Creating & managing projects
Creating, opening, saving and sharing projects in VICUS Buildings: project wizard, project packages (.vicpac), automatic backup, project information
Overview
A VICUS Buildings project is saved as an XML file with the extension .vicus. Referenced files (climate file, shading factors, drawings, images) sit alongside it in the file system; for sharing, the project-package format .vicpac bundles everything into a single file. All project functions can be found in the File menu.
New project: project wizard (Ctrl+N)
File > New… (Ctrl+N, toolbar button 
) opens the New project wizard dialog. A running project is closed beforehand (with a save prompt). The wizard guides you through the following pages:
- New project — entry page. Using the Start with an empty project button, the wizard can be skipped at any time and an empty project created.
- Select the project type — choice of Building or Heat-Network; this page only appears with a master license. With a Building-only license, it proceeds directly to the building settings.
- Define building default values — Building name:, Number of storeys:, Default room height: and Default storey height:, as well as a table of the storeys to be created (Name, Storey height [m], Height above grade [m]). If the storey height deviates from the default room height, a warning appears.
- Default constructions and boundary conditions — pre-selection of the constructions and boundary conditions that are automatically assigned when drawing building geometry, see Drawing rooms.
- Define project information — project-related details and comments (identical to the Project information dialog).
- Select location and climate data — climate data set from the database (table with columns such as Continent/Region, Country, Source, City/Station, Longitude, Latitude, Time zone, Elevation [m]; with a Name filter: above), as well as Latitude [+90..-90]:, Longitude [-180..180]:, Time zone: and Albedo [0..1]: with presets (e.g. Dry leveled ground - 0.2). All entries can be changed later under Climate & location.
Once finished, VICUS Buildings switches to the model view in Add mode (drawing geometry).
Opening a project (Ctrl+O)
File > Open… (Ctrl+O, 
) loads VICUS projects and project packages (*.vicus, *.vicpac). When opening a project package, a target directory is first requested into which the package is extracted; the extracted project is then loaded.
Further ways to open:
- File > Recently used projects — submenu with the most recently opened projects.
- Welcome page, tab Recently used projects — with preview image, creation and modification dates; projects that are no longer reachable can be removed directly from the list.
- Welcome page, tab Building examples — bundled example projects.
- File > Reload project — discards unsaved changes and reloads the most recently saved state of the project file.
Saving and automatic backup
| Function | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Save | File > Save (Ctrl+S,  ) | Saves the project file and updates the preview image for the welcome page |
| Save as | File > Save as… (Ctrl+Shift+S) | Saves under a new file name |
| Close | File > Close (Ctrl+W) | Closes the project and returns to the welcome page |
| Quit | File > Quit (Ctrl+Q) | Quits the application (with a save prompt) |
VICUS Buildings additionally creates an automatic backup file with an appended tilde (projectname.vicus~), by default every 10 minutes (interval and activation in the Settings). If, when opening a project, the backup file is newer than the project file — for example after a crash — the dialog Load automatic backup? asks whether the backup should be loaded or discarded.
Good to know:
Some functions — such as starting a simulation, the DIN 4108-2 verification or the PDF/image import — require a saved project, because working and result directories are created relative to the project file. Therefore save a new project as early as possible under its final name.
Exporting a project package (.vicpac, Ctrl+E)
File > Save as project package… (Ctrl+E) creates a project package *.vicpac — a ZIP archive that contains the project file together with all referenced files: climate file, shading-factor files, drawing file, images and customer logo. The path references in the package are automatically rewritten to the copied-in files; in addition, the database elements used in the project are embedded. The package is thus the recommended way to hand over a project completely to colleagues or support.
When opening a .vicpac (via File > Open…), the content is extracted into a selectable target directory.
Opening the project in a text editor (F2)
Edit > Open project in text editor (F2) opens the .vicus file in the external text editor. The editor path is configured in the Settings. Since the project is a readable XML file, the text editor is well suited for quick checks or for bulk changes — changes only take effect after File > Reload project.
Editing project information
Edit > Edit project information opens a dialog with two tabs:
- Project information — groups Editor and Client (each with Name:, Address:, Phone:, Email:), Project (Name:, Address:), Customer logo (Select customer logo…) and Other information (Year of construction:, Variant:, Design phase:). If the year is invalid, the message Please enter a valid 4-digit year! appears.
- Comments — free-text comments on the project.
These details appear on the title pages of the PDF reports.
Opening the project directory (F8)
File > Go to project directory… (F8) opens the operating system’s file manager in the folder of the current project file — useful for accessing result and shading files.
Application log
Edit > Open application log in editor shows the application’s log file in a log window. It contains messages about project loading, import and simulations and is the first place to look when diagnosing errors.