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Screen Flicker


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Please help! 

 

I have an old version, 2014 Landmark (still early days for my business so sadly can't afford to upgrade) and since the Mac OS High Sierra update every time I move the mouse while trying to use Vectorworks the screen flickers. As you can imagine this is a nightmare to use. Can anyone please help? 

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No sadly still no response from Vectorworks or anyone else I have contacted about this problem. Have been in touch with Apple and they have said that it is a Vectorworks problem. If you get this issue solved can you please let me know and I will do the same for you? Very concerning as it's almost impossible to use the programme. 

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1 hour ago, EDOR said:

I have the same problem...have you been able to solve it since posting this note? thanks.

 

Just spoke with Vectorworks directly and they have informed me that there is nothing that can be done and any version of vectorworks pre 2016 will not work properly since the High Sierra update. This is shocking!

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22 minutes ago, EDOR said:

That's really not good enough. Strange is that this problem happens in my workstation but not in my colleague's.

I will keep checking if I find a solution and will let you know.

Been confirmed by UK distributer that the only way to fix the problem is to buy an updated version of Vectorworks! I'll either have to uninstall High Sierra (which apparently is not easy) or fork out over £2k to upgrade. This really is appalling, I appreciate it is an old version but it's not vintage! and it is something I own, paid a lot of money for and now can't use. We are held to ransom when Apple update everything can go to pot. 

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Could this be a MacOS thing?  or mouse software? Rather than VWX?  There was discussion on Mac forums about mouse action codes disrupted by Sierra (and probably same in High Sierra). People noticed jerky rather than smooth scroll, and that annoying thing where the cursor becomes momentarily huge if the mouse is dragged in a shaking, side to side motion. SteerMouse and some other updated mouse software can help reduce the jerky scroll.

 

I have newer versions of vwx and do not see the screen flicker, but have seen the other mouse things.

 

-B

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

Unfortunately Apple makes enough significant changes in their OS releases to make a lot of backwards compatibility impossible for versions that no longer receive updates. We keep the last two versions compatible generally, normally reserving the last service pack for a given version for a very last Mac OS compatibility fix.

On the Windows side, this is much less of an issue since Microsoft doesn't dramatically remove backwards compatibility and alter options to make older software obsolete as fast. For instance, you can still run Vectorworks 8 on Windows 10 in many cases, and even Windows XP was supported and could run the most recent version of Vectorworks up until 2016 or 2017 I believe.

It's all a matter of how the OS handles software going forward, some Mac version updates are less dramatic than others, but this one was a hard line for many older apps.

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1 hour ago, JimW said:

Unfortunately Apple makes enough significant changes in their OS releases to make a lot of backwards compatibility impossible for versions that no longer receive updates. We keep the last two versions compatible generally, normally reserving the last service pack for a given version for a very last Mac OS compatibility fix.

On the Windows side, this is much less of an issue since Microsoft doesn't dramatically remove backwards compatibility and alter options to make older software obsolete as fast. For instance, you can still run Vectorworks 8 on Windows 10 in many cases, and even Windows XP was supported and could run the most recent version of Vectorworks up until 2016 or 2017 I believe.

It's all a matter of how the OS handles software going forward, some Mac version updates are less dramatic than others, but this one was a hard line for many older apps.

 

I'm sorry but just saying "we keep the last two versions compatible generally" is simply not good enough. I have explained this to so many people, including two members of staff at Apple Support and think it is appalling! Even an iPhone 5 will still be able to receive new updates and WORK. My version is three years old and cost me over £2500! and now because 'generally' you only update the last two version (one being the most current btw) then my version is unusable and my only option is to purchase the new update for another £2+k and hope it lasts until the next apple update. No warnings, no compassion, just money making. I had to go through a long process of reverting to an older apple Sierra and luckily I had 2014 on backup. I will for now use that and try and work a way that I will never EVER have to use Vectorworks again. I suggest others do the same. 

