Resolving Civil 3D file performance degradation (files prior to Nov 2016)

Last updated: 2020-06-16

Tip:

If your project contains any files that were originally created in Civil 3D 2012, Civil 3D 2014, the entire project is likely suffering from some level of performance degradation. If your project contains files that were originally created with Civil 3D 2016 before service pack 3 was applied (November 2016 on WisDOT computers), the project could also be impacted.

The extent of performance degradation can vary, depending on the number of project files impacted and the age of the files. Projects originating from Civil 3D 2014 or Civil 3D 2012 are most likely being impacted the most. Symptoms of performance degradation include extended wait times for file open/save, and possible frequent application crashes.

The Autodesk Batch Save Utility should be used on projects that are suspected of suffering from performance degradation. We have seen significant performance gains with this process. For example, some drawings that once took 5-10 minutes to open, now open in less than a minute.

  1. Exit all versions of Civil 3D.

  2. Windows Start Menu > Autodesk > Civil 3D Batch Save Utility

  3. Target Civil 3D Version
    1. Choose the target Civil 3D version. If your project is currently using Civil 3D 2016, choose "Civil 2016"
  4. Custom Script
    1. choose qsave.scr from the drop-down menu.
    2. This script saves each drawing in the version of Civil 3D selected. This is all that is necessary to apply the performance degradation fix to all files. As an alternative, you can further clean the project drawings by selecting defaultClean.scr. This script will purge reg apps, purge all, and audit each drawing in addition to saving.
  5. Target Folders
    1. If there are any directories that you would like to exclude from the process, choose them by clicking Exclude Add. However, not saving all project drawings could reintroduce the performance degradation if those files are affected and referenced into other project drawings.
  6. Skip Drawings
    1. We recommend only checking the "Read only" box.
  7. Process Settings
    1. We recommend only checking the "Timeout for a drawing" box (set to 10) and the "Process simultaneously" box (set to 4).
  8. Start Depending on the number of files, this process could take some time.

  9. Log to verify the batch save process was successful for all files.