Checkerboard 3DS MAX 2017

[whitebirchstudios]

First, thank you for the updates in MAX 2017, especially the 4K UI.

My problem is when I go to Standard/Default my geometry turns into a checkerboard and MAX crashes. I have the latest NVIDIA driver for my GTX 980ti and the latest SP for MAX. IF I chose to save and if I open the saved MAX file, it'll crash immediately when MX opens.

[Anonymous]

Just read this new post - thanks for posting !!!!!! I am going to try this right now as i think it could be the same reason i am in CHECKERBOARD HELL !!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Hey do you have any other Vizpark plugins installed ? im wondering how many of them might cause this problem (I also have omnitiles) Have you notified them ?

[whitebirchstudios]

I have Walls & Tiles, which includes Crossmap. Also, the Material Manager. They all install with Walls & Tiles, I think.

[whitebirchstudios]

Yes. I emailed their support and I posted on the Chaos forum, where they hang out often.

[Anonymous]

OK - ive just uninstalled W&T & lo & behold its also looking like a cure here. I still have Omnitiles installed though - so if things go haywire again ill uninstall that too. 

[whitebirchstudios]

I need to trademark the phrase, "checkboard hell" 🙂

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @whitebirchstudios,

Thank you so much for the update here, that's great to know.  I have made a note of it and I'll ask others with similar issues if they have the plugin.  Again, much appreciated for the information.

@Anonymous, Looks like this one affected you too.  I am going to update in that thread as well (even though I know you have this info now) so that other users who come across the thread are also updated.  

Best Regards,

[whitebirchstudios]

The whole mess was caused by Walls&Tiles and there is not fix. The VizPark guys mentioned it has something to do with how MAX is now rendering textures. I emailed them about a fix and I got this reply, "I am afraid not we are in contact with Autodesk but the problem as far as we know not on our side." 

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @whitebirchstudios,

Thanks for listing the specific plugin that was causing the issues, it's very helpful for future users.  I don't see any notes about Vizpark in the tracking system, except for what I put there documenting the other thread about this.  

What I do know is that for users with problems with this plugin the module crashing is UCRTBASE.DLL, which is a windows 10 .dll.  So, it may be that neither Autodesk or VizPark is to blame here.  Can't hurt to have more info if they'll share it though.  What I can do is make a new bug tracker case if I know a bit more about what exactly they feel is the problem.  I've seen them on various forums and they are good guys who obviously care, so I think they may expand a bit on what they feel the issue is.

Best Regards,

[DEDE1709_2]

Hi Alfred, hi everyone else,

I´m sorry to jump in so late, I wasn´t aware of this thread until now when another customer reported similar problems with Max 2017 in Windows 10.

I could even reproduce crashes in Max 2017 with Windows 7, so it doesn´t seem to be a Windows 10 issue only.

Just to clarify things. We have reported this problem to Autodesk through ADN back in early 2016. Autodesk admitted that there was a problem, they claimed to have fixed the issue in the 2017.1.1 update, which we communicated to our customers. Unfortunately the problems still persist and there is nothing we can do from our side to fix this problem. 

To recap: Our scripted plugins work fine on all Max versions and all Windows systems, except for Max 2017, especially (bot not only) on Windows 10. 

Just recently I´ve tried to post this problem on the beta forums (a few weeks ago) but the system did not allow me to post it (I was prompted with permission errors!!!). So I wrote Kelly Michels to fix the permissions, so I´m able to post there (this has happened before and they fixed it but it came back). I never got a response! 

It´s VERY frustrating for our customers and of course for us, since we are aware of this problem, reported this to Autodesk, reported again, tried to post on the beta forums, but couldn´t even, then not getting responses.

This problem is unresolved and really NEEDS attention from Autodesk, since it´s affecting not only a few customers.

I´m here to talk and help sending reports from our customers, so please send developer to me, so we can resolve this problem finally.

