Visual Basic Applications run very slow in AutoCAD 64bit

If you use VBA inside of 32bit AutoCAD you will have noticed that it is around 1000x times slower when running the same VBA code inside of 64bit AutoCAD.

This is because AutoCAD 64bit ships with the 32bit VBA DLL in a separate out-of-process executable rather than loading the VBA DLL inside of AutoCAD itself. Therefore, a lot of marshaling is incurred communicating between the out-of-process VBA executable and 64bit AutoCAD.

Other issues you may be seeing: Run-time error ‘429’: ActiveX component can’t create object

Affected, all 64bit versions of (and variants of)

  • AutoCAD 2008 | AutoCAD 2009 | AutoCAD 2010
  • AutoCAD 2011 | AutoCAD 2012 | AutoCAD 2013
  • AutoCAD 2014 | AutoCAD 2015
  • AutoCAD 2016 | AutoCAD 2017
  • AutoCAD 2018
  • AutoCAD 2019
  • NOTE: Autodesk stopped making 32bit AutoCAD since AutoCAD 2020

The solution to slow running AutoCAD VBA

The best solution is to install 32bit AutoCAD on 64bit Windows, here are the affected versions along with their solution text…

AutoCAD VBA Enabler downloads

AutoCAD VBA enabler modules can be downloaded using the links below…

AutoCAD 2010 VBA 32bit 64bit | AutoCAD 2011 VBA 32bit 64bit | AutoCAD 2012 VBA 32bit 64bit | AutoCAD 2013 VBA 32bit 64bit | AutoCAD 2014 VBA 32bit 64bit | AutoCAD 2015 VBA 32bit 64bit | AutoCAD 2016 VBA 32bit 64bit | AutoCAD 2017 VBA 32bit 64bit | and newer

Copyright 2023 (c) Longbow Software

Installing Autodesk Land Desktop 2005 on Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10

Installing AutoCAD LDT 2005 on Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 32bit or 64bit can be very easily defined in these short steps…

NOTE: These steps do not bypass normal Autodesk licensing/authorization, you should expect to use your own serial numbers in the normal way.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Autodesk no longer supply License Activation codes for this version of AutoCAD. The best way is to transfer your existing license to the new PC but there are other options, we document them here

  1. Obtain your copy of the Longbow Converter here
  2. Copy your LDT 2005 installation CD media to your hard drive, to a folder path c:\Autodesk\ldt2005 
    1. NOTE: If you have more LDT specific CD’s (not Survey or Civil as these are installed separately), simply copy the contents of each CD directly over the top of Disk 1, basically, overwrite all files in your previously copied c:\Autodesk\ldt2005 folder with the files from each of the CDs
  3. Next, start the Longbow Converter tool
    1. select the 2nd tab named “Old AutoCAD Installer Reviver
    2. pick the c:\Autodesk\ldt2005 folder (where you copied your LDT CDs to on your hard drive)
    3. click the Run Old Installer button.
      1. Read and understand all the prompts before pressing OK.
      2. Once the setup starts, stop and read the next step…
  4. In the setup program, navigate through each setup dialog as normal, with these exceptions… (if you cannot move past the first screen in the setup, see Trouble Shooting below)…
    1. When you click the Install link from your setup you may see a dialog box appear saying – “This program has compatibility issues” – simply check the “Don’t show this message again” and then click the “Run the program without getting help”.
    2. When you arrive at the installation folder path setup dialog, **it’s vitally important to make sure you install to c:\ldt2005 (not C:\Program Files (x86)\Autodesk Land Desktop 2005 that is defaulted)**.
    3. If asked to reboot after the install, say NO
  5. Once installed
    1. do not reboot
    2. make sure you fully close the AutoCAD setup program (because the Converter is waiting for the setup program to fully close) then
    3. go back to the Converter tool
    4. select the 3rd tab named “Old AutoCAD Program Reviver
    5. pick the newly installed c:\ldt2005 folder
    6. click the Fix Old Program button.
  6. Now you can run your Autodesk LDT 2005 on Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10, both 32bit and 64bit.
    1. NOTE: When starting AutoCAD, if you see a warning dialog when you run saying “This program has known compatibility issues“, simply click “Don’t show this message again” and then click “Run the Program…

Troubleshooting:

– If you are seeing this error when running either the “Import LandXML” or “Export LandXML” commands

LandXML Export - Run-time error '429' ActiveX component can't create object

LandXML Export – Run-time error ‘429’ ActiveX component can’t create object

then LDT 2005 Fixed VBA Modules into the same folder as your acad.exe (using the instructions above, it should be c:\ldt2005)

– If you are unable to activate your product, or the activation process crashes immediately on startup:

– If you have crashing problems using the File->Open or File->Save dialogs inside of AutoCAD please read this blog entry on the File->Open or File->Save Crash in AutoCAD

Copyright 2023 (c) Longbow Software