Immediately regretting my exocad purchase

apostolis159

apostolis159

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The only time I've seen an exe is for heavily modified Exo resellers like AG. Any generic Exocad resellers get the same .7zip or .zip file. Unless they package that into a self unzip via 7zip that looks and reads as an exe. copy pasta'ing works fabulously for copying libraries, if you know where they go / are. Lots of techs I've had to train can barely retain which mouse button is left and which is right. Not a lot of tech savvy techs out there.
Nope, I'm talking plain unmodified exocad in my case. Their support told me they have switched to a normal installer since 2.3 in fact. I still have the files on my home pc.
Maybe it's different in the US? I reside in Europe.
 
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Josh Claxton

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Huh, must be for Europe. You fancy folk get an installer =( we're stuck in the mud over here
 
CoolHandLuke

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Nope, I'm talking plain unmodified exocad in my case. Their support told me they have switched to a normal installer since 2.3 in fact. I still have the files on my home pc.
Maybe it's different in the US? I reside in Europe.
i have a very good feeling that this is not correct.

there is an exocad framework executable which is mostly sql and .Net files that help the program run, but even the german site for exocad lists a .7z file for partners.

and exocad is one of those companies that is business-to-business, 3rd level tech support. the entity you'd have to have purchased exocad from would be your first and second level tech support.

so when you say exocad themselves sent you an executable and switched to this since pre Matera days, i don't believe you.

it also makes zero sense that a reseller would convert the executable, but also not brand the software with their logo or colour scheme.
 
apostolis159

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i have a very good feeling that this is not correct.

there is an exocad framework executable which is mostly sql and .Net files that help the program run, but even the german site for exocad lists a .7z file for partners.

and exocad is one of those companies that is business-to-business, 3rd level tech support. the entity you'd have to have purchased exocad from would be your first and second level tech support.

so when you say exocad themselves sent you an executable and switched to this since pre Matera days, i don't believe you.

it also makes zero sense that a reseller would convert the executable, but also not brand the software with their logo or colour scheme.
I hear you, have no reason to doubt what you say. Especially since this is how they did my original installation of 2.2 at the lab (zip, unpack, copy-paste, framework)

Here's the story, although we are derailing the topic a bit.
I needed to work from home for 2 weeks due to getting covid.
So I contacted my reseller for them to do an installation of exo 2.2 on my home PC. My reseller is the smart optics reseller for Greece, and their version of exocad is completely unbranded. Literally zero mention of the company in the files or UI, other that the connection to their scanner software (which is done manually).
After a full day on the phone and him remotely accessing my computer, 2.2 wouldn't run on my PC (Ryzen 5 3600, RX580 8Gb, 16Gb ram).
So the next day he contacted his support, presumably smart optics or exocad support. Didn't ask. This guy team-viewers to my PC, checks, informs me that 2.2 doesn't run on AMD processors. Then proceeds to network copy installation files (exe/msi, can't remember -not at home atm-) for both 2.3 and 2.4.
2.3 turned out to have a similar issue with Ryzen. It would sometimes crash.
Then he installed 2.4, which worked flawlessly.
Framework executable is indeed a different file, I was wrong stating the opposite.

Being a business-to-business as you say, it could be a smart optics tech that did my installation. But the software is completely unbranded.

Lastly, my 2.2 installation -that is just a unzip install- doesn't show on my installed programs, while 2.4 -being an exe file- does.

I'll have a look when I get home, I'm pretty sure I have kept the files.
 
CoolHandLuke

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i see.

2.2 Valetta is a software from like 2017-2018ish and Matera/Plovdiv were 2018/2019

and what follows is quite correct, only plovdiv began being amd compatible. even exoplan in its current fda-sellable form (2.3) is still intel only.

if you had both Valetta and Plovdiv installed neither one should show up in the Windows control panel, because only the Framework should be in the windows registry.

the actual program executable runs outside the registry because its licensing and its settings are controlled through local .xml files instead. it means you can install all the versions of exocad along side each other without settings getting overridden by registry values.

i just went snooping on the smartoptics site, they published an installation guide, and i see what they did. they modified the Framework executeable to contain and install the 4 necessary installation folders which should have been published separately.

somehow they werent smart or prepared enough to prepare a fully integrated system for the scanner they sell though, because the same document is trying to have you overwrite some xml values on their installation to make it compatible with their scanner.

this would take 10 minutes to duplicate the install, use the right values, and have two versions ready to go. what they have done is completely override your ability to have multiple versions installed too, so whichever version you have will be the only one you can run.

i have NO idea why they are somehow still stuck on Valetta.

that will be the entire problem right there. you're on severely outdated software trying to make modern application of it. its like complaining your 46 Ford can't keep up with highway traffic. this is not an exocad problem its a smartoptics problem for selling you 4 years old software in 2020.
 
apostolis159

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this is not an exocad problem its a smartoptics problem for selling you 4 years old software in 2020.
I'm not talking problem here, just discussing on the previous posts about installation methods since my experience was different.
As for them selling me old software, this is not the case.
This whole thing happened last October. 3.0 wasn't out, latest was 2.4 still. I was still on 2.2 since 2018 cause I didn't see reason to update to 2.3/2.4 since they had no features that seem to be useful to me. So they just gave me 2.4 so I can work, since the previous versions did not run properly on my AMD system.


