Need someone to convert PADS to Allegro successfully 

 I have a design to modify, unfortunately the original is in PADS 9.3.  I have Allegro 16.0 and having lots of problems trying to get it to load.

Anyone out there done this before and got it to work?  I can send the files (asc).... one is PCB and the other the schematic.

I am willing to pay for a "good usable conversion for 16.0".  Anyone????

 Do you need 16.0 or 16.x?  16.0 was very short term.  But if you send files, I can convert to 16.2 then back down to 16.0.
I have all the old versions so it's not an issue -- just unusual.

The conversion works well if you export *everything* with the 2007 or 2005 version of PADS which is choosable when you do the export.

I just did a PADS to Allegro with 9.3 to 16.5 and it was flawless...

If it works, we talk. If it doesn't, no probs.

Send a PM to this email and I can help out.

Bill

 Can you export the 2007 or 2005 ASC version instead?  The 9.3 version still gives problems.

It is one of your option checks in the file export.

Thanks
Bill

Here's your design in v 16.01. The only way it would translate successfully is from v16.6. I then downreve'd it to version 16.01.

 Here are the old format PADS files (version 2005) instead of the 9.3 format.  See if this format works without issue.

I know that Steve provided fully converted files but I am curious to see if 16.0Allegro converts ok.

Bill

 Failed right away:

Translating C:/Documents and Settings/Compu-Tier/Desktop/OLDPADS/HPA689A-PCB_old.asc.
Reading PADS ASCII file header.
PARSE ERROR: Unrecognized format in header line of input file.
Line 1: !PADS-POWERPCB-V2005.2-BASIC! DESIGN DATABASE ASCII FILE 1.0
ERROR: Finished with errors.

Maybe I am doing something wrong on the import?  The three fields are: input file, then options (whcih I just type "options" and output file.

 Ha!  Yes, you are doing something wrong.  This one converted without issue for me.

You need to point "options" to the supplied conversion file (pads_in.ini) which is located in your %install_path%\SPB_xxx\tools\pcb\bin\pads_in.ini

 Install_path\SPBxxx is whereever you installed Cadence

This should solve the problem

 I tried it, still does not pass the first line.  I tried the original pcb 9.3 pads and the "older" version supplied and they both fail the same.

Bug in my version? 16.0 Allegro XL

 I remember 16.0 was *very* short lived.  There was one maybe two hotfixes applied.  Can you provide exactly which version 16.0 you are running?  Go to your help menu in Allego and get the version number.

I doubt anyone at Cadence will give you a second worth of help but I am too curious to give up. :)  I will have to go a ways back to de-archive my 16.0 release

 It says:   16.0p005(V16-0-87F)(6/12/2007)i86

 Just found this in the help topics:

 "The PADS translator reads PADS-Perform version 4 and version 6 ASCII database files and writes an Allegro PCB Editor board database. Due to format differences, other types of input files cannot be read. Perform can be used to convert an ASCII database file to a version 4 or 6 file. For further information on how to do this, see the PADS documentation."

That may explain the problem. Right?

 When I edited the header from 9.3 to 2.1 it went a bit further but failed on the packages immediately. So I guess I don't have  "known good" header. Or,,,,,,,,my version just won't translate versions other than what was in the help guide (see above reply).