POINTCLOUD does not start after installing or updating

Summary

After installing, updating or reinstalling TCP PointCloud Editor, the application may fail to start, close unexpectedly or show errors when running certain functions (for example, when importing a point cloud). In every case documented in this article the cause is an incomplete or corrupt installation, usually because the previous version —including the CAD Plugin— was not completely uninstalled before installing the new one, leaving files from different versions side by side. The solution is a clean reinstall.

Applies to

• TCP PointCloud Editor (POINTCLOUD). The documented cases do not state specific version numbers, so the procedure is described without restricting it to any version.

• Its Tcp PointCloud Editor CAD-Plugin add-on (CAD Plugin).

Symptoms

• After installing the application, running it shows an «unknown error (16)» message and it closes.

• After installing an update, the application does not start and shows an error message.

• After installing and uninstalling several times, an error keeps appearing and the application never runs.

• When opening the program, the error «could not load type libfeature extraction» appears and the application does not open.

• When importing a point cloud that already worked with the previous version, a «method not found» error appears (for example, referring to TcpPceCad.Manager.SendLayerProperties) and, on accepting it, the application closes.

Cause

Incomplete or corrupt installation: usually the previous version (including the CAD Plugin) was not completely uninstalled before installing the new one, so old and new files conflict and prevent the application from starting or working properly.

Solution

Case: the application does not start, closes or fails after installing or updating (incomplete or corrupt installation)

1. Uninstall TCP PointCloud Editor and also its Tcp PointCloud Editor CAD-Plugin add-on (CAD Plugin) from «Add or remove programs» in Windows. There is no need to restart the computer even if the uninstaller suggests it.

2. Go to the folder where the application was installed, which by default is C:\Program Files\Aplitop (Windows Explorer may show it as «Program Files», but the path you must type is C:\Program Files\Aplitop), and check that no subfolders of the application or of the CAD Plugin remain (with names such as «TCP PointCloud Editor» and «PCE-CAD-Plugin»). If any remain, delete them manually.

3. Download the latest installer again from the official Aplitop channel and install it from scratch. Again, there is no need to restart even if the installer suggests it.

4. Take the opportunity to update the graphics card drivers to the latest available version. If you have a dedicated graphics card (for example, NVIDIA), set it as the default «high performance» card.

After the clean reinstall, the application should start and work normally.

If the problem persists

• If the problem continues after the clean reinstall, collect the log files generated in C:\Temp, compress them into a single archive and send them to Aplitop technical support together with screenshots of the error messages.

• If the error occurs when importing a specific point cloud, check whether other point clouds import correctly and state this when opening the enquiry; you can provide a download link to the failing file so that support can test it.

Category: Installation and system requirements · Level: Intermediate