10.6 Buffer Wizard crashing

[JohnSobetzer]

I installed 10.6 yesterday late and noticed today that the buffer wizard crashes ArcMap every time I try to use it.    I used the buffer tool instead but figured I would make a note of this indirectly for tech support.  Here is an error message from Event Viewer:

Faulting application name: ArcMap.exe, version: 10.6.0.8321, time stamp: 0x5a2b5885
Faulting module name: ucrtbase.dll, version: 10.0.16299.125, time stamp: 0x9e3394c7
Exception code: 0xc0000409
Fault offset: 0x00091912
Faulting process id: 0x2234
Faulting application start time: 0x01d39154445590b7
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\ArcGIS\Desktop10.6\bin\ArcMap.exe
Faulting module path: C:\WINDOWS\System32\ucrtbase.dll
Report Id: 879c0a8d-cd27-4f28-8c37-c971a354e504
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID: 

[XanderBakker]

Perhaps since you have a white background you don't notice the change. In this post you can see an example of a color ramps applied to a hillshade that goes from black 0% transparency to white with 100% transparency on top of a basemap

https://community.esri.com/message/717648-re-how-to-display-hillshading-with-a-black-to-transparent-... 

[SarahWigley]

Thanks for the suggestion - appreciated. Transparency seems to work fine with rasters (as in your example of hillshade) but it does not seem to work in my example, which uses a polygon.  N.b. The background of my example above is the green basemap (it covers the whole area), but on top of that I have a large square polygon with a hole in the middle, which is coloured white (0% transparency) to blue (100% transparency). I would normally use white to white, but have chosen blue to show the error more clearly.

The only solution I can think of then is to use a raster.  I could use the Euclidean Distance tool to generate a raster that has high values close to the area of interest and low values far away from the area of interest.  I could then use a quantity symbology (like you have done with hillshade) to make the transparency decrease with distance.

It is a solution - but I think I still miss the buffer wizard!

[LindseyStone]

Did anyone determine if this was reported to ESRI or a known bug with 10.6 or if a fix is out there?  I recently upgraded to 10.6 from 10.4 and I have a map and shapefiles that I created in 10.4 along with several buffers using the buffer wizard.  Today I go into the exact same map and layers to create a new buffer with the buffer wizard and crashes every time.  I like the wizard better because it seems a lot more friendly and it allows me to to do a buffer on selected features.  I don't see that option in the Analysis Buffer tool.

[JohnSobetzer]

Lindsey, you should be able to select a feature or features in ArcMap and have the buffer tool only work on them.  I don't think the tool help indicates this and there is no option to use selected features or not, but that is my experience with the tool specifically and most tools generally.

I finally had to remove the buffer wizard button from my ArcMap projects since I would forget that it doesn't work, and then find it crashes the project and I lose all the work I've done since the last save.  I thought I recalled somebody mentioning it would be fixed in 10.6.1 but I couldn't find that just now, nor any specific bug.

[KoryKramer]

Lindsey, sorry that you're seeing this in 10.6.  The workaround is to use the Buffer gp tool.  That should respect any selection you have on the layer, so you can still do your selection and buffer.

[RichardDaniels]

Now on to the next question, will there be a ArcGIS 10.6.1 (Service Pack 1) that fixes this issue?

[JohnSobetzer]

Just an FYI that it doesn't appear that this bug was fixed in 10.6.1.  I installed 10.6.1 on my main work and old work computers.  I was able to test the buffer wizard on the old work computer and it froze/crashed ArcMap.  I didn't test it on the main work computer because 10.6.1 kept crashing on other stuff so I got rid of it and went back to 10.6 there.  My guess is they will never fix this bug.  It's ArcMap and they aren't going to do anything with it that isn't absolutely necessary.  They probably think of it as a plus, being one more reason to use Pro.  More importantly for the users, there is the regular buffer tool which is what they would recommend although it isn't a perfect replacement.  For those who only want graphics buffers there is no option.  For those who want temporary buffers, you supposedly can have your geoprocessing results be temporary by default, and when you close ArcMap they supposedly are removed from your disk.  (See Geoprocessing Options - Results management.)  I use "supposedly" because it doesn't remove mine.  If you want buffers without perfect curves I think you will have to save to a shapefile first and then if needed convert to a gdb feature class.

[RichardDaniels]

Was this brought up at the UC by anyone? Failing to maintain simple commands such as Buffer in ArcMap is not acceptable at any level -especially since it works at 10.5.1 so it is a coding issue on their end not an OS issue.

[TimThayer]

So apparently there is a registered bug for this issue:

BUG-000111481: The Buffer Wizard crashes ArcMap 10.6.. 

No word on when it might get fixed ("Not in Current Product Plan").  I can't imagine it would be very difficult to fix, considering it worked fine in 10.5.1, and the Buffer geoprocessing tool (which uses the same logic) still works fine.  I hope they do fix it; our technicians prefer it over the Buffer gp tool for its simpler, more user-friendly interface.  If they really do decide not to fix it because ArcMap is EOL, they should at least remove it. What's the point of having a tool that crashes ArcMap every time you run it?

[RichardDaniels]

I agree, we use the buffer wizard in several custom applications and its failure in 10.6.0 and 10.6.1 is one reason we have not upgraded from ArcGIS Desktop 10.5.1.

The EOL would make sense if that was what ESRI is claiming, but they have EOL for 10.5.1 at December 1, 2022 and extended support for 10.6.1 does not start until January 2020. In other words they are responsible for at least 18 months (if not 4 years) to get this fixed.

The failure to fix a known and easy to track bug says a lot about their support model and failure to keep their promises to their customers...What would Jack say if you told him you can't even do a buffer in ArcMap without knowing python?

Instead of posting here, every person with the problem needs to report the Bug...if you can figure out how to ;-).