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3DS Max 2018 - Sluggish UI and UV Editor

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Auldbenkenobi polycounter lvl 11
Hey everyone,

I upgraded to 2018 a few months ago but only recently had the time to get in and work on some projects. While i'm finding it more stable than say, 2017, I'm having problems with sluggish UI and UV Editors. I've got some GIFs to highlight what I'm getting at. Apologies if they're too large for the forums, let me know and I'll reduce their size.

UI - Mainly with the Subtools, an Objects base Edit Poly is really sluggish but the modifier is much faster as can be seen. Not really a major issue but would be neat if I could fix it - 


I did find this, but the solution offered hasn't worked for me: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/3ds-max-forum/very-slow-menus-in-max-2018/td-p/7096480

UV Editor - It's very sluggish when I'm moving shells around, and frequently locks up as if it's about to crash:


I realise this could be down to a large number of things, but I was hoping someone here may have experienced similar and found a solution to it. Any help is massively appreciated, and let me know if you need more information. I'll do my best to provide.




Replies

  • Auldbenkenobi
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    Auldbenkenobi polycounter lvl 11
    Okay, I was dumb. UV problem was fixed by unwrapping parts individually and not as one giant object of 171 parts. I'm still have the issue with the Subtools though.
  • pior
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    pior grand marshal polycounter
    The solution is pretty much to not upgrade these kind of programs until you have to (license expiring, or some function you absolutely need). There is no reason whatsoever to jump to a new point release right when it comes out. Get into the habit of waiting for about a year before upgrading, and it will save you many headaches.

    (Now I understand that this doesn't directly help you with your issue ... but, adopting a conservative approach to software upgrades definitely does prevent that kind of stuff from happening too often.)

    Good luck.
  • Dash-POWER
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    Dash-POWER polycounter lvl 6
    This happens also on another older versions of max ~2012-x only difference which I can see is that the switching between selections looks even slower on 2018 then on 2015 for example. Unfortunately I can't help you. This looks like redrawing GUI problem.
  • Auldbenkenobi
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    Auldbenkenobi polycounter lvl 11
    @pior Yeah, normally I'd stick with a version a long time until I need to change, but I built a new PC last year and couldn't get the license for my older version to work. I completely agree with you though on waiting.

    @Dash-POWER
    No worries, like I said, it's not actually a major deal breaker for me, just frustrating. Its fast enough to not be called completely broken and and slow enough to be irritating. 
  • CompanionCube
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    CompanionCube polycounter lvl 12
    it's useful to post what hardware, OS and graphics driver your using. 

    if you use 2017/2018 on windows 10 with nvidia cards update to  384.76+ drivers which should fix viewport freezes and maybe other issues. 

    if you use Nvidia cards never install Geforce Experience, it's been known to cause issues for some 3ds max users.

    if your using nvidia then in power management set to 'prefer max performance'

    if you use a wacom sometimes turning off 'use windows ink' helped me.


  • Auldbenkenobi
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    Auldbenkenobi polycounter lvl 11
    @CompanionCube
    I'm on Windows 10 with an AMD R9 390, and an AMD FX 8350, so the Nvidia problems are ruled out for me. Power management I did actually try but had no success.

    I do use a Wacom, but I don't always have it plugged in. I'll give that an experiment tonight, thanks!
  • mod
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    mod polycounter lvl 11
    @Auldbenkenobi  Maybe you managed to solve your slowdown? I am having the same problem and it drives me nuts 
    Did all the usual stuff, fresh win10 install, fresh max install, latest nvidia drivers without Geforce experience, power plan to high performance but nothing helps. 
  • Eric Chadwick
    Have you installed the latest Updates? No more malarkey with Service Packs vs. Extensions vs. Hotfixes... just Updates now.
    http://area.autodesk.com/blogs/the-3ds-max-blog/3ds-max-20182-update

    Like Pior pointed out, it's best to wait a cycle or so while Autodesk irons out their bugs. Surprised the OP couldn't install older versions, subscription comes with 3 versions IIRC.
  • Auldbenkenobi
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    Auldbenkenobi polycounter lvl 11
    Cheers, Eric, I'll look into that tonight. I was able to install the older versions but it was refusing to accept the license key it provided me (Which was sent from Autodesk). So I resorted to the latest version.
  • Jhotun
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    Jhotun polycounter lvl 18
    This is happening to me too. The UI seems to refresh slowly and since I like to have the panel expanded to three columns it becomes very frustrating when a lot of switching happens.

    There is a thread in Autodesk Forums where this topic is being discussed and it seems it is related somehow to the Power Management in windows. Switch to performance mode or tweak around there and see if that helps. At least one user in the Autodesk forums had it solved with that. I have to say that for me it does not fix anything but maybe for others it will. Sorry for not providing the right link, can't find it right now. I think you have to reboot every time you mess with things there.

    What I do to kinda fix it is get rid of the Command panel and use the modeling ribbon from the top. It works much faster and in the end it has most of the stuff I need. I have my command panel assigned to V key for those things that are exclusive there.

