The doctor has told me to cut down on stress, and I reckon most of it is caused by using the VE. This week alone it has crashed on me 5 or 6 times (while doing different things), and I have reported a similar number of bugs. It's pretty much the same story each time I use it and every time it crashes, does something I don't want it to, or refuses to do what I do want it to - I feel my blood pressure going through the roof. I know other users experience similar problems, but frankly I've had enough of doing QA on a piece of software that I pay IES thousands of pounds each year to use: software that has been under continuous development for what, 15, 20 years now ? So after 4 1/2 years of battling with it on an almost daily basis I am seriously reconsidering my business plan, possibly cutting right back to do only those jobs that can be done without the VE, for the sake of my health. I'm not kidding. It would be a financially-crazy idea, cutting off major income streams, but if I tear out any more hair, I'll have none left. Or I'll have a heart attack.
Here's a handful of my top VE annoyances, mostly they relate to Model-IT which I find the worst of the modules in terms of usability, though it probably crashes less than the others. I've reported most if not all of these issues in the past, usually to be told that the developers have other priorities, like keeping up with the Regs. Fair enough, but by putting this list on the forum maybe others will add to it and then maybe the developers or someone senior in IES will realise just how infuriating the VE currently is and improve it to make using it a bit more bearable. At present feedback@iesve.com reacts essentially as a black hole into which emails are consumed, never to be answered -I assume this is because they are not, what in the world of corporate speak, is called "customer-facing". In any case I'm not convinced the developers take much notice of users' grievances, requests and recommendations for improvements.
1. Zoom always reverts to 'Fit view" when you go up a level, leave "edit heights", open up a tree or even just click on an object in the model browser - or many other actions. This is really annoying when you have a large model or DXF attached. You have to remember to always use "last zoom", rather than the "up" arrow for example.
2. Poorly implemented or not-at-all-implementend keyboard shortcuts, such as the inability to delete a room using the "delete" key even though it is highlighted in the model browser, unless you first move the cursor to the model viewer window, or use right mouse-click. The return key is usually not being recognised in response to an "OK?" dialogue box. The tab key is not recognised as a means of getting from one data entry box to the next (that's the really annoying one). All these are standard Windows keyboard shortcuts, not implemented on the VE, meaning you have to use the mouse to perform simple, everyday actions.
3. "Partition error" - Model-IT refusing to create a partition for no apparent reason. Try and try again and eventually it works. Same with merge. I've got to the point where, if I try to merge two zones and it works first time, I am genuinely surprised / relieved that I won't have to spend the next 10 minutes "coaxing" it, by redrawing several zones.
4. The ease with which minute geometry errors can be created unnoticed in a model despite your best efforts, wreaking havoc later. I now stop after almost every action and run geometry checks to try to ensure that I haven't upset Model-IT and caused it to draw a shape with one of its edges missing for example (how on earth does it create shapes with one edge missing anyway? Shouldn't there be something in Model-IT that stops this from happening ?)
5. Software updates. The software knows who I am (it knows my licence number) and it knows what version I am running, but when an update is due all it can do is dump me at the IES website, leaving me to try and remember my login details, remember which version I am currently running, and suss out which of the different downloads is relevant to my setup. All this takes time I don't have, involves checking back to the software, etc. I then have to manually execute the download, the installation and the update. Maybe I have been spoilt by other software I use (particularly Macs), which is capable of doing all this by itself in the background, only asking me for permission to do so. By now, all software should operate like this, Mac or PC.
6. VE can't handle models being drawn a long way from the origin and makes a complete mess of things in model viewer. Often DXF files come in this way, so you'll have to move the model or the DXF each time you attach it - which can need to be done many times over. I doubt the developers ever considered that DXF files come in anything other than their "ideal" format, so have probably never tested for this. In reality, DXF files come in with all sorts of "issues" that upset the IES. You can't go back to the architect and effectively say you need it "fixing" (when there is nothing wrong with it as far as they are concerned) because you are trying to use it with a pernickety piece of software which can't cope with it as it is. There is no "Rotate DXF file". So you may have to draw say one floor at 30 degrees rotation (with all extra difficulty and the risks of geometry errors that entails), then the next floor at 0 degrees, rotating the first floor to fit the second floor's DXF file which the architect has arranged differently to the previous one (yes, this does happen). You spend your time rotating your model back and forth to line up with different DXF files.
