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Simulation Studies Disappearing - Very Frustrating

Question asked by Mark Egan on Aug 13, 2016
Latest reply on Mar 31, 2020 by Jesse Powers

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I am having a recurring problem of static simulation studies disappearing mid-use.

I'm working in an assembly file with multiple studies painstakingly created, some of them completely solved, and in the middle of working on the file it seems to revert back to a version from HOURS earlier - some study tabs have simply disappeared. I save the file every 10 minutes or so - it reverts far prior to the latest save. These are 100% local files, on my C: drive, there is no networking issue going on. I *think* it's happening when I switch to the model view out of the study tabs, but I'm not sure.

My 3D card is on the approved list. Closing out and reopening doesn't help. Restarting the computer doesn't help. The studies are no longer being referenced in the assembly file. I can even go into my simulation files folder and see the CWR's there for the studies that have disappeared. Can anyone help???

This has occurred on multiple occasions now, and I have lost several full days' work. These are not simple analyses I'm performing and it is driving me to explore other software packages because this is untenable.

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Culley Parris @ Derek Bishop on Sep 1, 2018 12:12 AM
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I had a file with 10 studies which just crashed at the instant I deleted a study that wasn’t working well. Solidworks 2018 SP4.0 immediately crashed. I clicked “restart” in the “crash helper” program that offers to restart solidworks… and it just sat there for minute or more. So I just killed the crash helper. When I opened my file in solidworks, it showed my recent model changes, but ALL my studies were gone.. I closed without saving and opened the FEA assembly file on another computer with the same version of SW. The studies were still gone.

This is very frustrating to say the least.

I had saved recently, but that doesn’t help me. I’m going to have to go back to my last zip file backup, or rebuild my studies from scratch. They have roughly 15 loads and remote loads each. It’s going to take hours either way. ☹.

Any possible solutions to this? I’m working in another copy of the folder in case ythere might be a way to fix it. I’m not hopeful though, given the fact this has happened to me with solidworks in some previous versions and my VAR folks weren’t able to fix the problem then.

My deliverable was due today.
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Hao Lam Sep 6, 2018 10:53 AM
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Has anybody resolved this issue? I'm having the same problem. I've contacted the VAR and it seems like they don't have the answer either. I ran some studies and all of a sudden some of the study tabs disappeared but the CWR files are still in the results folder.
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Scott Perman Jun 11, 2019 8:08 AM
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Solidworks 2019, SP3. I am having the same problem. None of my studies are saved. If I switch to a different part, and then switch back, all of my studies are deleted.

I recorded this video as an example.

https://youtu.be/Lg_AXIWRVjI
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Jay Seaglar @ Scott Perman on Jun 11, 2019 9:15 AM
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At the end of the video (t=50s) when you switch back to the original part which had 10 static studies (named Static 1 - Static 10), all 10 study tabs still appear to be present:
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Scott Perman @ Jay Seaglar on Jun 11, 2019 9:23 AM
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THANK YOU! This is my first time using simulation, and I never saw those tabs across the bottom of the screen.
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Jay Seaglar @ Scott Perman on Jun 11, 2019 9:38 AM
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You're welcome! You might find the 'SOLIDWORKS Simulation: A practical approach for Design Engineers' Product Introduction learning content on MySolidWorks useful as a supplement to the SOLIDWORKS Simulation Tutorials available in the SOLIDWORKS Help menu. And please be sure to contact your SOLIDWORKS Value Added Reseller (VAR) for help with any issues you encounter.
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Scott Perman @ Jay Seaglar on Jun 11, 2019 10:37 AM
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I was going through the tutorials, but someone came up and needed me to check a different part. When I came back the study information in the history tree was gone and things went downhill from there.

I had reached out to my VAR, and they were working on it, but I thought I would reach out here too. I'm glad I did.

Thanks again.
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Chris Pellegrino @ Swme Eng on Mar 26, 2020 3:10 PM
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Happening in 2019. Holy $#!]. Lots of work lost. SortaWorks strikes again. This software really is more bark than bite in many ways. You want to make pretty 3D objects and make it look like you're doing something? Fine. You want to actually do any engineering? Goooood luck...
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Ryan Dark @ Chris Pellegrino on Mar 26, 2020 3:19 PM
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Hi Chris,
If you have a repeatable workflow that led up to this now would be an excellent time to record a video of it (A Complete Guide to Using SOLIDWORKS RX) and get your VAR involved. As you can see this is something that has gone on for a while and I'm sure if you found a way to make it happen again on demand it would get fixed.
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Chris Pellegrino @ Ryan Dark on Mar 26, 2020 3:46 PM
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Sorry, this particular thing has never happened to me before. I have had situations where the study is there but i can't access the results, but not lose entire studies. My workflow? I can't recall all the things i did leading up to this. There's also nothing to take a video of - it already happened. I have been working on a file that has multiple studies, has been saved, was creating a new configuration for a new study and after coming back to this file from another one find a bunch of my study tabs gone. YES, I know about the arrows... The results files for the missing studies are still there. There is nothing I did that was wrong that created this situation. I lost 4 static studies and a fatigue study that uses those, plus a frequency study I just created and ran this morning. I don't have time to recreate those lost studies, and run them, much less describe a workflow or provide my VAR a pack and go which takes forever because even though I don't check the box to include simulation results, it WILL include those results. Been through that one before... I have another set of studies to create and run for another fatigue study.

