1Gb 3ds max file...

[biglolly]

Somehow, I've managed to make a 1Gb max file. I'm a bit baffled as to how this happened, the file was about 400mb, everything was fine, and then I merged a couple of things (3d people and a few chairs) and now it's 1gb. The couple of things I merged must have contained something hidden. Anyway now my file is almost unusable. I'd merge the whole lot in to a new file in a second, except we use file link manager and this link will be lost if I do that.

I'm wondering is there any way to remove offending geometry without opening the file fully. I know what bits to remove. That probably sounds ridiculous becuase I'd imagine it's impossible. I did manage to open it last night, but I think it took about 30-40 minutes, and when the autobak kicked it it was 'walk off the end of a pier or tall cliff' inducing.

If I can't fix it i'll probably just have to do the merging option, though that's viewed with frowns here. My view is, better having something than nothing, I hate AutoCAD anyway!

[giraffe]

Hello,
1. Maybe you can revert to a previously saved version and merge the necessary things from the problem scene excluding the unwanted object.
2. Did you check the autoback folder inside max root folder? You can switch back to previous version

[Neilg]

Turn your autobacks off and leave it opening on a seperate computer. Happened to me before too - I merged 'all' from a scene I thought just had a few people in, without realising that someone had merged all the xrefs in making a 500~mb file.

[biglolly]

Cheers guys. I did exactly what cubiclegangster said and opened it on a server machine, turned the autobaks off, then am now trying to find out what the offending geometry is.

After deleting all my people and trees (trees were proxied anyway!) the file is still 1Gb so I'm guessing there's something corrupted on the inside bloating it to this size. Very annoying.

Don't really know what else to do bar merge everything in to a new scene see if that resolves it.

[claude_tnt]

clean file

have you tried typing

 gc()

in the maxscript listner..
that was a trick to clear garbage out of max files..
if you got meshes with attached modifiers try collapsing the stack to edit poly or edit mesh. hopes that helps.
davis

[aphex79]

this happens to us often, we don't know why, but we think it has to be something with the merging. If the file keeps growing, the only solution we have, is to use bobo's export script.
http://scriptspot.com/3ds-max/bff-bobos-file-format

[biglolly]

Thanks guys, you've all be very helpful. I went back to a previous version of the file and for whatever reason, even if I only merged in a small model, the filesize grew enormously! No clue what was going on, i've never had this happen before.

Will check out that export script to see if it could help. I tried the GC thing but it didn't seem to do much unfortunately!

[joa_grilo]

Have you used biped rigs?
If so be careful to cleam the pose colections because they grow up the size of the max file.

[PIXELBOX_SRO]

to sum up this:
-happens with biped
-happens with xrefs
-happens with merging stuff from diff scenes
-file keeps bloating
-even if u clean the file and leave only one poly, the file still has 1gb
-nothing helps
-only bobos script, but that is provided u dont have any specialities in the scene
-gc() does not help

-ITS A BLOODY MAX BUG AND NOONE SEEMS TO DO ANYTHING WITH IT

[PIXELBOX_SRO]

it also happens when u have a error mesh in the scene....try selectiong objects in the scene and u will notice that when selection this one, th escene pauses a bit....still it wont save your file it will just help u avoid using the object previously

happens when using evermotion scenes merges!!!!

[RErender]

Have you used biped rigs?
If so be careful to cleam the pose colections because they grow up the size of the max file.

+1 I bet this is the issue.

Also check for extra motion tracks in the curve editor.

there used to be a problem with x-refs I think it has been fixed but you can try "try opening the xref scene dialog, close it, open the xref objects dialog, close that and then type gc() into the maxscript listener and hit enter - then resave your scene "

[sfeely]

I have had the same issue and I was able to reduce the size by reducing the keys on the bipeds. (had a key every frame!) Also materials were my issue. Objects merged in from other files with duplicate materials. I assigned a grey material and then just reassigned all the maps. Kinda a pain but it worked.

[ANIMAX_ESTUDIO]

You have the answer in the Autodesk WEB. There is a script for fix it. I don´t remember where. You have to open the file and run the script and resave the file.