macOS 14.4 Compatibility Issues with Vectorworks

After updating the OS, did anyone reinstall Vectorworks 2024?  Often, after an OS update, we find VW (and other applications) start misbehaving so we uninstall, restart to 'de-cache' preferences, and then reinstall.

 

We do this every time there is a major update of the OS.  Once bitten...

 

We also suggest everyone gets a copy of Parallels on their Mac laptops in case of emergency in the Mac world (assuming Parallels is not similarly afflicted, of course).  The cost of parallels is marginal, and you then have the added benefit of being able to test VW should there be any bugs on the Mac, and validate your DWGs using DWG Trueview (free software!).

 

I was never a scout but am always prepared!

Yes, with a system crash that's repeatable it's common sense to reinstall the application and in my case also reinstalling the OS.  I've found a workaround in my situation.  I've notice the crash in my case is related to app swapping, the switching back and forth between open applications w/command-tab.  Upon return to Vectorworks, it crashes.  More notably it is when I have another 3D rendering application running in the background.  I'm limping along by not having both open at the same time.  

i have disconnected the external displays and the crashes are still happening 😞

Is it possible there are few triggers for those crashes? i'm using Strata 3D software and the crash is happening only when Strata is at the background. I also using an external display but when i disconnect it, the crashes continue.

Yes!  Same here.  Don’t keep them open together.

The update to Mac OS Sonoma 14.5 is available.

On my machine page sizes for printers are available again and the overall performance of vwx is much better.

On 5/5/2024 at 1:10 AM, Uri Ben-Or said:

Is it possible there are few triggers for those crashes? i'm using Strata 3D software and the crash is happening only when Strata is at the background. I also using an external display but when i disconnect it, the crashes continue.

 

It seems 14.5 update has repaired this problem.  I've had both programs and switching between for some time today without issue.  Whew.  That was unpleasant.  

Anyone knows if all issues is fixed with new MacOS 14.5 and the Vectorworks 2024 Update 5 released yesterday/today? 

I use V2024 on an M1 Ultra with three 32-inch screens attached. I also use the beta version of macOS 14.5, so I get all the updates before they’re widely available. I’m currently running macOS 14.5 beta without any of the issues others have mentioned. Additionally, I use Amphetamine to disable all sleep preferences on my Mac, ensuring it runs 24/7 unless I manually restart or activate the screensaver or sleep mode. I’ve been using macOS 14.4 for months without any problems

Good morning

 

Can we consider the problem over with update 14.5?

 

Thanks

As far as my situation is con

21 minutes ago, zeno said:

Good morning

 

Can we consider the problem over with update 14.5?

 

Thanks

After updating both the OS 14.5 and SP 5 it is very stable in my situation.   No issues whatsoever.

These freezes were occurring for me and would last up to 30sec. The symptom was that all graphics would freeze for both of my external displays for anywhere between a few seconds and 30sec.

This occurs with every other application closed.

This only seems to occur but with an active document loaded. Just having VW open is not causing freezes.

There are no spikes in the CPU or GPU as far as activity monitor shows.

 

This behavior prompted me to blow everything up and reinstall the OS. I'm on Sonoma 14.5 with VW24 SP5 and this is still occurring after a clean install of everything on an Macbook pro (M1 Max / 64GB RAM)

 

Edited June 11 by Greg S

os14.5 and vwks 2024 update 5 (all the latest software)

macbook proM3 max chip (the latest hdwr)

external monitor samsung connected with HDMI cable

when i run vwks on the external monitor sometimes it freezes, works really slow, overall computer boggs down, other apps freeze, spinning wheel of death, etc. When I have vwks on the MacBook pro screen vwks is fine fast and snappy. even when other apps are on the external monitor. Downgrading back to os 14.1  sounds like a nightmare. Could try to uninstall vwks and re install but that sounds scary to me.  Things should just work, right? I was hoping vwks update 5 would solve the issues. Nope.  Are we waiting for OS 14.6 ? Will apple even do a 14.6 and fix the issue or go to the new mac os with AI ?  That sounds way problematic and too cutting edge for my tastes. would an apple monitor work ok ? super frustrating, where's the easy solution... 

 

first thread on this subject was April 14th by Vwks and said "Apple is currently addressing these issues, and we are awaiting a resolution in an upcoming macOS update."

 

Where is Apple on this. Do they care ? An update from wks would be nice...

