Notice to Autodesk Mechanical Desktop Customers

In a continuing effort to provide high quality products, Autodesk has released Mechanical Desktop 2008 Service Pack 1, which fixes or addresses a variety of issues pertaining to the following products:

• Autodesk Mechanical Desktop 2008
• AutoCAD Mechanical 2008

This README file highlights what has been fixed or addressed, where to download the update, and how to install it.

Contents

Prerequisites
Installation Instructions
Issues addressed by Autodesk Mechanical Desktop 2008 Service Pack 1
Miscellaneous Notes
Autodesk Mechanical Desktop 2008 Service Pack 1 download location

Prerequisites

The approximate size of Mechanical Desktop 2008 Service Pack 1 is 7.8 MB for 32bit version and 18.3MB for 64bit version.

You must have a minimum of 100 MB of free disk space for temporary file creation.

Service Pack 1 is historical and may be applied to Mechanical Desktop 2008 regardless of whether Hotfix1 has been applied or not. You must have administrative privileges to be able to install Mechanical Desktop 2008 Service Pack 1 on the following supported operating systems :

Installation Instructions

Standalone installation

1. Download mdt2008_swl_sp1_x32.exe for 32bit version or mdt2008_swl_sp1_x64.exe for 64bit version, the installer for Mechanical Desktop 2008 Service Pack 1. This patch can be installed on all flavors of Mechanical Desktop 2008 in :

• Autodesk Inventor Suite 2008
• Autodesk Inventor Professional 2008
• Autodesk Inventor Routed Systems Suite 2008
• Autodesk Inventor Simulation Suite 2008

 Note: This Service Pack 1 will update all language versions. In previous releases, there were separate Service Packs for each language. This is not the case for Mechanical Desktop 2008 Service Pack 1.

2. Double click the installer to run it.

3. Once Mechanical Desktop 2008 Service Pack 1 installation is complete, a message informing you that the update has been successfully applied is displayed.

To verify if the Service Pack is properly installed, start Mechanical Desktop 2008 and at the command prompt, enter AMVER.  A text window is displayed and should report "Mechanical Desktop 2008 SP1" for 32bit version or "Mechanical Desktop 2008 x64 SP1" for 64bit version. It is recommended that you restart Microsoft Windows after installation of the Service Pack.

Note: Once a service pack is applied, you cannot remove it by running an automatic uninstall program. To undo service pack changes, you will need to uninstall, and then reinstall the product.

Network deployment

It is not possible to create a new deployment tree based off an existing one. If you wish to keep a copy of your original Deployment tree, copy the original to another location prior to making changes.

To add the service pack to a new administrative image

1. From the Autodesk Product Support website, download the service pack .EXE file to your local computer.
2. The network deployment wizard requires a patch be an .MSP file.  To extract the .MSP file from the Service Pack :

On the Start menu (Windows), click Run. Enter information using the following syntax and click OK.
<local_drive:>\<patch_name>\ /e <local_drive:>\< patch_name>.msp

3. Insert the product install disc and launch setup.exe.
4. Select "Create Deployment".
5. Continue through the deployment wizard until you come to the Configuration page.
6. In the Configuration of AutoCAD Mechanical 2008, choose "Network license" option and specify your license server location.
7. Click Next until you come to "Include Service Packs" page.
8. Click on "..." button to browse to your .MSP file extracted in Step2.
9. Check that the service pack has been added in the "Service packs included in this deployment" box.
10. Continue through the configuration or click Configuration Complete.
11. Click Create Deployment to start your deployment creation.

To apply the service pack to an existing administrative image

1. From the Autodesk Product Support website, download the service pack EXE file to your local computer.
2. The network deployment wizard requires a patch be an .MSP file.  To extract the .MSP file from the Service Pack :

On the Start menu (Windows), click Run. Enter information using the following syntax and click OK.
<local_drive:>\<patch_name>\ /e <local_drive:>\< patch_name>.msp

3. Browse to the location of the existing administrative image.
4. Double-click on the Modify <deployment name> shortcut to launch the deployment wizard.
5. Continue through the deployment wizard until you come to the Configuration page.
6. In the Configuration of AutoCAD Mechanical 2008, click Next until you come to "Include Service Packs" page.
7. Click on "..." button to browse to your .MSP file extracted in Step2.
8. Check that the service pack has been added in the "Service packs included in this deployment" box.
9. Continue through the configuration or click Configuration Complete.
10. Click Create Deployment to start your deployment creation.

Issues addressed by Autodesk Mechanical Desktop 2008 Service Pack 1

This service pack includes AutoCAD 2008 Service Pack 1. For information on the issues addressed by AutoCAD 2008 Service Pack 1, please refer to the Readme at http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/index?siteID=123112&id=2334435&linkID=9240618.

The following AutoCAD Mechanical issues are resolved by this Service Pack:

Fatal Errors Fixed:

• Fatal error in opening certain corrupted drawings. 
• Fatal error in some operations in AMWELDSYM.
• Fatal error in opening drawings that have DGN xref attachments.
• Fatal error in eTransmit for some drawings.

