Warning: Using the VE can seriously damage your health
Posted: Tue Feb 25, 2014 3:47 pm
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
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
).
(I'm joking of course!)