7. Icons that are i) tiny, and ii) in many cases, almost identical. A magnifying glass should be standard issue, because the developers certainly don't think you'd need to enlargen the icons. How many times I have clicked on the "edit attributes", or "copy selection set" when I meant to click on "connect spaces". You just get used to where they all are in relation to each other (which is really the only way to distinguish them) and IES think it a genius idea to move them all around. Bit like when you go to the supermarket and they've moved everything around, for their benefit, not yours.
8. Error messages such as, "Encountered an improper argument". What exactly is that supposed to mean, and how it is going to be helpful to me?
9. In ApPro, the list always reverts to "Daily profiles", so if you are modifying, say a group of weekly profiles, you've got to reselect Weekly profiles from the drop-down each and every time! I guess the developers just assume you'll never need to perform the same action more than once in succession. And it reverts to "Name" order each time too. Too bad if you're working your way through a list of profiles, trying to ID them using their IDs, you'll be there all day.
10. The unique profile ID doesn't appear in the drop-down list when you try to assign it, so you have to scroll down through, possibly hundreds of profiles, trying to distinguish "theprofilethatscalledsomethingweeklyonlynotnights" from "theprofilethatscalledsomethingweeklyonlynights" - or whatever.
11. Having to manually enter building address data and assessor information every time you need to lodge an EPC. Why isn't this information be stored in a little look-up file on the hard disk ? EPC assessors know how extremely fussy the landmark database is and how it requires the building address to be formatted in precisely the same way as it is on their database, even down to case, character spacing and punctuation - so this often requires several repeated attempts before an upload will be accepted, each time tweaking the address in the hope that this time it will succeed. If not, it's back to the VE to re-run Compliace (which in the case of VE_SBEM means the entire thing as there is no option to "refresh" the address data). By requiring the user to enter it all manually rather than have the software populate these fields automatically from the landmark database (as does, for example the SAP software I use), IES guarantees the likelihood of maximising the frustration and time wasted by this tedious procedure.
12. Having to manually enter assessor information each time (address, insurance details, etc). Yes, I know, use a template, and I do, but user-friendly software would have this information stored in a little look-up file on the hard disk, ready to be populated at the click of a mouse. There might even be a drop-down list of assessors to choose from, to recognise the fact that more than one assessor might use the same PC to lodge.
13. The way that Tabular Room Data lists "IT classroom" before "business classroom" when you sort by room name, but when you sort a room group by room name, it puts "business classroom" at the top of the list, where it should be
14. The way that "Move DXF file" stays on rather than auto deselects, so having carefully located your DXF file exactly where you need it, you then use the mouse to select object(s) and the DXF file moves cos you forgot to deselect it. Argggh. There is no "undo DXF file move". It would be useful to be able to specify a dx,dy offset for a DXF file move to make repeat moves quicker - plus a rotate DXF file function - see above.
15. The way that roofs drawn using "generate roofs" function automatically get assigned roof type as "room" and dumped into a seemingly random room group - rather than taking the attributes and group from the room/object to which they are associated.
I could go on, there is much, much more. Most of this is just poor design, lack of thorough testing and a lack of thought from the user's perspective. Most software nowadays is so well designed (particularly on the Mac) that users are spoilt by thoughtfully-designed interfaces or operating system (obviously I am not talking about Windows). So when you use the VE, it feels like going back 20 years. The VE forces you to go on long, meandering routes, with many repetitive actions needed to perform task that should (given a well-designed interface), take a fraction of the time to complete.
Then there are the bugs. Many of these are once-offs (ie not necessarily repeatable), but IES won't even register them as a bug let alone investigate them unless you can replicate the problem and tell them exactly what led to it. Which is often impossible, as I say they happen quite rarely and who remembers all the exact steps they were taking just before the programme crashed, for example ? Perhaps if they were to log it, then the next time someone had the same problem they too wouldn't be dismissed because it was the "first time we have seen it".