@Kurt M. I have a similar setup MacBook M3Max but with a different external monitor (Apple Cinema Display on Mini Display Port adapter) and am not seeing any problems with lag.

 

Two suggestions:

 

1. Go to System Preferences:Battery and set the Energy Mode to High Power instead of Automatic and see if this helps.

2. Try a different HDMI cable. I have seen instances where a bad cable has had "interesting" effects.  Go to the Apple Store or someplace else with a good return policy and get the highest quality cable you can. If that fixes the issue it is worth the money. If it doesn't then return it and at least we have ruled out one part of a hardware problem.

 

Good Luck.

thanks for the tips Ill try that and let everyone know my results

@Pat StanfordThanks for the ideas!

I've tried both those things to no avail. My monitors (2 Viewsonic VP3481) are connected by USB-C and never had this issue with VW'22, '23. or '24 until last week. I've tried HDMI with them as well with no difference.

 

Troubleshooting with Apple support, we reset user folder preferences and tried a new account as well as safe mode. None of these things seemed to have fixed things. I'll keep working with them on the Apple side and will post any findings here.

It's difficult to tell if it's in the Apple or Vectorworks world as it started around the time I updated to SP5, but not exactly. Also, and Apple update was done around the same time... so it's hard to correlate.

Things seem to have stabilized.  starting vectorworks each day and restarting mac os or shut down and then starting up again and not allowing sleep mode seems to help.  larger files 100mb or more seem more prone.  Inconsistent issues but when it goes south I do a shutdown and quit vectorworks. I also normally  work on my  files directly from dropbox cloud which I think is a no no.  I probably should drag files to my hard drive then put back into dropbox each day.

If the files are synced between your local dropbox folder and the cloud everything should be fine.  If you are trying to work on files that are only in the cloud (Make Online Only in Dropbox language) then you can certainly have much slower disk access and that will appear to be a lag.

 

But I have basically my entire Dropbox folder stored both locally and on the cloud (459 GB) other than a few files that are archive only at this point. Any it does not seem to be a problem.

Update: can confirm that this is not an issue when using the built-in display only. Still working with Apple to see how they can help.

Add my name to the list of suffering users on my MacBook Pro M1 (Second Display - Apple Thunderbolt Display.   I'm just repeating some of the earlier comments just to reinforce that many people are silently having this problem. (and I do thank you folks who added some clues and workarounds to this thread - it's very helpful!):

 

I've been having the slowing down/ crashing issue for over two years and spoken to Apple a few times.   We finally realized that it was only Vectorworks that causes this, and when it does other apps crash or slow to about 30 to 40 second of waiting for every click.   (I beleive we noticed that the Cache went nuts on VWorks when running.)  When VWorks is not running, my life is good on my M1.

 

My workaround is as already expressed in this thread:  Shut Down and restart and sometimes it needs to be a Safe Restart.  It is EXTREMELY annoying for us all!  (A throw back to computers in the earlier 90's - I thought we were past that.). I didn't realize the second monitor used by Vectorworks was part of the issue - thank you for that clue.

 

Anxiously awaiting the solution!   As written above - things should just work - right Vectorworks????? 

So this thread bubbled up again today in my Message Center regarding MacOS Sonoma 14.6 that I just upgraded to yesterday.  That said, it is working fine under 14.6 (I had posted previously with my set-ups), but since that initial post, I did encounter the issues here by others but it appeared to only occur for me (whichever set-up I was using) in conjunction with running Windows 11 Pro through Parallels 19 and Bluebeam.  VWA was being run in the MacOS environment.  I reached out to Parallels thinking that perhaps they were aware of this issue.  While they didn't specifically say they had, they did give me some troubleshooting advice, and so far it's been working after applying the first option.  I am pasting the suggestions below in the event it may help you if you are in a similar workflow and configuration.  The tech also noted the following:

 

Quote

The Parallels Tools is a set of drivers that allow the virtual machine to work well with the virtual machine container and Parallels. It also enables features such as clipboard, graphics acceleration, and the ability to seamlessly move between host and guest virtual machine.

 

Quote

Before proceeding please create a snapshot of the virtual machine by clicking on the Parallels icon on the Mac menu bar, click on Action - Take a Snapshot, then click on Ok. This will create an image of your current virtual machine which we can use in case we need to revert it to a previous state.

