Computer Freeze

[glorybound]

I spoke too soon. Today was a nightmare... License error -98, Bloom/Glare error about not finding an open gl something, and my machine locking up every time I hit render.

[PIXELBOX_SRO]

Van you not reinstall the dell without all their tools and all that crap?

[glorybound]

I reinstalled last month. I removed another core using the CPU Power Tool and the freezing stopped.

[glorybound]

Here are some Windows command line tools I found online. You have to elevate the cmd to an admin before you run it.

set /a CORE_COUNT=%NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS%-1
setx /M VRAY_NUM_THREADS %CORE_COUNT%

[glorybound]

I did get an email from support today. Unfortunately, it seems to be a cut/paste response pointing me to a webpage on how to optimize my scene for RAM. The goods news is, I found my answer last night that solved all my issues.


Launching the two commands once in an administrator account should set it for all future 3ds Max sessions

set /a CORE_COUNT=%NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS%-1
setx /M VRAY_NUM_THREADS %CORE_COUNT%

[ivan.slavchev]

Same command in 1 line in Powershell

[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("VRAY_NUM_THREADS", $env:NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS-1, "Machine")

[hubmer3]

Same command in 1 line in Powershell

[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("VRAY_NUM_THREADS", $env:NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS-1, "Machine")

when i set this it uses all cores but not 100%
how to revert this setting? only delet the enviorment variable?

[mihail_kuzev]

Hello,

It seems that you have a computer with 2 physical CPUs. This will require a bit more tweaking - please try the following:

1. Disable Hyper-threading from the BIOS.
2. Make sure that NUMA is enabled in the BIOS (this should leave 14 threads per CPU for a total of 28 threads)
3. Set the VRAY_NUM_THREADS to 13
4. Start the vrayspawner20**.exe with the -numa parameter (this should run two separate instances of 3ds Max for each CPU)***
5. Open 3ds Max and go to the V-Ray settings.
6. Enable distributed rendering and exclude the local machine from rendering.
7. Set two hosts for distributed rendering. Use the address 127.0.0.1 for both and configure the first to use port 20204 and the second port 20205.

Test the rendering and let us know if you still experience the freezes.

*** For more information on how to run the spawner please check here:
https://docs.chaosgroup.com/display/...andlineoptions

[PIXELBOX_SRO]

isnt that the same case as bobbys and mine? why it worked for booby and not Phil?
And why for me only settgin vray numthreads worked?
This is very confusing

[glorybound]

The Environment didn't work for me, this did:

Launching the two commands once in an administrator account should set it for all future 3ds Max sessions

set /a CORE_COUNT=%NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS%-1
setx /M VRAY_NUM_THREADS %CORE_COUNT%

[hubmer3]

hy mihail, so when i do this hyperthreading is lost? and all other apps including win10 will only have one dice of cpu? remember this is a workstation not a node...
and for the enviorment variable is it correct when i delet it to set all back to standard?

thx

[mihail_kuzev]

Hi Martin

"isnt that the same case as bobbys and mine? why it worked for booby and not Phil?
And why for me only settgin vray numthreads worked?
This is very confusing"

- I suggested this setup only for testing. Based on the result (freezing occurs or not) we will be able to understand the issue better. Please note that this setup is not recommended for production and it is intended only for testing and finding out the cause of the freezing. Indeed, you are all experiencing similar issues, however they are not necessary caused by the same thing.

Hi Phil

"hy mihail, so when i do this hyperthreading is lost? and all other apps including win10 will only have one dice of cpu? remember this is a workstation not a node...
and for the enviorment variable is it correct when i delet it to set all back to standard?"

- As I mentioned above this setup is intended only for testing. You can also try it with Hyperthreading on, but in that case please set the VRAY_NUM_THREADS to 26. Deleting the environment variable will revert the settings to default. Please note that even with that setup your other Windows apllicaitons will still be able to use all the available threads, it is V-Ray that will be limited to use less CPU cores in that case.

If that is alright with you please write us an e-mail to support@chaosgroup.com and we can arrange a remote session. This will allow us to inspect the system configuration and help you with the issue. In most cases lowering the maximum threads used by V-Ray by 1 or 2 resolves the problem, however sometimes this does not help and it is necessary to troubleshoot further.

Please note that the freezing is not a problem that is caused specifically by V-Ray. It is typically a result of the full utilization of the computer resources which could sometime hit a bottleneck (this is what usually causes the freezes). We can only provide you with a workaround that will allow you to use V-Ray without hitting the bottleneck.

[glorybound]

It doesn't affect my hyperthreading.

[PIXELBOX_SRO]

Welcome to the Windows Hell :-/ never before version 10 we had so many problems, crashes and all sort of weird stuff going on. And it is yet to get worse i expect . If there obly was an option to establish a workstation on a different system without any limitations and with max pipeline.

[glorybound]

The problem I have is it'll change. I have everything working and it took me months. All of a sudden, Autodesk or Microsoft will change something and it'll take me a few months to fix it, again. Literally, every big change sets me back months and it sucks! Years ago, you purchased Windows and it stayed the same until you upgraded, same with MAX.