Troubleshooting

The articles in this section explain how to diagnose and fix various crashes, errors, and other issues that can occur while using Design Master HVAC.

📄️ Ductwork Hidden By Circles

Ductwork drawn underneath a circle will become hidden if you use the HIDE command. Here are some workarounds for this issue.

📄️ Missing Roof Load

If your calculated roof load looks wrong, use the Edit Room command to make sure the roof load isn't being categorized as a plenum return.

📄️ Ductwork Centerline Too Wide

If the centerline of your ductwork appears to be too wide, you may need to change your DIMSCALE setting.

📄️ Prompted to Open the "Install" Drawing on Every Drawing

If you are always asked to open the Install drawing, you need to reconfigure your Startup Suite in AutoCAD or APPLOAD settings in BricsCAD.

📄️ Dialog Too Large to Fit on Screen

If you receive an alert saying "Dialog too large to fit on screen," try increasing your resolution to 1280x720 or higher.

📄️ Loop in Ductwork Error

Design Master HVAC cannot calculate the CFM for closed ductwork loops. You can solve this by removing the loop or modeling the loop differently.

📄️ Design Master Entities and Text Not Scaling Correctly

For Design Master HVAC entities to scale correctly, set the DIMSCALE variable in your CAD program according to the scale factor of your drawing.

📄️ What to Do When Design Master HVAC Crashes

When Design Master HVAC crashes, there are several ways you can let us know so we can fix the issue.

📄️ Design Master HVAC Text is Rotated

If Design Master HVAC text is being inserted at an angle, try using the AutoCAD DVIEW and ROTATE commands to adjust your drawing.

📄️ Rooms Move When Drawing is Opened

If your room outlines have all shifted in the same way when you open a drawing, you may need to modify the alignment point.

📄️ High Ventilation Loads in a Zone

If the ventilation load in a zone is very high, you may need to increase the required supply air for rooms in the zone.

📄️ "base.dcl" Can't Find File

If you receive this error message, an AutoCAD support file search path has been removed and must be restored.

📄️ No Outside Air in Building Load Calculations

If your building load calculations don't show any outside air, ventilation load, or airflow, you must modify your project information or insert supply diffusers with airflow on your drawing.

📄️ File Loading - Security Concern

It is normal to receive a File Loading - Security Concern dialog box from AutoCAD when loading Design Master for the first time. If you continue seeing it, run the Installation Settings command.

📄️ How to Reload Missing HVAC Ribbons and Pulldown Menus

Here are commands you can enter at the command line to reload ribbon and pulldown menu tabs for Design Master HVAC.

📄️ Items Not Aligned When Exporting to IFC

If your exported IFC file does not line up properly, you may need to adjust your alignment point.

📄️ Master/Standards Database Could Not Be Found

These databases are stored with your customization files; if they can't be found, your support path may need to be updated.

📄️ Ductwork Double Lines Are Overextended

If double lines are being drawn past where the duct centerline ends, you may need to straighten some of your ducts.

📄️ Unknown Command Error

If your commands don't work and return an "Unknown command" error, you may need to repair or reinstall AutoCAD.

📄️ Design Master HVAC Entities Insert Skewed or in the Wrong Location

If your Design Master HVAC entities come in skewed or in a different location than the one you specified, try resetting your drawing view to "Top" and reinserting.

📄️ "Locked Layer" Error Message

Design Master HVAC typically unlocks any locked layers it needs to use to function. If it can't, it will display an error message telling you to unlock the layers.

📄️ Windows Cannot Find acad.exe

If you receive this error message while running our installer, you may need to change your Windows default program for opening DWG files.

📄️ Error Copying Database to Backup Location

If a backup of your project files cannot be created, it could be that the file path exceeds the character limit in Windows.

📄️ Database Version Error

This error occurs when the project or master database has been used by a machine running a newer version. Learn how to fix it, and what to do if that fix fails.

📄️ Database Connection Error

Database connection errors can often be fixed by restarting, but can also indicate problems with your network or database.