MR Memory limit setting

[Macer]

I recently opened up an old 2009 file in Max Design 2010 and when I tried to render I got a fatal error - please refer to the image below.

 

I did get the same message in 2009 but increasing the memory setting (I think it used to be on the processing tab but can't check as I don't have 2009 installed anymore) from the default to over 6000MB solved the issue and I rendered out a 3000 frame animation fine.

 

But I can't seem to find this setting in 2010? Anyone know where its gone?

 

It is a relatively large scene with loads of proxies, but I'm pretty sure all of the settings are correct, eg BSP2 etc. I've got 8GB onboard but its crashing out at around 4GB (I think it used around 5 -6 GB last time). Now I can't even render out any image from this file without it crashing, even at 640x480!

 

Any help or advice is much appreciated.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

This is part of the reason I am back to using Vray more than MR these days.

 

Almost none of my larger 2009 projects render in 2010. I think it is because Autodesk decided to remove the manual memory setting, and make it automated. I don't know what algorithm it uses to decide the memory limit, but I think it will try to throttle it at about half the RAM installed, and then use some type of caching after that.

 

Try deleting all proxies, and anything along those lines, and see if it renders. That usually fixes it for me, but the problem with that is that my scene is no longer what it was in 2009.

 

Thorsten Hartmann has written a script that is supposed to bring it back, but I can't seem to get it to work correctly. Maybe you will have better luck.

http://forums.cgarchitect.com/36390-maxscript-ram-optimizer-10-faster-max2010.html

 

It doesn't irratate me or anything.

Edited January 7, 2010 by Crazy Homeless Guy

[raziel]

Hi, i had an error like that not too long ago, did a little research and found out that it could be two things, memory, or a corrupted material. In my case it was a corrupted material, so i had to go thru all my materials, rendering the scene in sections until i found out which one was causing the error. After that i made a new one with the same settings and no errors. Dont know if this will help you, but it worked for me.

[jinsley]

I have had the same problem too...

 

I fixed it by cleaning all my sub materials so that only the used slots existed.

 

check all your merged objects too as their materials won't show up in the mat editor... you may have to clean up the original file and then re-merge them.

 

Also make sure that the most current service packs and updates are installed as I haven't not had this problem since doing this.

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

I have had the same problem too...

 

I fixed it by cleaning all my sub materials so that only the used slots existed.

 

check all your merged objects too as their materials won't show up in the mat editor... you may have to clean up the original file and then re-merge them.

 

Interesting.

 

For me, it was happening most with my Onyx Tree models that were made into proxies, and to a lesser extent, Dosch car collection. The Onyx Trees always have a ton of slots that are unused. I thought I had my cars all cleaned up, but maybe not.

 

Maybe this script will correct the problem, though I have no idea if it will work on proxies. I doubt I will have time to try it before the 12th though.

http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/collapsesubobjectmaterial

 

I am still not happy about not being able to manually set the amount of RAM to use though.

[Macer]

Thanks for the info. I'll clean up all the materials and see how it goes. I'll try Thorsten's script too when I get a chance.

 

Its so annoying that a file that worked in 2009 won't in 2010 - I thought software was meant to be improved with each release!

 

I don't really need to render any more images from the project - I can make do with what I've already got, but it still irritating.

 

Thanks for the advice though.

[kenpimentel]

Because people complain about stability and a lot of stability comes from trying to run mental ray in memory-starved conditions, we felt it was important to address these stability issues by automating memory management. In some cases, it obviously doesn't work as well as we had hoped. Here is something Eric Craft posted recently:

 

From the 2010 Maxscript Help File:

Quote:

.Memory_Limit Integer

default: 650 -- integer

Get/set the manual Memory Limit value.

Since 3ds Max 2010, it is not exposed to the UI anymore and is not used by default - see below:

 

.Memory_Limit_Auto

BooleanClass default: true -- integer

NEW in 3ds Max 2010: Get/set the state of the internal Automatic Memory Limit switch.

It is on by default, causing an automatic calculation of the memory limit based on the installed and available memory.

When set to false, the .Memory_Limit value will be used instead.

See Interface: IBitmapPager for details.

This should allow you to set the memory control for mr as you desire. I would personally store the settings in a filepostopen persistent callback. That way the settings will be stored inside the file, and will be executed once the file is opened.

[Macer]

I understand the desire for Autodesk to try and simplify their products, but it should be at the expense of control.

 

Thanks for the tip though, I'll have to have a good rumage through that section and see if I can't manage to get the manual overide to work for this scene.

 

Cheers!

[jinsley]

Interesting.

 

For me, it was happening most with my Onyx Tree models ...

 

 

this was my problem too... the Onyx trees proxies still don't work if I sample and clean the material in scene... only if the source file is cleaned before they are merged into the scene and then instanced...

 

when I make my Onyx trees, I put all the branches and trunk on one sub material, the leaves on their own. Depending on the number of leaf groups I have 3 or 4 sub-materials. If I do not remove the extra slots, there is a chance of that "null DB tag" error coming up... doesn't always happen, but once in a while...

[kenpimentel]

You should also check out this thread:

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=5956480&postcount=16

[Jose Elizardo]

Mark, Travis,

 

I work at Autodesk on the 3ds Max team and would like to know the following information regarding the crash you guys are encountering with 3dsMax 2010 and Mental Ray:

 

- Amount of physical memory on the machine

- Amount of virtual memory defined in Windows

- Mental ray memory limit needed for render without crash in 3dsMax 2009

 

This would help us understand what is going on. Would it also be possible to have a scene that shows the crash you are seeing?

 

Thanks!

 

Jose

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

Jose,

 

I just sent you a private message.

[Macer]

Jose,

 

8GB RAM onboard

 

16GB Virtual limit in Windows Vista 64bit Ult.

 

I had the MR limit set to 6400MB, not sure how much it was actually using though.

 

I'll check to see if I can release the scene, even then it might be a bit large to email...

 

Cheers

[RevitGary]

I was having the same problem with max 2010 and onyx tree proxies.

Thorstens script did the trick .. Thanks Thorsten

[RevitGary]

ok I tried Thorsten script. It seemed to work but I dont know if I am getting all I can out of it. See attachment.

 

under

MR Memory limit in percent .08...should I change this?

and memory padding in percentage 0.0 ......what should this be?

 

Any ideas on what setting I should be using? I really find this all pretty confusing. Do I need to run this before every render? Or just once for the file or just once period?

 

Thanks

[Peter M. Gruhn]

Just late last night I ran into trouble. The thing would get about 15% done with FG on the sky. No geometry showing yet. And run out of memory. So I rebooted and rendered the whole thing with grass and all.

 

Won't solve all your problems, but it's an easy first step.