3ds Max 2021 - Unwrap Editor crashes when V-Ray installed?

[JonasNöll]

Hi,

I'm having issues that the UVW Unwrap Editor crashes 3ds Max when opening it. The problem seems to accur only when V-Ray is installed. In the Autodesk forum there is a thread about it. https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/3ds-m.../false#M186459
Is that something that would need to be fixed on 3ds Max side or from V-Ray?

Best,
Jonas

[hermit.crab]

Does it happen if you disable all third-party plugins (leaving only V-Ray)?
Also you may try resetting your 3ds max preferences to their defaults by renaming the ENU folder to ENU_old (C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Autodesk\3dsMax \2021 - 64bit). Upon starting 3ds max, a new ENU folder will be created with the default preferences.

[JonasNöll]

Hi, apart from V-Ray (Beta 5) I don't have any other 3rd party plugins installed. I will remove the Beta and test again, as in the Autodesk forum that aparently reportedly fixed the issue but it came back as soon as V-Ray got installed again. I will try this and report back...

[JonasNöll]

Alright, just as already confirmed in the Autodesk thread, as soon as V-Ray is uninstalled the problem disappears. It happens to any objects, also a freshly created sphere.
I attached a sample file (litereally just an empty scene with my V-Ray settings and a sphere). As soon as clicking on the "Open UVEditor" Button in the "Unwrap UVW"-Modifier it crashes 3ds Max if V-Ray is installed. In my case it is Beta 5, Built 2. In the Autodesk thread people report the same issue with V-Ray Next.
Problem does not exist in my 3ds Max 2018 and 2020 version.

Is that something that would need to be fixed by Chaosgroup or (hopefully not) Autodesk?

Best,
Jonas

P.S: When uninstalling V-Ray 5.02b it gives out an error message that it couldn't delete folder "C:\Program Files\Chaos Group\V-Ray" (probably because other V-Ray versions are installed) and the user has to confirm to cancel the uninstallation process in order to proceed. It still uninstalls though but it is a bit confusing for the user.

[Garryclarke]

I can confirm that it's happening to me as well. Nothing installed except VRay Next, I'm using the latest version of VRay, latest graphic drivers etc. Uninstalling VRay fixes the problem. Converting a file to a previous Max version very will cause it to crash as well.
Autodesk say they are aware, I've no idea if it's a VRay or Max problem, just hope it gets fixed shortly.

[hermit.crab]

Thanks for the provided scene. I am reproducing the crash. It seems to be an Autodesk issue, related to the specific UVW Unwrap modifier applied to the geometry (maybe a corrupted .dll), since adding a new UVW Modifier on the geometry does not induce the crash on my end with V-Ray being active. Can you try adding a new modifier or maybe re-installing 3ds max?

[JonasNöll]

Hi, for me it crashes no matter if I add a new modifier or not, but only once trying to ender the UV-Editor. To just add the modifier itsself doesn't cause a crash.

[hermit.crab]

I meant opening the UV Editor on a new UVW Unwrap modifier. Otherwise, try reinstalling Max and see if the issue persists.

[M.Max]

I had the same issue few months back
I solved it by renaming the ENU folder and reset 3ds max .
that removed my Scripts/UI changes, so I copied them from the old ENU .I'm not 100% sure, but I think the folder that caused the issue is the "plugcfg_ln" so if you want to copy the old files from the previous ENU folder try avoiding copy this one .
I hope this will help.

[Garryclarke]

I took M.Max's advice and deleted the ENU folder and it started working OK. I kept the old ENU folder (ENU_old) and Max created a new one.
I swapped them back again and the crash came back, something in the folder is causing Max to crash when you open the UV editor.

When I install VRay I always run the 'Custom Defaults Switcher...' So that I can get VRay to be the default material etc etc.
I ran the Defaults Switcher and loaded the VRay settings - the crashes came back. But if I loaded the Max defaults again the crashes went away.
So some setting in the VRay defaults settings is causing the problem.
I can't find out all the things that the VRay defaults change changes so it makes it hard to track down.

For the time being I'm using the Max defaults as it doesn't cause any problems. However it's a pain using the Material Editor as new materials have to be changed each time among other things.
Anyone know how to change the default material without running the Defaults Switcher?

I'll post this to the Autodesk Forums as well as I don't know whose problem it is.

[JonasNöll]

Hi,

I can confirm that once I switch back to the 3ds Max Defaults the problem for me also goes away completely. I didn't mess with the ENU folder so far and it also doesn't seem necessary as the switch back to the Max Defaults seems to be working just fine.

Best,
Jonas

[Wyol]

HI,
Here it crashes too.
After some investigations, it seems it's the CurrentDefaults.ini that causes the crash.
If I replace the line:

; V-Ray Material
materialType=0x37bf3f2f 0x7034695c

by the one from the max default:

; Physical Material - 0x3d6b1cec 0xdeadc001
materialType=0x3d6b1cec 0xdeadc001

No crash anymore.

But I don't know what it exactly changes?


For info.
Hope it helps.

[JonasNöll]

Thanks for your input! So this way I assume if you reset the material editor it would be populated by PhysicalMaterials instead of V-Ray Materials?

[anthonyh]

Sorry, Just wandered into this thread and saw the post about the Custom defaults switcher, never even saw it before ! Just what I was looking for, those Physical Materials are gone now !
One question though, does anyone know how to make all the Vray defaults just a standard grey rather than the multi-colour rainbow ?
thanks

[JonasNöll]

AFAIK you can do this the following way:

1. Navigate to %localappdata%\Autodesk\3dsMax\2021 - 64bit\ENU\en-US\defaults\MAX.vray (be sure to pick your correct version of 3dsMax)
2. In 3ds Max load the Medit.mat, exchange the shaders with the ones that you would like and overwrite it (probably leaving a copy of the old one)
3. Then the material editor should be populated with whatever materials you set up in there.

I didn't try out myself so can't tell you 100% it works. Let me know

Best,
Jonas