1. Suddenly finding that the object type has set itself to "adjacent building" even though you've been drawing "rooms" all day long.
2. Not being able to draw objects when the grid settings are very small (eg 0.0005). I don't mean they don't snap to the grid, I mean it won't even draw them.
3. DXF file just disappears. You're working on it, you go down a level, back up a level - and it's gone. Happens only very occasionally, so impossible to replicate on demand for the support guys.
4. VE crashes (not generally a Model-IT problem, occurs in other modules). This is the real bug-bear. You're doing the same as you've been doing all day, but this time, for no apparent reason, it hangs "VE MFC Application has stopped working". This happens with annoying frequency, and for a number of different reasons. Here's 4 examples that have happened in the past week alone: Compliance crashed while I tried to run a DSM sim on a model that had the "sunfast link" box accidentally ticked when I have no licence for Suncast. It would have been nice to just give me an error, not totally crash out. Secondly, Apache crashed when I tried to amend heating setpoints for a group of rooms, using tabular room data. Again, a total crash, this time no warning. Thirdly, VE crashed when I switched from Vista to FlucsDL. Fourthly, FlucsDL crashed when I ran an analysis. Turned out it doesn't like buildings being specade too far apart ! No pre-warning, no error message, just a complete hang. I'm sorry, but properly designed, thoroughly-tested software should not do this. Not after 15-20 years of development. Not when I'm paying good money to use it.
5. Many of the usual drawing actions don't behave normally, or work at all if you are working it in a view mode other than plan. Objects just disappear, do not move to where you place them, and do not respond to locks. Hence trying to draw the upper floor of a very simple house using the section as a template (DXF), has just taken me umpteen repeated attempts, and wasted about 1/2 hour. It should be a 2 minute task.
6. Nonsensical errors such as "Warning: Total area of windows+doors is bigger than the area of WALL:xxxxxx". This was acknowledged as a bug last year but has not been fixed.
7. You import a model that was last imported before VE was updated, so it needs to rebuild the model. Fair enough, but then you find it has done all sorts of unwelcome things to the model, such as happened to me today - it has re-allocated rooms to different room groups.
8. Building no longer passes Building Regs following VE update from Feature Pack 1 to Feature Pack 2. This one has also just happened to me. 2 months ago it passed, now it doesn't. I don't know if this is a bug or a consequence of NCM changes, all the same it's going to be hard to explain to the client.
There are of course, many more bugs in the software than this. I find new ones almost every time I use it, no exaggeration.
I would like to add that the support team are mostly excellent in the help they give, but the developers seem not to be aware of the daily frustrations caused by i) a poorly designed user interface, ii) the inability to see how poorly designed the user interface is, ii) the continuing existence of countless bugs, even following many, many years of development, and iii) priority given to improving the features and "sexing up the VE (eg adding Model Viewer II) over fixing the short-comings that make it such a pain to use. The potentially great thing about Model-IT is its simplicity: You can build really complex buildings using a series of simple actions. But it is badly let down by an ill-thought-out (and now very dated) interface, persistent bugs and a reluctance by the developers to improve/fix it. I would say that on average, building a model takes me 3-4 times longer than it should do, currently I waste a lot of time making repeated attempts to get it to comply with my intentions, then checking that it hasn't had some unintended consequence, as I have to conjure up endless work-arounds to pacficy what is a very fussy piece of software. And then there's the crashes, which set you back even more. It's a shame that a powerful and potentially useful piece of software is such a nightmare to use, and faced with real competition I believe the VE wouldn't survive as long as it has.
Jerry
Warning: Using the VE can seriously damage your health
Re: Warning: Using the VE can seriously damage your health
Hi Jerry,
Sorry to hear you have experienced some of these frustrations using the VE applications and I really hope the effects on your health haven’t been so severe!
