Update history​

CYPELEC Networks

New groups and applications. Installing and uninstalling

In version 2025.a, CYPE Menu (which can now be downloaded exclusively from the BIMserver.center platform) has new program groups.

  • Architecture
  • Structures
  • MEP (Mechanical and Plumbing)
  • MEP (Electrical)
  • Energy and acoustic simulations
  • Project management
  • Project documents
  • Interoperability

Most of the CYPE applications are sorted into these groups. In previous versions, most of these applications could only be downloaded as single applications from the BIMserver.center platform.

By downloading and installing CYPE Menu, users will only have the CYPE programs menu installed, but none of the applications included in it will be downloaded or installed. Initially, each of the icons representing the CYPE Menu applications appears in a box with a grey background. When clicking on any of them for the first time (or on the button under the application's name), a contextual menu will appear allowing users to download and install the latest version of that application or an earlier version if available. Earlier versions (from 2024 onwards) will be available for those programs that include paid modules. Normally, free applications will only allow the latest version of these programs to be installed. Any installed version of any application can be uninstalled.

When an application has been installed, by clicking on the button under its name, the context menu that appears includes the "Uninstall" option.

More information on this program menu can be found in the FAQ "How to download and install programs from CYPE’s general menu".

The CYPE Menu download of versions before 2025 (with the applications included) is still available in the download area of the CYPE website.

CYPE Menu. Exclusive download from the BIMserver.center platform

As of version 2025.a, the CYPE program menu can only be downloaded from the BIMserver.center platform.

The CYPE Menu application was already available from version 2024.b on the BIMserver.center platform. Now, in version 2025.a, the advantages of CYPE Menu compared to previous versions, which were downloaded from the download area of the CYPE website, are as follows:

  • As of version 2024.b
    • Once CYPE Menu has been installed, the applications it contains will be installed from this new menu when they are opened for the first time.

  • As of version 2024.f
    • CYPE Menu allows users to manage the updates of the applications it contains.

  • As of version 2025.a
    • New program groups and many CYPE applications that could only be downloaded directly from BIMserver.center are included.
    • The version of each application to be installed can be selected (from version 2024 onwards).
    • Previously installed applications can be uninstalled.

Further information on the new features can be found in the following new features of CYPE Menu version 2025.a.

In the download area of the CYPE website, the download of the program menu for versions prior to 2025.a (in 64-bit and 32-bit) will still be available. In this download area, there is also a link to the BIMserver.center platform "Store" for downloading the 2025.a version of "CYPE Menu".

As a result of these changes, the 32-bit version of the CYPE Menu is no longer available in version 2025.a. As of 18 February 2019 (version 2019.f), the CYPE programs have been running on 64-bit systems. Since then, only the classic CYPE menu could be installed on 32-bit systems. All other applications (downloadable from the BIMserver.center platform) only worked on 64-bit systems. We believe that 32-bit programming is no longer feasible to take advantage of the superior performance of 64-bit processors and operating systems. Users who still want to use certain 32-bit CYPE programs (those available in the "CYPE Menu" prior to version 2025.a) must install a version prior to 2025.a from the download area of the CYPE website, but will not be able to upgrade their programs to later versions. Please refer to our FAQ question "Which version should I download, 64-bit or 32-bit?" for more information on the 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

Shortcuts for all applications

CYPE apps have keyboard shortcuts common to all programs. In versions before 2024.e, each program displayed the keyboard shortcuts for each app via the "Search and activation of commands and options" in the top left-hand corner of the programs.

As of version 2024.e, the "Shortcuts for all applications" tab has been implemented in the dialogue box displayed when selecting this option and it shows all the keyboard shortcuts common to CYPE apps.

Installation modes (professional, campus, evaluation, temporary license)

All CYPE programs can be installed in their different versions (Professional Version, Evaluation Version, Campus Version, Temporary License). In previous versions, users could only choose the type of version to be installed from the classic CYPE menu.

As of version 2024.a, the selection of version types has been implemented in all CYPE programs on the BIMserver.center platform.

