markf Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 I setup a new drive with 64 bit Max 2009, Vray, Win XP. It renders fine but I am having quite a bit of crashes when navigating in th ]e viewports. My scene is just over 1,000,000 faces and 1500 objects. Using an nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX. Driver used in Max shows Direct 3D 9.0. Is there something better than this driver that might help solve this problem? Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Twyman Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 How much RAM do you have? Un-related but you don't happen to have a microsoft intelimouse do you. The drivers for these are causing lots of viewport problems in max. I had lots of viewport problems until I uninstalled the drivers. No complete crashes but I guess anything is possible. Thought I would mention it just incase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markf Posted January 3, 2009 Author Share Posted January 3, 2009 Paul, Thanks for you reply! I have 8 gigs RAM. I'm using a Dell optical mouse. I am installing an updated mouse driver and will post the results. Thanks for the suggestion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Twyman Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 Hey, As far as I am aware the problem is only with the microsoft intellimouse more specifically the (ipoint) driver that comes with it. The standard windows driver works fine but just doesn't allow some of the more advanced features. Sorry didn't mean to cause you extra work!! Have you tried using OpenGL instead of Direct3d to see if it makes any difference? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markf Posted January 3, 2009 Author Share Posted January 3, 2009 no I haven't tried open GL. Bu tI'm going to try it now. Thanks for another good suggestion. ilovethisforum!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Twyman Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 Just found this post which sounds like it might help, http://area.autodesk.com/index.php/forums/viewthread/12612/ Hope it helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markf Posted January 3, 2009 Author Share Posted January 3, 2009 I must have the latest Vray, I just downloaded it two weeks ago when I set up the 64 bit system. Regarding that thread, it's very similar to my situation. I always have show map in viewport enabled at the map level of the material (and disabled at the top level of the materials). I am not doing anything differently than on my 32 bit system, yet now crash when navigating viewports. It seems like I can work for a half hour or so but sooner or later changing views or panning/zooming in a viewport will crash Max. I like the extra RAM power of the 64 bit, but this is inconvenient to my work flow. Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Twyman Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 Did openGL not help? xp64 with max is normally pretty solid there must be something else causing the problem. Have you tried any other scenes or older versions of the file to see if it still happens with them? Sorry don't know what else to suggest. I'm sure someone else will come along with a solution soon though. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markf Posted January 3, 2009 Author Share Posted January 3, 2009 I tried Open GL but it was such a major performance hit hat I immediately reverted back to Direct X. Clock on cursor for several seconds on any move. The performance lag with Open GL would not work for me at all. I am trying the new mouse driver and have my fingers crossed. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihabkal Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 (edited) I had similar experiences and it always came out as a faulty ram module. Take out all the modules and put one, and if it works replace it with another one, and so on (don't use more than one stick at a time). the one ram that is causing the problems will probably not allow you to launch windows, but if they all launch it try rendering a big scene that would use all the stick. I guarantee that this is your problem. the more sticks you have the more probable that you will end up with a dead one. (or two?) If the crashes are with your 3dsmax and not the whole system, there could be another problem: not enough power, the 8800 GTX I think needs two power adaptors attached to it, each of those needs to come from a separate branch of the power supply which should be around 500 Watts minimum for this card to run. One other thing is overheating, if there isn't enough ventilation, these things will happen, try to work with the case open for a while, or with a fan blowing into the open case. the 8800 does not suppot openGL. Edited January 3, 2009 by ihabkal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markf Posted January 3, 2009 Author Share Posted January 3, 2009 I did some RAM testing when I installed the 8 G two weeks ago. It all seemed fine. I can see it all in the task manager. I am only having Max crash, not the whole system. I think the power and ventilation to the card are fine. It's a Dell XPS 700 and all that was configured by them. I have it attached to a UPS 1300 so it's getting plenty of power. I do not have the same crash problem when using the scene on the same computer booted to the old 32 bit drive/system. There is some problem, but I can't figure out what. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihabkal Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 if the ram is faulty, when you use the 32bit OS it might not use that specific faulty module. The ram showing in the taskbar doesn't mean it is allright. The only way to find out for sure is to run the system on a single module and use the full module by rendering or doing memory intensive operations. From your response I am more certain that it is the ram. I am telling you I had the same problem and it turned out to be the ram. If you don't want to test the ram yet uninstall and re-install max. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markf Posted January 3, 2009 Author Share Posted January 3, 2009 Ok I'm going to try taking out the RAM modules and running the machine on one RAM module at a time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markf Posted January 3, 2009 Author Share Posted January 3, 2009 OK, I tried the above suggestion and booted up using one RAM module at a time. I have 4 each, 2G, corsair modules. All bought together as a set. Windows stated up and, Max loaded and my scene loaded with each individual module. I was able to render my scene with each individual module. It would calculate the light cache and IR map and then I'd let it render 16-20 buckets. The available RAM would drop to about 200meg and it seemed to be working properly. I was also selecting/deselecting objects and panning/zooming around the different viewports including a shaded perspective viewport. While doing this with module 3 and again with module 4 I got the crash I have been describing. It always happens when moving around in the viewports. I'm confused about this. Does the fact that I could load windows and render with module 3 and 4 mean they're ok? I tried pretty hard with the 1 and 2 modules and got no crash. I'm not sure if I should try those again and more aggressively go through the viewports usage. I felt I did a pretty thorough job. Is it likely to get 2 out of 4 bad RAM modules in one order? