Downloading the Installer

There is one download for AECOsim Building Designer CONNECT Edition, regional datasets are now installable options.

AECOsim Building Designer CONNECT Edition is designed so it can be installed and safely coexist alongside any previously commercial released versions of AECOsim Building Designer V8i. It will not attempt to upgrade or uninstall an existing V8i commercial releases currently installed and by default CONNECT Edition installs its program and workspace files to different locations.

Notes:

• AECOsim Building Designer CONNECT Edition is compatible with Microsoft Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.* or Windows 10 Operating Systems and requires the Windows User Access Control (UAC) setting to be set to "Never notify" during installation. Consult the Windows documentation for more information concerning User Access Control.
• Prior to installing AECOsim Building Designer CONNECT Edition, you will need to make sure all versions of the AECOsim Building Designer application are closed.
• As the regional datasets and other components are now on-demand downloads, in many cases it will be worth creating a local Deployment Image to install from. This is the recommned solution for sites that a) do not have internet access for security or other reason; b) have limited internet speed.

Installation

Installing AECOsim Building Designer CONNECT Edition is very similar to installing other CONNECT Edition applications, there are additional AECOsim Building Designer specific options.

Once downloaded from Bentley's Software Downloads site, right click the installer and pick 'Run as administrator'

When the installer reaches the first options dialog you have choices to select Product Companion Features and/or Companion Applications. At this point it is important to select the Configure option and proceed through the available options, particularly the choice of regional datasets! Note that help is available during installation from the ? icon at the top right.:

(Optional) To change the application installation location, click the Browse button next to the Application Path.
We recommend that you accept the default install location unless there is a particular reason not to:

If you need to make a change, in the Browse For Folder dialog that opens, browse to the drive and folder you want to install the product in, then click OK.

In the following (optional) step we have added a new option which sets the location of the Custom Configuration during installation. This eliminates the need to run additional procedures to deploy customised configuration files to each installation. We recommend that deployment Images are created using this step.

Select the 'Custom Configuration (plus Delivered Configuration)' option. Browse to the folder where your Custom Configuration will be located, then click next:

The Custom Configuration location does not need to have been populated with content for the installation to complete successfully. AECOsim Building Designer CONNECT Edition will still run without them but with only the delivered configuration and example dataset.
Click Next to continue

The Features step includes selection of the options common to other CONNECT Edition applications. The MicroStation MetroStation example is available at this point, it is useful to install this as it is used by our online training material as well as being a useful sandbox for individual users to play around with. The example WorkSet is also useful if troubleshooting is necessary.

Technology Preview Features are included by default but can be omitted at this point if required.

AECOsim Building Designer CONNECT Edition Regional WorkSets are selected in the next dialog. At least one dataset must be installed for the application to function (without configuration).

Note that the Neutral Metric dataset now includes a metric version of the US examples and training WorkSets. While it is selected by default, the US dataset does not have to be installed. Installing one or both of these datasets is useful for training and troubleshooting as already mentioned.

Click Done to return to the main installer dialog.

Review/make the required companion choices, accept the licensing terms and the Install to proceed with installation:

Additional steps relating to installations of Technology Preview 1, 2 or Release Candidate

If you have installed Technology Preview or Release Candidate versions of AECOsim Building Designer CONNECT Edition please follow these additional steps:

• Prior to installing AECOsim Building Designer CONNECT Edition, you will need to uninstall any previous installations of Technology Preview 1, 2 or Release Candidate and clean up any orphaned directories and files from that installation.  In preparation for a clean install of Technology Preview 2, it is recommended that you reboot after uninstalling previous versions.
• Prior to installing the AECOsim Building Designer CONNECT Edition, be sure to uninstall Structural Synchronizer version 10.02.00.xx installed with AECOsim Building Designer CONNECT Edition Technology Preview 1 or 2.