Troubleshooting
This chapter collects situations that can surprise you, and what to do about them. It grows with the manual: each area of the realignment adds its own.
Starting BIMopen
The web app shows «BIMopen non si è avviato» and an error
The browser could not give BIMopen a graphics surface: the message ends with
webgl2 not available or with a WebGPU error. BIMopen in the browser needs WebGPU or WebGL2.
- Turn on hardware acceleration in the settings of the browser, then reload the page.
- Try another browser, or a newer version of the same one.
- Add
?webglto the address to use WebGL2 even where WebGPU exists but does not work.
The desktop app does not build on Linux
The interface needs the development files of xkbcommon, Wayland and GTK 3. On Debian and Ubuntu:
The interface
The Properties palette, the Project Browser or the command line has disappeared
They are closed with the × on their title, or from View ▸ Windows ▸ User Interface. Tick them again in User Interface. The Properties button of the contextual tab also shows the palette again.
What I type ends up at the command line
Whatever you type while no field is being edited goes to the command line: this is how typed shortcuts work. To type in a field of the Properties palette or of a dialog, click the field first.
A button is greyed
Some tools work only in the right view, and their tip says why. Area Boundary Line and Area need an open area plan: the tip says Open an area plan first. Save View needs an open 3D view; Sheet Composition ▸ View needs an open sheet; Undo and Redo are greyed when there is nothing to undo or redo.
DL starts a dimension instead of a detail line
DL is the short form of the linear dimension. To draw detail lines, use Annotate ▸ Detail ▸
Detail line, or type detailline.
Modelling
«no wall at that point»
A door or a window must be placed in a wall. Click on the wall itself, or give a point on its line at the command line.
A height set at the command line is enormous
At the command line a number without unit is in metres: set Unconnected Height 2700 makes the
wall 2700 m high. Undo with Ctrl+Z and write the unit: 2700mm or 2.7m. In the Properties
palette a number without unit is in the project's units.
Files
Unsaved work is gone after New, Open or Sample project
These commands replace the current project without asking. Save before using them: the asterisk after the project's name in the title bar shows that there are unsaved changes.
Open… in the browser does not show a file dialog
In the browser, drag the .bimopen file into the page: the command line says
Drag a .bimopen file into the window to open it.
bimopen-cli prints its usage and stops
The arguments are not the ones it expects: it ends with code 2 and shows the usage. A command that fails ends with code 1 and a message saying which line failed. See Command line and MCP.