Old files crashing Creo

[DeanLong]

Morning all,

Did any of you have any weird and/or unexplained crashes when opening old files (Pre-Wildfire and/or Wildfire 3, 4, 5) in Creo 2, 3 or 4? I have a set of customer files that date back to 1999-2000 that have been saved along the way that are causing all sorts of headaches. I am not expecting such a large jump in time (Pro/E V16, 17, 18 to Creo) to occur without some issues. But, I am asking is if any of you remember or know of a specific "issue" or bug or change in architecture that might be the cause.

Over the last few weeks we have become "good" at navigating these files (not every single file causes a crash) in order to make progress. There is definitely an "order" these assemblies only like to open in. Meaning, certain files have to be in session first, but then can, and do, crash if other assemblies are attempted to open. There are a lot of variables at play and the crashes seem a bit random but also with some sense of "logic" behind it all. I know that sounds dumb but I get the sense there is some "trigger" that makes the house of cards fall. There are a lot of old school techniques (Merged models, etc...) in the mix too. I would be happy to talk offline to someone that might be able to lend a little brain power on what may be happening.

Thanks

[BenLoosli]

PTC only says that 5 versions back will open without issue. So for Creo 4, that means WF5.

Pre Wildfire files will be a crap shoot opening in any Creo version.

Like you discovered, open the part files first and then save them. Then work on the assemblies, limiting how many you have in your workspace so you can easily track which ones will load.

Sorry, not a lot of advice you don't already know.

Good luck!

[TomU]

The official statement at the moment seems to be this:

Pro/ENGINEER, Creo Elements/Pro and Creo Parametric support upward compatibility 

• Data created in an older release can be opened in a newer release

https://support.ptc.com/appserver/cs/view/solution.jsp?n=CS34192

[mender]

That is consistent with my understanding. 

[TomU]

Maybe Dean should send in some of his models and have the validation department use them as part of the pre-release validation process. 

[mender]

I'd recommend filing an SPR on it.  Failing that, you could make a .zip of the traceback.log generated in the crash and post that here.

Ben, what documentation are you referring to about 5 versions? Could you give me a pointer to where we say that?

[StephenW]

I've read that same thing too, although I thought it was 4 releases back. I couldn't find it anywhere but I would almost swear it was official PTC support. I thought it said something like full compatibility was guaranteed up to 4 releases. With other statements that said it should work for older releases (not guaranteed) but if you encounter problems, PTC support would assist, if you had active maintenance.

[DeanLong]

Thanks guys for the replies. I had a suspicion there was a rearview mirror good (officially) for only so many revs backward. I am on 2, because the client is, with no specific date to move forward and the rev they will settle on at that point. Realistically, I see no real value getting the people at PTC involved since the files are outside the statute of limitations.

Save often!

[mender]

Begging your pardon, but I think you may have misread CS34192‌ -- it does not speak to any such limitation.  I think you have a valid case, and our fixing it will strength Creo for other users as well.  Accordingly, I'd recommend filing an SPR.

[VladimirN]

Open a new Case for this issue: https://support.ptc.com/appserver/cs/case/case_logger.jsp