Vectorworks 2020 + macOS Catalina keeps constantly crashing

[Peter_2ka]

Hello,
I'm totally unhappy. I have updated macOS Catalina and Vectorworks 2020. Now the Vectorworks is crashing at least once an hour. My eGPU (Razer Core X + Radeon RX Vega 64) is basically unusable - any small file is causing that VW is slowed down. I waited for the latest update of Catalina 10.15.4. and Vectorworks SP3 but nothing has changed. I'm considering downgrading back to macOS Mojave. But before I do this I want to find out if anyone else has similar experience?

[fabrica]

Hi, I'm on an iMac with 2020 .SP.3 and Catalina 10.15.4, but not having any problems.

 

I find it goes a bit crazy if I have the navigation graphics set to best performance , so I leave it at good performance and compatibility.

 

 

[Pat Stanford]

Not seeing a problem here with VW2020 and Catalina.

 

Could you run for a while without the eGPU and see if that might be causing your problems?

[Peter_2ka]

Yeah.. i tried that too. Little better but still crashing. I tried 2019 which works well. Can't be a problem that i have installed both versions 2019 and 2020?

[Pat Stanford]

I doubt it is a double installation problem.

 

But since you are having problems, perhaps it is best to remove and reinstall VW2020. Maybe even delete your user folder. (~/Library/Application Support/Vectorworks/2020) and truly start from scratch.

 

Make sure you are installing or updating to the current Service Pack.

[Peter Vandewalle]

I would start by renaming the userfolder

[Peter_2ka]

Hi Peter, can you explain please. What do you mean by renaming user folder. Wouldn't this affect all software on my mac? 

I tried to reinstall VW 2020 and it is the same. VW 2019 works ok. 

[Pat Stanford]

I think he means that rather than deleting your Vectorworks user folder (~/Library/Application Support/Vectorworks/2020) that you just rename the 2020 file to something different (2020-old) and restart Vectorworks. This will force VW to generate a new user folder.

 

Then if the problem still exists with the new user folder you can just delete it and rename the old one back and restart to get back to where you were.

 

If you have custom stuff in the user folder having the old version as a copy also makes it easier to move it over to the new user folder if the new folder helps. 

 

I recommend only moving a few items at a time and testing between moves to try and isolate what is causing the problem.

 

You might also want to do something similar with your Vectorworks Preferences (~/Library/Preferences/ with files names starting with net.nemetschek.