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3ds max 2011 - not loading on Windows 10

thomasp
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thomasp hero character

Hey, I'm trying to set up this old warhorse of a Max version on Windows 10 21H1 but it doesn't quite load correctly. The set up/deployment wizard was run through the Windows compatibility wizard, set to Windows 7 mode. No issues there.

After installation simply running the application doesn't work but when run through the compatibility wizard it loads up fine. However as soon as I tell the wizard to save settings and close it it makes no difference - without the wizard running in the background Max won't load.

The issue is that the splash screen is coming up and just when it switches from 'Initializing 3ds max' to loading plugins, it vanishes without an error. Can't find anything about that in the event viewer either but perhaps I'm not looking in the right spot (?).

My guess at this point is that some additional component needs to be 'blessed' to work in Windows 7 mode, not just the exe. Doesn't help that half the program is just plugins. I cannot seem to apply compatibility settings to anything but exe's though at least not through the GUI.

Any idea how to solve this?

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  • Neox
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    Neox veteran polycounter

    No idea, works perfectly for me. Besides windows telling me i use old software, all good on my end. Can't really help sadly :/


    Did you try running as admin?

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  • Tiles
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    Tiles greentooth

    Maybe a required runtime library is missing. Try to start Max from the command line. It may give you a hint in the console window what the problem is.

    • In windows explorer navigate to the folder with the max exe.
    • Open the commandline. Windows search: type in cmd. And you should be able to open it.
    • Now in the command line type in cd , followed by a space. cd stands for change directory. A old DOS command ...
    • Copy the path from the explorer, paste it behind cd in the console, and hit enter. The path in the console should now change to the folder path
    • Type in the name of the max exe and hit enter. I have unfortunately no Max, no idea how the exe is named.

    Max should now start. And when it quits then you might be able to see a error message in the console why it quits. No guarantee though. But might be worth a try.

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  • thomasp
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    thomasp hero character

    Unfortunately Max is a Windows application through and through, it does not spit out anything useful when you start it from the commandline. Far cry from Blender or unixoid software in general. Nothing interesting in the only log file I managed to find either.

    But that not withstanding - the problem seems to have fixed itself - for the time being anyway. I can't explain what happened. I did set compatibility for shortcut as well as the exe separately and to no avail and then put the machine to sleep to deal with this issue another day.

    Today after waking it up (not rebooting) Max appears to start without problems. Lets see if that lasts. πŸ˜›

    I hardly ever need it anyway, I'm just keeping this dinosaur around for the odd special case where I know Max can give a certain result without experimentation and to have a second look at the odd problematic file coming out of my daily drivers. It's celebrating it's 12th birthday this month! πŸ˜‚

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