# I have some trouble when running Openroad tools for foreign pdk.
Tool: Initialize Floorplan
Subcategory: Floorplan initialization issue
## Conversation
### OuDret
Hello, I have been reading documentation and trying stuff with given pdks for about two weeks. My goal was to run OpenRoadFlowScripts but, since there is a lot of stuff, I’ve took its makefile, config files and scripts and just extracted the openroad commands that I really need, so I can exactly know what args and what files i need and create them. Also running the commands 1 by 1 alongside GUI application helps me understanding what’s going on.
When calling the commands tho, I had some issues i could not solve. If you have an idea of any of the following problems I'm facing or any advice let me know.
**1. I didn’t manage to initialize floorplan with custom die area. It doesn’t matter which values I use as die_are or core_area, it just doesn’t work properly.**
When I run something like the command below, having stdSite size defined as 400 by 400 um it just does nothing. The verilog file provided is a simple inverter already synthesized using yosys into a single NAND cell which size is set in .lef as 200 by 200.
Meanwhile, if I just let openroad to decide what size to give it just works for small core utilization value, which kinda makes sense.
Do you think I’m forgetting any step? The commands I run before getting to that point are the following:
```
read_liberty /path/lib/NandCellLibrary.lib
read_lef /path/lef/NandCellLibrary.tech.lef
read_lef /path/lef/NandCellLibrary.macro.lef
read_verilog /path//inverter.v
link_design inverter
read_sdc /path/constraint.sdc
initialize_floorplan -die_area {0 0 10000 10000} -core_area {1000 1000 5000 5000} -site stdSite
```
**2. I have no macros stored in odb despite having them declared in lef/NandCellLibrary.macro.lef**
If I just use utilization_area **floorplan_initialization** and keep running the following commands all seems to be working properly
```
make_tracks met1 -x_offset 10 -x_pitch 10 -y_offset 10 -y_pitch 10
make_tracks met2 -x_offset 10 -x_pitch 10 -y_offset 10 -y_pitch 10
make_tracks met3 -x_offset 10 -x_pitch 10 -y_offset 10 -y_pitch 10
remove_buffers
place_pins -hor_layer met2 -ver_layer met3 -random
global_placement -density 0.5 -pad_left 0 -pad_right 0
```
until I try to run macro placement
the error raised means that when running the following tcl procedure it has not found any macro
```
proc find_macros {} {
set macros ""
set db [ord::get_db]
set block [[$db getChip] getBlock]
foreach inst [$block getInsts] {
set inst_master [$inst getMaster]
# BLOCK means MACRO cells
if { [string match [$inst_master getType] "BLOCK"] } {
append macros " " $inst
}
}
return $macros
}
```
the thing is that I have the NAND macro and another one called FILL defined in my .lefs and .lib . Then why could it be that there is no macro in db ?
**Some things to be said.**
When running **read_liberty**, it prints 1 into terminal. Does it mean that there’s an error? It seems I can keep running things. If so, is there any way to properly debug it?
It also happens if I run **check_status** command after reading all input files, which I didn’t even find in documentation, so I just ignored it.
Again, if you had any idea or advice of what I’m doing wrong, if I skipt some important step, etc. let me know, please.
If i manage to make it work i will try to post the whole flow command by command. It may help someone someday
Thank you.
### maliberty
What is the size of stdSite? Is this a PDK you can share or is it proprietary?
Do you have any instances of the macro in your netlist?
### maliberty
```
SITE stdSite
SYMMETRY Y ;
CLASS CORE ;
SIZE 500 BY 500 ;
END stdSite
```
is a huge site (500um x 500um) - I'm guessing that is a mistake though it doesn't explain the problem.
### maliberty
Your LEF is missing the units for " DATABASE MICRONS \;". There is a bug when this is unspecified that I'll fix but you should set it (the LEF default value is very old).