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Trouble-Shooting Guide

Use Cases

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ASE Civil Application

Unable to SAVE design drawing

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Profiles

PVI Prefixes Disappear After Manual Editing


Corridor Models

This reference changes with time. If you don't find what you're looking for, contact support to get the help you need.

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Vertical Design

This re

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Paving Design

This re

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Sheet Views

This re

Application

 

Unable to SAVE design drawing
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Issue

"... I'm back and was wondering if anyone else has had this issue. I'm working in ASE and am getting this after doing several commands.  For example I was defining links for a grading design, then I would get an error message.  I tried to save but am unable.

 

Specify grade path [Linear/Curved]<L>:

Enter percent grade from 'PARENT' to 'CHILD'<-2.1229%>: .5

; error: bad argument type: numberp: nil

Command:

_QSAVE ; error: non-serializable lisp data: #<%catch-all-apply-error%>

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I  am unable to save the drawing.  I tried saving using saveas and tried saving to another drive.  Can you please tell me if this is an autocad, windows, or ASE issue?  I can get out of autocad, reboot the computer and the same issue returns. I am using C3D 2014 with the latest ASE 2017, and Windows 7 Pro…"

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Cause

This is caused by a known defect in ASE.

The AutoCAD Message and error condition at the command line occur whenever Flow Labels have been passively generated as a result of the vertical design "Productivity" setting being enabled. This feature creates Flow Labels automatically when Constraints or Connections are created. This problem occurs in the 2017 version of ASE.

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Solution

  1. Open the vertical design drawing

  2. (Ribbon) Select: [vrtCtrl] -> Flow Labels -> Preferences

  3. In the FLow Labels Preferences dialog, DISABLE "Productivity"

  4. Run ASE "Selective Audit..."

  5. Close the dialog

  6. Save the drawing

  7. Re-start Civil 3D

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Application

Profiles

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PVI Prefixes Disappear After Manual Editing
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Issue

"... I am having issues with my profiles where they are dropping the P= or TC= when you edit the pvi labels? Have you run into this? How can I fix this?.."

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Cause:
Why PVI Prefixes May Be Lost After Editing

The situation described is an anomaly that is unavoidable in the current version. However, it can be very easily avoided by understanding exactly what’s causing the labels to disappear.

 

Even though you can edit multiple-selected PVI's simultaneously with the ”PVI Edit” command, use caution to avoid potential loss of information:

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Mixed Prefixes

If the selected PVI labels do not share common prefixes, ASE will not know which prefix to use for all the selected labels. The feature works this way because in some situations, the ability to apply a common prefix to an entire group of PVI labels, is very advantageous because it saves considerable time over singular label editing.

 

To generate the finished label after editing a group of PVI labels, ASE looks for common prefixes to apply. If nothing has been specified during editing, but there is no common prefix among the selected PVI labels, ASE just draws a blank... Literally.

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Solution:
How To Avoid Losing PVI Prefixes

When selecting PVI labels for manual editing, follow these guidelines:

  1. Select labels that are of the same feature type

  2. Select labels that use common elevation prefixes

  3. Avoid selecting labels from different profile components (L1, CL, etc.)

  4. Select/edit labels one-at-a-time, when in doubt unless all prefixes match

  5. In the dialog, Select labels with the same combination of TC=/FL=/P elevation labels displayed

  6. In the dialog, type a prefix to change the respective prefixes of all selected PVI's

 

When editing, if there is a variation in values for a given element of the selected PVI labels, the prefixes will not show up in the dialog. That is a warning that the prefixes currently used in each label will be lost after accepting the changes of the edit.

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First-Run Crash
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Issue

"... When I create a new drawing for generating the profiles for my road design, after I select the project data folder and try to generate the profile (a really simple design, just to test the software) ASE just crashes.."

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Cause

Profile Generator Preferences Bug

The initial Profile Generation cycle crashes due to missing preferences that are required for normal operation.

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This is known defect in ASE Civil. It's applicable when the paving data is valid (e.g., contains no setup issues nor paving feature design logical assignment errors) but ASE Civil crashes during generation cycles. Nonetheless, a resolution to this issue is under development.

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Workaround

How To Successfully Generate Profiles Without Crashing

After initially setting up the profile drawing for a given alignment, follow these steps on the first attempt to generate profiles:

1) Select (ASE Ribbon):

[profile]  →  "Pref's"  →  "Region Preferences"

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2) Press "OK" to close the dialog

No changes are required unless desired.

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Try again to generate the profile...

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​Barring any logic errors in the paving design data, the road profiles should build properly.

 
 
 
 
 
Note

This procedure is not required again on subsequent generation cycles. After the data is recorded once, the problem will never occur again.

Profiles

Corridors

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Corridor ... disappears (after making design changes, sharing)
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Issue:

"...while modifying an existing 2017 ASE corridor, the corridor linework disappears for the current alignment. The only solution we have found is to delete a marker, export the corridor, then add the marker back in, export the corridor, and the corridor linework is back. Any suggestions?…"

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ASE Reply:

You shouldn’t have had to replace any Design Markers, but I understand how frustrating is to be forced into working through software problems that interrupt your work-flow.

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Cause:

ASE Civil 2017 system defaults overly-suppressed the program’s sensitivity to design data changes that should trigger a refresh cycle of the design drawing objects (Corridors, Pads, Ties, Plan Labels, Basins). Refresh cycles are usually triggered after paving data has been shared. This is to support accurate synchronicity between the physical model and the virtual model. Similar issues have plagued other clients ever since ASE Civil 2017 was released. However, the latest service pack was updated in the hopes that this and other problems will be resolved.

