Empty scene using large amounts of RAM in 3dsMax2021

[CoreyMurray]

Hi 

I have a reoccurring issue in 3dsMax2021 where the program uses large amounts of RAM (sometimes up to 10Gb) with blank scenes sitting idle. I start MAX and use default install path for project (user/documents/3dsmax2021) and reasonably quickly MAX starts to consume RAM. CPU sits at about 30% which is also weird, for an empty scene.

ANY ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Cheers

Corey

[RobH2]

Maybe your 'maxstart.max' file has some problems. Go find it and delete it. Then 'Reset' Max and see what happens. This is just an initial thing to try. If it solves it good. If not, then further investigation will be needed. 

[CoreyMurray]

Thanks, but doesn't seem to make a difference

[BenBisares]

If you save that empty scene, how big is the file size? Should be under 1MB.

[CoreyMurray]

yep - its tiny 6ooKb. At the time of saving it was using ~10Gb RAM and 30% CPU

[BenBisares]

Hmmm..that's strange. I was thinking you had some kind of file bloat going on. Just in case can you attach that file?

At the moment I would try what @RobH2 mentioned. Do you have any 3rd party scripts installed?

[CoreyMurray]

I have another install (same version) on another pc which idles  at >1% CPU and around 900Mb of RAM - all as expected.

File attached, any help would be awesome ☺

[RobH2]

It looks to me like the file is OK. I opened your file and it used a little over 2MB RAM and 2% CPU. I added a cube to it and not much change. I then added 100 cubes and little change as well, a bit more RAM. Lastly, I saved your original file to see if anything changed and it did not in the copy. 

Sounds like a memory leak. I don't know much about what causes them or how to mitigate them but I've had a few over the years, not on Win 10 though. 

I'm guessing it's an OS VS Max Installation issue. I'd completely uninstall Max and then make sure your OS is healthy. use DISM or something to verify the OS. Then, reinstall Max and see if the problem abates. 

[CoreyMurray]

Thanks all for the comments and observations, I'll start with a re-install and take it up with ADSK if it doesn't resolve itself.

[CoreyMurray · Accepted solution]

I updated VRay to vray_adv_51003_max2021_x64 and this issue went away. Sounded similar to this issue on Chaos forums. Thanks Ben!

[BenBisares]

FYI for those following this thread, we did a remote session with Corey and through the process of elimination found out that when 3rd party plug-ins were disabled the issue went away. As you can see above Corey was them then able to narrow it down to the V-Ray plug-in.

[RobH2]

That's what it sounded like to me, a memory leak and those are frequently from 3rd party programs that aren't tested as rigorously. I'm sure most of your 3rd party plugins are fine. It's probably just one of them that's the culprit. Enable them one at a time and work for a bit. As soon as the problem returns, look at what you installed last. 

[CoreyMurray]

no it doesn't say anything about a memory leak. I'm sure VRay is tested 'rigorously' - I just needed to install the latest version in which issue had been fixed.

[RobH2]

That's what a memory leak is, when a program consumes a crazy amount of RAM. That's what the plugins were doing, one of them at least as it bumped into VRay. Disabling them stopped the leak. VRay is tested like crazy but some other plugin interacting with it caused the leak. 

[alikasb]

I have problem then 3dsmax 2023 and 3dsmax 2024 using about 10 precent of CPU with new start and empty scene. Both have arnold. And 2024 have tyflow plugin instaled, 2023 not have tyflow instaled.
My CPU is ryzen 5900x.

And I not have VRay...

[Diffus3d]

Hello @alikasb ,

You should start a new thread, your issue is unrelated to the issue in this thread.  You might check this thread for some links about similar issues in the meanwhile. 

Best Regards,