Sorry if I sound mad; SolidWorks can make pretty 3D objects, but it is incredibly frustrating when you try doing any engineering.
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Ryan Dark @ Chris Pellegrino on Mar 26, 2020 3:50 PM
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I get you are frustrated, Chris. You have definitely outlined a lot of factors that cannot be re-captured now. This is probably why this keeps coming up on the forum here. If you do see it again, capture it for us. I for one would very much like to see it fixed in a permanent way.
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Jesse Powers @ Ryan Dark on Mar 31, 2020 10:40 AM
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I don't mean to "come at you", just trying to reiterate the nature of this problem:
I'm not sure how he (or anyone) is supposed to capture it unless he records Solidworks all the time and just happens to capture it... I've had this happen on SW2018 before (using 2019 now), and there's no predicting it-- there's no (known) rhyme or reason-- and so there's no recreating it without endeavoring to make it happen and hoping it happens while you're trying to capture it... I appreciate the "SortaWorks" humor, for the satire and the comic relief. This is frustrating at best when it happens.

I haven't seen it on 2019 yet, though-- fingers crossed.
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Jesse Powers Mar 31, 2020 10:38 AM
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I've also had this happen in SW2017 and 2018. Haven't seen it in 2019 yet (that I can remember-- I may just be blocking it out at this point because it's soo discouraging). But I see other people have seen it in 2019. (I'm scared.)
.
Could it possibly be an issue with something at capacity?
Maybe space on your hard drive?
Incorrect paging file size?
GDI Objects and User Objects?
Windows update in the background?
Maybe the model file is corrupted, but SW isn't notifying? (stranger things have happened)
.
There have been a couple no-penetration static studies I've done on SW2017 (or maybe it was 2018?) that got interrupted whenever I minimized or clicked off of the SW window... (don't know why).
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I'm not well-versed in why some of these things would cause a problem (or IF they would)-- just trying to get some ideas out. What could stop a file from correctly saving???
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I think there are other errors/issues/bugs in SW that could be categorized together with this issue. That is, sometimes parts of a sketch will be inaccessible, or I can't apply a relation (to a sketch), or I can't click a surface or an edge when I KNOW I should be able to. These problems, to me (a Mech Eng, not an IT/Software Eng), seem to fall into the category of SW not updating correctly or quickly enough to allow for function of what it is currently showing. These issues are transient in that they happen incidentally (when SW's slightly dodgy heart skips a beat), there's a hiccup, code doesn't run "parallel" like it should (or smthg gets skipped), and something goes amiss without the program catching itself. Then, sometimes as quickly and mysteriously as it occurs, it regains normal function.
.
(This is getting long, but I think it's relevant.)
Now, I don't know anything (much) about coding a program like this. But there HAS to be a way to log these occurances, AND notify the user that something has occurred-- not just simply refresh, update and continue running-- if only for our own sanity's sake. Knowing that SW knows something went wrong (and effectively apologizes for it by making a note) would be super useful. Something like, "Hey, SW has experienced a hiccup. If you noticed a problem, normal function should now be restored." That may be too much to ask, and, honestly, it might even get annoying after a while. It's obvious to me that the program doesn't have enough in the way of diagnosing its own problems. Look no further than the "One or more load/fixture/contact/connector associated entities may not be valid." error in simulation when any one or all of the entities of each one of those things could be invalid. How could SW know that one of those things is wrong and not explicitly say which one it is? Or worse does SW not know which one it is?
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I think it could have to do with something like that, anyway. (Thank you for coming to my soapbox.) #ONEandTWO
ONE and TWO
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Frederick Law @ Chris Pellegrino on Mar 31, 2020 9:54 AM
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What is your Backup/Recover setting?
Check the backup folder and see if you can "recover" the studies.
Set backup , Number of backup to 5 and you have better chance.
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Frederick Law Mar 31, 2020 9:57 AM
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If you use config for sim, don't change config name or delete the config.
SW will go crazy.
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Jesse Powers @ Frederick Law on Mar 31, 2020 10:23 AM
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Oh, I forgot about this one.
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Simulation Studies Disappearing - Very Frustrating

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