With the exception of personal projects, I've finally hung up my AutoCAD work for good. When I realized I'd gotten so far behind releases and with no motivation to catch up (with the direction it was going), I went back several versions to 2000(i), the one that suites me best. It's just become too difficult to exchange drawings with others using recent versions, consulting is practically impossible as is creating even small VB6 add-on tools for current ACAD and OS without hassle.

I could probably find compatible AutoCAD work if I looked hard enough. For example, we had a property survey done not that long ago, and the civil engineer was still using AutoCAD 2000 (for the same reasons I am). Matters not to him because he submits final printed drawings to the property owner and parish (county), and no one cares how he produces these drawings. A drafting board using pen and paper would still suffice, he doesn't have to be concerned with digital compatibility.

I'm not sure exactly 'what I want to do when I grow up' yet (rather, what's actually feasible with the time I have left in this life), but I'm hitting the books harder and more consistently (at least for the past couple of weeks) than I ever have in my life. I'm still fascinated with DOS, both standalone MS-DOS 6.22 and DOSBox, which runs the old DOSSHELL and QBASIC. Mainly, I'm learning to program for DOS (DOSBox) using Open Watcom C/C++, just small tutorial programs until I move up to 'simple' 2D games. The cool thing about writing for DOS is compatibility, DOSBox runs on just about any OS these days so any program or game you develop for DOS should work.

The ultimate for me would be to one day develop a game with 3D acceleration to run under a DOSBox Glide version (think 3Dfx versions of EF2000 and JetFighter III), but I'm not dreaming that far ahead yet. I'll be happy for now just to make a few arcade 2D games like Pacman, Asteroids, Space Invaders and Digger (among my sample tutorials). With 3D (graphics/gameplay), it's the math that's a killer, even more difficult than the programming, IMO.

I know I've made these type of posts before, but I think this time I'm going to carry through with it (like finally conquering weight and fitness after countless false starts over decades), I can just feel it.

Check with any community colleges near you. They may have some classes even if you aren’t looking for an Associates degree. Often those classes are taught by those that are, or have been, in the field and are great teachers. Far, far less expensive than 4 year schools.

Interesting post MarkG and I'll throw in my 2 cents to this thread.

Is pay level a concern or are you in a comfortable enough financial situation where you can do a job that you really love and have fun with? If pay is not a concern then I second Raw's suggestion that you check out the community colleges near you to see which programming skills you can learn.


If pay is a concern and you want to get into something that is really marketable then I would recommend getting into developing mobile games for smartphones and tablets. As far as game development goes, mobile is the hottest thing right now.

Thanks RK, but I already have, for example...
Baton Rouge Community College

They offer game development courses (programming and 3D modeling) as part of an Associates Degree in Computer Science (IIRC) but nothing to do with C/C++ and DOS (understandably), my heart just wouldn't be in it.

I have, over the past couple of years, built a decent sized library of self-learning books that cover exactly what I'm interested in (the giant annual LSU book fair is awesome, including very old text books) and I'm always finding more at Goodwills. It's just having the discipline to learn so much on my own, but wife is really supporting and encouraging me this time and that makes a *huge* difference.

Not sure how much a change you are looking for but Information Technology Security is growing field. If you like assessors, auditors, policies and procedures its the place to be. I'm still trying to figure out how I got into it. I think it involved a hood over my head and being thrown into the back of a white unmarked van. Not a large pool of experienced people in it so they take anyone...or abduct them.

Agree with Chef! Cyber security is a fantastic field to get into. The pay and demand for that field is great right now.

We're comfortable, wife does really well, also with planning for our future. Unlike my neighbors, I'm not into expensive toys (very nice boats, trucks, 4-wheelers). I'm simple, as I tell my wife, "I just need some reasonably healthy food (i.e. canned sardines purchased in bulk and water), some occasional lovin' and an old computer," and I'm all set.

I'd like to do what I'm doing for about a year and see where it takes me.

