Apple macOS 12 Monterey Compatibility - Feedback

[zoomer]

At least VW on M1 does not release all memory when closing files.

 

I had some 2 pretty small files open on my 16 GB Mini but decided to import

a (mediocre complex 350 MB) IFC file.

For fun I choose the VW Solid option - I was aware I would get brownish

memory pressure and that it woul talk the whole night, which it did.

But it finished, I could save that import file the next morning and closed it.

But from some 20+ GB while loading IFC - VW went only down to 7.9 GB.

Even with now file loaded.

 

And 7.9 GB for a CAD App just idling is too much for me  - if I only have 16 GB

of shared memory.

[line-weight]

1 hour ago, zoomer said:

At least VW on M1 does not release all memory when closing files.

 

I had some 2 pretty small files open on my 16 GB Mini but decided to import

a (mediocre complex 350 MB) IFC file.

For fun I choose the VW Solid option - I was aware I would get brownish

memory pressure and that it woul talk the whole night, which it did.

But it finished, I could save that import file the next morning and closed it.

But from some 20+ GB while loading IFC - VW went only down to 7.9 GB.

Even with now file loaded.

 

And 7.9 GB for a CAD App just idling is too much for me  - if I only have 16 GB

of shared memory.

 

yes, I have similar experiences.

 

It would be interesting to see on a mac with 32GB shared memory, doing exactly the same thing, whether it will be idling at 7.9GB ... or 15.8GB...

Edited May 19, 2022 by line-weight

[rjtiedeman]

16 hours ago, line-weight said:

The reason I asked what was happening in the Memory section of activity monitor (not CPU) is that a gradual slowdown until a re-start sounds like what I see when there is basically some sort of memory leak, and the memory usage just increases and increases.

I see this while rendering viewports, not so much when just navigating in shaded view.

Sorry I have included a screen shot of active processes memory. Real memory stays at around 7.5GB in shaded view while rotating. The active process jump around a lot but VW seems to hold at 7-8 GB. Not a problem for 64 GBs of memory. I can see a have a lot of seldom used apps like Drop Box which may have to go since they are taking a lot of memory for what they do..

[line-weight]

4 hours ago, rjtiedeman said:

Sorry I have included a screen shot of active processes memory. Real memory stays at around 7.5GB in shaded view while rotating. The active process jump around a lot but VW seems to hold at 7-8 GB. Not a problem for 64 GBs of memory. I can see a have a lot of seldom used apps like Drop Box which may have to go since they are taking a lot of memory for what they do..

 

Thanks - useful to see.

[Mark Aceto]

"Upgraded" my 2019 MBP to macOS 12.4 a few days ago (4-5 months sooner than I would typically upgrade because I prefer to safely stay 1 full release behind), and I'm already having all manner of external display issues.

 

Couple of observations:

• Resetting PRAM / VRAM will reenable Automatic Graphics Switching
  • If you had disabled that, you'll need to uncheck that box for both Battery and Power Adapter settings as needed
• I had to set my internal MBP display to Main Display
  • Which is a happy accident for dragging screenshots from my desktop
  • Sadly, VW still launches on the internal display, so I still have to move the window to the external display, and resize the docked palettes

[mjm]

On 5/19/2022 at 4:14 PM, line-weight said:

 

yes, I have similar experiences.

 

It would be interesting to see on a mac with 32GB shared memory, doing exactly the same thing, whether it will be idling at 7.9GB ... or 15.8GB...

Coincidentally, six days ago I received my 32gB M1 MBP Max (two months late, yet 1.5 months ahead of revised shipping info from APPLE). I've just been opening a small slew of larger VWX 20>VWX 21 files, mostly to see how much render times have improved: Anecdotally—not-so-much, however it does so extremely quietly and hardly warms up. While files were open, VWX released no memory. As I closed files, small amounts of memory were released. After last file closed, VWX's memory footprint shrank down to 6.80gB. (it opened with 4.18gB).

Sidebar:

Bizarrely (or is this normie?) when I activated Accessibility : Keyboard : Navigation… within VWX the service interuppts the spacebar insertion of a space and does…nothing. No other apps, excepting Adobe Photoshop & VWX 2022 exhibit this behavior. I'm guessing I'm missing something simple but have yet to find it…If you've conquered this issue, I'd be grateful for the knowledge.

[line-weight]

11 hours ago, mjm said:

Coincidentally, six days ago I received my 32gB M1 MBP Max (two months late, yet 1.5 months ahead of revised shipping info from APPLE). I've just been opening a small slew of larger VWX 20>VWX 21 files, mostly to see how much render times have improved: Anecdotally—not-so-much, however it does so extremely quietly and hardly warms up. While files were open, VWX released no memory. As I closed files, small amounts of memory were released. After last file closed, VWX's memory footprint shrank down to 6.80gB. (it opened with 4.18gB).

 

 

If you leave it to render multiple viewports, does it gradually eat up all of the 32GB until everything grinds to a halt?

