Anybody have problems with MAX crashing or know of a possible cause/solution after merging 2 .max files together?
We merged some objects from one scene created by a student into another (our main one) and when we run through the frames or even just do some keyboard/mouse options, we get a corruption error --> “do you want to save a recover file” and adios the session goes. The machine is a Dell 620 workstation with 2GB RAM/Dual 900 MHz PIII Xeons with Windows 2000. The .max file itself is only 1.7MB in size. I have reinstalled MAX with no luck. Interestingly, the problem does not seem to happen on a low-end machine running Windows 98 but does with my Demo copy of MAX at home with XP Home.
hmm… it seems funny because your computer doesn’t suck. What I would do is save the recover file. If you open up max again…you’ll find the file menu and the recovery file will be at the top of the recent documents. Keep working and save it. Also maybe you should try to x-ref the models into your scene. I am almost positive that they would eliminate the crashing problem.
Do you have the new 3ds max 5.1 update? 5.1 is now available from discreet.com. It’s a good start for lots of bug fixes.
Also, no offense to Team_74, from what I’ve been told x-ref is bad. If your just using one machine and your not moving many files around, its fine to use, but when you try and net render using x-refs, you end up having problems with texturing. X-refs apparently dont properly track their textures around. So its best to fix this problem than use an x-ref workaround.
Try 5.1, its free, all you need to enter is your serial number. If that dosen’t work, lemme know!
i recognize the problem that you are talking about textures. Now this solution worked well with my 2 home computers when I expreimented with network rendering…but you MUST HAVE all files and textures on every computer in the render farm…without this…the textures get distorted and don’t really work. But I do agree with you…fix the problem by merging.
Every so often a MAX scene becomes corrupted because life is cruel. Fortunately, there are a couple tricks that might help you when merging. In the past, I found that it helps to merge the objects from a scene that is suspected to be corrupted into a blank scen and resave it. Sometimes this will eliminate an obscure issue. Then you can try to merge the two new scenes together as before and pray it works. You will not lose any textures on animation so it doesn’t hurt to try. As for MAX crashing… you’re not alone. Just say yes to saving and try the recovery file as was already suggested. Crashes are a normal part of the process at this point… unfortunately. Just save often and save instances of the scene before you make permanent modifications to geometry or animation (convert to mesh, etc.). Good luck.
-Brandon
Thanks for your suggestions. Have downloaded 5.1 and will install tonight but am concerned that it is for WIN2K or XP Pro only. I planned on bringing in my XP Home personal machine as part of rendering farm but it would be at 5.0.
Are 5.1/5.0 .max forward/backwards compatible? Backburner care?
Will continue with merges as it becomes a real headache keeping paths straight/the same on the various PCs we use at home and at the school.
The question I ask is “Why is max NOT crashing?” I average a crash about every ten minutes, no matter what is going on in the scene. Select a vertex, crash. Deselct some edges, crash. Bring down the file menu, crash. After ten minutes I start getting paranoid, because it’s been too long between crashes.
Thanks. Just followed one of the suggestions (Thanks Reisser) of merging “bad” max files into a fresh one and resave on my home PC. Now on the way to the High School to see if that helps as well as upgrade to 5.1. Will attempt to test 5.1/5.0 compatibility there also. Always have my students save often, but it causes all of us headaches when I suggest going back 3 saves and redo lots of work. Saving too frequently can cause confusion also.
We are back in business! Thanks for all your help. Ended up being something wrong with one of the .max files that was merged. Think it was due to the fact that it was made and animated in MAX 4.2 and then uped to V5.
For ha-ha’s rendered our not yet completed main scene with a 5 second simple camera move with 2 ray-traced lights (never used them before). Took over 3 hours on a Dell 8250 w/1GB RAM and the 3.06 GHz P4 HT processor (pseudo-dual)! This is going to be real fun!!!
*Originally posted by SGK *
**We are back in business! Thanks for all your help. Ended up being something wrong with one of the .max files that was merged. Think it was due to the fact that it was made and animated in MAX 4.2 and then uped to V5.
For ha-ha’s rendered our not yet completed main scene with a 5 second simple camera move with 2 ray-traced lights (never used them before). Took over 3 hours on a Dell 8250 w/1GB RAM and the 3.06 GHz P4 HT processor (pseudo-dual)! This is going to be real fun!!! **
Ahh, yes…4.2 to 5 is very bad… Whenever possible, stick with your version of max throughout the project. A lotta little technical glitches arise when you go from version to version.
But here’s one for ya all to ponder…I made a robot in 3ds, been working on it for a while. Later, I tried transferring to my USB drive, and noticed I was out of room…
My Max file was 176megs…WHY? HOW? All questions I dont know…
Yeah, I dont have time to fiddle anymore, Im juss rebuilding the robot