Possible bug with ocean sim and restore

[rporter8555]

Greetings!

I am running a large ship on the ocean sim with 4000 frames, several days got as far as frame 990 then an Oklahoma thunderstorm results in power failure longer than my UPS can last. Restart computers and sim crashed on Restore.

To test, I set up a small ocean sim with sphere and moving grid using Phoenix toolbar. Set steps per frame to 1 and run 100 frames with output backup interval 15.
Move timeline to 20 and Restore, everything is fine, Phoenix resets to frame 16 and continues normally.
Change SPF to 2 and test again with full new sim 100 frames, then move timeline to 20 and Restore, everything is fine.

Change SPF to 3 and test again. Phoenix resets to frame 16 and starts step 1/3, processor goes 100% for a time then 32% and stays there.
Push Stop button but no response. Use Task Manager to close Max.

Tested with SPF 4 and everything is fine.
SPF 5 crashes
SPF 6 crashes
Problem seems repeatable.

Here is the scene
test.zip
Here is the log
PhoenixFD 3ds Max 2018 Log.zip

I have not tested any other settings.
Discovered this on Nightly 27722, and repeats on Nightly 27749.
Crashes on render slave with backburner, also crashes on main workstation.
All machines are i7 with 32GB ram. Max 2018 Update 20.0-20.2.0.2345 / Vray 3.60.01 / Phoenix 3.04.01 nightly 1710077749

Anyone else having this problem?
Thanks for any insight.
Ron Porter
Mustang, Oklahoma

[George Barzinski]

Hi,

we are working on this issue and will let you know when it's fixed.

[nikola.bozhinov]

Hello,

We have identified the problem and it is fixed in today's nightly build.
Actually there were two separate bugs and the crash you were experiencing is not related to the restore, but to the way the Phoenix FD Ocean Texture gets saved in the scene. This only appears on 3ds Max 2018 Update 2 and later. The problem is now resolved, but if the texture is saved incorrectly it can still create troubles. I suggest you delete the texture and then create it again this should prevent new crashes.
This bug also affects the Particle and the Grid textures, so if you experience crashes with scene containing any of these textures the solution should be the same.

Regards,
Nikola

[rporter8555]

Awesome, thank you for the fast response to this. You guys are the best!

Ron