Some problems getting foam and point rendering to work with particle flow

[Deflaminis]

For some reason I'm getting a Vray error when I try to use point rendering on a simple particle system. I'm sure it's user error but I'm just not getting it. Any chance you could check it out?

Thanks a lot!
AJ

[Ivaylo Katev]

sorry for the delay, can't reproduce the crash here, it may be related to some fixed issue. can you share the build number?

[Deflaminis]

Interesting... thanks for taking a look. My vray is 3.20.03 and my phoenix is 2.20.00. (2.20 is the latest version on my download page)

I also had the same problem with 3.20.02 vray, which is why I upgraded. Maybe I have a plugin that is causing a problem, even if it's not in use in the scene? Weirdly it also crashes with scanline...

The error message is attached. One thing to note is that in this image it shows 1692 as the error code, but sometimes it's 1623.

Any tips on how I might track down the cause? Maybe a graphics card or something has bad memory? (Any chance it's a memory issue?)

I know it's a lot of questions, thank you for your time...

Best regards,
AJ

[Ivaylo Katev]

try to download the latest nightly, it's very possible that the bug is fixed.

[Deflaminis]

Took me a while to reply because I wanted to cover my bases. Updated to nightlies on 2014 and 2016 and both still crash. I can do everything else, just can't use the point render system for some reason.

The exact error in the messages window is:
UNHANDLED EXCEPTION: Broadcasting NOTIFY_POST_RENDERFRAME Last marker is at ./src/globalillummap.cpp, line 1932: GlobalIllumMap::buildLightMap()[{5}

Any chance I have some old environmental variables or something? It also crashes in scanline...

[Ivaylo Katev]

you left me scratching my head.
can you send me the phoenix log, it may give us any hint.

[Deflaminis]

Sure... where do I find that? I'm happy to get that over there.

I'm not ruling out hardware problems. It's an old machine. Maybe I have a bad memory stick and it's failing in that sector... figured I'd start here though.

[Ivaylo Katev]

the log is written in c:\phoenixfd , let see it and will be able to say more

[Deflaminis]

Hmm... I don't seem to have that folder. I installed it to D: if that make a difference, though I don't see the folder there either. There is a vraylog, but no phoenix log. Maybe this is part of my problem? Does Phoenix need to be installed on C

[Ivaylo Katev]

the log is in this position, regardless of the installation path. it may be some write access restriction, perhaps we have to make it accessible by the about box or something like that.

[tsvetan.geshev]

Can you try to search for the log with the Windows search? For 3DS Max 2016 the file should be called " phoenix_maxver18 "

[Deflaminis]

I did find this on my E: (documents)

Here is the entire contents:

Installed VRay 32003
Windows ver: 6 S
max ver: 18
target renderer: VRay 3.x
platform: 64
revision:24510
Pre render-------------------------------------- Pre render
BeginFrame of PHXFoam001
interfaces: Sp:0 pg:593582e0 pobjx:59358340
particles to collect:54
build tree 39270f50
point mode spec. n:54 step:8.158931 compact:1
~beginframe PHXFoam001 ^^^^^^^^^
shader39270f50 stats
steps:392092/368505 collected prt:0/2665
Post render--------------------------------------Post render
Pre render-------------------------------------- Pre render
BeginFrame of PHXFoam001
interfaces: Sp:0 pg:593582e0 pobjx:59358340
particles to collect:54
build tree 39270f50
point mode spec. n:54 step:8.158931 compact:1
~beginframe PHXFoam001 ^^^^^^^^^
shader39270f50 stats
steps:406928/367190 collected prt:0/2665
shader39270f50 stats
steps:406928/367190 collected prt:0/2665

[Ivaylo Katev]

i think this is a bug that is already fixed, try to download a nightly build

[Deflaminis]

I downloaded and installed the nightly on Friday... no luck.

[Ivaylo Katev]

the log is definitively from an old version, the current revision is above 26000, this is not a nightly build. are you sure that the installation was successful?