Maya 2014 - slow file load dialogue box

[guinartm]

Hey guys,

I'm in desperate need of help here. Suddenly Maya's import/export/open file dialogue box has become extremely slow, taking forever to browse thru folders, freezing in the process.

This is independently of file/scene size. Specs are Ok. CPU i7-4930k, 16gb RAm, Geforce GTX 780, running windows 8.1 with a Kingston SSD and a second 3tb Caviar Green HD.

Any ideas? it has become impossible to work with that issue.

Thanks

Breno

[josh_c]

Hey Breno,

One thing that may help is going to preferences > Files/Projects and looking for the File Dialog section. Here you can pick between the OS native and the Maya Default. Using the Maya Default I have run into the same problem you are having on certain machines. Turning this to OS Native greatly improved preformance at the cost of losing some functionality (the favourites and project shortcuts).

Good Luck,

JoSh

[guinartm]

Thanks Josh,

I really appreciate it!

I figured out that it wasn't only happening to Maya. Zbrush and Mari were also being affected.

It seems that iit has something to do with Windows 8.1 updates or anything with the system. Sometimes, it comes back to normal after turning the computer off ( restarting won't work).

What also happens is the computer to take ages to shutdown without showing any update dilaogue box like it did in Windows 7.

Do you know anything about that issue?

Thanks again

Breno

[josh_c]

Yeah that sounds super weird. I can't really give any insight to windows 8, cause I am still on 7 pro. 

But i guess the normal stuff applies like are their any weird processes running, does it happen on other software or mostly just affecting your pro apps. 

All so are you on any network drives? I have seen dialogs activing crazy slow if you have a network drive that is flaky or for some reason points to a location no longer avaliable.

Anyway sorry I can't give any simple solutions.

Good Luck,

JoSh

[guinartm]

The problem comes and goes and it seems to be with the pro apps only... I'm not sure...

Windows 8.1 has too many issues..I even had to run a script to be able to connect to the internet, a common issue, it's unbeliveable.

I deleted vitual drives, and the only drives I have are the two connected to the machine. Network only shows my own drive.

Thanks for the help anyway, please let me know if you hear anything about that...

Breno

[FalconCrest]

I read it has to do with a floppy disk drive here problem is I don't have a floppy drive listed on my computer, so there is nothing I can disable.  It takes up to 10 seconds for Maya native dialog to load.  I prefer to try to get this to work with Maya dialog rather then resort to the windows dialog, any suggestions ?

[Anifex09]

some bios still have the a floppy drive option. Have you tried to disable it through the system's bios ?

[FalconCrest]

I built this PC with no floppy in the BIOS or Windows.

[guinartm]

Hi,

I have fixed that issue by disabling the 3rd party SD card readers I had installed on my PC. Try to disable any device not essential under "disk drives" or storage thru the the device maager window. Hope it helps...

[FalconCrest]

I don't have any SD card readers. In the last hour the maya dialog is loading normally, no 5-10 second delay. If it should re-surface I'll update !

[FalconCrest]

This problem is very odd, for a week or two a month ago the maya native open dialog loaded instantly, then after two weeks it began to take up to 10 seconds.

Currently it takes up to 10 seconds for the Maya dialog to open. I checked my BIOS and I don't have any floppy disk drives etc loading in the BIOS, or for that matter physically installed, floppy disk drives are the thing of the past. The only thing I'm suspicious about is an external HDD, when it's at full power the open dialog will open instantly, sometimes, when it's in possible sleep mode it takes up to 10 seconds. I'd really like more feedback into this, does Maya I/O (read/write) from hardware, the only hardware I would guess that it would I/O from is the graphics card ?

[paulkind]

Thank You!  You just saved me so much frustration.  Disabled my PNY FD USB Device and Poof, all good and snappy!

