code not drawings). I was finally told perhaps the development team could include the fix in the next (2012) version. It did not happen. I am now telling everyone how my experience with Autodesk is exceptionally bad and now have started to write a blog on transitioning my practice from Autocad to Archicad... yes my Autodesk experience has resolved me to not go to Revit.

I have contracted to almost every major practice in Adelaide over the past 15 years and have previously always told others Autocad was a necessary tool. I no longer believe this, and are now telling others. Because of my large network that is a lot of bad PR.  I am however being unbiased in my blog on the changeover to Graphisoft so perhaps they will not fare well either, that remains to be seen.  I predict that you are going to lose a lot of business because of your recent poor service to what had previously been a very loyal customer. I really do not see a very bright future for your company if it continues to be run this way.

I would be prepared to pay about a third of what I do now and that is what your product is really worth in the current market. If your price was lower you may also get more paying users and make more profits. For every 10 people I know using Autocad, about one has a legal copy. Not many can afford the large sum a license costs here in Australia, so you are losing trade. I even know a few Architects that have transitioned to using Google Sketchup (free) as their main documenting tool. An extra hundred dollars or so for an upgraded license and you get all the extras you need to produce drawings. My recommendation is drop your price or you will go out of business.

It will be interesting to see if I get a reply from Autodesk. I have complained before, but had just accepted that there was nothing I could do about the situation due to the hours I have invested in learning their product. I am small fish to them and they have not worried about keeping me happy.  With the advent of BIM superseding CAD I now have a chance to shed the costly Autodesk noose around my neck. My affair with Autocad is almost over and like most jilted lovers I am bitter.
I now love SKETCHUP and like most converts heartily recommend it to everyone. It works brilliantly, was easy to learn, costs nothing and has great newsletters and tutorials. I feel more involved than I ever did with Autodesk. I will make my mind up about Archicad over the next few months, but Graphisoft will have their work cut out for them to come out in front of the Sketchup team!