Vectorworks Compatibility

[Curtis Boykins]

Thischart is very helpful in my considering whether to invest in a new Mac or not and all of it's associated costs. I am wondering why all versions of Vectorworks is supported by Windows 10, but only the two latest versions of VW for mac (2019, 2020) will work with Catalina. I have VW 2018 - so it looks like I will be keeping my old computer and avoid upgrading to Catalina. :(

The main reason for the difference in compatibility is a difference in attitude between Apple and Microsoft. Microsoft makes backward compatibility an absolute priority. That means that newer versions of Windows will support older versions of Vectorworks.

Apple on the other hand cares less about backward compatibility and more about moving the Mac platform forward. From version to version of the operating system them keep making changes that break older versions of Vectorworks. Vectorworks has decided that they are better off spending the engineering resources on making VW better rather than making older versions run on newer versions of the Mac OS. Especially as they are advocating for users to subscribe to Service Select where the newer versions are included in the annual subscription.

I really feel that there should be some joint responsibility here. It can be rocket science doing a bit of tweaking to older versions of VWX to maintain some program longevity, instead of just ignoring it and forcing paid upgrades.

When Nemetsheck declares an older version of VW is not compatible with certain more recent Mac OS versions, does that mean that it will not work or run at all ? ... or ... does that mean that it just doesn't run very well ? Is it possible to figure out what portions of the older VW program won't work at all ?

@domer1322When the older version is deemed incompatible, it can be for a variety of reasons. In many cases, that version will not launch at all, or will cause such issues that its use is almost impossible. In other cases, there may be major tools or workflows that do not work. We say incompatible because it does not meet the standards that are acceptable for our software to run on an operating system and because it will not be updated in the future if any issues arise with that version on the incompatible operating system. In my experience, I have found that some users get lucky and are able to successfully launch a version of the software on an unsupported operating system, but it is almost always met with immediate performance and stability issues.

I am considering buying an old mac to run a legacy copy of Vectorworks 2015. I have previously seen that the OS can be updated beyond the officially supported version if Vectorworks is already installed (perhaps because the compatibility issues relates to installation or maybe I just got lucky). Can you tell me, where you able to run previously installed VW 2015 on 10.14.6 or were you able to install and run it from scratch? Thanks.

I have never heard your statement of a version of VW running better on a machine which had the operating system upgraded after the OS install. VW does not have deep hooks into the OS. It is just an application.

I seriously doubt this answer is timely enough to help you, but maybe it will help another. Last year (2022) I bought a new Mac to be able to upgrade the OS past OS 10.15, which enables me to run VW 2023. Currently, I'm using a macMINI (M1, 2020) with OS 12.6.4. VW 2015 seems to run well. I do have problems with VW 2019 needing manual screen redraws to update the display, and VW 2016 does not load anymore. These are the only two versions that are giving me problems.

You either have to keep up, or lock down on what you have and look for used equipment if something dies.. Budget about $150/month (very little for a work tool you use all the time) and you can get a new Mac every 2 years to make you more productive and get Service Select to keep your VW version up to date.

But that does not change the equation. Apple continues to change the OS which continues to break VW and limit it's life. This has been going on for at least a decade. That is just reality. Not nice reality but reality.

As much as we like to think of computers as big-ticket items that should last a long time, in reality they are basically disposable after 2-3 years of use. Yes the computer might continue to run, but the newer machines will be much faster and more powerful. If you bill for your time (either by the hour or by the project) and there is more work you could do if you could work faster, then a computer that costs about $1/hour is almost always a good investment.

Windows' longer shelf life when it comes to software programs is really useful if from time to time you have to use older software that is no longer updated and for which there is no equivalent software that can open the old files.

Regardless of what OS you are using at some point you will need to upgrade if you want to keep current with the software. Even the longer shelf life of Windows has become shorter when it comes to Windows versions supported by the most recent versions of software requiring you to update Windows. Fortunately Windows still supports 32-bit programs unlike Apple so most older software will continue to run under Windows 10 but not always anymore. Programs like VirtualBox may help to some extent.

Nowadays OS and hardware compatibility is often not a matter of OS changes but of software program changes supporting only the most recent OS version(s) and requiring increasingly more powerful hardware.

Despite that I still think that there is too much code bloat because of less efficient code writing and/or code updating after installing updates. E.g. Adobe Acrobat CC on Windows is running some 20 processes in the background where other large software programs are using only 1 or 2 processes. This has to negatively affect your computer's performance when multiple software programs are doing similar things and I have heard from others that e.g. uninstalling Adobe software did improve performance in general. Taking a look at installed software and once in a while do a clean install of the OS and software you really use to remove bloat may help squeezing out another year of use for your system.

This is really good info. Thank you. However, I have to report that VW 2017 was in fact running somewhat OK in Big Sur 11.3 and M1 Mac mini (Apple silicon) just a few days ago! My installation was migrated perpetually from an original installation in an old machine. It only had problems with 3D views not working and some other issues. I had been tapping into VW 2017 mostly for export to earlier file versions of VW for colleagues and clients who are still hanging on.

Now with only VW 2020 in a fresh re-install (works fine + the usual old little bugs), I thought of searching for installer files of older Vectorworks. No can do, I see.

If you are on VSS you can still download older VW versions installer files from your VSS account. The best thing to do if possible is to keep a backup copy of installer files, once the latest service pack came out I download the installer file from my VSS account for backup purposes just in case I may need to install an older version.

Some software only have small installer programs that download the install files and then start installing, on Windows you can open the temporary files folder to try catching the install files for backup. Maybe this is possible on Mac as well.

If you have a license for VW2017 then you could contact your local VW support office and ask them if they can provide you with a download link for VW2017 and explain why you need it. I had a similar situation years back when switching from the localized language version to the US international English version and they were kind enough to provide the (then) previous US international English version as well as I already was on VSS for the localized version for a few years.

There have been at least a few people on the forum asking why their VW2019 does not work correctly with Big Sur. It seems to have major enough problems that it is not reasonable to run under Big Sur and try to use work arounds. Their complaints have been screen display issues.

But why? VW is a terrific application for creating production drawings. Plus, if ther are changes made to the design during production, its so easy to view the changes in 3D by modelling. The strength of VW lies in its ability to be used as a complete CAD system- stick with VW and abandon ACAD.

Many of us have for years lobbied Richard Diehl and his incarnations of DiehlGraphsoft and now, Nemetcheck North America for ACAD compatibility. We have pretty good transferability now. However jfmarch is correct in that ACAD is a difficult beast to use compared with Vectorworks.

Why did we want ACAD compatibility? So we could send files to our various consultants who seem to like particular CAD prograqms with "vertical market" bells and whistles, like COGO or civil engineering.

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