We do make an effort to encourage feedback from users such as yourself as well as our own internal users and the many partners we have worked closely with over the years. In this way we can make sure we never become complacent and strive to constantly improve the product and make it a more powerful tool. I take on board that in some cases you may not have seen the things you have logged or requested implemented as quickly as you may like but in my opinion some of the functionality added in the past few years has made modelling, data assignment and analysis much faster and more effective using VE, including tabular interface (for editing and exporting/checking) applied to Apache room data, VE Compliance Room Data, Constructions Database, Building Template Manager, MacroFlo Opening Types, parallel process support for SunCast and Flucs calculations, Input Data Visualisation of MacroFlo and Apache Thermal room data assignments. In particular developing the Model Viewer ll technology has allowed a range of results visualisations via coloured 3D displays in VistaPro, SunCast and more. These are areas that we feel have added great value and improved the experience of existing users who may not have got so much from some of the other new features released in this period (for example the updates to ApacheHVAC and our ASHRAE 90.1 PRM Navigators won’t be of interest to all UK energy assessors).
I’m aware that you have been in contact with our Support team in recent weeks regarding a number of challenges and problems you have encountered and we’ve been happy to help in many instances, where possible when an issue is identified we will raise this with the development team for you and seek to provide a solution in the short term or help to devise different approaches to modelling problems that allow you to continue with your projects. Similarly we have provided users a direct route via feedback@iesve.com to directly send comments, feedback and report problems to our development product managers. It is a no-reply email account to differentiate from support requests but I can assure you these notes are not sent into a black hole, in actuality we have a dedicated Enhancement Team within our development department to work through these kinds of user requests.
A final note on issues being raised with development, I discussed this with you previously but perhaps left you with a slightly wrong impression of how we work. Issues can only be raised with the development team when they are fully defined and a key requirement of this is reproducibility. All correspondence is recorded on our support system and this is regularly reviewed so we can pick up any trends or patterns that may have been missed and ensure these are actioned in the same way as problems that are reported whether that’s by issuing new guidance notes on our forum and knowledge base or by recommending improvements in the software to avoid the issues occurring in future. We work very hard to make sure that we get the maximum benefit from the experiences and opinions of our users in addition to our QA procedures that are ongoing during intense testing phases as well as in the periods between releases. Thank you for taking the time to leave this feedback on the software and I hope you can take something from this further insight into our processes and commitment to producing good quality software to allow you to get the most you can from your projects using the whole range of VE applications (especially if it proved to be a cathartic process for you at the same time
).
Phil
Sorry to hear you have experienced some of these frustrations using the VE applications and I really hope the effects on your health haven’t been so severe!
We do make an effort to encourage feedback from users such as yourself as well as our own internal users and the many partners we have worked closely with over the years. In this way we can make sure we never become complacent and strive to constantly improve the product and make it a more powerful tool. I take on board that in some cases you may not have seen the things you have logged or requested implemented as quickly as you may like but in my opinion some of the functionality added in the past few years has made modelling, data assignment and analysis much faster and more effective using VE, including tabular interface (for editing and exporting/checking) applied to Apache room data, VE Compliance Room Data, Constructions Database, Building Template Manager, MacroFlo Opening Types, parallel process support for SunCast and Flucs calculations, Input Data Visualisation of MacroFlo and Apache Thermal room data assignments. In particular developing the Model Viewer ll technology has allowed a range of results visualisations via coloured 3D displays in VistaPro, SunCast and more. These are areas that we feel have added great value and improved the experience of existing users who may not have got so much from some of the other new features released in this period (for example the updates to ApacheHVAC and our ASHRAE 90.1 PRM Navigators won’t be of interest to all UK energy assessors).
I’m aware that you have been in contact with our Support team in recent weeks regarding a number of challenges and problems you have encountered and we’ve been happy to help in many instances, where possible when an issue is identified we will raise this with the development team for you and seek to provide a solution in the short term or help to devise different approaches to modelling problems that allow you to continue with your projects. Similarly we have provided users a direct route via feedback@iesve.com to directly send comments, feedback and report problems to our development product managers. It is a no-reply email account to differentiate from support requests but I can assure you these notes are not sent into a black hole, in actuality we have a dedicated Enhancement Team within our development department to work through these kinds of user requests.
