Max 2017 Installed with HIGH PRIORITY process :/

[Anonymous]

I just received my new Dell Worsktation (Dual Xeon) with Windows 7. And Installed Max 2017 and it runs everytime in High Priority in Windows Process and I don't like that because it doesn't let me do anything else while it's rendering with Vray or Fstorm or Corona.... I have to change it manually to NORMAL Priority but I need to change it permanently. Do you know how?

Thanks

[rendermaster]

download and install:  ProcessHacker

1. Run this program as an administrator 

2.: Open the program and go to 'Processes' tab. Locate the process you want to permanently set the priority of, right click it. Go to 'Priority' select the desired priority. Make sure to have the 'Save for [YourProgram].exe' ticked!

The process priority should now be set permanently. You can change it any time by repeating the steps above.

[rendermaster]

try this one also:
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/40287-cpu-priority-shortcut-program-create-windows.html

[spacefrog_]

The plain standard 3ds Max installation certainly does not install in a way that Max always run in high priority. I know you can set the priority level of Mental ray renderer via an ini tweak, but that is on low too by default

Are you sure that it's really running at high priority or are you only assuming because it locks your workstation while rendering ?

As rendermaster has pointed out, you can create a shortcut which launches the process with low priority

There are situations with rendering where low priority alone does not make the workstation more responsive, in that case only setting the process affinity mask to leave one processor core free helps ....

There 's a similar tutorial for the process affinity mask

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/40339-cpu-affinity-shortcut-program-create-windows.html

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the answers. The shortcut option didn't work. I followed step by step the instructions but it didn't run as NORMAL priority after that 😕

And I tryed the Process Hacker way but I can't find the checkbox " Save for "program" that you said. I looked for it in options, properties, etc, and I never found it.

Do you think that the Shortcut option could vary if I'm working with Windows in Spanish? I doubt it because "normal" is the same word in english than in spanish and is listed that way in Windows Priority settings 

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello mcamerasc,

Spacefrog is correct in that the default installation does not elevate the priority beyond "normal", so somehow that was manually set for you.  You may try to create a new shortcut for it in case IT or someone (somehow) made the process priority elevated through the short cut. 

One other method is via environmental variables in Windows, but that's a bit outside my ability to help much with and a tad on the technical side of Windows.  You can access your environmental variables by right clicking on "Computer", hitting "Properties", clicking "Advanced System Settings", and it on the bottom of that window there that opens.   From there, I can't help much but a solution may exist in there.  I would consult the windows help for more information on elevating processes via environmental variables, and just know that I can't do much technical support on Windows functions. 

There are a couple links here that *may* help, but again this is beyond the scope of what I can officially support since I have no control over windows development.  I'd rather leave you with options that nothing however, so it's a shot in the dark.  Please consider these links nothing more than external learning resources about process elevations, and not supported in any official capacity by me.

Wikihow  (Article references high priority, but you can use normal as well if it works for you.)

MSDN

ITPro

In the case that you do resolve this some other way, it would be great if you could post your solution here.  Best of luck and best regards,

[rendermaster]

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @Anonymous,

I just wanted to follow up here and see if this problem was resolved.  Did everything work out for you?

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

Hello, I wanted to ask if you could find out from the developers why is this happening and how to change it without third party controllers or apps, since it did not happen in Max 2016 and it´s a very annoying bug... I´ve been using both Max and the affinity control for years and years, and this is driving me crazy. Please, could you try and find out if it can be solved?

Thak you very much,

Paula.-

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @Anonymous,

There is nothing about the installation that does this, one of your plugins is likely elevating the priority.  Render plugins occasionally do this.  If you are unable to set affinity with Vray 3.4, that's something new that Vlado is doing with Vray 3.  The only workaround is an environmental variable "VRAY_USE_THREAD_AFFINITY=0" in Vray, and for other 3rd party renderers you'll have to consult the devs.  Just want to reiterate this isn't caused by 3ds Max.

Best Regards,

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Hi again. I finally found what was the problem. I have a new Dell Workstation that comes with some Dell Software. One of them was te DELL OPTIMIZER and I read that it's a software that looks for some software of Autodesk (Maya, Autocad and 3ds max), Adobe (After effects, Photoshop) and some others, and it "optimizes" them. 

The only thing that it does is to run them always as HIGH PRIORITY. So I unistalled it and now 3ds Max runs always in NORMAL priority.

I write this so if anyone in the future has the same problem, you should check if you have any Optimizer installed. 

Thanks to Alfred DeFlammis of Autodesk for his Support 😄

Greetings.

Mario

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @Anonymous,

Thank you so much for the updated information!  I never would have thought of that.  I really appreciate that you came back to this thread and kept us in the loop!  Kudos to you, kind sir!

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

Hi. I found the problem, read my last comment 🙂 

I hope it helps you.

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Thank you @Anonymous, marked it!  Nice work.

Best Regards,