 

I think this question is quite important for anyone considering a new machine - it's clear that VW struggles somewhat with 16GB but the question is whether shelling out for 32 or 64GB solve this memory problem, or just mean that you have a little bit more time before things clog up.

[Mark Aceto]

On 5/23/2022 at 1:18 PM, Mark Aceto said:

"Upgraded" my 2019 MBP to macOS 12.4 a few days ago (4-5 months sooner than I would typically upgrade because I prefer to safely stay 1 full release behind), and I'm already having all manner of external display issues.

 

Couple of observations:

• Resetting PRAM / VRAM will reenable Automatic Graphics Switching
  • If you had disabled that, you'll need to uncheck that box for both Battery and Power Adapter settings as needed
• I had to set my internal MBP display to Main Display
  • Which is a happy accident for dragging screenshots from my desktop
  • Sadly, VW still launches on the internal display, so I still have to move the window to the external display, and resize the docked palettes

 

3 days later, Monterey forgot my display settings again, so it seems I have this to look forward to twice a week:

1. Reset display settings
2. Save docs
3. Quit apps
4. Restart computer because it's stuck at 30hz (even though I reset it to 60hz)
5. Reset external display to 60hz again because it lost that setting during the restart

Lesson learned: I will always purchase 11-month old Mac's from now on (and leave them in the box for a month) so I can stay a full release behind.

[mjm]

19 hours ago, Mark Aceto said:

 

3 days later, Monterey forgot my display settings again, so it seems I have this to look forward to twice a week:

1. Reset display settings
2. Save docs
3. Quit apps
4. Restart computer because it's stuck at 30hz (even though I reset it to 60hz)
5. Reset external display to 60hz again because it lost that setting during the restart

Lesson learned: I will always purchase 11-month old Mac's from now on (and leave them in the box for a month) so I can stay a full release behind.

Ouch @Mark Aceto.

 

[Mark Aceto]

19 hours ago, Mark Aceto said:

1. Reset display settings
2. Save docs
3. Quit apps
4. Restart computer because it's stuck at 30hz (even though I reset it to 60hz)
5. Reset external display to 60hz again because it lost that setting during the restart

 

6. Move and resize every window to the correct screen (that macOS swapped on me) which is like a game of 52 Pickup.

 

This is actually the most time consuming and annoying part of the whole mess. The process takes about an hour to correct.

 

Twice a week.

[Mark Aceto]

as a test, i left some VW 2022 files open overnight to see how much memory they leaked

 

right before i saved files, and quit VW:

 

a few minutes after quitting VW:

 

after reopening one of the files:

 

total elapsed time was about 5 min from the first to last screenshot

 

this is probably about to be obsolete in a few weeks but it's a data point nonetheless

 

will retest on VW 2023 at some point

 

in the meantime, mac users shopping for a new mac should probably plan on paying for a little more unified memory than they anticipate they'll need (based on past performance) during the transition from intel to arm

[Mark Aceto]

ok been working with this file now since the last post, and it's just a really heavy file with all caching (to disk) turned off, so it's making good use of the unified memory

 

i wouldn't say it was actually leaking that much overnight

[Mojo65]

 I have the issue since upgrading to Monterey that when open a file from the Vectorworks menu, it won't let me reduce the open box so I can see the 'open' or 'cancel' button at the bottom right. It is very annoying. I have to move the whole box off the page to the left to get there. Any advice?

[GatRed]

26 minutes ago, Mojo65 said:

 I have the issue since upgrading to Monterey that when open a file from the Vectorworks menu, it won't let me reduce the open box so I can see the 'open' or 'cancel' button at the bottom right. It is very annoying. I have to move the whole box off the page to the left to get there. Any advice?

On your screen capture, I can see that you’re on VW2020. I remember that there was a bug with Monterey about this topic which has been corrected for VW2022 but I’m not sure about VW2021 and even less VW2020…

[Mojo65]

1 hour ago, GatRed said:

On your screen capture, I can see that you’re on VW2020. I remember that there was a bug with Monterey about this topic which has been corrected for VW2022 but I’m not sure about VW2021 and even less VW2020…

Looks like I have to live with it if this is a bug with VW2020. Not intending to upgrade yet to VW2022.

 

[zoomer]

18 minutes ago, Mojo65 said:

if this is a bug with VW2020.

 

 

I think it is not really a bug.

As often, Apple changed something in macOS,

so the file open dialogs windows in VW did not work anymore

as expected. So VW had to adapt to that change in OS.

And they delivered fixes in later SPs for a few of the newer

VW versions.

But can't do so for all VW versions back to VW 2010 or so.

Because of expenditure and potential of unwanted interferences.

 

Therefore it is wise, especially on Mac, to keep an eye on system

and OS requirements for a special VW version, before upgrading

either Mac, macOS or VW.

Edited October 7, 2022 by zoomer

[Pat Stanford]

Only VW2021, VW2022, and VW2023 are considered Compatible with Monterey.

 

The list has not been updated to include 2023. I have requested that change be made.