A final note on issues being raised with development, I discussed this with you previously but perhaps left you with a slightly wrong impression of how we work. Issues can only be raised with the development team when they are fully defined and a key requirement of this is reproducibility. All correspondence is recorded on our support system and this is regularly reviewed so we can pick up any trends or patterns that may have been missed and ensure these are actioned in the same way as problems that are reported whether that’s by issuing new guidance notes on our forum and knowledge base or by recommending improvements in the software to avoid the issues occurring in future. We work very hard to make sure that we get the maximum benefit from the experiences and opinions of our users in addition to our QA procedures that are ongoing during intense testing phases as well as in the periods between releases. Thank you for taking the time to leave this feedback on the software and I hope you can take something from this further insight into our processes and commitment to producing good quality software to allow you to get the most you can from your projects using the whole range of VE applications (especially if it proved to be a cathartic process for you at the same time
).Phil
IES Worldwide Technical Support
Re: Warning: Using the VE can seriously damage your health
Phil
Thanks for your reply. I agree that the VE has undergone many improvements which have made life considerably easier for the user - for example, I cannot imagine how I managed before the introduction of tabular room data, which is a god-send. All I am asking for is for the VE to stop crashing all the time, and for a few improvements to be made to the interface - some of the items on the list I raised 4 years ago so it's hardly a question of me being impatient, is it ? Here's today's gripe: FlucsDL crashes if the building objects (even ones that aren't being analysed) are too far from the origin. Obviously, in an ideal world everything would be drawn nice and close to the origin, but in the real world DXF files are imported which do not obey this: they are all over the place, and you will have to attach and re-attach them many times during a project's life. I don't think your developers have considered that this would ever be necessary. Unless you are going to spend time moving the DXF files each and every time you attach them, it is often easier and quicker to draw the model where the DXF is located, even if this is miles from the origin - the VE really ought to be able to cope with this without crashing. I know Model Viewer doesn't like it, I didn't realise FlucsDL didn't until yesterday.
Now, FlucsDL takes at least 5 hours to analyse the 50-odd rooms in my model, so I left it going overnight. But overnight Windows decided to update itself and restart the PC, all without asking my permission - how nice of it. It's one of the reasons I use a Mac. So in the morning instead of finding the results from the analysis waiting for me, I find the Windows login screen. On re-opening the VE, I click on "View Results" - but when you do this, the report contains not only the 50-odd rooms you analysed, but also the 100-odd that your didn't, all together in a huge long report. Why does it not give you the same report as you get when an analysis completes ? What a bizarre over-sight. So, I had to spend an hour tediously going through an excel spreadsheet deleting the unanalysed rooms before I could send it to the client. It's exactly this kind of thoughtlessness in the software's design that so annoys me.
Jerry
Thanks for your reply. I agree that the VE has undergone many improvements which have made life considerably easier for the user - for example, I cannot imagine how I managed before the introduction of tabular room data, which is a god-send. All I am asking for is for the VE to stop crashing all the time, and for a few improvements to be made to the interface - some of the items on the list I raised 4 years ago so it's hardly a question of me being impatient, is it ? Here's today's gripe: FlucsDL crashes if the building objects (even ones that aren't being analysed) are too far from the origin. Obviously, in an ideal world everything would be drawn nice and close to the origin, but in the real world DXF files are imported which do not obey this: they are all over the place, and you will have to attach and re-attach them many times during a project's life. I don't think your developers have considered that this would ever be necessary. Unless you are going to spend time moving the DXF files each and every time you attach them, it is often easier and quicker to draw the model where the DXF is located, even if this is miles from the origin - the VE really ought to be able to cope with this without crashing. I know Model Viewer doesn't like it, I didn't realise FlucsDL didn't until yesterday.
