solver

The tools are there to do it manually. Have you checked the 3DWarehouse?

Can you use the material eyedropper? If needed, draw a new wall, make it the material for the dormer, then use the eyedropper to place the material on the dormer. You can Explode the dormer (right click on the dormer, Explode Dormer) and then edit the individual parts, changing materials directly, but you will loose the Auto Rebuild roofs function.

Open the landing and

The error message directs you to this Knowledge Base article. Reading it will provide your answer.

The plan just shows the terrain -- no house. What I was suggesting above was in response to "With a fake dormer I'm still having issues as it will be above a wall on one side". If there is a problem with a wall, move the wall, place the dormer, move the wall back.

Post the plan? Here is an idea to try. Make the plan work with the dormer instead of making the dormer work with the plan. Change the plan -- walls etc so that the dormer works. Turn off auto rebuild roofs, then put the plan back as it was.

You can create items using SketchUp and possibly other programs and place them in your library.

Like this? Set the bottom part of the wall to interior, reshape in section view. Fill in gaps as needed with soffits. You can draw in your own ceiling planes to hide the wood framing showing.

The plan you posted is not a split level, and I don't understand which 2 spaces you want to connect.

I don't think you can do that in Suite. I could not find the Wedge Shape in my copy of Suite. Here is what I was thinking in case you do have it. It can be reshaped, but cannot have its 90 degree angle changed.

I believe you have wedge shapes in the library that can be used. A picture of the ceiling would help. I associate a Tray Ceiling with flat, not sloped ceiling planes.

The software often has trouble with this type of wall intersection. Chief Premier has a special tool that allows some manual editing of wall intersections, but none of the Home Designer products do. If this is just a visual thing, consider manually filling in gaps as required. Using the slab or soffit tools, you can place blocks as needed to cover or fill things you do not want to see. You could set the foundation wall as invisible and create your own with solids. And you might try manually drawing the foundation on several levels. Footings on lowest level, then walls and footings on the next etc.

Post the plan?

I have my own issues with the software too, but remember, you chose the $100 version. There is a reason that Pro is $500 -- it does more.

Here is what the counter top looks like.

Here I've shaped a custom counter top to go around the tub. Not sure what tools your version has -- you might use a Slab too. This is really 2 custom counter tops, because that was the simplest. There is no tool to cut a hole, so you could make a U shaped one, then Copy Reflect About to get the closed shape. What you want to do is not doable in the Home Designer products, but is in Chief.

Use a soffit -- change the thickness to 1/16", and the material to screen. Use a sloped soffit for the roof parts. All the exposed rafters and beams shown here are soffits. They can be glass for showers, and used for many things.

Soffits for the framing and screen.

What the kat said ^^^

See the full comparison between Home Designer Pro to Chief Architect

I have opened your 2014 plans in 2016 and never noticed such changes. I open plans from others too that were done in older versions and never had this type of problem. So I don't know how to help. You might send tech support a message and see what they say.

When I draw a new wall, it looks like all the others -- no painting.

Go to the second floor. Select and copy the 4 walls that create the room. Delete the second floor. Go through the steps to reset, then change wall and roof directives outlined above. The settings for the front wall should look like this. Build a blank second floor. Paste>Paste Hold Position to put the walls back. Change the Rough Ceiling to 104 3/8". Back to the front wall on the first floor. Uncheck Upper Pitch. I have no clue why, and there may be an easier way.

My guess is that there are not enough people actively using Pro in any given area to make user groups viable. It's also far less complex than Chief, so less need for groups to gather to share knowledge.

Don't count on it. I think we are mostly ignored.