How to 'copy' an entire building to a different location?

[WimYogya]

I am working on 2 Javanese bungalows - on two different locations next to each other but with 1.50m altitude difference.
The first bungalow is now definite and detailed enough to copy the whole unit to the other location.
In an earlier stage I could do that: select all items > right click > select duplicate > select move > move to different area.
But for an unknown reason I cannot do that anymore.
If I click and select my whole unit (light blue) > right click, then I only get two options: deselect all + delete. No options like duplicate, rotate, mirror.
How come?
What to do?
Thanks again for any help.

[WimYogya]

Already solved my own problem: the whole unit had also certain elements (like garden walls) on two locations/levels.
Apparently by selecting 'all' you cannot duplicate/move 'all' if that includes items on a different level. So I temporarily deleted all items on the secondary location/level, then I could duplicate/move the primary unit.
After that I copied back the necessary elements from my primary unit 'down' to the other building location.

[Allan Chesney]

You can select everything on a location and move or duplicate it to another location but there is only one Terrain/garden etc.
You should not have to dselete things - just turn them off in the Vew Filter.

Allan

[WimYogya]

Had already copied the unit, after deleting the elements on the other level. Just now, after your remark, I realize that in the view filter I can select PER LOCATION which items should be shown/hidden. Never used that filter before, so automatically items on various levels were selected - and that is where the problem started: they could not be duplicated/moved/etc...
Next time (if any) I will take your advice.

Maybe due to my awkward workaround the copying process wasn't quite successful either:
In the new copy I saw:
- roof plane adjusted beams flying around in the sky everywhere
- no windows and doors copied
- various walls got different properties such as wall color
So step by step I have to 'rebuild' my copied units.
Is this behavior common? Or my fault?

[Allan Chesney]

Sorry but it is user error! 

What you should have done is create a Location for your second unit, with a floor level higher up (since I seem to recall that your second unit is 1m higher but off to the side).

You would then hide any things you do not want to copy, select everything that is left, right click and choose Duplicate to Locations, choosing you new location. When it asks if you want to delete the old one say no obviously. Now, on the new location, select everything and move it to its new position (right click/ Move- you may also have to turn Collision off).

Everything should be duplicated and move.

If you haven't finished repositioning everything, it may be best to delete the 'messy' copy and do it again this way. MAKE A BACKUP FIRST JUST IN CASE!

Allan

[WimYogya]

I took your advice and started the copying process all over.
In the beginning it all seemed easy and successful. No problems with:
Selecting elements, hiding others, selecting the whole unit, duplicate it, move it to the other position but still on the same level as the original, duplicate it from there to the appropriate level of the destination location.

But now, the final step will not work: I need to rotate the moved duplicate 90 degrees. Selecting the whole unit again is no problem, select the rotating point is no problem, rotating it 90 degrees (with ortho on) is just a mouse click, easy.
But then: the program is not responding anymore. It shows the 'busy' circle forever. Any attempt to stop that causes a crash and I must start all over.
What is the cause and how to solve it?

[WimYogya]

I tried the same procedure 5 times now.
Assuming I might have been too impatient, I gave TFP more time to reposition all the many elements in the rotated unit.
But even 1,5 hour is not enough... the busy sign is on forever...
So, what should I do?

[Allan Chesney]

Rotation should not be a problem and should not take any longer than the duplications etc. 

Did you try with Collision off?
Is the rotation causing it to run into something else?
Have you tried with Hardware Acceleration turned off? ... or on if it is off already? (Settings / Program Settings / Graphics).

Allan

[WimYogya]

It's been a few days with other activities and quite some time to fix the trouble I mentioned above. After numerous attemps (including following your advices AND a complete reinstall of TFP) I had to conclude my project was corrupt. Repairing it was not possible: the same non-responsive effect. Same with even small move/copy actions.
So I had to go back in time and started one of the backups. That worked without those problems.
But there were still a few others, how good I tried to view/hide the appropriate elements, strange things happened:
* still flying members over the new (lower) bungalow - had to adjust them to the lower bungalow's roof plane one by one
* colors and other properties of walls (such as trims) changed, both in the origin (higher bungalow) as in the destination (lower bungalow)
* some floors lost their properties both in origin and destination.
Maybe it were still user errors - but I couldnt find out which. Simply repaired the changes.
Now on track again, still tons of work ahead. Fascinating and obsessive, but time consuming!
Thanks for helping again.

[Allan Chesney]

Fascinating and obsessive, but time consuming!

Agree entirely. Time however improves dramatically as you get to understand how it works!

Allan