Afterwards please try the following steps:

A. Reinstall Parallels Tools:

        1. While Windows is running, click on Parallels icon on the Mac Menu bar. 

        2. Choose Action - Install Parallels Tools/Reinstall Parallels Tools and follow the prompt to reinstall Parallels Tools. You will be prompted to restart the computer upon completion. 

        3. Click on Reboot/Restart.

        4. After Windows has fully loaded, try to test the Windows virtual machine to ensure it is now working properly.

        If the performance issue persists please try the next step:

B. Uninstall DisplayLink:

        1. On the Windows virtual machine, open Settings > Apps > Installed Apps.
        
        2. Locate and uninstall any Display link related driver/software.
        
        3. On the host Mac, Open Finder and navigate to Application and check if an app for Display Link is present.
        
        4. If present;
                a. Locate the icon for Display link on the Mac menu bar, click on it and choose Exit/Quit.
                b. Right-click on the Display link app and choose Remove.
                
        5. Launch Parallels Desktop and the virtual machine and check for improvements in performance.
        
If these steps does not resolve the issue, please submit a Technical Data Report using the following steps:

        1. Reproduce the issue you are having with Parallels Desktop.
        
        Note: It is very important to generate a report as soon as the issue appears. Please keep the virtual machine window open and in front when submitting the report.

        2. On macOS menu bar click on Help tab > Send Technical Data or click on the Parallels icon on macOS menu bar, and select Help menu > Send Technical Data...

        3. Wait for the technical data report to be generated.

        4. On the appeared window please write a short problem description (scenario) and enter your contact information (name and email address) - Enable Screenshots - then click Send Report.

        5. Once the report is received by Parallels reports servers, you will get a unique ID number assigned to your report.

 

Just adding my comment to this thread hoping it would help contributing to resolving this issue, which seems to be on the Apple side anyway.

Having the same lag issues when using External monitors as others on my Macbook 16inch M1 Pro, running macOS Sonoma 14.5 and using Vectorworks 2024 SP6. As a workaround found on this thread, I ticked the box in MacOS settings "Displays have separate spaces", then use only Vectorworks on the external monitor and keep all other windows on the laptop screen. Vectorworks seems pretty happy then. Happy drafting everyone!

Typical stuff from Vectorworks - functionality issues. For an expensive program this is an all too common occurrence. Some pre-emptive high priority emails would have helped let us know prior to upgrading!!

On 6/19/2024 at 2:21 AM, Kurt M said:

Things seem to have stabilized.  starting vectorworks each day and restarting mac os or shut down and then starting up again and not allowing sleep mode seems to help.  larger files 100mb or more seem more prone.  Inconsistent issues but when it goes south I do a shutdown and quit vectorworks. I also normally  work on my  files directly from dropbox cloud which I think is a no no.  I probably should drag files to my hard drive then put back into dropbox each day.

 

Shutting down and restarting your computer each day should be a given.

 

Never leave Vectorworks and Vectorworks files open overnight, particularly if you are expecting them to be backed up.

 

Not allowing you hard drive to sleep should be a given.

 

Keep files below 100Mb whenever possible, splitting and segregating files to maintain that limit.

 

Dropbox files should always be made available offline unless you are not using them in which case leave them in the cloud.  Double clicking on a file in the cloud can lead to an error but this is a Mac thing, not a Vectorworks thing.

On 7/31/2024 at 3:20 PM, spdygnzls said:

So this thread bubbled up again today in my Message Center regarding MacOS Sonoma 14.6 that I just upgraded to yesterday.  That said, it is working fine under 14.6 (I had posted previously with my set-ups), but since that initial post, I did encounter the issues here by others but it appeared to only occur for me (whichever set-up I was using) in conjunction with running Windows 11 Pro through Parallels 19 and Bluebeam.  VWA was being run in the MacOS environment.  I reached out to Parallels thinking that perhaps they were aware of this issue.  While they didn't specifically say they had, they did give me some troubleshooting advice, and so far it's been working after applying the first option.  I am pasting the suggestions below in the event it may help you if you are in a similar workflow and configuration.  The tech also noted the following:

 

 

 

@spdygnzls - This might just be the find! Apple support hasn't exactly been helpful, but after things got way worse today, I checked back here to find your notes. In my case I'm also running Parallels (VW is running in Mac OS, Parallels just happens to be open as well). Closing Parallels completely seems to prevent the lag from happening at all, no matter the monitor count or connection method. I haven't tried the fixes you posted yet, but you may have found the culprit (in at least this case).