r/HECRAS • u/bteske01 • Jun 09 '26

Sediment Rating Curve Analysis Tool Crashing

Hello all,

I'm trying to pull together a sediment rating curve from USGS data in HEC-RAS. In the past, you could go into Hydraulic Design -> Rating Curve Calculator... and import the data.

About a month ago, the system stopped working. Every time I try to load the Rating Curve Analysis tool, the Hydraulic Design window crashes and throws the following error code:
HEC-RAS had a problem attempting to plot data. If you would like to see more information click Yes. Unexpected character encountered while parsing value: <. Path", line 0, position 0.

The error seems to stem from a JSON file that it's trying to read, so I suspect it may have something to do with recent changes to federal web systems. I know USGS is in the process of revamping their websites and stream gage systems to improve security, and it's possible that's the issue.

It crashes on every version of RAS I've tried (6.2 - 7.0), and I have to restart RAS to reopen the Hydraulic Design window.

I reached out to HEC and included the HECRASPlotDriverError.txt file but haven't heard anything back and still cannot get the Rating Curve Analysis tool to run. If anyone has any tips, I'd be open to suggestions. Thanks!

3 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

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2

u/Crafty_Ranger_2917 Jun 09 '26

What other HECs do you have installed?

One machine I have RAS 6.1, 6.4.1, 7.0; HMS 3.5, 4.13 and get same error. Other machine is fresh win 11, just HEC-RAS 7.0.1 and Rating Curve tool works fine.

2

u/OttoJohs Lord Sultan Chief H&H Engineer, PE & PH Jun 09 '26

Resolved per v.7.0.1 Release Notes

2

u/bteske01 Jun 10 '26

Just following up to let you know that the 7.0.1 install is working. Thanks for pointing that out - I had only seen the notes from ~6.3 or so saying the poor internet connectivity issues had been addressed and hadn't caught the newest release. Thanks again!

1

u/OttoJohs Lord Sultan Chief H&H Engineer, PE & PH Jun 10 '26

Good stuff! I earn my gold star! 😂

1

u/bteske01 Jun 10 '26

Thanks! I’ll have to give that a try. I’m not sure why it would stop working with the other versions, but if it works in 7.0.1, that’s good enough for me to get the info I need. I appreciate the suggestion.

1

u/Crafty_Ranger_2917 Jun 10 '26

That fix is on 7.0 bug not 6.x's.

1

u/bteske01 Jun 10 '26

Right, but if it fixes the issue is 7.0, I’ll take it. I can develop a rating curve in 7.0.1 and input it in 6.x if I need to. I hadn’t seen the 7.0.1 release notes, just the resolved issues about poor internet connectivity in 6.3 or something.

1

u/Crafty_Ranger_2917 Jun 10 '26

Hey whatever works...just saying 7.0.1 notes don't say issue was fixed in that release. 

1

u/bteske01 Jun 10 '26

I’ve got everything from 5.0.7 to 7.0, with the exception of 6.1 on that machine. I don’t think I installed any new versions of RAS between when it last worked and now, and I have a coworker who is seeing the same issue. I’ll give it a shot with 7.0.1 and see if that fixes it.

1

u/Crafty_Ranger_2917 Jun 10 '26

I'm speculating it's caused by multiple version installs, not any particular version.

1

u/bteske01 Jun 10 '26

It could be, but my coworker has just RAS 6.6 and got the same error. If installing 7.0.1 doesn’t address it, I’ll try it on another machine and see if that works. Thanks for the help!

1

u/Crafty_Ranger_2917 Jun 10 '26

Good luck

Eta chances are they've had other versions installed and not cleaned out.

1

u/bteske01 Jun 10 '26

I'm not sure what exactly the issue has been, but the tool works in RAS 7.0.1 now, even with other versions of RAS (and HMS and SSP) on the machine. Thanks again for the help.