Auto Chart, Auto Chart Pro & Auto Chart Live Information Resource

[Bob B]

Yes

[cards21]

So i installed 2 new g2n units at the wheel and purchased the ac pro. I just got the units installed this week and threw the card in friday and went out on the water with my new units and zlc in my h9 g2n chirp 2d/gps and as soon as i put in the zero line card i picked the option to put data on card and not on the unit itself. I was fishing for the day and the part of the screen that was on gps was making a acl overlay map the whole time i was out. I got home installed the software on the computer for ac pro and inserted my zlc. When i pull up the card on the computer it shows two different files in the card but when i click on each file is shows they are empty. What am i missing. When i pulled the zlc out of my unit a pop up screen even came up letting me know that ac data would now be stored to my unit which makes me think that i should have been going to the chip that whole time we were out. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

ON a side note i also installed a h10 g2n mega imaging and for the first time out i was blown away what an awesome unit.

What is the file extension set for in the bottom right corner, when you're trying to open the files on the ZLC? Needs to be .acu

[bucketmouths]

i was able to open it up after clicking on an .acu file. Thanks

[BigMouth]

So it doesn't matter if you shut off recording the data gets saved? Thats the way it should be BTW.

[skid00skid00]

So it doesn't matter if you shut off recording the data gets saved? Thats the way it should be BTW.

You MUST *save* the recording via the menu, before you power off the unit.

I know Windows can orderly shut down running apps, and saw programming docs showing how the app and OS could poll each other to initiate a clean app shutdown.

I don't know what O.S. Humminbird is using, it may not have that capability. In that case, they could have a shutdown step that said to the user 'if you are recording, save it, then shut down'. Then they'd need to have a user setting asking if the user wanted to see that message every time they shut the unit down. Every user would say 'no', and they'd still lose recordings.

[Bob B]

You MUST *save* the recording via the menu, before you power off the unit.

I know Windows can orderly shut down running apps, and saw programming docs showing how the app and OS could poll each other to initiate a clean app shutdown.

I don't know what O.S. Humminbird is using, it may not have that capability. In that case, they could have a shutdown step that said to the user 'if you are recording, save it, then shut down'. Then they'd need to have a user setting asking if the user wanted to see that message every time they shut the unit down. Every user would say 'no', and they'd still lose recordings.

If a file isn't closed properly is will be corrupted and rendered useless. I'm not sure what kink of "housekeeping" the Humminbird units do when they are shut down. It is possible the recording is closed in a clean fashion......but better not leave it to chance.
I know there have been problems with a standard recording being corrupted if the recording isn't stopped as it should be.

[sfw1960]

They run Linux O/S.

[skid00skid00]

If a file isn't closed properly is will be corrupted and rendered useless. I'm not sure what kink of "housekeeping" the Humminbird units do when they are shut down. It is possible the recording is closed in a clean fashion......but better not leave it to chance.
I know there have been problems with a standard recording being corrupted if the recording isn't stopped as it should be.

Docs for Autochart Pro state very stridently that you must SAVE before shutdown, and there have been many posts from confused users asking where their recordings went. I'd bet that there's no housekeeping routines closing recordings.

[duhwhat]

Is it required to save and export tracks? I haven't been doing that but don't seem to have a problem with my map just importing *.dat, *.acu, and *.son. If I ever get their file structure and how it's built clear in my head I'll be a lot better off. Seems like you should be able to parse one file type and everything else get parsed from that action. I also would like to figure out how to go back to just my core data so I can try to learn how to adjust for the distance from my gps to my transducer.

PS.. OK, it's been long enough since I posted this that I've figured a lot of this out enough to let it pass. The one thing I'm still having problems with is getting the 3d to '3d'.. I was thinking I had graphics or minimum computer requirements problems.

I've read the manual and tried to left click and drag it into a 3d, but it just won't cooperate. I've also done the pivot point thing.

[duhwhat]

Well, once again I think I figured it tinkering with the settings

[Beanstir]

Auto Chart Pro question, Should I record both sonar logs and tracks and import both into the program? On the first page it shows importing only the Humminbird track. Does not show importing sonar logs after importing tracks. Is there an advantage to do both? This program is a little overwhelming and yes I have read through 37 pages of posts. I am sure this has been answered on here somewhere, I may have missed it. Thanks for any help. Brian

[skid00skid00]

Your tracks are just the breadcrumbs... The path your boat followed. Use AC Pro to build depth contour maps, and weed/bottom hardness maps. (And maybe side imaging... Not sure how that works, yet). The program gets that from the sonar recordings.

[duhwhat]

I had about half and half with saved tracks. It seems the program builds contour data from the track files but hasn't converted .acu to .acd. I did that manually the first time and my non-track contour info showed up. Then I have a question about edited files.. Does it edit the base file data or the converted file data? Somehow I feel there should be a good explanation somewhere of how the files are parsed. This document is to big to read through every time you have a question.

[blackflag]

I'm trying to catch up on this thread, but its a lot of pages.

So I have a bunch of .acu recordings I took using my Onix (3.x software) this weekend. I got home, and installed Autochart pro and updated it as well.

