Saving X6 geometry to X5 format

[Brian B 74]

Using Win 7 64-bit. Trying to save geometry in X6 as an X5 file. Cannot find the option anywhere. Help files say:

 

 

From Mastercam's menu, select File, Save As.

 

Select Mastercam pre-X5 Files as the Save as type.

 

Click the Options button.

 

 

I don't see a Mastercam Pre-X5 option anywhere. Am I not seeing something?

[Guest]

x64 bit can not save back to previous version, only the 32 bit can.

 

That was covered in a couple of threads previously as I recall.

 

You can open it on a 32 bit system if you have it and save back,

[gcode]

We keep an old Win XP workstaion around just for this purpose.

[Brian B 74]

I think I will go a little geek on this. I will install Windows XP mode on my 64-bit win 7 just to install 32-bit MCX for this purpose. Win XP mode has no performance to it but for opening and writing files it should be fine.

 

Unfortunately I have to wait until X6 comes back online as I only downloaded the 64 bit version.

 

Thanks for the info. It sometimes gets a little tough searching out stuff because there is so much content on this website.

[gcode]

The What's New file is still available for download..

It covers this and all kinds of other cool stuff ..

[#Rekd™]

I think I will go a little geek on this. I will install Windows XP mode on my 64-bit win 7 just to install 32-bit MCX for this purpose. Win XP mode has no performance to it but for opening and writing files it should be fine.

 

Unfortunately I have to wait until X6 comes back online as I only downloaded the 64 bit version.

 

Thanks for the info. It sometimes gets a little tough searching out stuff because there is so much content on this website.

 

Are you doing a dual boot?

[Chris In-House Solutions]

You can always install X6 32 bit on a 64 bit system. It just will not utilize your computer to its full potential.

[Guest]

You can always install X6 32 bit on a 64 bit system. It just will not utilize your computer to its full potential.

 

 

Chris, are you sure??

 

I did not believe that was possible

[gcode]

I thought that X6 x32 will not install on an x64 system

 

 

[Brian B 74]

Are you doing a dual boot?

 

No. XP mode is not a dual boot. It runs in a window. Search out Windows XP mode on the internet. It is a free download from Microsoft for Win 7 Pro (or Ultimate/Enterprise) users.

[Guest]

From Mastercam.com

 

Read Before Installing Mastercam X6

 

X6 has both a 32bit and a 64bit version so please read the notes below:

 

The X6 32bit version can only be installed on a 32bit OS and the X6 64bit version can only be installed on a 64bit OS.

 

[Thee Rickster ™]

What if you install a virtual XP on your win7 64 bit?

 

My management software can not be used on any x64 or win7 p.c.

 

But my IT guy installed a 'virtual Windows XP X32 bit' on my win7 x64 p.c. and I now have the old crappy

management software alive and well on this Win7 X62 bit machine, and dont have to leave my desk

 

You should be able to do that and then install x6 x32 on it

[Marshal]

From Mastercam.com

Read Before Installing Mastercam X6

 

X6 has both a 32bit and a 64bit version so please read the notes below:

 

The X6 32bit version can only be installed on a 32bit OS and the X6 64bit version can only be installed on a 64bit OS

 

 

 

And that's what I don't understand. A 64-bit OS should be able to install a 32-bit piece of software without any problem. The opposite isn't true, but running a 32-bit program is very rarely a problem as far as I know. I don't know why they wrote it so they can't both be used on the 64-bit systems, especially with the limitation of backwards compatibility between X6 64-bit and X5.

[Thee Rickster ™]

backwards compatibility between X6 64-bit and X5.

 

It may be that X6 is the first version to support x64-bit

[Guest]

Why allow a 32bit installation on a x64 bit computer, when you have a x64 installation available?

 

The logistics of supporting both is problematic at that point

 

Solidworks stopped allowing it with SW2009 IIRC

I don't believe you can install NX32 on a X64 either

[crazy^millman]

Yeah IT people are screaming because of some 32 and 64 mismatches in their companies. Will be interesting phone calls till everyone finally gets to 64 bit land. Problem is the 128 bits will be on line by then.

[#Rekd™]

Can you save the geometry as a dxf or step and then open in a previous version?

[gcode]

step would work better cause you can save solids wireframe and points...

you'd still loose solids history though..

The best solution is to just keep an old x32 machine around with X6x32 on it,

though I've found I have very little need to save files back

[crazy^millman]

Nope Best Option IMHO is put a 2nd drive in and run a Dual boot Win 7 32 bit and Win 7 64 bit. Problem solved and with a SSD about 20 seconds shutting down one and firing up the other.

[Chris In-House Solutions]

Sorry about misleading everyone. I forgot that the installs can only be done on the OS that you have. I was just thinking that X5 was a 32 bit application and it installs fine on a 64 bit computer but its a different program all together.

 

JP is right though you wouldn't want to install a 32bit application on a 64 bit system. It just doesn't make sense and would cause a headache for support.

[Brian B 74]

Windows XP Mode is a free program from Microsoft for those of you running Win 7 Pro or higher.

 

[Guest]

This emulated program doesn't typically work as many think.

[Brian B 74]

Don't get me wrong - it is slow as molasses in January. BUT for using a 32 bit version of MCX to do nothing more than save geometry to MCX5 it should do the job. And it's FREE!

[Brian B 74]

Just downloaded the 32 bit version and installed inside Win XP Mode on my Win 7 64-bit machine. Make sure to set your memory settings to atleast 2048 (I have 8 gig of RAM). MCAM runs slow but enough to load a file and save as a previous version (for geometry only). Don't even think about trying to do anything other than saving the file - it gets the job done! Best of all - it's FREE!

[MotorCityMinion]

'Don't get me wrong - it is slow as molasses in January"

 

You can say the same about VMWare. It added an addition 7 processes in the background as well. Looked like $heet. No decent video drivers available for it yet. Setting it up on a separate drive supposedly increases performance some. I couldn't take it no more and un installed it. On the plus side, it was simple to install and easy to set-up. You could also window out of it smoothly, back into the native OS with out rebooting.