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihabkal Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 where did you get them from? were they used? are they from ebay? I would say keep them out and use the modules that worked for a day or two, just to make sure, and then RMA them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markf Posted January 3, 2009 Author Share Posted January 3, 2009 I just tried the number 1 module again by itself and got the viewport use crash. I purchased the RAM all together and it was new and in unbroken packaging. Is it likely that all 4 modules of the RAM are bad? The scene is 1,000,000+ polys and it renders fine with each individual module. It's seems to be some conflict surrounding the viewport usage. I'm not sure how RAM dependent that is. The fact that I am re-producing the crash with each individual RAM module make me think it's something else. Is it possible I need to configure a page file or something? Thanks for your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihabkal Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 there is a possibility that the motherboard and this particular ram aren't compatible. Check with the mobo manufacturer's website if the ram is on the list of tested compatible rams. there are some setitngs in the bios to disable shadowing and other stuff that I am not familiar with that could help. try this: Delete the enu folder located in soething like this C:\Documents and Settings\Main User\Local Settings\Application Data\Autodesk\3dsmax\2009 - 64bit\enu when you launch max again it will reset all custom settings you have made. try max for a while and see if it crashes. if it still does Uninstall 3dsmax completely and delete the enu folder again, and then reinstall it and try. this once fixed a crashing problem I had. if that still doesn't fix it then it is a bigger problem and we would need to think about other solutions...you could disable all direct 3d acceleration and test, this is easy and enabling it again is easy in the display propoerties, troubleshoot section... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dotunmabo Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 (edited) happynewyear to all. im having a similar crash problem and its really frustrating. ive rendered larger models with 2.6mill polygons and vray displacement on my laptop running vista64,max9 32bit with 4gb ram and nvidia mcp67m gfx card. images takes a while, but it never crashes. on my new desktop(unfortunately pricey too), core2quad 2.88ghz with 8gbram, xp64, max9 64bit, vray1.5 sp1,rpc64bit,nvidia 9600gt with updated driver for xp64,. i checked the forum n tried increasing virtual mem to 6gb on drive c, 9gb on drive d, and 4gb dynamic memory limit. it crashes!!! i even viewed geometry as boxes and wireframe.....mouse is a gigabyte laser mouse, not windows intelli...wotever...and it updates txtures rili fast, renders 2 passes extremely fast, and then starts to render, but crashes after about 35%. this hapened several times. finally rendered one image, but only at 1200 x 1200 without crashes...im at a loss for words...pls, help is needed!!!...er...asus motherboard epu-6 engine allows turbo mode and increased frequency upto 30%. 30 crashes the system wen i try to render, but i run at 20% ok.....and taskmanager shows all cores utilised, paging file at 999mb, physical mem at 8.3gb, 6.9gb availabl, 877mb system cache....im not much of a techie, but id really appreciate some help. i hope this info is useful to finding a solution.thanks alot ps. i tried rendering without rpcs at 1200x1200 and it didnt crash. tried a gain with 2400x2800 and it still crashed. 3600x2400 on laptop is stable, though not the same model...while im not suggesting the rpcs are the problem, i hope my memory management details above arent conflicting. also, is there a rule of thumb regarding using multiple rpcs? Edited January 7, 2009 by dotunmabo extra info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markf Posted January 7, 2009 Author Share Posted January 7, 2009 I'm sorry to hear of your trouble. It is different than my problem. I can render high res, 4200 x 3000, no trouble. It's navigating in the viewports that causes my crash. I still have not determined the problem. I'm sorry I can't offer any insight as to how you might trouble shoot your situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbibb Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Mark, Crashing in the viewports rather than rendering sounds like it's more of a graphics card problem. I assume you used the latest driver after installing windows? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dotunmabo Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 i hope servicepack 2 may help in my case....not sure wot it features...will look on their site Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markf Posted January 7, 2009 Author Share Posted January 7, 2009 yep, used the latest driver form nvidia. installed it twice just to be sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihabkal Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 try a different graphics card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markf Posted January 9, 2009 Author Share Posted January 9, 2009 Well, if I was going to get a new graphics card I'd likely be looking at an nVidia Quadro. Probably in the $450 range. I'd hate to spend that and find out it didn't fix my problem. I am still having a big problem with crashing Max when navigating in the viewports. Would it make sense to try a different mouse? Any settings in Max that might be worth trying? I tried using adaptive degradation but still have the same crash problem. Any ideas that anyone may have will be greatly appreciated. This is really interfering with my work. How can I trouble shoot this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihabkal Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 if there is a way you could borrow any card, a cheaper one just for testing, from a friend or get from Best Buy and return it (you live in th sates?), you only need it for a few hours... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now