Exceptions when debugging

[Anonymous]

When attaching a debugger to max I get a wall of exceptions in the Visual Studio output listener. It takes a while for max to be done with this before it starts, so it gets quite frustrating when you have to restart max with the debugger attached many times per day. It looks something like this (but MANY more lines):

First-chance exception at 0x000007fefcf6aa7d in 3dsmax.exe: Microsoft C++ exception:  at memory location 0x00000000..
First-chance exception at 0x000007fefcf6aa7d in 3dsmax.exe: Microsoft C++ exception: antlr::NoViableAltException at memory location 0x0012c768..
First-chance exception at 0x000007fefcf6aa7d in 3dsmax.exe: Microsoft C++ exception: antlr::MismatchedTokenException at memory location 0x0012cba8..
First-chance exception at 0x000007fefcf6aa7d in 3dsmax.exe: Microsoft C++ exception: antlr::MismatchedCharException at memory location 0x0012b9e0..
First-chance exception at 0x000007fefcf6aa7d in 3dsmax.exe: Microsoft C++ exception: antlr::MismatchedCharException at memory location 0x0012b9e0..
First-chance exception at 0x000007fefcf6aa7d in 3dsmax.exe: Microsoft C++ exception: antlr::MismatchedCharException at memory location 0x0012b9e0..
First-chance exception at 0x000007fefcf6aa7d in 3dsmax.exe: Microsoft C++ exception: antlr::MismatchedCharException at memory location 0x0012b9e0..
First-chance exception at 0x000007fefcf6aa7d in 3dsmax.exe: Microsoft C++ exception: antlr::MismatchedCharException at memory location 0x0012b9e0..
First-chance exception at 0x000007fefcf6aa7d in 3dsmax.exe: Microsoft C++ exception: antlr::MismatchedCharException at memory location 0x0012b9e0..
First-chance exception at 0x000007fefcf6aa7d in 3dsmax.exe: Microsoft C++ exception: antlr::MismatchedCharException at memory location 0x0012b9e0..
First-chance exception at 0x000007fefcf6aa7d in 3dsmax.exe: Microsoft C++ exception: antlr::MismatchedCharException at memory location 0x0012b9e0..
First-chance exception at 0x000007fefcf6aa7d in 3dsmax.exe: Microsoft C++ exception: antlr::MismatchedCharException at memory location 0x0012b9e0..
First-chance exception at 0x000007fefcf6aa7d in 3dsmax.exe: Microsoft C++ exception: antlr::MismatchedCharException at memory location 0x0012b9e0..
First-chance exception at 0x000007fefcf6aa7d in 3dsmax.exe: Microsoft C++ exception: antlr::NoViableAltException at memory location 0x0012c768..
First-chance exception at 0x000007fefcf6aa7d in 3dsmax.exe: Microsoft C++ exception:  at memory location 0x00000000..
First-chance exception at 0x000007fefcf6aa7d in 3dsmax.exe: Microsoft C++ exception: antlr::NoViableAltException at memory location 0x0012c768..
First-chance exception at 0x000007fefcf6aa7d in 3dsmax.exe: Microsoft C++ exception:  at memory location 0x00000000..
First-chance exception at 0x000007fefcf6aa7d in 3dsmax.exe: Microsoft C++ exception: antlr::NoViableAltException at memory location 0x0012c768..
First-chance exception at 0x000007fefcf6aa7d in 3dsmax.exe: Microsoft C++ exception:  at memory location 0x00000000..

Anyone know why it (max) throws all these exceptions and if there is anything you can do about it? Like removing one of the stdplugins or so.

Update:
I did some more research, and it appears that it is an exception thrown by ANTLR, that is a text-parser. So I guess it is something that MaxScript uses. Why am I not surprised. I can't understand how 3ds max developers internally at autodesk haven't got irritated by this and fixed it. Or am I the only one getting it no matter what version of visual studio, windows or max I've tried.

[Anonymous]

Which version of max is this? Must be something newer than 9, I presume.

Those exceptions shouldn't slow down max's startup though. Can I ask -- do you have _NT_SYMBOL_PATH set to anything?

If you like, you can hide those messages by right-clicking in the output window and unchecking the appropriate box.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply.

I'm sad to say that the behavior is worst in 2008, where all the messages (a lot) have to go through the output window before max resumes. In 2010 they are still there but are spread out at the same time as it does other things. The startup time for 2010 even without debugging is too long for it to be used for plugin development (aren't new versions supposed to be faster?), so I use 2008 for most of the time and then do basic testing in 2010 to make sure it works.

Turning of exception messages (thanks...forgot that) helps a marginally, but it still throws all those exceptions that takes time before you actually get control of the app.

_NT_SYMBOL_PATH is not set.

[Anonymous]

Have you considered using my plugin unloader so that you don't have to constantly restart max each time? It should speed up your dev time dramatically.

(available from my website http://scorp007.comze.com/ )