This article discusses the solution to the error message "Runtime error "429": ActiveX component can't create object" which may occur when launching the 64-bit versions of SAP2000/ETABS/CSiBridge from 32-bit COM clients (e.g. Excel). This issue affects SAP2000 v18.0.0 to v18.1.1, CSiBridge 2016 v18.0.0 to v18.1.1, and all versions of ETABS 2015. The instructions below assume an Excel client, but can be generalized to any COM client.

SAP2000 v18.0.0 to v18.1.1

To resolve the issue for SAP2000 v18.0.0 to v18.1.1, please update the registration tools as follows:

...

10. You should now be able to launch or attach to SAP2000 18 64bit from Excel 32bit, using the Helper as documented in the “CSI_OAPI_Documentation.chm” file.

CSiBridge 2016 v18.0.0 to v18.1.1

To resolve the issue for CSiBridge 2016 v18.0.0 to v18.1.1, please update the registration tools as follows:

...

10.   You should now be able to launch or attach to CSiBridge 2016 64-bit from Excel 32-bit, using the CSiBridge18.cHelper as documented in the “CSI_OAPI_Documentation.chm” file.

ETABS 2015

To resolve the issue for ETABS 2015, please update the registration tools as follows:

...

10.          You should now be able to launch or attach to ETABS 2015 64bit from Excel 32bit, using the ETABS2015.cHelper as documented in the “CSi API ETABS 2015.chm” file.

More recent version of the programs

If you are are getting "Runtime error "429": ActiveX component can't create object" for more recent versions of CSI programs than indicated above, it is likely that you are not using correctly the Helper function to connect to the program via API. Please review the example code in the API documentation that illustrates how to use the Helper function to connect to the program via API.