    Hope that helps a bit.
  • mod
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    mod polycounter lvl 11
    Latest updates or not its lagging no matter what. I was so frustrated with the lag that I even re-installed my computer and then installed only nvidia drivers and nothing else to see if max would lag on a fresh empty system. And what do you know the lag was gone! The command panel still flickers but it's barely noticeable and sub object change is instant. So next I installed all my usual software one by one restarting and checking after each one to see if max would start to lag agian. The lag got back after I installed Asus AI suite 3 so I quickly uninstalled it but the lag was still present.... So I think asus software made some changes to the system that a simple uninstall couldn't remove I tried removing all the residual processes and files manually but the lag was present no matter what I tried. Eventually I ended up reinstalling windows yet agian but this time I didn't install AI suite 3 and so far so good lag is gone! knock on wood.  
  • pior
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    pior grand marshal polycounter
    Hey there @mod - If you want to be 100% sure that nothing will go wrong I would recommend you to look into DeepFreeze or something similar. It would allow you to lock your configuration with no risk of anything screwing it up later as your whole system would be reverted to a good state at each restart. It's an extreme solution but it can do wonders to a workstation. I am not using anymore on my main machine since it is used for many various tasks but I am seriously considering it for a secondary workstation I am currently putting together. Just my 2c.
  • mod
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    mod polycounter lvl 11
    pior said:
    Hey there @mod - If you want to be 100% sure that nothing will go wrong I would recommend you to look into DeepFreeze or something similar. It would allow you to lock your configuration with no risk of anything screwing it up later as your whole system would be reverted to a good state at each restart. It's an extreme solution but it can do wonders to a workstation. I am not using anymore on my main machine since it is used for many various tasks but I am seriously considering it for a secondary workstation I am currently putting together. Just my 2c.
    Thanks for the tip! I will definitely look into that I was actually using windows restore points but some extra assurance  would definitely be nice if something else goes wrong 
  • Hellfire
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    Hellfire polycounter lvl 14
    I had the same problem with 3ds max 2014 rollout. I have disabled the areo overlay (win7) and it works fine.
  • cptSwing
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    cptSwing polycounter lvl 11
    That Nvidia power-vs-performance setting did shave a few ms of my Max's reaction time, cheers!
  • K-PAX
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    K-PAX polycounter lvl 7
    i have a experience.you need create a new account in windows10. sure, lose all you app setting. this bug will go away. WTF autodesk!
  • redhonour
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    redhonour polycounter lvl 8
    I know it's an old thread but I found a workaround a bit ago that got me back to speedy when it comes to the command panel.

    In my case, having the Command Panel extended to more than one column introduced a lot of slowness when working with sub-objects (or most anything that causes the command panel to refresh). I'm on an ultrawide screen so a wider command panel that showed more made a lot of sense.  I was at a 3x column and even at a 2x column you start to see instant slowdown. Just resizing the command panel increased speed of switching among sub-objects significantly:




    Good news for 2019 owners is this was addressed in Max 2019.3:


    source


    Of course I'm not and Autodesk will fix this for me never. Instead, I just got another excuse to stop using the command panel so much and start relying more on hotkeys, quad menus, and amazing add-ons like RappaTools and Zorb's Modifier Modifier to manage my stack.

    Alternatively you could make your command panel one really long column, which works for some reason *shrug*

    Hope this helps someone!
  • musashidan
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    musashidan high dynamic range
    This is completely solved in 2020. There is a new 'mode 5' which runs in the background and significantly speeds everything up. This command panel issue was known to the devs and it's been resolved.
  • redhonour
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    redhonour polycounter lvl 8
    Wow, great to hear! I haven't been able to look at any other version outside of 2019 and work has us on 2018 for the foreseeable future. Hope to get there one day!
  • Hellfire
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    Hellfire polycounter lvl 14
    This problem i had with aero interface in win7. When I disabled it, the problem was solved.

    @ah sry i post this above some time ago. How can i delete my post?


  • Thousand
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    Thousand polycounter lvl 9
    This is completely solved in 2020. There is a new 'mode 5' which runs in the background and significantly speeds everything up. This command panel issue was known to the devs and it's been resolved.
    Hi Musashidan,

    I was trying to find info about this "mode 5", but to no avail. Are you able to shed more light on this topic and how 2020 speeds things up?

    thanks!
  • gandhics
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    gandhics polycounter lvl 7

    I was trying to find info about this "mode 5", but to no avail. Are you able to shed more light on this topic and how 2020 speeds things up?

    thanks!

    By default, it uses "mode 5". NO need to do anything. Just update to 2020.
  • Srki

    Hey guys, just a little update on this issue.

    I started having the same sluggish Command Menu all of a sudden on my 3dsmax 2021 and none of the above things helped with it. I'm talking the simplest select deselect is taking 2 - 3 seconds, not to mention switching between the create and modify tabs in the menu.

    For me, the solution was to navigate to the workspaces in the top right corner, and switch from the default mode, to something like the modular-mini.

    It fixed the issue instantly and the speed is back as well. Almost as though the command menu needs a restart once in a while...

    Credit to the user above that suggested turning off the command menu completely and using the ribbon to model, that worked for me too for narrowing down the issue.


    Let me know if this works for you guys!

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