3ds Max 2018 Menu Problem - Cant click on sub menus

[Anonymous]

Hello, so I have installed 3ds max 2018 from 2017, and there is a problem, I go onto any menu e.g. File, Edit, Tools etc. and I can click on them all and they all work, but when there is an arrow next to one so there are more buttons e.g. File > Export, I cannot click on any buttons that show, they disappear and I can't click them.

[roman_woelker]

Thank you for sharing your problem.
We are already chasing the problem on our side, but unfortunately until now we are having a hard time to repro the issue.

What OS are you using, are you on windows 10?
Could you please post some more details about your system? (graphics card, multi monitor setup, screen resultion(s), dpi scaling)
It would be also quite helpful for us if you could do a quick screen grab which shows your menu issue.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your response my system specs are

OS: Windows 10 Home

CPU: Intel i5 4460

GPU: AMD Radeon r7 360

Dual Monitor - 1 monitor is 1920xx1080, the other is 1600x900

Motherboard: MSI Z97 PC MATE

I have created a video showing the problem, it should be attached.

[roman_woelker]

Thanks a lot for the info and the screen grab.
What percentage of dpi scaling / text scaling do you use for your two monitors?
Is it the same value on both, or different settings?

Could you please do me a favor and do two other tests. I'd like to see if we have the same issue on other menu locations too or if it is only affecting the applications main menu.

First Test:
Right click on the docked command panels dock title bar and have a look if you face the same issue
with the sub menu entry 'Dock -> (Top|Bottom|Left|Right)'.

Second Test:
Please run the little test python script, that I've attached you in the zip package.

Unzip the script and then execute the python script in 3ds Max for instance via:
3ds Max Main Menubar -> Scripting -> Run Script...
Make sure you select 'Python' as file type in the run script pop up dialog, otherwise you won't see the python test script.
The test script will open up a Qt window with a couple of menus in it.
Please let me know whether you have the same disappearing sub menus here or not.

By the way, the sub menu navigation via the arrow keys should work fine.

[roman_woelker]

For the second test, can you please use this updated attached python script here.

It additionally prints out some of your menu setting constants to the maxscript listener.

Could you please also post them here once you launched the test window, thx.

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I have exactly the same issue.

I downloaded and run the python test script but the problem persists. Sub menus cannot be open.

The issue occurs also with undocked menus.

I have two monitors, the main with resolution of 1920x1080, the other 1650x1050.

I do not use upscaling. Texts and other elements DPI is at 100% on both monitors.

Menus that use the standard windows menu work perfectly - for instance, menus placed on the top left corner in viewports as + | perspective | standard | default shading. Only menus and submenus using QT library have issues.

[roman_woelker]

Hi Skynet3ds,

thank you for doing the additional tests and providing your system info. I really appreciated it. 🙂

When you execute the last python script, that I uploaded, it should print out some general Qt menu settings into the maxscript listener.

Could you please post your values here for doing a comparison whether they differ with the working ones or not.

My ones for instance are:

---- Qt Menu Settings ----
SH_Menu_SubMenuPopupDelay: 400
SH_Menu_SloppySubMenus: 1
SH_Menu_SubMenuUniDirection: 0
SH_Menu_SubMenuUniDirectionFailCount: 1
SH_Menu_SubMenuSloppySelectOtherActions: 1
SH_Menu_SubMenuSloppyCloseTimeout: 400
SH_Menu_SubMenuResetWhenReenteringParent: 0
SH_Menu_SubMenuDontStartSloppyOnLeave: 0
---- End Qt Menu Settings ----

[georgecMAX]

Having same problem. Just upgraded to 2018 and ran 2018.1 patch. Cant open files as submenu disappears when you hover over it.

[Anonymous]

I am sorry i cannot help.

My studio switched back to 3ds Max 2016. Way more stable than 2017 and 18. Those two are useless for production.

[georgecMAX]

Thanks

[ihooper]

Hi @georgecMAX - are you still seeing this problem?  Is it only when you have a floating menu, or is it all the time.  

thanks,

Ian

[georgecMAX]

Ian, I am still having the problem. I have my screen stretched across 2 monitors. Another weird thing is whenever I first open max the left side of the screen is outside of the left monitor.  Don't know if it's related or not.

[roman_woelker]

As mentioned in some posts before, it would be good if someone of you, who is having this problem, could execute the attached python script and let me know what menu setting constants it will print out for your machine to the maxscript listener.

Thanks,

Roman

[Anonymous]

same problem

running scrpt:

---- Qt Menu Settings ----
SH_Menu_SubMenuPopupDelay: 1
SH_Menu_SloppySubMenus: 1
SH_Menu_SubMenuUniDirection: 0
SH_Menu_SubMenuUniDirectionFailCount: 1
SH_Menu_SubMenuSloppySelectOtherActions: 1
SH_Menu_SubMenuSloppyCloseTimeout: 1
SH_Menu_SubMenuResetWhenReenteringParent: 0
SH_Menu_SubMenuDontStartSloppyOnLeave: 0
---- End Qt Menu Settings ----

[ihooper]

Interesting!  Your numbers are very different from what Roman is seeing.  Can anyone else run this script?

[roman_woelker · Accepted solution]

Hey kdeuxk, awesome! thanks a lot for running the script! 🙂

That's exactly what I was looking for!

Look's like the values for the submenu opening / closing time is set to one millisecond on your machine:

SH_Menu_SubMenuPopupDelay: 1
SH_Menu_SubMenuSloppyCloseTimeout: 1

Comparing to the 400 msecs on my maschine for instance.



The current Qt menu implementation, that we use, is getting the value from a windows operation system setting (SPI_GETMENUSHOWDELAY),

which is apparently to small on your machine and the menu is closing right away.

It might be ok for opening menus, cause it is quicker, but since Qt is also using the same value as closing timer, it is messing up the Qt sub menu handling.


As quick in between solution I created a small python script which updates the windows system setting value for the menus to 400 milliseconds.

Please unzip the scripts in the attached zip package in your 3ds Max exe folder for testing.
The zip package contains two script files the python script that updates the system parameter and a maxscript that executes the python script on 3ds Max startup.

The unzipped files should go into the following folders:

scripts/Python/updateWin32MenuShowDelay.py
stdplugs/stdscripts/updateWin32MenuShowDelay.ms

After unzipping the two files, please start 3ds Max and try out the handling of the sub menus again.
Please let me know if the sub menus would work.

The Qt menu setting values should also show now:

SH_Menu_SubMenuPopupDelay: 400
SH_Menu_SubMenuSloppyCloseTimeout: 400

Thanks a lot,

Roman

[georgecMAX]

There is no zip file attached.

[roman_woelker]

I think you need to log in to the forum first to see the attachments.

[ihooper]

This script does seem to fix the problem, and we will put a more permanent fix into a future update release.  In the meantime, I also found that submenus can at least be accessed if you use keyboard navigation, instead of the mouse.

[georgecMAX]

That worked. Max still starts with the left half of the window off screen though.