OSX 10.9 Mavericks support

[PVA - Admin]

Wanting to be a cutting edge guy that I am, I downloaded Mavericks yesterday, which went seamlessly, but then today noticed that VW 2011 would not even begin to open....which is not the best thing for me as I work for and with many other designers and architects....who use different versions of VW. Then I opened a file in 2014, and was stunned at how friggin clunky and slow it worked when rotating and manipulating items. I am a very long time user and Trainer and very up to speed with the program, so this is not something I am just making up. I was just shocked at how horrid it was. I would have thought for sure that Nemetschek would have tested the program ad infinitum with Mavericks as it has been coming for a long time now. Perhaps that is not the way it works...but....right now, if possible I am going to sprint back to Mountain Lion if possible. I suppose that will be a bit of a debacle coercing my Macbook Pro to go backwards like that....hmmmm

Be warned before taking the leap to Mavericks....

It will turn your VW life upside down at this juncture seems to me.

Did you uninstall and reinstall Vectorworks 2014 after the Mavericks update, or was it already installed, then you upgraded the OS and just ran the already installed 2014?

Or was it installed after the OS update?

[Dave Donley]

FYI we do not recommend Intel integrated graphics for a reason. You will have a much better experience with a discrete ATI/AMD or NVIDIA video card.

Until we actually have verified that the latest Intel integrated graphics will work well with Vectorworks in 2D and in 3D we will not be encouraging anyone to buy a Mac Mini or neo Windows netbook that only has an Intel integrated graphics chip in it.

[Kevin McAllister]

There are always pros and cons to upgrading. I tend to be an early adopter but I always do a bit of research first.

There is one piece of software I would highly recommend if you're considering any upgrade - Super Duper!. Its a drive cloner. It makes it easy to create a full bootable backup. The key here is "bootable". If you have any trouble you can always boot up the old version of your system. I always make one before upgrading to something like Mavericks.

My two cents?.

Kevin

[gester]

there are websites listing the compatibility issues of known mac applications in various releases, as this here:

roaringapps

you can even check in real time.

rob

[Bob Holtzmann]

confirmed only vector works 2014 works on mavericks

http://kbase.vectorworks.net/questions/1163/Vectorworks+Operating+System+Compatibility+List+2013-10-22

Nemetscheck should give us updates for 10.9 at least of 2008 versions based on the fact 2007 macs run maverick

I see a question mark on the chart for running Vectorworks 2013 under OSX Mavericks - I will need more info, since I need Vw 2013 for my recent projects. This will make me hesitate on doing the OSX update (which I was going to do on a whim because it is free).

Edited October 24, 2013 by Bob-H

[PVA - Admin]

My fault, it is compatible and is reported by testing here and multiple users that things seem to be working fine. If there are any major issues we have missed, they will be corrected in an SP.

Chart corrected.

[IanH]

There is one piece of software I would highly recommend if you're considering any upgrade - Super Duper!. Its a drive cloner. It makes it easy to create a full bootable backup. The key here is "bootable". If you have any trouble you can always boot up the old version of your system. I always make one before upgrading to something like Mavericks.

I've recently tried the free clone feature. Thinking of buying.

Has anyone tried the sandbox option in super duper to switch between OS versions?

[Kizza]

Carbon Copy Cloner is one I've used. A little dearer than Super Duper but I prefer the interface

[RCrussellUK]

I am running OSX 10.9 - downloaded this morning - using Vectorworks 2014. Everything I have used thus far functions correctly. Apart from the preview image on some of my Vectorworks file icons have turned into blank black rectangles. Also I have had two crashes in a number of hours whilst using the wall tool for simple operations. This seems more unstable then when I was using Mountain Lion but may be an anomaly, will give it a few days.

[Donald Wardlaw]

I've now used 2014 and 10.9 a bit. So far so good except one thing:

The entourage figures in the VW 2014 library import fine if I used the 3D figures, but not the 2D figures. With the 2D figures I see only the bounding box handles when selected and nothing when not selected. Selected the object is defined as a picture or image in the OI palette. I use a simple class set up (none and dimension) and both are visible. I have used these previously with 2013 and 10.7.5 without anomaly.

d

[Bob Holtzmann]

Apart from the preview image on some of my Vectorworks file icons have turned into blank black rectangles.

I've noticed at least one black rectangle showing in the finder file preview in Vectorworks 2014/RW - but I am running it on OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion, with a recent update.

Edited October 27, 2013 by Bob-H

[PVA - Admin]

Apart from the preview image on some of my Vectorworks file icons have turned into blank black rectangles.

I've noticed at least one black rectangle showing in the finder file preview in Vectorworks 2014/RW - but I am running it on OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion, with a recent update.

These seem to be occurring when the users save the file while in a 3D view in OpenGL. Are these the same circumstances you see the solid black preview icon in?

[Kizza]

I've been waiting to see how 2014 goes before If/when I upgrade.

Considering:

Integrated graphics are not supported (mac mini specifically)

Limited OS support for prior versions (due to legacy code within VW?)

