ADesk breaks user permissions for 3ds max

[OPEN_RANGE]

Honestly I must be drain bamaged. I cannot understand what type of subscription I have. The various terms used to describe are confusing. Most recently, within the last year Imthink, I,was,contacted as part of the overall ADesk policy change, and told I needed to change from whatever I was currently at to the new subscription model. I thought I already was on subscription and had been for years. That?s why I paid my $600 each year. They gave some confusing explanation, said I needed to,change and it would stilll cost me $600 each year. I said, whatever, fine. They said I would need to download new copy and reinstall and have new serial number. I agreed to the change, but never had to do a real install and my serial number never changed.

Again, this problem affected many more,customers than just me. They still have an alert notice up on their website about it.

my re seller called and said it had been fixed but I?m not so sure. They are supposed to call on Monday to help me set this back so Imcan get off the 30 day trial and back on my license. I just looked at my account and it still shows like the screen grab I posted above. It shows I have 2 products. 1 3ds max and all past versions subscription and 1 3ds max 2019 perpetual.

I just dont don?t get it. I don?t know what the difference is. I only pay for 1 each year. I?ll try to get some clarification on Monday when Imtalk with re seller but that?s a long shot. My re seller is a large operation in a large city 7 hours away. As,far as I can tell I am their only max customer. No one there uses max. They run all kinds of training courses and do conferences and etc but never for max. They did not cause this problem though. It was caused by ADesk

[JezUK]

From what you've been saying I'm suspecting that you've gone and exchanged your Perpetual Licence (where you 'owned' your software) to a Subscription based model (what you say you were convinced to go to by AD), and that is a Rental Based software model.

Alex already explained somewhat, but I'll try;

Perpetual - is the 'old' way AD used to sell their software - you'd start off paying them a big chunk of money, you received a dongle, you'd pay a yearly 'subscription' and your software stayed current year in year out. If you chose to miss a year (or two) the software still worked no problem but you'd be punished by AD come upgrade time for those missed 'subscription' payments the next time you came to upgrade.....

Now, today, there are still quite a lot of us who still hold Perpetual Licences for our copies of 3DS Max, but we are in the minority (I suspect) - since the ONLY way these days to purchase 3DS Max is on a Subscription and that'll cost a LOT more than Perpetual - but that's the future for AD, they'd like ALL of us to be on a Subscription (mainly to satisfy their Shareholders). With this model you are effectively RENTING the software. With Subscription, you stop paying your Monthly (or Yearly) subscriptions and the software will STOP WORKING. The bad deal with this is that you will then NOT be able to open any of your .max files.......

Furthermore, so as NOT to confuse matters, those of us with Perpetual Licences no longer pay for a 'subscription', but for MAINTENANCE.

So, today, Subscription with AD means 'renting', and Maintenance mean's you 'own' your copy of Max (but you're not allowed to sell it.....).

As you say, during last year some time those of us on Perpetual were sent emails offering us a so called 'good deal' to switch from Perpetual (where you 'own a copy' of your software on your machine) to Subscription (where you pay monthly and you are RENTING to use the software). And they started off by offering us roughly about the same payment amounts.

No disrespect Mark, but I'd given up on this thread early on because you seemed to give a 'I don't know, don't care' attitude about what you own, and that attitude could be what will bite you in the bum as I cannot imagine AD relenting on your chosen purchase decision. I really hope I'm wrong for your sake, but as I say, it sounds like you've swapped over, hence why in one post I made earlier I suggested you stop paying and see what happens (though that was tongue in cheek towards your earlier comment - do NOT stop paying unless you know and accept the consequences).

Hope that's all clear - otherwise I suggest you do a Google Search or just wait until you speak to your reseller.

PS - this is why I said in an earlier thread that this sounded like a subscription issue (i.e. a rental issue) - as I can't imagine this issue occurring for a Maintenance, Perpetual Licence, version.

[OPEN_RANGE]

Jez,

Thank you for your detailed and helpful reply. No disrespect taken and my "I don't know and I don't care" position is more related to "I just want to use the software and not waste time trying to understand this." I feel, after reading the above, that I have made a mistake and been switched as you describe. I was under the impression that I did not have choice in the matter. I was also confused because I thought I already was on subscription. I bought 3ds r4. The last DOS version before the first max. I have not bought anything since, but paid each year to stay in the upgrade path and not have to pay full purchase price again. Including going thru the crazy split of max and max design.

The main issue seems to be you point that if I stop paying I wont be able to use max at all and open any of my max files. I don't like that and now that I understand it I think your right. My lack of really nailing down the implications of this has bitten me in the bum. I did care but I just couldn't understand it. I thought I was on subscription and I was essentially told by re-seller that I had no choice, this is what I had to do.

If everything you say is correct, and I have no reason to think otherwise, I see no benefit to the Subscription/Rental model over the Perpetual/Maintenance. I wish I had not changed, but take full responsibility for not insisting on clarity. It's funny because I am a dot the i and cross the t type person to an extent that others often find excessive. Dropped it on this one. What's done is done and moving on.

Thanks for your help!

[Donald2B]

My reseller basically told me that something happened with the user databases during the upgrade process of launching Max 2019. So those who are on subscription may be affected, but it's not effecting everyone. I have both types of accounts, Perpetual (with maintenance) and subscription licenses of AD software. ONLY the subscription accounts are currently having problems. Those on the Perpetual licenses are not affected.

At least that is my situation here. My message in the autodesk download area states that the problem should be "resolved" today, but if they messed up the user database, it may take a little bit longer depending on what happened. I've dealt with database corruption in the past and it sucks! So hopefully they get it all sorted out and we can all move on. Just really sucks for those who are impacted.

Doesn't sound like anything malicious on AD's part, but I'm sure someone is probably feeling the wrath of messing this up internally. Just really bad timing.