3ds Max 2017 - Material Editor - Dual monitor problem

[Anonymous]

Hey everyone,

For many years now, using dual monitor setup has been the way i work.

In previous versions of 3ds max, i would rearrange the various windows and toolbars to my liking, save the custom UI as well as keyboard shortcuts, and VOILA, everything works flawlessly.

Now with max 2017, everything works very well, except the placement of the slate material editor on my second monitor, i don't seem to get it to "stick" to the second monitor. Close and reopen max, press "M" , and the material editor pops up on my primary monitor.

Any ideas for the causes and/or a solution?

have a great day everyone,

Johnny

[rendermaster]

have you try this?

[Anonymous]

yes i have, the same problem still persists.

[Daf]

Hi,

I don't have a solution for you unfortunately but I can verify that it works fine here for me. This is not an issue, AFAIK, with 2017.

It occurs to me, tho, that are video card settings/preferences that dictate application windows (and error messages, etc...) open on the primary monitor. Maybe that is the case here?

Good luck!

Daf

[kgokhangurbuz]

Hi;

Can you try running 3ds Max as administrator, do your UI customization and re-start max? does it still reset?

[Anonymous]

hi,

my setup is Intel Core i7-4930K Ivy Bridge E 3.9GHz - 16GB Ram
GeForce GTX 760 4GB
Windows 10 Pro x64

Nothing should cause problems in this setup.

thank you,
Johnny

[Anonymous]

hi,

that still does not solve the issue unfortunately

[Daf]

Still can't help but think, since it wants to open on the primary monitor, that it could be a video card setting and nothing to do with Max. Windows sees the Material Editor as a  program window. Check this thread and see if a couple of the suggestions concerning the extended desktop might help with your issue.

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @Anonymous,

Interesting pickle here...  and quite odd.  Here's what I know:  The location of your MtlEditor is set in your 3dsmax.ini file.  Specifically, the entry named: 

[MtlEditorPosition]

Now, it uses the combined numbers of your widths on your monitors as the X axis on the first number there.  So... if you have a single 1920 x 1080 monitor, that first number will be between 0 and 1920.  So, if you want it to appear on your 2nd monitor, you could just change that value from (for example) 32 -> 2032.  I've tested this and it works.  As a fix, this should do the trick for you.  

But... why is this even happening?!  Do you by any chance have your 3dsmax.ini file set to "read only"?  Is max properly shutting down or does it crash when you exit?  Very strange!  Thanks for any light you can shed on the situation. 

Best Regards,

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @Anonymous,

I just wanted to follow up here, any progress on your issue?

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

Hey Alfred,

Sorry for the late reply, i was out of office for a couple of days, i will try the solution you suggested  and get back to you.

Have a nice day,

Johnny

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @Anonymous,

No problem, thank you very much for the update.  Hopefully it works out, please keep me posted!  

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

Hey @Alfred.DeFlaminis,

i am sorry but i cannot seem to find [MtlEditorPosition] at all in my 3dsmax.ini file.

i attached the file for reference.

the file is not read only, and max always properly closes down.

Update: the handle is not present in 3ds max 2016 ini file either, and 2016 is behaving the same way.

have a great day,

Johnny

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @Anonymous,

Let's go ahead and add it to your 3dsmax.ini file in this case.  Please ensure 3ds Max is shut down and add the following lines to your file at the bottom:

[MtlEditorPosition]
MainWindow=419 86 496 805

Once you have done so, you can try to edit the '419' value until it shows where you would like.  Please let me know if you have issues.

EDIT: For those that want to skip to the final answer, the Slate Editor is not saved to 3dsmax.ini, it's saved to SME.ini.  You can edit the window position there.

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

hey @Alfred.DeFlaminis,

thank you for keeping up with this silly issue.

switching 419 to 2000 does not have any effect, the material editor opens in the exact same place on my main display.

cheers,

Johnny

[Anonymous]

hey @Alfred.DeFlaminis,

any ideas to solve the issue? i know you are busy, any help would be much appreciated.

cheers,

Johnny

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @Anonymous,

I'm never too busy to help, and I'm happy to do so. 

It looks like 3ds Max is distinguishing between the old Mat editor vs. the Slate editor.  Since I use the old material editor, list view, map browser, etc. it seemed to work for me but it explains why it didn't work for you.  The command I had posted above does seem to be for the old school material editor only, something I was previously unaware of.  

Can you verify that you have the latest SP installed  (SP2)?  A colleague mentioned that he was under the impression this was fixed in a SP, I just wanted to double check on that.  What is strange is that my slate editor is remembering the monitor location between sessions, after testing on about 4 machines.  I wonder if somehow your user settings were corrupted.  You might try to reset your user settings and see if that helps at all.  Please keep me posted.  

Thank you very much and best regards,

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @Anonymous,

I just wanted to follow up here, any progress on your issue?

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

hey @Alfred.DeFlaminis,

I confirm that both 3ds max 2017 and 3ds max 2016 area on the latest service packs.

and renaming the ENU folder does not fix the problem. I am starting to get hopeless out here.

seems like i would have to live with dragging the slate material editor to its position every time i open max.

Some info that might come in handy:

OS: Windows 10 Pro - Anniversary edition - Version 1607

CPU: Intel Core i7 4930K Ivy Bridge

GPU: GeForce GTX 760 4GB OC

cheers and thanks,

Johnny

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @Anonymous,

I appreciate you listing your hardware, but for this issue it isn't necessary.  The window position for slate is now saved in SME.ini in the ENU, not the 3dsMax.ini.  I've done some testing and the following flow does work to manually update this.  

EDIT: Updated with new information.  You can open SMI.ini located at:  "C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Autodesk\3dsMax\2017 - 64bit\ENU\plugcfg_ln

and change the top line which (should) read:
MainframeXPos=220

to

MainframeXPos=2020

or whatever works for you.

The question you may want to find out is why your machine isn't allowing you to save over that file.  (Read only maybe?  Group policy?  User rights? Maybe a 3dsmax.exe process is stuck in memory and it's preventing saving?)  At any rate, this should fix the issue and please let me know if it does not.   

Best Regards,