Bentley Map crashes on opening DWG files

Hi jean-Claude,

In my test the process go to 1.7 GB but it didn’t crash, probably due to the fact I have 8GB of RAM. What you may want to test is to set as a variable MS_GEOXFM_NO_DYNAMICSCOREDFEATURES=1, you can set this as an workspace environment variable, then retest using a new Bentley Map session. Setting this environment variable disables the DFS (Dynamic Feature Scoring) system of Bentley Map which add overhead by inferring feature class definitions of non-XFM feature instances (e.g. simple MicroStation or DWG elements). The process will use less memory, probably around 400 MB. The use of the variable should be limited to those files which encounter the problem, and will detrimentally effect XML/XFM operation otherwise.

Regards

Carlos

Hi jean-Claude,

In my test the process go to 1.7 GB but it didn’t crash, probably due to the fact I have 8GB of RAM. What you may want to test is to set as a variable MS_GEOXFM_NO_DYNAMICSCOREDFEATURES=1, you can set this as an workspace environment variable, then retest using a new Bentley Map session. Setting this environment variable disables the DFS (Dynamic Feature Scoring) system of Bentley Map which add overhead by inferring feature class definitions of non-XFM feature instances (e.g. simple MicroStation or DWG elements). The process will use less memory, probably around 400 MB. The use of the variable should be limited to those files which encounter the problem, and will detrimentally effect XML/XFM operation otherwise.

Regards

Carlos

Thank you for your answer Carlos but even with the config variable set, I don't succeed (windows XP with 4Go ram). 

Using Microstation V8i there is no problem at all (screen capture below, editing the same file takes 467 Mo, attaching it as a reference takes 100 Mo more)

I have tried to edit the file with Map on a Windows 7 desktop with 8Go Ram,  ... and succeeded!

But we need 2,24 Go to edit a 22 Mo file, 100x more memory!! (screen capture below)

A few (2-3) of this type of file have to be attached as reference to another dwg file of same size. I don't dare to imagine the memory we will need to acheive our project, even under WInows 7 with 8Go (furthermore most of our computers are still under Windows XP).

What can we do? This huge amount of used memory doesn't seem to be a normal behaviour for Bentley Map, especially if we compare with Microstation or PowerDraft.

Thanks.

Regards,

Jean-Claude Fischer

Greetings Jean-Claude,

There are as you know roughly ~600 drawing levels in the provided DWG file when opened in MicroStation. By default, when Bentley Map opens files containing graphic data that is not native XFM features, the DFS system attempts to infer feature class definitions from the elements based upon levels and element types, then loads an internal cache of all inferred feature instances. Having ~600 inferred feature classes representing ~324,000 inferred feature instances proves to be expensive. Disabling DFS for this type of file is then recommended as Carlos correctly recommended.

Opening the provided sample DWG file with DFS disabled, I observe only a ~35mb memory usage increase when Bentley Map V8i (SELECTseries 2) 08.11.07 is running as opposed to a MicroStation only session.

However something seems a bit inconsistent with your results when DFS is disbled. Hopefully we can determine what is causing the reported differences. Could you confirm how you are defining the MS_GEOXFM_NO_DYNAMICSCOREDFEATURES configuration variable prior to the start of your Bentley Map session?

Also what is the purpose of using this drawing in Bentley Map ? The example file had a lot of information contained in it, that I would suspect is not needed for Bentley Map ( lots of detail information). Is there a way to separate this out ?

You may want to contact technical support and have this reported. Please explain to them, as you have done here, the OS, memory, file sizes, and how many files you are working with at one time.

Thanks !

Thank you a lot for the explanation, it seems clearer to me why memory usage increases with Map, even if this big difference against MS surprises me.

I apologize, after checking defined MS_GEOXFM_NO_DYNAMICSCOREDFEATURES config variable, it appeas that I misspellt it (missing last S). Map is now running as you described, similarly to a CAD session. Thanks again for bringing this to light.

Last question: I don't find most of MS_GEOXFM_xxxx  config variables description in map chm helpfile. Isn't there a "glossary" to download?

Regards

Jean-Claude Fischer

Hi Jean-Claude,

Make sure the configuration variable is set as below

Workspace > Configuration > New

Exit Map and start a new session 

Regards,
Carlos