i have NO idea why they are somehow still stuck on Valetta.
I don't think they are, since my reseller contacted me for an upgrade to 3.0 recently. Although their website seems a bit outdated.


what follows is quite correct, only plovdiv began being amd compatible. even exoplan in its current fda-sellable form (2.3) is still intel only.

if you had both Valetta and Plovdiv installed neither one should show up in the Windows control panel, because only the Framework should be in the windows registry.

the actual program executable runs outside the registry because its licensing and its settings are controlled through local .xml files instead. it means you can install all the versions of exocad along side each other without settings getting overridden by registry values.

i just went snooping on the smartoptics site, they published an installation guide, and i see what they did. they modified the Framework executeable to contain and install the 4 necessary installation folders which should have been published separately.

somehow they werent smart or prepared enough to prepare a fully integrated system for the scanner they sell though, because the same document is trying to have you overwrite some xml values on their installation to make it compatible with their scanner.

this would take 10 minutes to duplicate the install, use the right values, and have two versions ready to go. what they have done is completely override your ability to have multiple versions installed too, so whichever version you have will be the only one you can run.
I am tech savvy enough to understand what you say.
And now that you have explained this, I also see no reason why they have done it this way. They put the effort to make the installer this way, yet you have to manually integrate the scanner.

Thanks for the insight. :)
 
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i know this is an old post but i just wanted to include my opinion in this because although i don't agree with everything that "karlanm"
stated and was unhappy about, her main issue is something that with my experience is exactly the same. I was kinda given the runaround
when i had a problem with my computer and ended up wanting the option of install wherever i wanted. And i was told it is not that easy
and i should have someone remote in to install. okay thats fine and i can do that but can i also be given the option of installing myself??
like what if they told you that to install windows which is way harder IMO, you had to have someone remote install for you!!
who here would just be okay with that? im sure a few of us would have something to say....so i kinda see where this guy is coming from.

But the biggest reason that i want to post in this is bc and i might be wrong or maybe it doesn't always work but
it kinda pissed me off when i did the install because it was so fricking easy!!

Just COPY AND PASTE your exocad folder onto your new computer! Thats it!! This is for my 2015 exocad though. Havent tried it with galway.
I don't see why that is so hard to do. oh and maybe you might need to install the exocad framework program which is just double clicking .exe file.

(Just a disclaimer: I am not encouraging anyone to try this method saying it will work for you. But it did for me.)

And please before i get bombarded with all kinds of hate replies, this was just my experience so im sure it doesn't work for
everybody. But let's just say that it doesn't work does your computer explode and life on the planet ends, or do you just
then call your reseller? And like the guy said he paid $10K for his exocad. Come on guys are you all really making that much
where you can just shrug off something like that? To be real, I don't even want to pay like $500 for quickbooks accounting software,
or even better im not willing to activate any of my windows OS installs by paying the $150(i think). And windows does let you do your own install
although it is infintely harder and more complex to install windows correctly. Even now, i will have problems sometimes when
installing windows. But did i need to get training. Nope. Yet somehow i am here posting to this forum....
Anyways i was kinda upset at the time when i was going through that experience which was very similar to what the karlanm was describing.
and maybe my thinking is backwards bc since the software is sooo expensive it should require pro install, i dont know.
All i know is i have the install files for my old exo 2015 perpetual as well as for my newer version which is galway.

Most of the posts were downplaying what karlanm was concerned about so i thought i would chime in. once again sorry and i will go hang
myself if something i said was too upsetting for anyone. Have a good day everyone.
 
apostolis159

apostolis159

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COPY AND PASTE your exocad folder onto your new computer
This is how official exocad installations work, even on the latest versions, if I'm not mistaken.
But, this doesn't apply to all exocad resellers.
For example. I got my exocad license through smartoptics (official exocad distributor) when I purchased their Vinyl scanner. Up until exocad 2.3, the installation was a simple copy-paste and then the framework installation (running the .exe file as you mention). This way the software is not "installed" on your pc, it doesn't show up in the installed programs. It runs as a portable installation. You could just delete the files and it's gone if you wanted.
But from 2.4 onwards, smartoptics made their exocad installation into a single .exe file that does everything (copies exo files, framework, etc) and actually installs the software on the computer. This might be the case with other exocad resellers (AG, GC, maybe other with branded exocad too).
So now if I want to move my installation to my new pc (or same pc after formatting) I'll have to backup my database and all the .xml files I have edited to customise exocad to my needs until now, and then install exocad to the new pc and restore my backups. I'd prefer the simple copy and paste. Not everyone knows how to do this, and -to be honest- you pay them for that too. Give them a call, and they'll do it for you. Not all of us are power users.

Installing the scanner's software and integrating it with exocad is a different issue. In this case, they'd want to do it remotely themselves. It includes messing with .xml files and not everyone is comfortable, willing, and able to do so. Same with setting up some other features that require similar procedures (like ftp upload).

Edit: Just realised what thread this is, and that I have posted most of the above info before. Oh well. Been a while.
 

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