As of version 2024.d, this selection can be made during the installation of all CYPE programs, regardless of where they are downloaded.

Improvements in the connection to BIMserver.center

Version 2024.b includes the following improvements and corrections to the connection of applications to the BIMserver.center platform:

  • After sharing a contribution, there is a delay before it becomes available in the BIMserver.center project. This could result in another application not having immediate access, even if the export was made from the same computer. Now applications can read contributions from the "File directory stored in local cache" before they are accessible in BIMserver.center.

  • It is now possible to export a contribution without an internet connection. When this occurs, a confirmation dialogue box will appear to inform users that if the contribution is exported, it cannot be shared in the BIMserver.center project. The contribution can be read in another application as long as it is on the same computer and linked to the same project. However, for the contribution to be available on the platform, users will need to "Share" it again with an internet connection.

  • The uploading process has been improved to allow larger files to be included.

  • An error that did not allow users to connect to the platform when the "AppData" system folder was not accessible has been fixed.

  • An error that showed the user as logged in when the session had already expired has been fixed.

  • The warning messages displayed when there is a problem in the communication with BIMserver.center have been improved.

  • Now, when creating a new project, the same default fields are used as in the BIMserver.center website.

Links to the BIMserver.center platform

From the BIMserver.center project information window (displayed by clicking on the project name shown in the project information bar - upper right part of the application window) you can access the project page of the BIMserver.center platform via a link that has been inserted in the text indicating the project name.

Likewise, from the information window about the project contributions ("Contributions" option in the project information window), users can access the page of each contribution in the BIMserver.center platform. These links are inserted in the texts indicating the name of each contribution.

Notifications on the project status

The status information bar of the BIMserver.center project is located at the top right of the window of the programs included in the Open BIM workflow. This bar has been available in the applications since version 2022.e and shows a warning icon when there is a problem with the connection to the project, as well as other things. Now, in version 2024.b, users can obtain more information about the warning by hovering the mouse cursor over the icon.

Creating BIMserver.center Corporate projects

As of version 2024.b, users can create projects associated with a "BIMserver.center Corporate" account from all CYPE applications included in the Open BIM workflow. To do this, the "Owner" field has been added to the window for creating a new project. This is a drop-down menu that includes, as one of the available options, the logged-in BIMserver.center user name along with the "BIMserver.center Corporate" accounts to which it has access. When selecting the user name as the owner, the project will be associated with this personal account, as was the case in previous versions. On the other hand, if a BIMserver.center Corporate account is selected, the project will be associated with that account.

Clear cache

The "Clear cache" button has been added to the CYPE applications included in the Open BIM workflow in the "Configuration" dialogue box that opens with the following sequence of commands: Select any of the options in the "BIMserver.center" tool group > "Configuration" option in the dialogue box that appears. When clicking on "Clear cache", the following options are displayed:

  • Projects
    Deletes projects, contributions and documents downloaded from the platform that are in the "File directory stored in local cache".

  • Sessions
    Deletes the data of any active sessions. This action will require applications to be re-authorised to access BIMserver.center.

  • Log files
    Deletes transaction logging from applications with BIMserver.center.

Long access paths

In previous versions, file paths used by applications were limited to a maximum length of 256 characters. This restriction is not specific to CYPE tools but is set by default in the Windows file system. As of version 2024.b, CYPE applications can bypass the restriction and allow the use of an extended path length for a maximum total path length of 10,000 characters. This eliminates the problems caused by the default limit and allows users to work with long access paths.

This improvement is particularly useful when working on projects with a complex directory structure or with long file names. By allowing longer paths, CYPE applications offer greater flexibility in file organisation.

New method for connecting applications to the BIMserver.center platform

The mode of communication between Open BIM applications and the BIMserver.center collaborative work platform has changed. In previous versions, the applications used the "BIMserver.center Sync" tool to upload and download the files of the contributions associated with the project from the platform. This tool was downloaded from the BIMserver.center platform or installed together with the installation of the platform applications if users so desired.