Now, FlucsDL takes at least 5 hours to analyse the 50-odd rooms in my model, so I left it going overnight. But overnight Windows decided to update itself and restart the PC, all without asking my permission - how nice of it. It's one of the reasons I use a Mac. So in the morning instead of finding the results from the analysis waiting for me, I find the Windows login screen. On re-opening the VE, I click on "View Results" - but when you do this, the report contains not only the 50-odd rooms you analysed, but also the 100-odd that your didn't, all together in a huge long report. Why does it not give you the same report as you get when an analysis completes ? What a bizarre over-sight. So, I had to spend an hour tediously going through an excel spreadsheet deleting the unanalysed rooms before I could send it to the client. It's exactly this kind of thoughtlessness in the software's design that so annoys me.
Jerry
Re: Warning: Using the VE can seriously damage your health
Jerry,
Rather than starting to turn down work that requires your to use the VE, have you thought about finding a reliable and financially competitive partner to whom you can sub-contract your VE work?
Rather than starting to turn down work that requires your to use the VE, have you thought about finding a reliable and financially competitive partner to whom you can sub-contract your VE work?
Re: Warning: Using the VE can seriously damage your health
Jerry,
Forgive me for putting my oar in again but I think I can suggest a couple of things to help out your flucsdl problems.
Away from the origin
If you know the building is far from the origin then I'd suggest you move it - you know it's going to cause problems so have your rant by all means but move the damned building once you've drawn it.
-> K: int=off
-> select all spaces
-> K: dx=-x,-y (x & y are your offsets)
-> K: int=on
Certainly IES needs to automate the correction for offset dxf files but you are aware of this limitation already so I'd say work around it.
Spaces for study
I've taken to having multiple versions of my models to speed things up because what's good for thermal isn't always good for daylighting (depending on what I'm looking at - not talking about daylighting sensors in radiance obviously). If you aren't interested in a lot of spaces then you can speed things up by replacing floors with simplified blocks (or just removing the glazing from areas without interest). I think the flucs calcs are similar to suncast which considers every surface (including glazing surfaces) so reducing the number of surfaces speeds things up.
I know this is against the single model concept but I don't give two monkeys about that in all honesty.
Anyhoo - I know this is no comfort and of little interest after the event.
If it's damaging your health you need to look at other options :
- JohnLloyd might well have a solution for you!
- Alternatively - move to TAS and speed up the impending heart attack!
(I'm joking of course!)
Be Cool,
Zap.
Forgive me for putting my oar in again but I think I can suggest a couple of things to help out your flucsdl problems.
Away from the origin
If you know the building is far from the origin then I'd suggest you move it - you know it's going to cause problems so have your rant by all means but move the damned building once you've drawn it.
-> K: int=off
-> select all spaces
-> K: dx=-x,-y (x & y are your offsets)
-> K: int=on
Certainly IES needs to automate the correction for offset dxf files but you are aware of this limitation already so I'd say work around it.
Spaces for study
I've taken to having multiple versions of my models to speed things up because what's good for thermal isn't always good for daylighting (depending on what I'm looking at - not talking about daylighting sensors in radiance obviously). If you aren't interested in a lot of spaces then you can speed things up by replacing floors with simplified blocks (or just removing the glazing from areas without interest). I think the flucs calcs are similar to suncast which considers every surface (including glazing surfaces) so reducing the number of surfaces speeds things up.
I know this is against the single model concept but I don't give two monkeys about that in all honesty.
Anyhoo - I know this is no comfort and of little interest after the event.
If it's damaging your health you need to look at other options :
- JohnLloyd might well have a solution for you!
- Alternatively - move to TAS and speed up the impending heart attack!
(I'm joking of course!)Be Cool,
Zap.
-
RossThompson87
- VE Professor
- Posts: 202
- Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2012 8:56 am
Re: Warning: Using the VE can seriously damage your health
Hi Jerry,
I used ModelIT for many years, but I have now given it up in favor of SketchUp (free version).
Drawing geometry is simple, but getting the export to work smoothly is a steep learning curve. Once you master it though life gets a lot easier.
The key advantage for me is that even with the free version you can make your own scripts for just about anything. So you can sit back while the computer takes care of the repetitive tasks.