Hi Mark,

I'm going out on a limb a bit because I am unfamiliar with the job market and skill demands in the US. I appreciate you've expressed your desire to leave AutoCAD behind; possibly Autodesk generally. (I can empathise too, I use AutoCAD/C3D and various other Autodesk products in my work and the current product direction, licensing strategy, cost and support leaves a lot to be desired). However, have you considered 3DS Max? It used to be quite popular in the games industry over here and you may find your AutoCAD skills are extremely transferable, especially if you have experience of 3D modelling.

Whatever direction you choose, I wish you every success and sure you won't go wrong with your wife supporting your ambitions too!

Friend of my sons who lived down the street went to work for Apple in California as a software programmer. He was more or less pushed into that by his mother-in-law who saw he had the skills to do that kind of work. But this kid had a long history of hunting with his dad. So after a year or so at Apple he quit to pursue what he actually wanted to do all his life ..... he joined the U.S. Army and became a sniper.

Thanks, BeeDeeBee. Yeah, I'm not going to miss Autodesk one bit! I do small personal construction design in 3D but my work has always been 2D MEP (HVAC, electrical, plumbing), fields which have been slow to adapt to 3D. I'm not that interested in 3D modeling, other than creating simple DOS-era low-polygon/shaded models, although I do have a thing for prettier 3Dfx-era graphics. Really though, in a game or sim, if the story and gameplay is compelling enough, I'm fine with minimal graphics.

One thing that pleases me with the direction I'm taking is that Open Watcom (in current beta) and DOSBox support Linux, so it's a future option to go full Linux and rid myself of Microsoft as well. I've tried it before, too much change at one time, and never could stick with it. This time I'm staying on Win2000/XP (mainly for ACAD2000) while I'll be getting comfortable with Linux (learning more than the basics that I already know) on my next laptop which I'll be buying any day now. Oh yeah, and BricsCAD (the leading AutoCAD clone - roots dating back to IntelliCAD/Open DWG Alliance) supports Linux, so that's an option if I need current CAD.

If I'm dreaming big right now, I'd one day like to create a clone of Microprose's Project: Stealth Fighter for the C64 (1987 - written in ASM). This one predates F-19 (which is way too ambitious a project for me, as I would learn), no exterior views, with similar but simpler F-19 gameplay and 3D mostly in logic than graphics. I'd love to take the creator, Jim Synoski, out to a steak dinner and let him talk my ears off about those days.

Good luck Mark with your change of direction, it can be daunting

Not touched Autocad since I was at college in the 90s when I had to learn a bit about it for the multi disciplinary engineering course I was on, never used it since

I took early retirement at 50 and now 12 years later I'm still happy and busy, still got another 5 years to go before I can pick up my pension but I did get my senior citizens bus pass at 60, free travel around the country is great but I still rather drive myself

I'm surprised to hear the MEP being 2D, most of the MEP work here is being done in Revit, (a program I detest and refuse to use).

I resurrected my EF2000 thanks to DosBox and having a blast. I can honestly say I have more fun with the old games than more recent releases. If you can develop something along those lines, you'll certainly gain my patronage.

I know BricsCAD and trialed the latest version last year. Unfotunately, I ran into a few issues with some of my old files. I have another IntelliCAD based package called Draftsight by Dassault. I think there were plans for a Linux release, but not sure how that's progressing. I use the free version that is 2D only and never encountered the same issues as with BricsCAD. It's not as feature rich as BricsCAD, but cannot argue with the price.

We need people with big dreams and I look forward to seeing your endeavours.

Good luck and all the best

B

Thanks, Alicatt.

BeeDeeBee, it could just be the small MEP companies I was working with that remain on 2D (also a structural engineering company). They've talked about going BIM 3D for the longest, including Autodesk's own AutoCAD MEP (I forget what it's called) or Revit, but never committed. Yeah, Draftsight is pretty slick, although it's been a few years. I'm disappointed that BricsCAD still has issues, guess it's from perpetually playing catch up with the latest AutoCAD.