Service Pack 1 causing some instability (here we go again)

Lack of requested features in 2014

No roadmap for 64 bit

Take 64 bit for example - all of VW resources would go into it's development. The transition to 64bit will likely result in an even longer wait for some features to be added which have been repeatedly asked for.

Our studio has arranged for a sales presentation next week from another CAD package vendor. We are prepared to move to Windows. And we will be purchasing an additional 2 licences.

Edited October 30, 2013 by Kizza

[benormerod]

Any news yet on 2010 and Mavericks?

[PVA - Admin]

We have gotten reports from users that they were able to launch Vectorworks 2010 on some machines with OS X 10.9 after resetting preferences or reinstalling, but I have also gotten reports to the contrary. It will unfortunately not be receiving any further service packs either way.

[PVA - Admin]

Update:

http://kbase.vectorworks.net/questions/1192/OS+X+10.9+Mavericks+compatibility+with+Vectorworks

[Jeff Bonny]

Running Mavericks I just installed the Vectorworks 2013 SP5 update and am still having crash issues with opening and saving files. I am unable to open files from within Vectorworks. Trying to do this crashes VW 100% of the time. Going to the target file and opening from the OS finder window works but it's roundabout and very annoying.

Trying to save files to any folder other than what VW initially defaults to crashes VW. I have to save to whatever folder is offered (and do it quickly or VW crashes) and then move the file. Since I typically work with anywhere for five to twenty-five different files in a day these issues are a major speedbump I really don't want to put up with.

After having made the investment in VW 2013 very recently I'm not especially excited about spending the money to update to VW 2014. If that will solve the crashing though it's probably worth it in expletives I won't yell.

Any thoughts on this?

[PVA - Admin]

We have had a few users encounter this problem recently when they migrated/updated to 10.9 when Vectorworks 2013 was already installed.

Try the following to create a new admin test account and tell me if the same issue occurs when logged into the new account:

http://kbase.vectorworks.net/questions/805/Creating+a+New+User+Account+%28Mac+OS+X%29

Edited November 22, 2013 by JimW

[Donald Wardlaw]

I'd like to circle back on my previous post with a detail correction.

I can import the color figures from the entourage library but not the black and white ones. The black and white ones come in as a selectable but invisible bounding box.

Donald

[Peter Yianilos]

With Vectorworks 2008 and Mavericks 10.9.1, crash behavior is identical with new administrator account.

[Fawzi]

Installing Vectorworks 2014 viewer allows me to open my VW2010 files... So I can at least print them or make a PDF out of them.

However having paid around what 1500$ ? for a software that doesn't run after 3 years is insulting, to say the least. Whoever's fault it is.

Archicad14 (released 2010) runs on Mavericks... Even other smaller companies have released or are planning to release compatible versions of their software.

For my part I have moved on to Autocad for Mac. But I have still paid good money for VW and can't even use it as is to edit my 2 year old drawings. It's a shame and (although I think it's usability is superior to that of Autocad) I will not recommend the use of Vectorworks to anyone in my field of work.

[PVA - Admin]

However having paid around what 1500$ ? for a software that doesn't run after 3 years is insulting, to say the least. Whoever's fault it is.

Upgrading your OS is a choice, it is not a mandatory pushed update from Apple. That older version of Vectorworks will still run just fine as long as you use it on the operating systems it was supported on after its last patch.

[Fawzi]

Oh... I didn't think of that one.

So it's actually my fault.

Almost everyone in the industry maintains a minimal amount of support for a reasonable period of time for their software even through OS upgrades but not Vectorworks.

But it's my fault if I want to keep up with the latest technology (except for a 1000$+ update) that my initial investment is basically worthless.

Even Autodesk made a patch to have Autocad 2007 run on Windows 7... (I have colleagues here who still run it)

Well I guess they made the right investment.

Way to go to keep customers coming back...

[PVA - Admin]

Keeping up with technology means updating software as well. I understand your frustration, but if you are attempting to keep on the bleeding edge of technology, hardware and software often need to be upgraded together which can be very costly.

Alternatively on Windows, Vectorworks 2014 will run just fine all the way back through Windows 8, 7, Vista and XP. VectorWorks 11.5.1 and later will run on Windows 7 (run as an Admin and in compatibility mode). If you are in the Windows environment, forwards and backwards compatibility are much less of a problem, as it does not suffer from Apple's rapid sunsetting of core technologies.

We don't intentionally stop supporting software as an attempt to get more money from users. The math doesn't work out, users (as seen in many of the previous posts here) become furious. It isn't a good way to do business, so we have never made that choice.

The only time one of our products hit end-of-life earlier than the expected ~5 years or so is if the cost for patching an old version becomes comparable to an update. In this case, that's what happened. Apple dropped support for one or more core technologies older versions of Vectorworks depends on and the software would have required that much of it be rebuilt from scratch, as was done in Vectorworks 2013 and to a greater extent in 2014.