Can't open file after saving and closing

[philip]

I have a project that is split up into 3 different scenes - 2 of the scenes works fine, but the 3rd will not open after being saved/closed. I can merge everything into a new scene without problems, but when I save/close it won't open again...

I've tried deleting objects etc. in stages, even deleted everything and still no effect - can't open it even if it's empty.

Also tried deleting animation layers and setting up new paths without any help.

Whenever I try opening the scene it stops "loading" at 1300-1600MB (RAM) in the taskmanager (even when the scene is empty) - I'm guessing it's a texture/material it's trying to load, but I don't know...

Any guesses?

[irishman_team_kilber]

maybe it's just one model that makes it close try merging one model at a time, keep merging until the scene closes then you know it's that model that is causing your scene to close then don't merge it you will need to remodel that model,

save it give it a new file name and delete the old one, so you don't get confused, don't just overright the old scene,

you could upload the scene and see it it closes on anyone else computer, but it there is a copyright issue then you can wait until an empoyee chimes in and you will have to get autorisation/autorization from m your client or company so an autodesk empolyee can take a look at it,

[philip]

I think you misunderstood the issue - the scene doesn't close or crash, the issue is that I can't open the file after I've closed it.

If I merge the scene into a new MAX and save it as a new file, I'm unable to open it after i close it. Even after deleting everything in the scene I'm unable to open the file.

[brentscannell]

I think what @irishman_team_kilber  was getting at was: could you try breaking down the 3rd scene even further, to better isolate the problematic object or objects in the scene.

[irishman_team_kilber]

@brentscannell last time i said something like that i was shouted down by a poster saying "i am not stupid, i have been using max for a number of years" so i give out less infomation, unless he/she ask for it.

@philip maybe you just found a bug in that file, have you installed the lastest hotfix and service pack

[philip]

That's what I've been doing - probably saved 20+ different scenes after deleting different objects. In the end I had zero objects in the scene, and still unable to open the file (a file without any objects). So the problem may not be an object, but something relating to an object that doesn't get removed when deleting the specific object.

So there must be something else in the file (non-object) that is making it impossible to load. I found 119 "unlinked" particle events and 2700 invisible helpers, but deleting them didn't help either - still unable to open the file after closing it.

My only guess right now is that it's a material/texture that it's having trouble loading, but I have no clue how to isolate the specific mat/tex.

EDIT:

My bad, read to fast - will try merging step by step instead of deleting! sorry

[philip · Accepted solution]

UPDATE:

So I tried merging roughly 50% in two different scenes (everything with the same naming was merged together) - and somehow both of those scenes were able to be opened after closing. So my guess was that the problem was an interaction between two objects or groups that needed to be together to cause the issue.

I don't know what the problem was, but the scene had a large number of helpers ("event00", "display00" and "arc00") that was linked together. No clue how it ended up in this scene... but now it works!

1. I should have figured this out on my own

2. I should read better

3. Thanks for the help!

SOLVED

[irishman_team_kilber]

that is why communites are here to help people out so there is no need to figure it out on your own, i gave little infomation out incase you  already knew what you were doing i did not want to look like a complete pr*** or thinking i was talking down to you, at least you got your scene working 

[brentscannell]

Glad to hear that you got it sorted out!

If you've observed some weird helper objects showing up in your scene, I would also recommend that you view this thread and article regarding 3ds Max security tools.

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/3ds-max-forum/potential-issues-caused-by-third-party-maxscript-files-...

https://area.autodesk.com/blogs/the-3ds-max-blog/3ds-max-security-tools/