3ds Max 2018 issues with 10 gpu setup

[Anonymous]

Hi!, 

am having weird issues with my max license when i try to load max in my computer with 10 geforce 1080tis
here my PC specs:

-watercooled workstation
-10x gtx 1080ti
-Supermicro X10DRX with custom bios
-2x Xeon E5 2620v4
-2TB M.2 Samsung 970
-128GB ECC DDR4 RAM

here a link of the video describing the problem:
https://vimeo.com/288759904

So far  I made it work by disabling one Gpu, so could it be possible that max is locked to support only a max. of 9 gpus?
Thanks!!

Cris

Your post subject line has been edited by @hagen.deloss: 3ds Max issues with 10 gpu setup

[hagen.deloss]

Hello @Anonymous

That's a lot of Graphics cards!!!

I'm looking on the general article on Graphics setups for Max and I'm not seeing any limits on GPU's in that document. I also checked our internal documentation, but it mainly covers minimum hardware requirements...not maximum 😄

I will reach out to a few folks here and get back to you on this!

I'm happy it's working when you disable one at least, that's an upside.

[Anonymous]

Thank you!, i will be looking forward!, would really love to be able to take the full potential of the system.

thanks for your response!

Cris

[hagen.deloss]

Hi @Anonymous

Sorry for the delay, I got a message from the principal rendering engineer for Max, who says,

"I am not aware of any limit, though we haven't tested with 10 GPUs...
It would be fine if the user could send us the Max.log file which is generated in :
C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Autodesk\3dsMax\2018 - 64bit\ENU\Network\Max.log

If you set environment variable 3DSMAX_LOG_DEBUG_OUTPUT to 1, there will be a DebugOutputString.Log created right next to the max.log file in network folder. It will include information on max startup process.

Also, I would enable 2 more environment variables :
OGS_ERROR_LOG_ENABLED set to 1 and OGS_WARNING_LOG_ENABLED set to 1
To get the most out of Max.log file. But don't forget to set them to 0 after you generated the Max.log file.
Thank you"

Let me know if I can clarify any of this!

Talk to you soon,

[Anonymous]

Hi Hagen, 

okay will do so, is possible that you can ellaborate more in the environment variables setup, this is more advanced for me. but will be glad to do it.

thanks!!

[Anonymous]

Attached here you will find the log i got without changing environment variables

[hagen.deloss]

Hi @Anonymous

I sent this max log to David Lanier, we will see what he says. I also asked for clarification on the environment variable settings.

In the meantime I wanted to ask, do you disable the same GPU every time you start Max, or do you disable a arbitrary one every time? Do you have any other programs that interact in unexpected ways with your 10GPU setup?

Talk to you soon,

[hagen.deloss]

@Anonymous

It looks like the max logs are from when you disable the 10th GPU, can you send us the one where max fails to start up? 

Thanks,

[Anonymous]

Hi Hagen, this is the funny part.. this logs are actually with the 10 gpus, and with the crashing, but it doesnt get saved in the log. so probably thr option with the environment variables might work, if you can sed me instruction how to do it, will be glad to do it.

[Anonymous]

HI @hagen.deloss actually just tried like in the video i attached earlier with one gpu less, other software like c4d, blender, fusion, resolve, after effects, they work fine with 10 gpus.

[hagen.deloss]

Hi @Anonymous

I'm looking for some more clarity from development into the issue... but we are also wondering, what workflow are you expecting from a 10GPU setup? Usually if you are doing heavy rendering the workflow would be to rely on a networked system instead of local. 

Do you disable the same GPU every time you start Max, or do you disable an arbitrary one every time?

[Anonymous]

Hi Hagen, well actually is indeed needed for shading purposes in octane, fstorm and vray gpu, my idea was not to only render in network, but to work too. And working with 9 instead of 10 is still some performance loss. Cinema 4d and blender, doesnt have any problem so definitely it's something that max should support out of the box now that gpu rendering is getting so trendy. I disable always the same gpu. Will be waiting for the environment variables instructions so I can make the corresponding tests and provide the devs more logs. Thanks for your support

[hagen.deloss]

Hello @Anonymous

I'm sorry I haven't responded until now, I sent an email with the details you provided and haven't heard anything from the developers I emailed. I wish I had more information to pass along!

