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.

[gethin.hooperQFCF2]

Justed updated to 3dsmax 2024.1 an it's noticeably slower to open and save projects. Grrrr! We invested heavily in 10gbe network here and a file server using dual Epyc Milan with 128 lanes and nvme drives. Our workstation machines are threadripper 3990x. But 3dsmax it seems is going in reverse with 5-6 min to save a 1gb file. It was half that with 3dsmax 2023. Why oh Why??

[info2V35E]

In general, or with more than one instance of Max open? Be careful that we're not confusing two separate issues.

[info2V35E]

Also just a thought, did you switch off max file compression when you switched to max 2024? This can really slow down saving if left on.

[ArterraInteractive]

Hi all of our artists are having this issue aswell, I've noticed when I reverted back to V-RAY 5 I didn't have the issue but going back to V-RAY 6 the issue resurfaces. This happens both working off the network and locally on the SSD. 

The issue happens both on workstations with Intel Xeons 40 cores 196gb ram and also our workstations with i9-13900k 128gb ram. 

Any suggestions or updates ?

[RobH2]

@ArterraInteractive    I have a thread going at ChaosGroup about the issue you mention above. It is here:  https://forums.chaos.com/forum/v-ray-for-3ds-max-forums/v-ray-for-3ds-max-general/1192157-i-know-you...

But, do see the message #242 above in case it relates to that as well. 

[ArterraInteractive]

Thanks, I've made a post there aswell.

[DGTLTWNS]

So Max 2024.2 is released. I haven't used 2024 yet, as there's a couple of new issues like the new color picker not working properly with Vray.

But I was wondering, as in the release notes it said, the performance or efficiency of saving has improved for a couple of things. Is the issue that plagued us with multiple Max instances, still there? Is there still a huge slowdown? Has it been fixed?

[RobH2]

I guess I need to do some reading on the Color Picker issue. The only one I knew of was being unable to put a HEX code into that field. But I tested that last night and it works. What is the Color Picker issue so I can play with it?

I'm not seeing any lag but I was never plagued by the severe lag you all had reported except for with a V-Ray IPR render. But since I started using V-Ray GPU for IPR preview/working renders, that's given me a good option.

V-Ray GPU doesn't support as many functions as the normal IPR but it's still a useful workaround for me. I do believe that there is something that is still causing lag with the normal IPR render window. However, I tested a 12M poly scene with heavy Forest Pack last week in V-Ray GPU using IPR and it ran at 27fps. I was amazed to  be honest. 

[ArterraInteractive · Accepted solution]

Hi an update:

I managed to work through Autodesk and Itoosoft support to boil it down to a bug in forestpack. I was provided a loose file for the plugin which seems to fix the problem. Forestpack said they don't plan on making this an official release but it will be included in forestpack 9. I recommend reaching out to Itoosoft if you also have the forestpack plugin and are having issues to let them know.

[kyronLNJPB]

Is this a dream? Have you fully tested this and the lag is finally gone?!
Thanks so much for sharing this information. It has been such a horrible day to day experience for so long.

You couldn't just attach the fixed dlo here by any chance and save a lot of back and forth with itoo?
You would be doing a major service for so many people here.

[ArterraInteractive]

Yes this was a widespread issue on most of the machines at our studio and its finally solved 😄

What version of max are you using? I will drop a file for that version.

[kyronLNJPB]

We're on Max 2024.2!

[ArterraInteractive]

Ah the forum wont let me attach a .dlo file. If you would like you can email me at dbrooks@arterrainteractive.com.au and I can send it directly.

Edit: I also edited my post with the email to include the download link provided by Itoosoft for the fix.

[RobH2]

No way... I'll pursue it as well. I don't have the severe lag issue but do have a little with IPR. I'll report back. If this is it, it's an amazing find. 

[DGTLTWNS]

Omg, if this is true, that would be amazing. Strange because at some point I thought to contact the support of Itoo but some people reporting it didn't have Forest Pack. Anyway hopefully it is resolved now. I will test later.

[carlosqg]

Hi,

Initially we built only a custom patch for Arterra (who reported the problem), but since it may affect to other users, we just released a public update:

https://forum.itoosoft.com/announcements/forest-pack-8-2-5-and-railclone-6-1-4/

Please note this issue affects to Forest and RailClone. You should update both plugins to fix it.

[hellojoea]

just downloaded and seems to have done the trick. Amazing. Thanks to everyone who got to the bottom of this.

🙂 🙂 🙂

[info2V35E]

edit: redundant info

[ArterraInteractive]

Looks like same bug was in Railclone, would be worth updating that too.

[ArcHouse43]

I am definitely experiencing some kind of bottlenecking again. If I open a second version 3Ds Max when I am already rendering an image it will hang or take take 10s of minutes to load a blank file. It also happens when I'm using Photoshop. I have a AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X and a 128 GB of RAM and I know my system used to be capable of this type of multitasking.. It may not be related to the previous issue that was eventually solved but I only say this in case someone else is starting to experience the same issues and is wondering if it is just them.