I have a pretty poor knowledge of coding but 9 times out of 10 I found that someone had already solved my problem and posted the script online.
Since tabular view came out, I spend most of my time in Excel getting my data organised and use IES for what it does best - running the analysis.
I do modelling work more or less full time, but I now probably spend 40% of time in excel, 40% in SketchUp and 20% in IES. This keeps the stress right down!
Ross
I used ModelIT for many years, but I have now given it up in favor of SketchUp (free version).
Drawing geometry is simple, but getting the export to work smoothly is a steep learning curve. Once you master it though life gets a lot easier.
The key advantage for me is that even with the free version you can make your own scripts for just about anything. So you can sit back while the computer takes care of the repetitive tasks.
I have a pretty poor knowledge of coding but 9 times out of 10 I found that someone had already solved my problem and posted the script online.
Since tabular view came out, I spend most of my time in Excel getting my data organised and use IES for what it does best - running the analysis.
I do modelling work more or less full time, but I now probably spend 40% of time in excel, 40% in SketchUp and 20% in IES. This keeps the stress right down!
Ross
Re: Warning: Using the VE can seriously damage your health
Sketchup works for me. I let my colleague deal with ModelIT but that is rarely needed...
Re: Warning: Using the VE can seriously damage your health
I find it depends how large and complicated your building is. When things get complex I find using SketchUp becomes problematic.
Re: Warning: Using the VE can seriously damage your health
thanks for the suggestions guys.
John - perhaps you can recommend someone, haha !
Zap - yes, obviously now I know that models built away from the origin send the VE into a tizzy I shall move them, but I found out the hard way, tearing my hair out everytime the VE crashed, and as I said before DXF files have to be attached, detached and re-attached many times during a project's life, and moving everything about all the time just to please some fussy software is a hassle and as you say, should be fixed (in my view, good software should make life easier, not harder for the user)
Well, I really seem to have p****d off IES anyway, or so it would seem. Apart from Phil's friendly response, I am now being blanked and blocked by the support team ! My emails are getting returned with a "your server has been black-listed" message, and my attempts to contact them directly via the Support web page go unanswered. Even my PM to Phil was ignored ! Wow, that's some reaction guys! I hope I am wrong, and there is some simple explanation, but it's beginning to look like IES can't take a bit of criticism. How long will this post remain on the forum, I wonder…...
Jerry
John - perhaps you can recommend someone, haha !
Zap - yes, obviously now I know that models built away from the origin send the VE into a tizzy I shall move them, but I found out the hard way, tearing my hair out everytime the VE crashed, and as I said before DXF files have to be attached, detached and re-attached many times during a project's life, and moving everything about all the time just to please some fussy software is a hassle and as you say, should be fixed (in my view, good software should make life easier, not harder for the user)
Well, I really seem to have p****d off IES anyway, or so it would seem. Apart from Phil's friendly response, I am now being blanked and blocked by the support team ! My emails are getting returned with a "your server has been black-listed" message, and my attempts to contact them directly via the Support web page go unanswered. Even my PM to Phil was ignored ! Wow, that's some reaction guys! I hope I am wrong, and there is some simple explanation, but it's beginning to look like IES can't take a bit of criticism. How long will this post remain on the forum, I wonder…...
Jerry
Re: Warning: Using the VE can seriously damage your health
Hi Jerry,
I think we as a company are a bit more mature than that. I certainly haven't received a Private Message from you and have occasionally received these from others via this forum.
Presumably when your email bounces back there is a reason provided and instruction on who you should contact to have it resolved.
In the meantime feel free to use the Support Contact Form http://www.iesve.com/support/contact-support-team
Phil
I think we as a company are a bit more mature than that. I certainly haven't received a Private Message from you and have occasionally received these from others via this forum.
Presumably when your email bounces back there is a reason provided and instruction on who you should contact to have it resolved.
In the meantime feel free to use the Support Contact Form http://www.iesve.com/support/contact-support-team
Phil
IES Worldwide Technical Support