3dsmax 2018 crashing on render nodes

Anonymous · ‎09-03-2017

Whenever I start 3dsMax on a render node (either via server, vrayspawner or via 3dsmax.exe) it crashes on load. At first it complained about a graphics adapter, but I changed the graphics mode to Nitrous software. I also turned off the welcome screen, and tried warp mode (-vxw flag) to no avail.

wongam · ‎09-03-2017

Hi @Anonymous,

Sorry to hear that the 3ds Max crashes whenever you start the software. Could you please share a full screenshot, see what is the error message?

AmandaWong

Autodesk Customer Support

Anonymous · ‎09-04-2017

It's a pretty generic error, although I've submitted it using the email in my profile:

It may help to know that the silly video card in these render nodes is a Matrox G200eR.

Anonymous · ‎09-04-2017

Also, I've tried everything here:

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/3ds-max/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/3ds-Ma...

BenBisares · ‎09-04-2017

Do you get a CER (Customer Error Report) whe the crash occurs? If yes fill in the email address field and PM me. I'll check and see if the report points to anything useful

@Anonymous wrote:
It may help to know that the silly video card in these render nodes is a Matrox G200eR.

Just out of curiosity, have you tried going headless? (No graphics card, use Remote Desktop from another computer) Think of this as more of a troubleshooting step. Last make sure that the user account you use for the render farm has admin rights

Ben Bisares

Anonymous · ‎09-04-2017

Wow, it works under remote desktop, although this does me no good as it still crashes as a render node.

BenBisares · ‎09-04-2017

Thanks for submitting the CER, it's proved useful.

Seems like you're not the only one with a similar behaviour and there are two potential culprits

Video drivers
Welcome screen issue

For the welcome screen issue try the following

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/3ds-max/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/3ds-Ma...

For the video drivers, I would try completely uninstalling those "classic" Matrox drivers

Ben Bisares

Anonymous · ‎09-04-2017

I uninstalled the drivers and rebooted and it still crashes. I previously tried the welcome screen fix and that didn't help either. I sent a second CER to see if it says anything different post-driver-uninstall.

BenBisares · ‎09-04-2017

Hmmm...do you have the latest updates (Latest is Update 2 at the time of writing) installed on all the computers?

Ben Bisares

BenBisares · ‎09-05-2017

Hmm...do you have the latest updates (Latest is Update 2 at the time of writing) installed on all the computers?

Ben Bisares

Anonymous · ‎09-05-2017

Yes I do. I skipped update 1 and went straight for 2. I'll try installing 1 first and then 2.

kossatz · ‎09-06-2017

Would like to chime in on this, as we are having exactly the same problems.

On our render nodes, Max crashes at startup. We installed the latest service packs and tried all the steps mentioned here, but to no avail. Our render clients do not have a GPU or sound card.

I already sent a CER to the team, the number was CER_154347213.

If there is anything I can do to fix this problem, I will be glad to help. This error keeps us from using 2018 in production.

Alfred.DeFlaminis · ‎09-06-2017

Thank you for the post @kossatz.

I had been chatting with Kossatz in another forum and asked him to post info on the area so I could update the tracker. He tried all the suggestion in this article to no avail. His system had no GPU in it but Max still crashes on start. All of this information has just been logged with a link to this thread. It seems to be the same problem that @Anonymous is having.

Best Regards,

kammer · ‎09-15-2017

Are there any news regarding this issue? It makes Max 2018 completely useless for production work...

Alfred.DeFlaminis · ‎09-15-2017

It's been logged with QA and development @kammer, and there are some comments. Do your render nodes have graphics cards in them? If so, multiple graphics cards? If the info in the article in my previous post didn't help the notes indicate to look at graphics drivers and make sure they are up to date. Otherwise QA and development are still looking into this issue.

Best Regards,

Anonymous · ‎09-25-2017

He already said his machines don't have graphics cards. Is there any update on this? We really want to use Max 2018!

Alfred.DeFlaminis · ‎09-26-2017

That question was addressed to a different user @Anonymous, @kossatz and @kammer look similar at first glance of the names but are different users. Got me at first too.

I see a sentence under your images which states you are using a Matrox G200eR. As a test can you try to pull one of those cards out of the server and try to render again? I wonder if there is a problem since those cards are as old as they are. In the meanwhile this issue is logged and being investigated by QA and development.

Best Regards,

kossatz · ‎10-19-2017

So, is this issue being worked on? It still prevents us from using 2018!

Alfred.DeFlaminis · ‎10-19-2017

Hello @kossatz,

For those who are having this issue, please create a support case via Manage.Autodesk.com. Autodesk is currently testing a fix and more test cases are appreciated to make sure it's fully working in multiple environments before release. I do not release beta versions of things in the forums so it's necessary to make a standard support case for this and thank you.

Best Regards,
AJ

marksman123 · ‎10-20-2017

Hey man quick question. How come the program gets loaded up that way on your render node?

When I run the Vrayspawner on my other 2 render nodes, it just shows the 3ds max icon at the bottom. In my experience, it never opens up the full program like that (In your screenshot)

Ugh the amount of headaches I've had with rendernodes... A few things to check:

-Make sure the Vray Client License settings on your node points to the IP that the Dongle is on.

-Permissions are always a pain. Is your network setup so that the computers can freely interact without permissions issue?