Multiple 3ds Max instances open + Saving = Lag

[DGTLTWNS]

Hi,

I have a few reports of people with 3ds Max 2020, 2022, 2023 (haven't tested 2021) slowing down our workstations, when multiple instances of 3ds Max are open and (auto)saving.

I have recorded a video of this here: https://youtu.be/zzsiOCMhHr8

First part of the video is me saving with only one instance open. Second part (00:18) is with a second file open in another instance. As you can see my workstation grinds to a halt and my cursor is barely moving. It seems I'm not the only one. This started happening a couple of months ago. Maybe a Windows update caused this or something. I looked at my Windows 10 update history in the last half year and most of them are .NET updates.

Can people with the same experience confirm, and could Autodesk investigate this please, because this is super annoying.

Thank you.

[hellojoea]

I have just updated to windows 11 and can confirm the issue does appear to have gone! I have only done a quick test but already I can open, save, close a max file with another max file open and it allows me to move freely to other windows etc etc, no lag, no freezing.

I will give it a week and see how it goes and report back, but iI would reccomend anyone else having this issue to update to windows 11, it appears to sort it!

[info2V35E]

I would temper your excitement for the moment. It might be that an update
is clearing out your %temp% folder or doing some other cleanup that results
in an temporary fix...

[kyronLNJPB]

Yeah, one of my colleagues got a new Ryzen windows 11 machine recently and he has the same issues with complete system freezes during saving/autosaving with 2 instances open

[info2V35E]

How new was the system when it started happening?

[hellojoea]

Hmm, actually that does make sense. I've had my current pc a few years and I don't remember having the problem in the first year, or maybe even two. It only really came aparrant in the last year or so. Which suggests it is something that maybe gets worse over time, or something happens over time that causes the issue.

For now, I will enjoy not having the issue, but I think you're right that it may come back over time.

[hellojoea]

i fear i spoke to soon! only 2 days after updating to windows 11 im already getting similar issues again when I have multiple instances of 3ds max open! i havent done anything different, havent installed anything new, etc. Hmmmmmm

[RobH2]

This is unfortunate. But, it could provide a hint into a cause. But, you'd really need to know some deep OS stuff to take advantage of this as a hint.

However, I know I had a Windows Update yesterday and could not install a few things until I, as Windows put it, "cannot install as Updates are pending, install Updates and reboot." Maybe your machine is set to automatically install updates in the background and you had an Update yesterday as well and something in it brought the problem back?

Regardless, not a good development. 

[info2V35E]

Is there any way of pinning this post?

[DGTLTWNS]

I'm guessing you mean the post with the survey. Only if I set this as a solution...

[info2V35E]

Oh ok. Why do forum replies on this forum not automatically quote the thing I'm replying to? Makes it very difficult to understand what's going on...

[DGTLTWNS]

Yeah I don't get it either, not a very good forum format.

[DGTLTWNS]

THIS IS NOT A SOLUTION!!!

Only a means to promote this survey more so we can get to the bottom of this:

At the moment we're suspecting motherboard manufacturers (Asus and MSI most probably), but it could still be anything really. So to narrow it down, I would ask anyone, even those without problems (only people with AMD Ryzen processors) to fill out this survey, and please be specific with the hardware information, every detail counts. 

We have also have reports of Intel users, as well as other motherboard manufacturers. So this problem does not only exist for AMD users or certain motherboards.

CLICK HERE FOR THE SURVEY

[info2V35E]

I've updated my bios and chipset drivers to the latest. Let's see if that makes any difference.

[arqrenderz]

Autodesk being autodesk.... "solutions" without anything working ..Just like the perspective tool

[DGTLTWNS]

So in my opinion things are starting to point more and more to an AMD Ryzen + ASUS & MSI motherboard combo. All of the reports come from users with this kind of setup. People with ASRock or Gigabyte motherboards don't have these issues, or haven't reported it. 

If I could gather just a few more answers in the survey I can almost confirm that the motherboard is the culprit here. 

Biggest question is, how do we go from here? Do we forward our findings to Autodesk again? Do we contact ASUS and MSI directly, or do we ask ADSK to handle this...?

[info2V35E]

Or find people with AMD + ASUS/MSI that don't have the issue and work out what the difference is between setups...

[DGTLTWNS]

Yes but so far no good reports of ASUS/MSI motherboards. I'm suspecting some firmware / driver problem.

[info2V35E]

Well chances are they wouldn't come here and fill out the survey if they didn't have the problem 😉 Going to be hard to find them...

[Diffus3d]

Maybe @shawnolson can shed some light onto the proper path forward.  Appreciate any ideas.

Best Regards,

[DGTLTWNS]

Yes, well I posted a couple of times in the Stack group on FB hoping to get more answers. 

We also have confirmation of a Chaos employee that he didnt have this with 2  Gigabyte + AMD Ryzen setups. So far I have about 10 ASUS and 2 MSI confirmations.