I'm wanting to take all of these .acu files and use them to build a custom map. Problem is, it doesnt seem to let me open/view more than one at a time. I did the import and it converted them all to .ACD files. But only lets me open one at a time. Called support, and they said they are researching how to do it.

Should I be saving sonar recordings + AC Live logs to the zero lines card? Seems like it would just let me simply import all of the .acd files at once into a single map. Hopefully I didn't waste 2 days of scanning around and not be able to use it.

[Doc Samson]

You have to use the Chart Index to log multiple files. Use the Help feature and click on Examples and scroll down to read about how to use the chart Index.

[blackflag]

Looks like my main problem was some working directory locations. First time I installed, I put the program in D:\autochart. I noticed this broke the default map and other things. So I reinstalled to the default path. When looking through settings, I saw lots of paths pointing to the old dir that doesn't exist anymore. So fixed a few I saw and at least I get the green boxes of my mapped areas on the home screen.

Just need to figure out how to map all of the green boxes at once and maybe it will fix my problem.

[duhwhat]

Looks like my main problem was some working directory locations. First time I installed, I put the program in D:\autochart. I noticed this broke the default map and other things. So I reinstalled to the default path. When looking through settings, I saw lots of paths pointing to the old dir that doesn't exist anymore. So fixed a few I saw and at least I get the green boxes of my mapped areas on the home screen.

Just need to figure out how to map all of the green boxes at once and maybe it will fix my problem.

I could only convert (import) *.acu files one at a time. I seem to have all the depth data I need using the track files, but I didn't save all my tracks when I first started and only have *.acu files.
I'm also not wild about the way the edit function works as it seems to only edit the .acd file and not the base data. So if you have to reload you have to reedit.

[Conrad_Turbo]

I'm getting ready for the fishing season and built up a new computer earlier in the winter, so I went to Humminbird's site to download the latest version of AutoChart Pro. I downloaded it, installed it and licensed it no problem...now it's been a while since I've used this program (since October~ish last year), but I have imported all my data, cleaned up a bit of it but things just seem off... When I open the initial program the background map is blank, the worldmap directory by default is pointing to a non existent location... Okay... So I don't have a world map, instead I turn on Online Maps - OpenStreetMaps and I have a background map now. All the while I have my ZeroLine card plugged into the computer (and is recognised in the "This PC" Windows structure), however the outlines of the lake from the ZeroLines card does not show up.

I can import all my tracks, create a map no problem, but the LakeMaster Update button is greyed out so I cannot update the ZeroLine card... I then tried to copy the data (LkMaster at the root of the HBACNAV1 ZeroLine card) to the desktop and point Autochart to it via the Autochart (regional map), Use Local Copy...still greyed out and it doesn't load the data. Any idea on what could be wrong? It worked fine at the end of the season last year, was stored in the fish finder in our house all winter and now I'm not sure if it's a file issue on the Zeroline card of it's a computer issue or a problem with this new version of Autochart?

I am running Autochart Pro v2.100 on a Windows 10 computer, the fish finder doesn't matter much in this case but it's a 798CI HD SI. Any info or help would be greatly appreciated, I have spent a few hours just googling things and have only come up with old topics that don't exactly pertain to fixing my problem.

[skid00skid00]

Conrad, is your ZL card locked?

[Conrad_Turbo]

Conrad, is your ZL card locked?

Nope not locked. That was one of the first things I checked, however I always left it unlocked as I recorded data while on the water to that card. So the only way it would have been locked is due to bumping it. It's 100% unlocked, I have tried it both ways just to be safe. I'm just wondering if it may be a Windows 10 issue? I have so many variables that have changed since my old setup, totally different hardware and running Windows 7 and running the older Autochart program (I bought it when it first came out).

I have uninstalled and reinstalled (also cleaning out any Program Data as well as Registry entries every time) with the latest Autochart V2.100 as well. Since my post yesterday I have even tried bumping back to the older version...still nothing, mapping data is no problem it's just writing to the card, nada. The field is greyed out. Early last year I copied everything off the Zero Line card and saved it in on my server for safe keeping...so I tried to redirect the AutoChart (regional) map to that local copy and still nothing. I have no idea. I am just wondering if anyone else is having this issue, as I found the World map on a default installation referring to a location that is non existent:

"C:/ProgramData/AutoChart/WorldMap/LkMaster"

That's what the default program points to, but yet when you browse to that location there is nothing there, it leads to:

"C:/ProgramData/AutoChart/UserData/TileCache"
"C:/ProgramData/AutoChart/UserData/Tutorial/Map/LkMaster"

I thought maybe pointing to here would work, but instead the map is all black instead of blank white.

"C:/ProgramData/AutoChart/UserData/Tutorial/Map/LkMaster"

I am installing the program that I downloaded directly from Humminbird's website as I registered the software with them as soon as I purchased it.

I have Autochart also installed on a new to us laptop (i7 8gb ram workstation laptop) running Windows 10 and it has the same problems exhibited as my desktop PC (i7 8gb ram, dual workstation video cards) running the AutoChart V2.100 software. I did have some initial hiccups with the laptop not recognising the Zeroline card, but it was a driver issue with the reader, so I installed the latest driver and it recognises the ZeroLine card and still nothing from Autochart. I'm at a loss...