Civil 3D Settings (Civil 3D performance)

Settings to Improve Performance and Productivity

The settings suggestions below may or may not have a significant impact on performance and productivity. It depends on many factors like the project size, network speed etc.

Automatic Save

Large drawings can take a significant amount of time to save especially when working on a slow network. If you go to Options, Open and Save tab you can change the settings for Automatic save. You can set the default value for Minutes between save to a higher value or you can switch off the Automatic save completely and save manually every time you made decent progress:

Layout Regen Options

Switching between layouts can be slow especially with a lot of viewports containing annotative objects. If you switch between the Model space and the Layout space regularly, consider going to the Options, System tab and select the Cache model tab and all layouts option. The first time opening a Layout will still take some time, but the Layout will be cached, and it will be quicker the next time you switch to it until closing the drawing. If you need to quickly switch through a lot of layouts without needing to display all the entities in the viewports, you can freeze all the unimportant layers (you can save the layer state before you freeze layers to quickly revert back to the original state):

Set Right-Click to Enter

This setting was a default setting in the older Civil 3D versions. It avoids an extra click with every right-click Enter, because recent Civil 3D versions display the Shortcut Menu and users must select Enter from this menu:

Some users rather use the Escape key to finish the command. If you prefer using a right-click, go to Options, User Preferences tab, click on the Right-click Customization button and tick Turn on time-sensitive right-click in the opened window. You can also set Longer click duration to specify the length of the long click to display the Shortcut Menu:

Selection Preview

The Selection preview can be very disruptive, every time the mouse cursor hovers over an object, it highlights the object:

An option is available to only use the Selection preview when a command is active, however, most users prefer to turn the selection preview off. Go to Options, User Preferences tab and tick off When a command is active and When no command is active in the Preview panel:

Start Tab

Recent Civil 3D versions display the Start tab per default:

This tab uses extra space and takes time to load. To switch off the Start tab, use the system variable STARTMODE and set it to 0. The start tab will be disabled the next time you launch the application.

It is also practical to set the STARTUP system variable to 0 to open new drawings based on a default template automatically after Civil 3D is launched.

File Tab Preview

When you hover the mouse over a file tab, Civil 3D displays a layout thumbnail preview. This preview is very slow especially in drawings with multiple layouts. To improve performance, change the system variable FILETABPREVIEW to 0 to change it from thumbnails to a list view:

File Tab Thumb Hover

If the system variable FILETABTHUMBHOVER is set to 1, Civil 3D switches to a specific layout when hovering the mouse cursor over the layout name. This causes Civil 3D to hang. Set the FILETABTHUMBHOVER system variable to 0 to not switch to the selected layout automatically. The image below shows the automatic switching from model space to layout space which is not desired because it is very slow:

Command Line

Some users experience issues with a floating command line so rather dock the command line:

Properties Window

If the Properties window is open while selecting objects, it may slow Civil 3D down, rather close it in these instances. You can use CTRL+1 to quickly open and close the Properties window.

Dynamic Input

Keep the Dynamic Input off, use it only when necessary because it needs extra resources to display the Dynamic Input:

Object Snap and 3D Object Snap

Object Snap and 3D Object Snap can cause Civil 3D to hang especially if surface contours, triangles, slope arrows, directions, points or watersheds are displayed. If none of these objects are displayed and you experience that the cursor is still sticky or Civil 3D freezes, switch off the Intersection, Extension and Apparent Intersection options (if you need to use Object Snaps, press Shift + Right-click and select the required snap option from the menu):

Object Snap Tracking

Object Snap Tracking can sometimes be disruptive and can cause Civil 3D to hang, only use it when necessary:

Selection Cycling

Selection Cycling can sometimes cause the mouse cursor to be jumpy and slow. If this occurs, switch off the Selection Cycling option:

Layer Manager Dialog

If you experience performance issues with the Layer Manager you can switch to the old Layer Manager dialog which offers less functionality but gives better performance. The old Layer Manager dialog cannot be opened while working in the drawing, to switch on the old Layer Manager dialog, change the system variable LAYERDLGMODE to 0 and open the Layer Manager using the standard command:

Hatch and Gradient Dialog

If you want to add or modify hatching, the default editing is done in a ribbon user interface which is not user friendly. To switch to the Hatch and Gradient window, change the system variable HPDLGMODE to 1 and it will automatically open when creating or editing hatching:

Set Dragmode Off when Editing Corridors with Grip Points

If you try to modify a complex corridor with the grip points, you might struggle with the Civil 3D performance because Civil 3D tries to redraw the corridor as you move the grip point. To overcome this issue, you can turn off the Dragmode system variable. Type Dragmode into the command line and set it to Off:

Once you finish the editing, it is practical to set it back to Auto.

Offline Help

If your internet connection is slow or if you have capped data, you can download and install offline help. Search for Civil 3D offline help on the internet to find a download link.

Settings to Turn Off Graphical Elements in the Model Space

The Civil 3D model space is the area where users spent most of their time, therefore a lot of users prefer to keep it clean and without any interfering graphical elements.

Viewport Controls

The Viewport Controls allow users to change the visual style and the view:

Unfortunately, these controls' reaction time is very slow therefore they are not very practical. To switch them off, go to Options, 3D Modeling tab and tick off Display the Viewport Controls:

View Cube

The View Cube allows users to change the view, but it obscures too much of the model space:

There is an option to set the transparency and View Cube size. If you prefer not to display the View Cube at all, go to Options, 3D Modeling tab and tick off 2D Wireframe visual style and All other visual styles under Display the ViewCube:

Navigation Bar

The Navigation Bar (often displayed in the top right corner) offers tools for navigation in the model space, there are more effective ways to navigate through the model space therefore most of the users prefer not to use it:

To switch the Navigation Bar off, change the NAVBARDISPLAY system variable to 0 or click on the tiny close icon in the top right corner:

Cursor Badge

The cursor badge provides visual feedback about the command which is currently active. The badge is displayed next to the cursor. Below is the move command badge:

The visual feedback does not have any practical use because users know which command is being used, it just clutters the model space. To switch the cursor badge off, set the CURSORBADGE system variable to 1 (2 switches it on, 0 does not exist for this system variable). In Civil 3D 2015 the Service Pack 1 must be installed otherwise this variable is not available.

Command Line Colors Matching Civil 3D Dark Theme

From Civil 3D 2021, Autodesk introduced a new dark theme that uses a grey color with a little bit of a blue tint:

If you want the command line to match the rest of the user interface, go to Options and click on the button Colors:

Under Context, select the Command line and use the following settings:

Color code: 59,68,83.

Color code: 254.

Color code: 46,56,71.

Color code: 254.

Color code: 102,102,102.

Color code: 254.

Color code: 142,190,255.

Color code: 46,56,71.

Color code: 59,68,83.