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SW Rebuilds Results Files On Access

Question asked by Peter Debono on Oct 1, 2013
Latest reply on Oct 15, 2013 by Jared Conway

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I have a relatively large model with several simulation studies that have successfully completed. If I close the model and reopen it to access the results of the completed studies SW takes forever to do so because it decides to delete and rebuild several files in the simulation results folder (.LCM and .STP files specifically). With smaller models the delay isn't noticeable but I'm waiting 15min+ for SW to rebuild a 30G file everytime.

Why does SW do this?

Can this be avoided (outside of never closing the model)?

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Jared Conway Oct 1, 2013 11:33 AM
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have you looked into why your model is rebuilding? that'd be the first place we would suggest customers look. the simulation is connected to the model so if it changes, it updates the sim. if you get rid of the rebuilds, that problem will go away.

another option would be to disable simulation on startup, that will minimize the opening time at least.
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- Peter Debono @ Jared Conway on Oct 1, 2013 11:48 AM
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  My description may not have been clear (the model opens cleanly and doesn't require a rebuild). Here is the process:
  
  - Open a model
  - Select one of the existing and completed simulation studies.
  - Expand the results folder.
  - Select to show one of the result plots.
  - SW deletes the LCM and STP files in the results folder.
  - SW recreates the LCM and STP files in the results folder.
  - After the files have been recreated the plot will show.
  
  This behaviour is true for all simulation studies. Why is it necessary to recreate the files everytime the results are accessed if nothing has changed?
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  - Jared Conway @ Peter Debono on Oct 1, 2013 12:20 PM
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    what version and service pack are you using? the only file that should be present in your results directly is the cwr file
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    - Peter Debono @ Jared Conway on Oct 1, 2013 12:49 PM
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      2013 SP4
      
      There are several different file types in the results directory (the model is currently open and loading one of the result plots). Several of them are likely temp files and most of them are small.
      
      Note that there are 9 random vibration simulations and 3 harmonic simulations where the CWR file is about 30GB per study.
      
      Edit:
      I suppose another question is what is the STP file. It must be some temporary file the SW writes while reading the CWR file.
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      - Jared Conway @ Peter Debono on Oct 1, 2013 3:25 PM
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        all the files are described here:
        S-019472 in the solidworks KB.
        
        i'd suggest connecting with your reseller to check with solidworks on whether this is intended functionality. i have an SSD and lots of ram and haven't really run into the issue myself. not sure how i could replicate and confirm what is going on without your files and i haven't really dug into the software to know what gets updated when.
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        Peter Debono @ Jared Conway on Oct 2, 2013 6:27 AM
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        Thanks for the help Jared. S-019472 confirms that the STP file is a temporary file extracted from the CWR file. The unfortunate part is that if the "keep temporary files" option is enabled in simulation, SW still decides to recreate the file once the results are accessed the next time the model is opened.
        
        I can't give you the files but I can give you an idea of the size of the model:
        No. of nodes = 593257
        No. of elements = 367308
        No. of DOF = 1794078
        Total solution time = 03:28:36
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        Jared Conway @ Peter Debono on Oct 3, 2013 3:16 AM
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        Are you saying he problem goes away with that option disabled? If so , that seems pretty reasonable?
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        Peter Debono @ Jared Conway on Oct 3, 2013 6:21 AM
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        No, regardless of the option status the problem remains.
        
        It would make sense that once a simulation completes, a small temporary file is made that marks that the temporary results files do not need to be rebuilt because there are no changes made to the simulation. This would save having to recreate the files if they already exist.
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        Jared Conway @ Peter Debono on Oct 3, 2013 10:41 AM
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        hi peter if you have a sample file that you can share that shows the problem i can test on my system. maybe just a block with a lot of elements will show the issue?
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        Peter Debono @ Jared Conway on Oct 3, 2013 11:29 AM
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        I've attached a simple part file that behaves the same as my larger model.
        The results fiels are all stored in the same directory and I have the option to keep temporary files enabled.
        
        - open the part
        - view any or all of the results from the simulations
        - Take note fo the date stamp on the STP files
        - close the part
        - wait 1 minute
        - re-open the part
        - view the simulation results again
        - note the date stamp on the STP files
        
        With small models rebuilding the STP file is nearly instantaneous, but with large files the wait is significant. Why does the file need to be written everytime if the file already exists and there have been no changes to the simulation or models?
        
        edit:
        It's likely that you'll have to change the simulation results folder when you open the part.
        Attachments
        results test1(1).zip2.9 MB
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        Jared Conway @ Peter Debono on Oct 15, 2013 2:16 AM
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        here is my theory
        the cwr is like a compressed file
        when you open and view the results, it uncompresses the information, so you get all the temp files so that the software can use them
        then when you clos the file, it compresses them
        
        if you have the "save temp files" disabled, the user doesn't care as much because they aren't seeing those files
        
        with the option to save the temp files, the issue is more obvious. the thing is, those are just temp files that are left over. the true information is in the cwr. so when the file is opened again, the new temp files over ride the old ones. they aren't meant to be "reused" because most people don't have that option enabled.
        
        could they add a check to check for them? maybe. sounds like a good enhancement.
        
        did you speak with your reseller about this? what did they come back with?
        
        can't really think of any workarounds other than the standard suggestions for reducing the size of your cwr in general.
        
        i did my testing in 2014 sp0.0. i didn't have a file with a huge fileset, but i think i was seeing what you were saying regarding the date/time steps changing. when i turned off the save temp files options, i realized what i describe above. there is a new option for 2014 to not load all the sim results on open, but eventually you'd have to so i don't think it helps you much.
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SW Rebuilds Results Files On Access

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No. of nodes	= 593257
No. of elements	= 367308
No. of DOF	= 1794078