How to identify what objects require proxy graphics for earlier versions of ACAD

[sorourke765462]

We have a drawing template file that we've used forever. Over the last 12 months I've been updating and revising the drawing but nothing to extreme.

Recently I had to reinstall AutoCAD2018, there was an issue with the font library updating, and forgot to change the default file format to AutoCAD2013, which we use for our deliverable to avoid compatibility issues when issuing the data to our clients. Since then I must have saved the drawing template as a 2018 format and now I'm having issues saving it as a 2013.dwg.

Whenever I'm saving into 2013 I get the compatibility error message 'Save Drawing - Version conflict' and I've tried a couple of things to make it go away with no success :

EXPORTTOAUTOCAD - Exported as 2013 format and suffixed the file name with 2013, but if I open the file again and try to save it as 2013 it gives me the same error message, proxyshow set on '1' or '2' doesn't show me anything that is being proxied. If I've exported it as 2013 why would 2018 think it still needs to proxy stuff?

Saved as 2013.dxf - I get the error message when saving from 2018.dwg to 2013.dxf and when I open the 2013.dxf and save it as a 2013.dwg I still get the 'version conflict' message.

How can I identify the objects that require proxy graphics for backward compatibility? I can't think of anything I've altered in a way that would require proxying...and is there a way to check from outside of AutoCAD what version the .dwg is? file properties doesn't seem to have that level of information in windows 10.

edit : proxygraphics is set to '1'

[CCarleton]

I could be out of my depth here a bit on this, but I can tell you that 2018 doesn't talk to 2017 and below, period. Where I am out of my depth a bit is that I believe proxy objects are external objects so the reason you're seeing that after saving down your 2018 drawing is because CAD cannot save them down to 2013 without doing so. IE: You don't have proxy graphics in a typical scenario like a template.

If it were me I would probably right click on the template, go to properties, and find a previous version before you updated to 2018. Or have your IT department restore the server location to a date before the change if no previous versions are available. I do the same thing you do, and have kept our template is 2016 format to make sure we can go down to 2013 if needed, and can easily save up to 20XX. I actually accidentally saved up a template to 2017 once, but because 2016 and 2017 talk on CAD side I was able to fix it without losing work.

You can read a bit about proxy objects here: https://knowledge.autodesk.com/suppo...A4E38-htm.html

[BlackBox]

If it were me I would probably right click on the template, go to properties, and find a previous version before you updated to 2018. Or have your IT department restore the server location to a date before the change if no previous versions are available.

If restoring from the .BAK is not an option... This.

[dgorsman]

All "entities" (lines, arcs, text, as well as custom stuff you can see on the screen) are "objects", but not all "objects" are entities. Customizations, including the vertical content like Civil3D, are dependent on extra data stored in the file. You could have a completely empty drawing file from Civil3D and it would still be warning about objects. That data is what the warning is about. You won't be able to use an object enabler or similar to "see" it on screen.

To get rid of this you need to dig through the data of the file using various tools (the Vlisp IDE from the VLISP command) is my usual go-to for inspecting files. The -EXPORTOAUTOCAD is *usually* sufficient for stripping out AEC content from the verticals like Map3D and Civil3D but sometimes the data must be removed manually (and carefully).

DWG file version is in the first few characters of the file when using an ASCII reader (try opening a simple DWG file in notepad).

[sorourke765462]

@ CCarlton - it used to be fine writing out to 2013, never had any issues until my recent wipe-reload of 2018 we always sent out 2013 format drawings and I've never had this issue. The company changed over to 2018 as I started here 18 months ago, so unwinding the template back to pre-2018 format is going to be start from scratch :/

@dgorsman - the first characters in the dwg file are AC1027 then there's a bunch of code BS, is AC1027 what you where referring to?

2018 writes out a file and timestamps it after instructing it to save as 2013. If I read correctly what dgorsman has written, I should just tick the box to ignore the warning message? since nothing I've created or edited has been touched by any vertical component, everything is still made up of the same lines/linetypes/fonts/formats as when I got here so nothing should have gained additional data fields that will impact our rudimentary drawings.

If it's any help in indicating what it's doing when it saves as 2013, the thumbnail has has changed from a 'live capture' of the model space to a traditional blue/yellow DWG icon, so I'm pretty sure it's 2013s.

dgorsman - any chance of a link to a vlisp tutorial? I've been writing lisps in notepad but I don't have any reference material for the onboard vlisp commands, and it took me for aaaaages to find a decent lisp manual (autolispdevelopers guide), I'm interested in the IDE command you mentioned.

TY all

[CCarleton]

Well you said that you have been making updates over the last year or so. If you made the error yesterday what's stopping you from going to the previous version from Friday, restoring it, and using that version?

The way I've handled our template is making adjustments to it in C3D 2016. We use C3D 2018 so we always have to save up when starting a new drawing. Sounds like I misunderstood you as I thought you accidentally opened in 2018 and saved it. Although is this actually a .DWT file you are using, or is this a .DWG you treat as a template? I don't see .DWT save options when saving my template, just a single .dwt option, but you are mentioning how you keep saving your template in a 2013 format so I am not following this part.

Regardless of that I am not saying to unwind it out of 2018 per se, just to go back to a previous version before you made the save.

Maybe I am not understanding the problem though, I have no experience with the proxy aspect of it, just know that trying to work between saving versions down is a pain and I'd rather just walk away from correcting that mess if it's possible and the way you've described your scenario it feels like you should be able to, albeit lose your most recent updates.

[Ed Jobe]

The fact that you opened a file in C3D means that stuff that you can't see was added to the file when it was upconverted from 2013 format. A dwg file contains many non-graphical tables, such as what linetypes are loaded. C3D will add what it needs to operate. If you open a C3D file in another vertical app or even plain AutoCAD, you will get the proxy notice even if there are zero objects drawn. So, export to autocad and use plain acad to save the files.

Assuming you are starting from a 2018 dwg:
Open C3D as plain AutoCAD. You should have a shortcut in the start menu if there isn't one on your desktop.
Use EXPORTOAUTOCAD selecting 2013 dwg as the format. Ignore the warning that some things could not be converted.
Open 2013 Plain AutoCAD and save the 2013 dwg as a dwt.

[sorourke765462]

It's simply a case of AutoCAD 2018 (we only have vanilla no verticals) warning me that there 'may be something' in the .dwg that 'could' require proxygraphics in an earlier version, not that it actually does have anything in there that HAS TO have proxy graphics. I've saved it as autocad2013 and the client's opened it with 2013 with no problems, no proxies no bounding box, nothing. I was panicking over a non-issue, apologies.

[dgorsman]

You don't even need the vertical programs present to run into this. If you insert a DWG file which has the Civil3D data appended to it, then the host file will now have it as well. For example, someone could have downloaded a block file off the internet, or a file received from a client may have been worked on with Civil3D (or a downloaded block, etc.).