My email is martin@vizpark.com

Thanks,

Martin

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @DEDE1709_2  (Martin),

Thank you for the very informative and descriptive post.  The VizPark plugins are amazing and I want to do everything in my ability to resolve this situation.  I am going to reach out to you via email here shortly to gather more information so that when I contact people internally I have everything I need.  

I want to take this opportunity to thank you for following up in this thread and detailing this to me so I have a better understanding of it.  I don't know much about the reasons for this problem or the permissions issue on the beta forums so I cannot comment on that but I will alert the relevant parties to this issue and do what I can to get you in touch with development.  

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

Hi Alfred:

Do you have any update on this? I used Wall and Tiles for daily work and it is a great plugin.

Please let us know the current status on this issue.

Thanks,

Mike

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @Anonymous,

I am communicating with Martin @Vizpark and trying to find ways to replicate this problem.  I am not getting any crashes on my end with Win7 and a Quadro, but I know other people do get them.  VizPark has been extremely helpful and communicative about this issue in email and I'm trying everything I can to replicate it and get more information to QA.  

Does anyone use an ATI card that has this issue?  

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

---

@Alfred.DeFlaminis wrote:

Hello @Anonymous,

@I am communicating with Martin @Vizpark and trying to find ways to replicate this problem.  I am not getting any crashes on my end with Win7 and a Quadro, but I know other people do get them.  VizPark has been extremely helpful and communicative about this issue in email and I'm trying everything I can to replicate it and get more information to QA.  

Does anyone use an ATI card that has this issue?  

Best Regards,

---

Alfred,

We use Windows 10 64 bit + Nvidia Geforce 1070, we did not have any issue on Max 2016, but almost every scene we open with Max 2017 has checkerboard crash issue if we use Nitrous Direct3D 11, the only temporary solution is to switch the viewport driver to OpenGL, but that's too slow and not practical.

[Anonymous]

Hi there Autodesk,

What is the status on this issue? Can you give some updates?

Thanks,

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @Anonymous,

I installed the Vizpark Walls and Tiles on Win 7, K2100M Quadro, in Max 2017 and I can't make it crash.  I need a scene that causes a crash to move forward on this.  If you have one that causes crashes I'd be very interested in getting my hands on it.  

Out of curiosity, does anyone have this issue with an ATI card?    

Best Regards,

[DEDE1709_2 · Accepted solution]

Hi everyone, hi Alfred,

after some deep investigation, we found out that there were two sources for the crash. The one source was that

somehow the PNG UI bitmaps in the scripted materials Walls & Tiles and Mosaic were not working correctly anymore

in Max 2017 (probably also 2018). This is surely something which has changed on the side of 3Ds Max and not us, 

just to be clear that the problem was not originally caused by us (these plugins all work fine in 2012-2016 with PNGs).

Luckily we were able to solve this problem and another one with Crossmap, so that we were able to release updates

of Walls & Tiles (1.5.1), Mosaic (1.1.4) and Crossmap (1.4.9.7)  today, solving these checkerboard and crash problems in Max 2017. 

All customers can download the updates for free from their VP Account. It´s important to update Walls & Tiles AND

Mosaic (if installed) in order to solve the crashes. 

Anyone else who still has problems, please get in touch with us via our support ticket system with detailed information 

of your setup and test-scenes. 

Best regards,

Martin

[WhitebirchStudios]

Yes, the fix worked beautifully for me.

[Anonymous]

When i log int to my VP account i cant see these new versions - i can only see the previous - for example for W&T I can only see version 1.5.0 for download

[DEDE1709_2]

Hi Leo,

the file you can download is always the latest version, even if your downloads say it´s 1.5.0. The download

file system in the shop is not very intuitive and some older orders might not be updated correctly. We´re working

on a better updating system, which will be available soon and won´t require to logging in on the website.

Let me know if you need further help, please via our support ticket system ...

Best regards,

Martin