Bill of Materials, Parts List & Balloons:

• Balloon created on an annotation view represents wrong BOM.
• Partlist within border has the last component created outside border.
• "One" option in AMBALLOON command is not working.
• OK button in the Parts List Settings dialog does not update other Parts List symbols.
• Parts List inner table border lines are broken when Parts List with wrapped header text is column split.
• Parts List header cell lines extend into title cell when header text is wrapped and header top margin is greater than the header bottom margin.
• Extra text appears in the BOM settings for GB dialog.
• Performance is affected when block is used as part reference.
• Component data still remains in border BOM after deleting it from Mechanical Browser.
• Fatal error when moving leader origin of balloon in some drawings.
• Custom balloon style drop down list in Balloon dialog has duplicate entries.
• Partref node with block having attributes does not show up during AMPARTREFEDIT.
• Error in precision for formulae used in BOM cell.
• Not able to change the colour of leader of a balloon via Options settings.
• Display problem in Parts List table when a column value is larger than the column size with no text control.
• BOM UNITS row keeps increasing in the partref dialog box when a roundtrip save is performed from AutoCAD Mechanical 2008 to AutoCAD Mechanical 2006.
• OK button in the Parts List Settings dialog intermittently updates the Parts List symbol graphics.
• Values with "=" are not displayed in columns of BOM, Parts List, Part Reference and Balloon dialogs.
• Parts List changes to Block when downgrade save to AutoCAD Mechanical 2007.
• Parts List export to Excel fails when Manufacturer properties are used.

Standard Parts & Features:

• Problems with shaft poweredit in annotation view.
• Blank buttons in AMSHAFT2D dialog after AMSHAFTEND command.
• Fatal error in "Profile" option in AMSHAFT2D command line interface.
• 2D structure migration by AMPOWEREDIT does not work correctly when grip representation other than normal is used.
• Steel shape insertion point changes after an AMPOWEREDIT operation.

Symbols & Dimension:

2D Structure:

• Program does not respond when AMSHIDE objects are selected during a GROUP command.
• Fatal error in externalize operation in some drawings.
• List and tree control objects in structure catalog are not deleted when the file reference panel is deleted.
• DBMOD value gets changed after AMBROSWEROPEN command.
• Inappropriate warning message when using COPYCLIP on structure assembly and structure entities cannot be pasted with PASTECLIP.

Vault:

• Fatal error during check-out for drawings that contain partlist and are not saved prior to check-in.
• Check-in is not successful due to unloaded xref with BOM table via partref.
• Unload a Vaulted xref changes the file path to the automatic save folder path after an automatic save.

API:

• API : amiGetObjectvisibility( ) API returns error when trying to get the visibility of a component view.
• API : ami2DSGetViewEntities( ) API does not return the correct number of entities for a component view.

Other issues fixed:

• EXTEND command allows selecting standard parts in blocks as boundary edges but won't extend lines to them.
• Options file in IGESOUT not saving more than 3 layers in the layer exclusion setting.
• Problem in editing detail view created in Layout for some drawings.
• Line weight is different for rectangle and circle detail view borders.
• Poweredit of viewport in Layout triggers VPMAX command instead View dialog.
• When "From template" of the Layout tab is selected, viewport is missing in Browser of added layout.
• Entities in the detail view appear outside of the detail view border for some drawings.
• Hatch is missing in detail view of some drawings.
• After editing a detail view, the program prompts to specify insertion point to place the detail view.
• Fatal error for some drawings that are downgrade saved to AutoCAD Mechanical 2007 format.
• Pick box disappear after cancelling out of AMCONSTHOR command.
• In dual screen display environment, some command dialogs do not appear on the same screen as the main program.

The following Mechanical Desktop issues are resolved by this Service Pack:

• Fatal error when Vault check-in a MDT Parts only file.
• Fatal error with Zoom To in browser and ERASE command.
• The quantity field doubles when items of a sub-assembly within a main assembly are ballooned and BOM gets corrupted thereafter.
• Extended dimension lines appear in exported view of the external drawing.
• AMVIEWOUT to layout does not export symbols if the only symbols are attached to the view.
• Tolerance setting issue in STEP translation.
• Fatal error in some AMANALYZE operations.
• Orientation option not working in AMANALYZE.
• Balloon pick-points drift in layout when scene is present.
• Floating threaded annotations reappear after they are being deleted.
• Wrong Product Information in Error Report dialog after switching between Mechanical Desktop and AutoCAD Mechanical sessions.

 Miscellaneous Notes

Mechanical Desktop 2008, Mechanical Desktop 2008 Hotfix1, and Mechanical Desktop 2008 Service Pack 1 use the same file format. All drawing files created in any of these versions are interchangeable.

Autodesk Mechanical Desktop 2008 Service Pack 1 download location

You can download the Mechanical Desktop 2008 Service Pack 1 installer through Live Update or obtain it at the following location:

http://www.autodesk.com/mechdesktop-updates

We want to thank all our customers who identified these issues and reported them to us. These reports give us the opportunity to improve the product and provide you, our customers, with the best possible solution in mechanical design. Autodesk would also like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued business and for the feedback regarding the content of this update release.

Thank you, once again, for your commitment to Autodesk products.

Respectfully,
AutoCAD Mechanical Team