From version 2024.a onwards, applications are now able to work directly with BIMserver.center without an intermediary. That is, without the need for the "BIMserver.center Sync" tool.

This modification will improve the performance and efficiency of Open BIM applications significantly. By removing this dependency, the applications have more autonomy and the waiting times for communication between BIMserver.center Sync and the program have been considerably reduced. The process of downloading contributions has also been optimised, as users no longer need to obtain the entire content of a project from BIMserver.center in order to work, but only the contributions to be read.

The way of authenticating a BIMserver.center user in the applications has also been modified. Now, this process is carried out within the BIMserver.center web platform. To do this, the application with which the user is working will run the user's default browser when the "Login" button is pressed. When the credentials are entered, or after opening the browser if the user is already connected to the platform, an authorisation page will be displayed. This page details the resources the application is requesting access to and two buttons for granting or denying this access.

The authorisation must be carried out for each application. Once access has been granted, it is saved for the next time the program is run and there is no need to perform this process again for that application.

As well as performance improvements, changes have been made to the user interface of the Open BIM applications regarding the connection to BIMserver.center.

  • The "Connect to BIMserver.center" window now includes a "Configuration" button. Clicking it launches a menu from which you can edit the "File directory stored in local cache". This is the path where the files that make up the contributions will be downloaded when working with them from the applications. In previous versions, this location could be selected from the BIMserver.center Sync tool.
  • The appearance of the "Project selection" window has been modified.
  • In the "Select project" list, the "View only my projects" option has been added to show only the projects where the connected BIMserver.center user is the owner. Icons have also been included for the "Type of project" column in order to make it easier to identify them. The detailed data of a project now shows the image of each contribution, the description and the tags.
  • The "Review new contributions" and "Review updated contributions" options have been added to the "Create new project" window.
  • The list for selecting contributions ("Import BIM models") now includes the images of the contributions and the tags. The name of the contribution will be displayed in blue to indicate that the owner is the logged-in user.
  • When sharing a contribution or selecting contributions during the process of linking to a BIMserver.center project, a progress window will appear during the upload or download process.

To work in BIMserver.center with versions of Open BIM applications prior to 2024.a, users must continue to use the BIMserver.center Sync tool. This is still available for download from the platform and was included in the installation packages of the CYPE Open BIM applications prior to 2024.a.

Graphical editing of the reference system of the model

Since version 2022.a, the applications integrated within the Open BIM workflow via the BIMserver.center platform include a tool for managing project reference systems. This option is available from the configuration window that appears when linking or updating a BIMserver.center project via the "Geographic location and reference system" option. As of version 2023.d, the applications now allow users to run a graphical environment where they can visually define a reference system for their model. To do this, the "Geographic location and reference system" window now contains the "Visual editing of the local reference system of the model" option.

From the "Visual editing of the local reference system of the model" window, the origin and orientation of the reference system of the model can be indicated in the workspace with the "Define the reference system of the partial model" tool. Both the axes of the reference system of the model, which we have just entered and the axes of the reference system of the site can be viewed in the workspace. The latter appears with a "Site" tag.

To make it easier to define the reference system, the 3D models corresponding to the BIMserver.center project contributions selected during the linking process are displayed. The management of the visibility and object snaps of these models is carried out from the "Elements read" menu in the left sidebar of the window. The "Views" menu can also be found in the same options bar, from which different types of 2D and 3D views of the model can be generated. These tools can already be found in several CYPE applications. For more information on how they work, please refer to the User’s Manual for the 3D work environment tools available in CYPE applications.

Apart from 3D models, 2D drawings or plans can also be imported from CAD files (".dxf", ".dwg", ".dwf") or images (".jpeg", ".jpg", ".bmp", ".png", ".wmf", ".emf", ".pcx"). These files and object snaps are managed through the "DXF-DWG Template" and "Template object snaps" options accordingly.

Once the editing is complete, the coordinates and orientation of the reference system of the model with respect to the reference system of the site are moved to the corresponding fields in the "Geographic location and reference system" window.