FLM problems in Max9 64bit

[tricky]

I've posted this on the AREA forum but with no feedback, so I thought I'd give it a go here:

We have recently (in the last 2 months) upgraded to Max9 64bit on XP64 - not the straightforward move that we had hoped for.

We use the file linking facility within Max to link to our ADT model, and in Max8 (with SP3 and the RealDWG updates installed) it worked a treat. We are now committed to Max9 but have had quite a few situations where the model will suddenly stop reloading into Max9. We click on the 'reload' button, and the cursor flicks to an egg timer for a few seconds (as expected), but nothing happens. The options dialogue doesn't even appear.

Has anyone else experienced this? We don't yet have a solution apart from starting again in Max9, but that always means re-tecturing/mapping etc and with complicated jobs takes a long long time. Our only other option which would be a pain is to revert back to Max8. We have just spenat £15k on new 64bit OS machines, not to mention our subscriptions to Autodesk to keep us up-to-date, so clearly this is a painful option.

Our software supliers are proving no use at the moment.

[Dynedain]

To narrow down the problem, you should try a couple of things....

Try Max 9 32bit and see if the problem still occurs. Could be a bug in 64bit Max. If the bug still occurs, try it on Max 9 32bit on a 32bit machine. If the problem still occurs, try it on Max9 32bit on WinXP 32bit on one of your new 64bit machines.

Make sure the ADT files are local, could be a network issue.


Basically, go systematically through all the potential sources of the problem and test for them. New machines, + new version of Max, + new OS introduces 3 distinctly different failure points. Eliminate them one at a time and test so that you can find out which is the problem.

[tricky]

Thats a good response, and whilst we have tested certain things, shouldn't this be the responsibility of Autodesk? It is clearly a bug and I have supplied them with the appropriate files to reproduce the error.

[Dynedain]

It should... but considering how complex both 3dsmax and ADT are, it's pretty much impossible for them to test every possible configuration. Just like with any computer problems, the more you can narrow down the problem, the easier it is for the developer to duplicate it and find a solution.

The hardest part is being patient and systematic in troubleshooting... if you change more than one variable at a time, you won't know which variable caused the problem.

And if it turns out to be a hardware-related issue, or a Windows issue, then it's not really Autodesk's responsibility is it?

[Jerry]

Tricky, you can read my post here (somewhere at the end)

http://www.chaosgroup.com/forum/phpB...hlight=#153166

In our case it was pure autocad related but i guess it is the same similar thing.


U can try to save the ADT file in an older format and than re-open and save it in that other ADT-version. What does happen then?

Good luck.

[Jerry]

Btw i hope this problem will be solved with this so called booster pack coming up somewhere this month.

[jacksc02]

tricky, if you want I might have a fix for you.

email or pm me

[DJ-Studd]

Thats a good response, and whilst we have tested certain things, shouldn't this be the responsibility of Autodesk? It is clearly a bug and I have supplied them with the appropriate files to reproduce the error.

That's funny, exactly the same thing here.
6 months later and Autodesk have admitted that there is a problem. Autodesk's response is "Note there are XREFs which can be problematic at times and we are woring to resovle XREF issues." and "There are several bugs logged in reference to this, overlapping products." and "No guarantess but will keep trying."

We're still using Viz 2005 and MDT2005, purely because they're the most recent Autodesk products that actually talk to each other! Goes to show that you can give Autodesk as much money as they're willing to take, but have nothing to show for it. It's really holding us back on development!