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Solution:

If you download and install the latest ASE Civil service pack, hopefully problems like this should be the exception and not the rule, moving forward. On the other hand, if you are still having problems, please let us know.

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Corridors
Vertical Design

Vertical Design

 

ASE data is incorrect... Doesn't match Civil 3D stationing
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Issue

"...I have a sheet dwg where the alignment comes in slightly off of where it should.  It’s not on the centerline. It must be a artifact of an earlier alignment or something. When I initially saw it, I went back, deleted and recreated the alignment. When that didn’t work, I deleted the BMC and the Align txt files (since I’m right at the beginning of the project). 

That didn’t work.  I can’t find anything in the dwg left to delete…. But it has to be here since when I labeled the ASE alignments in another dwg, it seemed fine. 

I can’t really scrap this dwg because I have like 20 tabs in it….. I’m going to save it as all the individual dwgs once I get it looking right…"

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Cause

ASE alignments are being used instead of Civil 3D.

When ASE initializes, it looks for available alignments.

If ASE alignments are present in the ASE Project Data Folder, then those are used and Civil 3D alignments are ignored.

If no ASE alignments are found, & Civil 3D alignments are available, then they are used, along with all of their associated sub-objects such as profile views, layout profiles, etc.

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Solution

  1. Browse to the ASE Project Data Folder

  2. Rename (or delete) the file “Alignments.txt”

  3. Open the vertical design drawing

  4. Run ASE "Selective Audit"

  5. Sync Markers to Layout Profiles as-needed

  6. Share all paving data

  7. Regenerate ASE profile output

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Paving Design

 

Paving design is complete, but alignment names have now changed.
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Issue

"... So I ended up recreating alignments with new names but the same geometry.

 

... I’m now back in the the ASE design dwg and am getting an error that the markers ... are full- already attached to two alignments… One of these is an old/deleted one.

I hope I don’t need to put all my links back in (and totally start from scratch)… is there a way I can restore the markers to an original state- with no alignment information… then I can go manually add them to the correct alignments..."

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Cause

Currently, there is no link between ASE alignment names and paving data. If the alignment used to define paving features changes, ASE's paving design system has no way to know the name of the new alignment. So when you resume working in ASE, the paving data that you previously defined with the first alignment is still looking for alignment data under that name. Despite the alignment geometry being identical, ASE doesn't know where to find it in the library because it doesn't know the new name.

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For this reason, ASE must be explicitly told what the new alignment's name is.

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In the past this was a very expensive work-flow event that necessitated the detachment, reattachment, undefinition and redefinition of all the Design Markers and paving features on each changed alignment.

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Fortunately, we developed a solution that makes this process painless for the engineer.

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Solution

  1. Open the vertical design drawing

  2. Type "RPDB" at the command line

  3. Pick the old alignment name from the top drop-down selection control

  4. Pick the replacement alignment name from the lower selection box

  5. Close the dialog

  6. Run ASE "Selective Auditing..."

  7. Share all paving data

  8. Regenerate ASE profile output

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Paving Design

Sheet Views

 

Viewports are not reacting as expected or move erratically when trying to adjusting their positions
 
Issue

"... I did have a problem yesterday generating the "Local-2" Sheet View for a drawing with 2 profiles.  It seemed to do it right- with both sides generated, but there was only one station viewport along the bottom (that went the whole distance- thru both profile views.  When I go to adjust the limits of the viewports, it says I have the wrong configuration… I did this multiple times and I'm pretty sure I was doing it right.  I’ll try again this morning, but otherwise I don’t know what else to do.  I’ll let you know if I can’t get the profiles (viewports) properly inserted in the sheet.  It did seem to work on another 2 view sheet that I have..."

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Cause

(Developer Note: After speaking to the client, we learned additional information. To increase productivity, the engineer was cloning each completed improvement sheet so it could be continued on the next improvement sheet using next sequential range of alignment stations. However, each time a new improvement plan sheet was cloned, the plan view viewports were being erased and/or replaced, since they were stacked/piled on top of each other, to complete the series of sheets for that alignment. Cloning sheets in sequence is fully supported and recommended by ASE Civil developers, to achieve optimum productivity. Unfortunately, handling viewports in this manner requires additional steps to preserve Sheet Views integrity and full functionality.)

 

AutoCAD indexes each paper space viewport created in a drawing. The index assigned to each viewport is maintained for the duration of the editing session. After the ASE Sheet Views were created, the plan view viewport was being deleted and/or replaced. The change in viewport index numbering that occurred during the drawing sessions created inconsistency in ASE's recorded viewport numbering sequences, which was established when the drawing was initially opened.

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The result of doing either of the following:

  • Changing the number of viewports that existed in the drawing when the ASE Sheet View was created or

  • Replacing original viewports that were present at the start of the editing session with new viewports

 

The ASE Sheet View indexing was corrupted. This will always cause failure when attempting to adjust the ASE Sheet Views in any way.

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This limitation is unavoidable simply by virtue of how AutoCAD handles viewport objects. However, the workaround is simple. There is also a protocol that should be followed when changes must be made to non-ASE viewports after a Sheet View has already been created.

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Solution

After an ASE Sheet View has been created in an improvement plan sheet, if any of the following changes need to be made to the improvement sheet thereafter such as:

  • Additional viewports need to be added

  • Existing viewports that were already present in the drawing need to be removed, copied or replaced

 

Then the following protocol must be followed before making any changes to viewports:

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  1. Save the drawing

  2. Close the drawing

  3. Re-open the drawing

 

ASE Sheet Views will then function normally when adjusted using the menu or ribbon commands.

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Sheet Views
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