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

If the apple OS updates were mandatory I would agree, however the supported Apple OS versions still run Vectorworks 2014 just fine. The only reason 2014 stopped working was because the OS was updated which is at the discretion of each user. We make sure to post what versions are and are not compatible as soon as we are confident in our internal tests here.

Unfortunately, if we were to go back and spend Engineering resources updating versions from previous years, that funding would have to come from somewhere, so the price of each software license would go up. We do not active limit what older software can do on newer operating systems, compatibility problems like this come directly from the changes Apple makes, not us. 

I understand your frustration, but compatiblity issues with older applications (regardless of their developer) with new versions of macOS have existed for many, many years now and in addition to that, we make sure to post compatibility information as soon as we are aware of it. In the future a quick check with us first, you can even call if you don't want to search, and we can give you a yay or nay quickly. Regardless of your choice to use Vectorworks or not, you will most likely encounter these issues while using anything created by a third party in the Mac ecosystem.

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3 minutes ago, JimW said:

If the apple OS updates were mandatory I would agree, however the supported Apple OS versions still run Vectorworks 2014 just fine. The only reason they stopped working was because the OS was updated which is at the discretion of each user. We make sure to post what versions are and are not compatible as soon as we are confident in our internal tests here.

Unfortunately, if we were to go back and spend Engineering resources updating versions from previous years, that funding would have to come from somewhere, so the price of each software license would go up. We do not active limit what older software can do on newer operating systems, compatibility problems like this come directly from the changes Apple makes, not us. 

I understand your frustration, but compatiblity issues with older applications (regardless of their developer) with new versions of macOS have existed for many, many years now and in addition to that, we make sure to post compatibility information as soon as we are aware of it. In the future a quick check with us first, you can even call if you don't want to search, and we can give you a yay or nay quickly. Regardless of your choice to use Vectorworks or not, you will most likely encounter these issues while using anything created by a third party in the Mac ecosystem.

"Unfortunately, if we were to go back and spend Engineering resources updating versions from previous years, that funding would have to come from somewhere, so the price of each software license would go up. " Are you serious? We are not talking about a 79p app here, we are talking about a programme that costs nearly £3000 each year!!! My version is not from the dark ages but just 3 years old. 

 

I'm not going to win with you and don't want to get into an argument. I now have to make a choice of either keeping my computer up to date or keep an older version of vectorworks working while my new business can raise enough money to fund a new version of Vectorworks. As I stated before, I will do my upmost to try and avoid ever having to use vectorworks in the future and I will encourage everyone I know within the industry to do the same.

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee
4 minutes ago, Barker77 said:

As I stated before, I will do my upmost to try and avoid ever having to use vectorworks in the future and I will encourage everyone I know within the industry to do the same.


This is of course your choice, but if you find a software package that does not have the same issues with macOS between updates, please let me know. As far as I am aware, ArchiCAD, Sketchup etc all have similar compatibility limitations, with the versions they released around 2013 not being compatible with High Sierra or even Sierra in some cases, so swearing off Vectorworks for an issue that exists in the majority (or quite possible all) of Mac CAD applications wouldn't make much sense.

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  • 1 year later...

I have just had this same issue - since migrating from a 2011 apple computer to a 2017 apple computer with Mojave 10.4.3.  

surely a computer from 2017 can run software from 2014?

Apple's response was that "it will be the developers responsibility to make sure their apps are updated to ensure that their apps will be compatible to the newer macOS"

so from Apple's side the responsibility is on Vectorworks - but I can not find an update for the 2014 version to fix this bug.

Is there one?  (Jim's response seems a bit weak "Unfortunately, if we were to go back and spend Engineering resources updating versions from previous years, that funding would have to come from somewhere, so the price of each software license would go up. We do not active limit what older software can do on newer operating systems, compatibility problems like this come directly from the changes Apple makes, not us. "... although I see he no longer works for Vectorworks...)

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