Missing Language Pack DWG File Repair

I wrote before about corrupt text causing bogus “Missing Language Pack” warnings in AutoCAD. That case prompted me to write a file repair utility. However, since the case appeared to be isolated, I never released the utility to the public.

The problem has been rearing its ugly head again, so I decided to dust off the original code and release it. The repair utility is now available on the freebies page (look for CleanLanguage.zip) for AutoCAD 2007 and later versions of AutoCAD. I have not tested any recent cases, so I can’t be sure it is the same problem. If you try the utility, please report your results by leaving a comment here.

19 thoughts on “Missing Language Pack DWG File Repair”

  1. Hello Owen,
    I have a technical question, but it’s not about OpenDCL. I don’t know who to go to about this and figured you would be the best person to start with. I have an old external 10key hardware device that works great with Windows XP or earlier, but will not work with Vista or 7. The keyboard needs to plug into the device, then the 10key device plugs into the computer. I wanted to find someone that could get it to work again with the new software, but I don’t know who to ask. So, if you know how to get it going or know someone that might, could you give me a reply and let me know either way.

    If it is something you would consider taking on, I have know problem supporting your efforts monetarily.

    Please reply at your convenience. I will be glad to give you more details. Feel free to call, too.

    By the way, this device is the absolute best tool Autocad could ever use. It can increase someone’s performance by at least 30%. I’m at least 50% faster myself compared to keyboard short-cuts, icons, tool palettes, etc.

    Thanks, Paul Gregersen
    480-540-4873

    1. Have you contacted the manufacturer? It would be prohibitively expensive for a third party to reverse engineer the device and write a device driver. I’d shop around for a replacement that has Windows 7 drivers.

  2. Thanks! This was driving me crazy and your utility fixed the problem files! It was very cool of you to post this and bring a bunch of strangers stress levels down. Way to pay it forward Owen!

  3. Thx Owen,
    Do you know where the “Don’t show this message again” for the Missing Language Pack is stored in the register or profile? I sometimes see this message pop up, but only when my users are using our plotting script. It launches Acad with a different profile then our normal production profile, where I never see the warning…

  4. Barry, I believe it’s the 0x00008000 bit of HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareAutodeskAutoCADR1x.xACAD-xxxx:xxxProfilesprofilenameDrawing WindowMoreHideWarningDialogs, which may not exist if no warnings are suppressed.

  5. The clenalanguage is great for a installation of Autocad 2011 I have. I have another user who uses AutoCAD LT 2012, but I’m not sure the ARX works on LT. I can’t really keep asking user 1 to keep cleaning the files for user 2. Is there a way of running the ARX in LT?

    thanks

      1. Thanks Owen,

        I have access to full AutoCAD 2011 so can run the ARX code and fix the issue, but now I’m faced with potentially 1000’s of files that could be corrupt.
        Is there a way of scripting this and running it unattended?

        regards
        Dave

        1. Sure, you can use any of numerous free and commercial batch script utilities such as Autodesk’s ScriptPro utility. All you have to do is load the appropriate .arx file, run the CLEANLANGUAGE command, then save.

  6. Hi Owen, thank you for all the answers. One last question hopefully.

    We still have a significant number of ACAD2000 seats. yes I know!!!!, however, there just isn’t the business justification to upgrade to the latest version, as CAD is used to draw quite simple 2D drawings of buildings, and 2000 work perfectly.

    We have large a collection of ACAD2000 templates that everyone in the business shares, that includes title block, logos, layering conventions etc etc.

    I looks like some of these templates are causing the language corruption. Is there a cleanlanguage arx version available for ACAD2000.
    I’m guessing I could open the 2000 DWT in ACAD2011 run the ARX, save the file back as a 2000 DWG, and then in ACAD2000 open the DWG and save back as a DWT, but that’s not a quick job. If there was a 2000 version that would be fantastic, and a lot quicker.

    My next task will be tracking down which PC’s are infected with this acad.vlx issue, if indeed this is the cause or the corruption. Certainly the cleanlanguage ARX finds corruption when run. Deletes AcDbDictionary and reduces the files size typically from 4MB to 400KB. After that the missing language file dialogue doesn’t appear and the users don’t experience any issues copy and pasting within drawings.

    Thansk again for you help.

    1. I could make an AutoCAD 2000 version of the utility for you, but I would need to charge a small fee as nobody else has requested one. Email me to discuss if you’re interested.

      1. Hi Owen, yeah, I’d be interested in how much it’ll cost to have a 2000 version. I can’t see your email address anywhere. Hopefully you can see mine from this entry, if not I’ll let you know it.

        From discussion with our ver 2000 CAD users this issue has been around for years and years and they’ve ended up copying and pasting as blocks as there’s never really been any symptoms other than it crashes the system. Since 2011 and 2012 the message box about corrupt language files pops up, so at least now we can see what the issue is.
        regards
        Dave

  7. Owen,

    Thanks! We have a customer that has been struggling with this issue since they upgraded from 2008 to 2012. Pretty much every file they have has corrupted text in it. This is working beautifully!

    Thank you so much!!

    KaDe

  8. I have AutoCAD 2010 x64 Mechanical. The cleanlanguage command appeared to work and reported the cleaning of a number of objects, and I saved and closed the drawing. But when reopening the drawing, AutoCAD reported that the drawing was corrupt and suggested that I use RECOVER. When I opened the drawing with Recover, the resulting drawing was blank.

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