3DS Max Crashes after 15, 40 or 70 min. Most of the time

[larsandreas_iversen]

Now I'm lost. Really lost!

The issue:
When I render a scene - any scene - I will eventually crash 3Ds Max. Most of the time. Not allways. Normaly 40-60 min into the render.
This startet to happend about two weeks ago. The scene I worked on was quite big, with many xref-scenes and I used a lot of plugins, but I often work on bigger scale scenes without any problems.

The render seems fine from start of the render to the crash. No Errors. No warnings.
I have no clue what it may be.

My setup:
WIN 10 Pro
ASUS Pro WS WRX80E-SAGE SE WIFI
AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX 32-Cores 3.50 GHz
256 GB ram
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti
10G Lan (2 workstations and 1 server (Bib and projects on different SSDs)
Setup been working fine for 2 years now.

What I've tried:
- When the problems started I used Vray 61008 on 3DS Max 2023 (Latest update).
- Rolled back V-ray to 6.0
- Currently using Max 2024.
- Reinstalled PC.
- Tested on another workstation on same LAN.
- Tested new scene with only V-ray as the only plugin to 3DS Max
- Updated Nvidia-driver
- Installed firmware updates (windows update)
- Rolled back Windows Updates. (2 months).
- Used SINI Forensics and cleaned the current project.
- Bucket and progressive tested
- Removed Render Elements
- Used No image filter, Lanczos and Catmull.
- Disabled displacement

Every step has led to the same: It crashes most of the time.

The question:
Any advice?

[vladimir_krastev]

Hi, thanks for posting.
Let's start ruling out the possible scenarios for such a crash. First of all are you using V-Ray CPU or V-Ray GUP?
- are you rendering animation or still image
- are you using bucket or progressive image sampler? Try switching between them.
- are you 100% sure you are not experiencing hardware issues like overheating for example, please check using specialised tools for testing and monitoring your hardware
- make sure you are not running out of memory
- leave only the render running and make sure that there is no other process that loads your hardware that may be turning on like for instance an anti virus system scan
- is there a way to tell if the scene is crashing while rendering a specific object, group, layer, x-ref or anything else?
- try to record your screens while the scene is rendering to see the system state right before the crash. You can arrange the VFB, and a hardware monitor tool so that you record them together.
- if you are using bucket rendering, sometimes it's evident if an object in the scene is causing issues since the buckets pile around it before the crash

[simon_kotowicz]

I had a very similar preoblem with a very similar setup:

Windows 11 Pro
Threadripper Pro 3975WX, same ASUS SAGE motherboard, 256GB RAM, but an RTX A6000.

In my case it turned out that the crashes during render were because I was turning off my monitor. If I leave the monitor on it doesn't crash during render. If I turn the monitor off, it'll crash within an hour or so.

[larsandreas_iversen]

Thank you so much for your respond, Vladimir_Krastev.

Let's start ruling out the possible scenarios for such a crash. First of all are you using V-Ray CPU or V-Ray GUP?
V-ray CPU
- are you rendering animation or still image
Still image
- are you using bucket or progressive image sampler? Try switching between them.
Used both
- are you 100% sure you are not experiencing hardware issues like overheating for example, please check using specialised tools for testing and monitoring your hardware
Not 100% sure. Will try to find suitable tool. But I would guess the computer would crash, not just 3Ds Max, if it was hardware. Right? And I've been testing on two computers.
- make sure you are not running out of memory
More than 50% to spare.
- leave only the render running and make sure that there is no other process that loads your hardware that may be turning on like for instance an anti virus system scan
Been testing on clean computer. Only 3DS Max and V-ray installed.
- is there a way to tell if the scene is crashing while rendering a specific object, group, layer, x-ref or anything else?
Crashing in scenes thats been working well earlier. And I've created new scenes with few objects.
- try to record your screens while the scene is rendering to see the system state right before the crash. You can arrange the VFB, and a hardware monitor tool so that you record them together.
Great tip. Will try. I've been staring at the monitor several times when the crash occures, but it might be to quick to notice.
- if you are using bucket rendering, sometimes it's evident if an object in the scene is causing issues since the buckets pile around it before the crash
Been testing this, but no results - And it happends in light and heavy scenes.

[larsandreas_iversen]

Strange thing, Simon_Kotowicz.

I've recorded one crash. Link to video below. No error, just plain crash. Check out the temp and watt usage. Drops suddenly before the crash.

Toughts?

[vladimir_krastev]

Hi, excuse me for the late reply and thanks for the video.

