[3DS Max] Weird scene opening bug (Update: Now it won't render either)

BTDarmstad

Hey.

I've been working on some interior design in 3DS Max, and I suddenly started getting this generic error message upon opening the scene.



This happens to previously saved scenes as well (I save incrementally).

However, if I open a much simpler scene when I load Max, THEN open the scene I'm working on, it works.

I find this sort of behavior really sketchy, and I would like to know what is causing this if anyone knows.

mihail.lupu

Try to merge all of your objects in a new scene. Check if this will work it out .

monster

What version of Max are you using? Can you post your files?

thomasp

Try running garbage collection in the script interpreter line prior to opening your scene file:

https://help.autodesk.com/cloudhelp/2017/ENU/MAXScript-Help/files/GUID-CA7ABB4B-6CB6-47B7-903D-84D2F45D993D.htm

If that happens to solve your issue then you can put the command into a startup script:

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/3ds-max/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2019/ENU/3DSMax-Basics/files/GUID-C372E124-2B7E-41BB-94B0-5FF945D51095-htm.html

BTDarmstad

Sorry I haven't responded to this until now. I was afraid of tampering with something that worked in its own mysterious way while the project was still ongoing.

I have later tried the garbage collection solution, and it doesn't seem to make any difference. I would try to copy everything to another scene, but I have render settings I need as well, and custom AOV settings. I did try to delete everything and then import to the same scene, which seemed to work just a little bit, but eventually that failed too.

I'm posting here again because, likely due to the same issue, the scene is now failing to render at all as well. It got dodgy and eventually useless on one of my computers, but worked on my every so slightly more powerful laptop, and now it doesn't work on either. It seems to be some kind of memory leak or something that gets worse with every frame rendered (sequence of 150 frames).

I might share the scene if it's necessary, but only through DM, because it is meant for a customer (this particular scene is more for our company's showreel, so it doesn't have a deadline, thank god, but we're sending it unsolicited to the customer too), and I don't want it openly out there. However, to answer your question, it's Max 2019.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. I will try to find a way to copy over exact render settings in the meantime.

Dihemi

Probably can't help you with your render woes. But did you know you can merge render settings?

Have you tried excluding objects one by one to see if it's one specific mesh causing the trouble? Had some trouble with messy meshes especially as of late. Arnold also seems to terminate when it can't find textures/materials without much of an error prompt. Does it start the render and breaks after a while? Or does it terminate pre-computing? You can try the "Re-translate Scene on a Frame Change" under render settings, I don't know if it really resets memory that much but it's worth a try. Try lowering bucket size to decrease memory usage if you think that's the problem (increases render time though).

That's all I got. : /