Is there any chance that the GPU that you're turning off could have some issues? I would see if turning off a random one results in Max Starting up. If you can isolate this occurrence to a particular GPU that could give us further information.

It's also highly possible that 3DS Max 2018 doesn't boot with 10GPU's, and I can submit that in our internal database if we can't isolate 1 GPU as causing the issue.

[Anonymous]

So far after some time that has passed (more than one month), and after offering my system for further tests, seems like Autodesk doesnt have too much interest in this case, and after trying several times to reach the persons who can give a help in this stituation, I have to say that is really dissapointing how Autodesk treats paying customers.

So i Have been forced in the position of to just stick with the 9 GPU limit impossed by AD, or switch to another software like C4D, who really care about providing solutions to paying customers.

I will have to evaluate my options, but again very dissapointed by the lack of response of a company who is charging lots of money for a software that doesnt perform as expected with specialized hardware.

Thats sad Autodesk...

[michele.mk]

Hi @Anonymous,

Thank you for the message and the feedback. Autodesk cares about all customers and such feedback is important for us as it can help us to provide better support.

Did you try to turn off the GPU as suggested from Hagen?

Would that help if we get a technician to have a deeper look at what is happening?

@hagen.deloss did you heard back from the  developers ?

I am looking forward to your answer.

[Anonymous]

Hi @michele.mk, 

thanks for you fast and kind feedback, actually i did all the sugestions provided by @hagen.deloss, except the one that require more technical expertise, I was still waiting for the information on how to execute this tests, sadly not response yet...

I would really appreciate getting in touch with a technician to sort out this problem.

Thanks!

Kind regards, 

Cristian Koch Rumpf

[michele.mk]

Hello @Anonymous,

Then I would recommend to open a ticket over this link to the technical support and to provide as much information as possible. Let them know that you wrote in the community and the troubleshoot didn't work. 

I hope that helps. 

Best regards, 

[hagen.deloss]

@Anonymous

Great to hear from you again! I would like to make sure this isn't a hardware issue, have you tried swapping out a different GPU? And you said prior that all 10 GeForce GTX 1080 Ti are on the same driver update, is that correct?

Thanks for the additional suggestions @michele.mk 😄

I will loop a few other folks into an email regarding this.

[hagen.deloss]

Hi @Anonymous

I wanted to check in and see if you had a chance to look into replacing one of your GPU's as a test, or were able to narrow down this issue to any single graphics card?

If that proves unsuccessful, would you be able to enable the environment variable : 3DSMAX_LOG_DEBUG_OUTPUT and set it to 1? Here is an article on how to create an environment variable in Windows 10 ( just replace the FLEXLM with the Max debug).

Then close all windows and restart Max with 10 GPUs enabled.

A log file named “DebugOutputString.Log” should be created in the “Network” subfolder like :

C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Autodesk\3dsMax\2018 - 64bit\ENU\Network

It should contain a lot more of debugging information than the usual Max.log that I can pass along to development

Let me know if I can clarify any of this information further 😄

[Anonymous]

Hi.

Same issue for me with 3ds max 2017 & 2018 (didn't try other versions).

My workstation is an "hybrid assembly" with 11 Gpus:
- 1 x Quadro M2000 (used for 3 x Displayport UHD @ 60 Hz display monitors)

- 3 x GTX 1080

- 4 x GTX 1080ti

- 3 x GTX 980ti

(all this power is used for 3D rendering under Ocatne or Redshift or V-Ray RT)

If more than 9 Gpus are activated in the Windows Device Manager, 3ds Max will start loading and displaying the main window but the 3D viewports keeps empty (gray, with no grids at all), then the memory usage (from task manager) suddenly goes down from around 900 MB to 50Mb and 3ds max will close himself... Without further notice.

This is regardeless  of wich GPU model is active or not.

Any idea how to resolve this issue ?

Kind regards.

JC MATIAS