++++++++++

I'm obsessed with the idea that someone with the knowledge and desire could create a 3D game (like a flight sim) that looks and plays fantastic (relative to DOS-era), with full installation that can fit on no more than 3 3.5 high density floppy disks. That's 1.44 MB (x 3) or 4.32 MB. The original F-19 installed from a single 3.5 double-density disk (720 KB...I think it was DD) and F-117A from 3 DD disks (2.16 MB). Also, you can Zip an installed F-117A to just fit on a single formatted 3.5 HD disk (1.44 MB), so you have 3X the installation footprint!

Now, I'm not talking about these 3D shooter demos that look incredible (even current) and can install from under 1 MB by procedurally generating the game world and models on startup. That's the project, not so much the game itself but insane generation algorithms.

That is an admirable goal but unrealistic. Good luck.

In fairness to BricsCAD, I didn't do anything to explore solutions to the issues, i.e. report it to technical support etc. so your mileage may differ. The files I suffered problems with were ACAD 2004 and Brics would just report unable to open file. Had they been created with the latest ACAD release/DWG format I may have been more forgiving of Brics, but Draftsight had no issues with the same files, so I simply stayed with the later.

I'll file this somewhere in the dark recesses of my overworked brain and one day, with all might, try to prove you wrong.

I think back in the day, developers would pad their installs to make them seem larger and more substantial, especially if the game was being distributed on CD vs. FD. With DID's TAW (F-22) for example, the cracked DAT file contains several nice looking byte-hogging images of the F-22 that are never seen in game (I'd sometimes use them as desktop wallpaper). Even F-117A contains several full-screen (320x200x256) bitmapped images that, while adding immersion, aren't really necessary. Code (text) takes so little space, it's keeping bitmaps to a minimum that truly conserves space. Of course, all this is relative to what you consider good graphics.

BeeDeeBee, just wanted to share this with you...

I mentioned earlier that I'd gone back to my favorite AutoCAD version (2000i), although the last version I purchased was 2005. 2005 was the first version of AutoCAD that required a different activation code every time you installed it. Up until the 2005 version, you only had to connect online once to receive an authorization code (or call support to receive it), which you could use indefinitely and without ever requiring an online connection.

I read a support problem recently that someone wanted to use their AutoCAD 2007 (IIRC, apparently they hadn't used CAD for a long time) and it wouldn't activate online. They called Autodesk support who refused to give them a new activation code, saying that version was no longer supported. I knew this would one day be a possibility which is why I never used my 2005 upgrade, knowing that unlike my previous versions, I might not be able to use it one day. Which is why I went even further back to 2000i, overall my favorite version up to 2005 (2002 being a close second).

But here's something neat, I recently completed a small AutoCAD project on Release 12 using DOSBox. The DOS version is so freaking smooth and fast, everything so instantaneous! What really keeps it viable to me (aside from my massive collection of LISP routines [additional commands], with functionality that's still not included in the core product) is the excellent 3rd-party add-ons from Softdesk (which Autodesk bought out in 1996 to base their own vertical Architectural/MEP products on).

Although I also have a true MS-DOS machine, I so appreciate the makers of DOSBox, which I understand runs on just about every OS these days. I've been testing MS-DOS 6.22 executables (COM and EXE) under DOSBox, and many of them work such as DEBUG, DOSSHELL (file manager GUI) and QBASIC (w/Gorilla game ), as well as a few others. I need to find my XTree manager.

Now that I'm interested in the PC more than ever as only a hobbyist, DOS is where it's at (and DOSBox will keep it usable forever)!

Some nostalgic pics of AutoCAD and MicroStation V5 (very nice GUI for DOS)...

Oh, and I forgot to mention...

In Louisiana, age 55+ go to college for free, they don't even have to pay a registration fee (only have to pay 50% of classroom material)...
http://www.legis.la.gov/legis/law.aspx?d=79985

I want my senior discount!

Ugh my entire career seems to be a "What do I want to do next?"

if it was me I would just go get the training to learn the newer incarnations of the software.

you stand to lose a lot if you throw out all of your previous experience because you don't want to get up to speed on the newest software.

learn the new software then look at your former industry, and most importantly, its branch industries. every industry has a million different industries branching off from it - those industries are a goldmine for hiring and doing interesting work in which you may be interested in and qualified for.