3Ds max crashing

Leodido

I'm using the 2012 version for Students of 3Ds max (version 14 apparently) and experienced a few crashes.
I'm currently following the 3D motive foliage tutorial and I crashed a few times while making some branches while applying materials mostly.

Is there anything special I should do configuration or update wise?

I went to the Autodesk update page (http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/index?siteID=123112&id=2334435&linkID=9241178#section2) but it's very confusing and I'm not really sure which update I'd need. Could anyone point me to the correct updates?

I have an ATI Radeon 5800 serie graphic card which is not using the latest catalyst drivers, could that be an issue?

The "Diagnose Video Hardware" functionnality reports the following :

Welcome to MAXScript.

Note: PhysX SDK initialized
Note: PhysX Plugin initialized
Max to Physcs Geometry Scale = 1.0
Max to Physcs Geometry Scale = 1.0
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
////////// Nitrous Hardware Report
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
0: [X]ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series \\.\DISPLAY1
1: ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series \\.\DISPLAY3

Noors

you need the service pack 2
update your ATI driver

(In Max, switch back to directX under
customize>preferences>viewport>choose driver)

Leodido

I updated my ATI drivers and got the service pack 2 for max, but I'm still crashing sometimes

I went to the setting menu you mentioned but I only have a direct3d or opengl option there. If I choose direct3d I noticed some things went missing in the viewport option (consistent color namely..)

Something is odd here

poopipe

Try different driver versions until you get one that doesn't break.