[halfstone]

I had this problem a while ago and posted the same question here.  Autodesk recommended that I switch to the "Native OS Browser" in Preferences, which worked fine.  They posted this in their "Knowledge Base" solutions - 

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/Maya-General/July-New-Support-Knowledge-Base-Solutions/td-p/5144970

I'm with you, though - a workaround is great, but I'd really like to know why this happens in the first place.  I'll fiddle around with some of the USB controllers and post my results, if any.

[paulkind]

Just to confirm my findings, Disabling the PNY USB Drive and Disabling the Floppy drive instantly fixed my mayaLT File Dialogue.  Considering that the USB Stick was old and my floppy drive has never been used on this computer, it didnt bother me to a) throw away the USB stick and b) Disable the floppy (I can always re-enable if need be...  doubtful).  This fix DOES work.  If you have a floppy drive, start there.  After this check for other oddball or network drives (mapped).  This saved me a LOT of frustration.  As to why it's hapening I am not sure, but it does seem to have a direct connection with old/unsupported/unavailable drives.  It seems to me that MayaLT is trying to catalog the drives and when one is unavail / slow/ unresponsive it waits until it times out and then eventually moves on.  Your best bet is to simply disable the drive(s) causing problems.  Start with the floppy drives as they seem to be the most problematic.

Hope this helps others as much as it has helped me.

[paulkind]

---

@FalconCrest wrote:
This problem is very odd, for a week or two a month ago the maya native open dialog loaded instantly, then after two weeks it began to take up to 10 seconds.

Currently it takes up to 10 seconds for the Maya dialog to open. I checked my BIOS and I don't have any floppy disk drives etc loading in the BIOS, or for that matter physically installed, floppy disk drives are the thing of the past. The only thing I'm suspicious about is an external HDD, when it's at full power the open dialog will open instantly, sometimes, when it's in possible sleep mode it takes up to 10 seconds. I'd really like more feedback into this, does Maya I/O (read/write) from hardware, the only hardware I would guess that it would I/O from is the graphics card ?

---

Try telling that drive to not sleep.  My guess is that it will fix your issue and that your assumptions are correct.  Also check for other oddball / older drives and any USB based drives.  USB drives are typically rather slow in my experience.  I have about 5 large drives connected to my computer but in the end it was the result of a USB stick and a floppy drive causing all my problems.  Also make sure you check in windows (not your bios) under device manager to ensure that windows isnt thinking there is a floppy drive and therefore a driver.  If so, disable it. It will be in device manager under "floppy drive controllers".  Mine was called "Standard Floppy Disk Controller" and I believe it is added wether or not you have a floppy drive.  Start there but also check and see if you can tell your drive to not sleep.

[FalconCrest]

I double checked my Ext USB HDD for Sleep options, everything was set appropriately, and I haven't experienced any 10 second delay when using Maya native open dialog for a while. I hope I've squashed this problem !

[halfstone]

I've been using the workaround suggested by Autodesk (using the OS native browser) and everything has been fine.  I upgraded my graphics card recently, which should have nothing to do with anything - but then decided to try disabling the USB controllers as suggested here.  I disabled the floppy drive controller and switched back to the Maya browser, and everything seemed to work fine. 

As a final experiement, I re-enabled the floppy controller and everything still works fine.  I KNOW it is not the graphics card, but that seems to only leave "random" as the answer.  

[paulkind]

The video card will play no role here.  It may have been one of the USB controllers.  Like I said, it was both a USB and a floppy drive causing my problem.  The usb stick impacted it slightly (5-6 second delay), the floppy drive heavily (20-22 second delay).  Both put together was nighmarinsh considering how often I need to use file dialogues.

Glad you got it working though.  WHatever works is whatever works 😃

Maybe the floppy drive once disabled can be re-enabled with no problems.  Once I disabled mine, i left it off and have no plan to turn it on again unless direly needed.  If it has any chance of affecting things, id rather just not have it load.  Its a floppy drive, I cant even remember the last time I saw floppy, much less needed one.  I mean, 1.4mb cant hold anything of value anyhow 😃

[autodesk]

Thx, this helped me a lot. Disabling the floppy drive in device manager in my case.