I just installed Civil View (along with some other add-ons from the disc) for 2012 Max Design on W7 64bit.  The Civil View component loads but the Civil View Explorer doesn’t open.  It is not docked anywhere and it isn’t floating either.  Any thoughts?  Thanks.

Do you see a new “Civil View” pull-down menu at the top of the 3ds Max Design window?

Yes I see the pulldown.  But when I select Civil View Explorer nothing happens.

So you ran through the Initialization screen for Civil View?

Do you see any warnings or other details in the MaxScript Listener window immedaitely after trying to open the Civil View Explorer panel?

Yeah I ran the initialization and didn’t see any errors or warnings.  It appears all the other civil functions are working.  I was able to import a C3D corridor and surface into MAX.

So you are saying that nothing happens when you select the “Civil View Explorer” option from inside the “Civil View” pull-down menu?

Correct, when I select it nothing happens.  It doesn’t open docked or floating anywhere and I don’t get any warnings or errors.

So what functionality *does* work from the pull down menu?

Well everything else in the Civil View pulldown seems to be working.  All the style editor windows open, the object properties and manager windows open, the geometry importer works.  I’m going to try and install the Civil View on another computer and see what happens.  I’ll let you know.

So here is what I have done:

I installed ONLY the Civil View on two additional desktops and the Civil View Explorer (CVE) opened as a floating panel on both of them.

When I installed the tools on my laptop I ended up installing all the tools and utilities on the DVD.  Here is what I did on my laptop:
1. Changed preferences to open CVE docked by default.  CVE still did not open.
2. Ran a repair on CVE.  CVE still did not open.
3. Ran a uninstall/reinstall on CVE.  CVE opened but with some quirks.  If Max is open on my primary monitor the CVE panel shows up fine.  If I drag Max to my secondary monitor, the CVE panel is still open but empty.  I have attached two photos.

So it appears to be working now but it kind of stinks I can open Max on my larger secondary monitor.

I have never seen that before, but it sounds like something is going wrong inside Max which relates to your dual monitor setup. Civil View doesn’t do anything specific with the positioning of panels within the UI.

I’ll have to point you in the direction of Autodesk Support for this one, because it sounds like it needs to be logged as a potential defect in Max itself.

Btw, what happens if you switch your larger monitor to become your primary monitor instead of your secondary monitor?  Also, is your secondary monitor to the left or right of your secondary monitor?  These things might be having an impact.

Thanks for all your help.  It is indeed a dual display issue.  I have a laptop and then a secondary monitor connected thru hdmi, which hangs on my cube wall.  So I actually have the secondary monitor on top of my primary display.  This top - bottom configure is causing the issue.

If I set my sec monitor as the primary (still in top-bot config) the CVE panel is visual on either display.  It also works if I keep my laptop as the primary but have the sec monitor on the left or right.

It’s kind of a weird scenario.  In my top-bottom configuration, as I drag Max to my upper monitor you can see that the contents within the CVE panel don’t move with the application so they don’t show in the panel.  It’s kind of hard to explain.