But I would guess the computer would crash, not just 3Ds Max, if it was hardware. Right? And I've been testing on two computers

It is possible that the hardware gives after a few hours of heavy load. Try a benchmark stress tool like for instance this one so you can load the CPU to a 100% for extended periods of time (do that at your own risk). If you tried multiple computers then maybe it is not hardware but you could test this regardless.

Crashing in scenes thats been working well earlier. And I've created new scenes with few objects

This means it is happening in every scene on multiple computers. Try a benchmark test and a new install of V-Ray and 3ds Max one last time.
Are both of your computers as per the specifications in your first post?
I am running out of ideas. Please make sure you perform your tests carefully and not miss something out.
Could you send us your simple test scene just in case?
Do you have any 3rd party plugins or scripts that execute before/during rendering?
We could also meet for a team viewer session. Please use the ticketing system for that and paste a link to this thread in your e-mail so we can track your ticket faster.

[Vipera]

It could be a hardware memory problem. Try to remove memory from motherboard and reinsert them again, you could try different slots. Also try to make a stress memory test using some program. What is your CPU cooler? Do you use any utility for CPU cooler like Corsair iCUE? This utility was causing many crashes for my PC previously.

[Pixelcon]

I had a very similar preoblem with a very similar setup:

Windows 11 Pro
Threadripper Pro 3975WX, same ASUS SAGE motherboard, 256GB RAM, but an RTX A6000.

In my case it turned out that the crashes during render were because I was turning off my monitor. If I leave the monitor on it doesn't crash during render. If I turn the monitor off, it'll crash within an hour or so.

I have an issue with a max crashing during gpu rendering if I switch screens on/off (dual monitor setup). Posting just in case this turns out to be something that backs up the op's claim.

[vladimir_krastev]

It could be a hardware memory problem

If you ran out of memory it will crash exactly as in the video. There could be also something in the scene that is causing the memory consumption to spike. I don't think this is the case here though since larsandreas_iversen claims the scene uses only 50% of the available RAM.

What is your CPU cooler?

We've had issues here with water cooling systems. The water pumps would stop and the would CPU overheat very fast. On the video the temp is showing 90 degrees at the moment of crash but try a better tool that shows all cores with their temperatures. It is possible that some of the cores are overheating.

[larsandreas_iversen]

Thank you for your response, guys!
I try to finish a big project now, so I have not been able to test out anything the last two days.

I think you're on to something with the cooling. My system is set up with Corsair iCUE H150i RGB Elite (On both machines).
It may be the thermal paste. The computers are two years old now, and the thermal paste may be long overdue. I've bougt Isopropyl alcohol to clean the cpu and new thermal paste.
Going to try this when the project is delivered later today. I will keep you updated

[larsandreas_iversen]

Strange. I've now used new Thermal Compound and installed the latest driver for the Threadripper Pro. As you see in this video it still crashes, despite low core temperature (68 C). As you see down in the bottom right corner, all of the cores are approximately at the same temperature.
I don't think the crash is related to CPU, GPU, drivers, 3Ds Max, Vray(?) or any other plugin,


I now tried to render a scene with default geometry and standard Vray materials. NO crash. It seems to be related to the server. I remember I changed the Cosmos path from C: station to folder on the server around the time things startet to go wrong. Not sure if this is related. Probably not.
I've updated Windows on the server and turned of almost all background processes. Reinstalled Max 2024 (I dont render from the server). It's just a fileserver. Very low load when I render.

Specs fileserver:
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8086K CPU @ 4.00GHz 4.01 GHz
64,0 GB RAM
Nvidia RTX A4000

Setup server:
1 SSD (M2) with projects
1 SSD (M2) with library and maps

Connections
1 server and two workstations connected to one unmanaged switch 10G (10G all the way)

Suggestions?

[Vizioen]

So strange. Did you try to package your scene and render locally, so nothing referring to any NAS or whatnot?

Is there a common element in the scenes that you tried to render? Like a texture you like to use or something? Maybe something got corrupt? I remember having something similar, a long time ago. Somehow a texture got corrupt, no idea why, who knows a cosmic ray caused a bit flip or something, and it started crashing my scenes randomly as well.

Try to make a complex scene without using assets (throw some displacement and scatter some high poly geometry) and let it cook for a while and see if it crashes still.

[larsandreas_iversen]

Thank you for your response, Vizioen. In the last post I tried to render a scene with basic shapes, complex materials and fog. It did not crash. Everyting was on C-drive. Seems like its only crashing when I render assets from the server.
I have not tried to pack a scene and render local. This should be the next thing to test out - to see if its like you're suggesting a corrupt bitmap.

[larsandreas_iversen]

A curious thing: I'm just done with 9 renders in a row with the use of Pulze Scene Manager. No crash. Every render took less than 30 min. The total time was around 215 min. Way longer than it normaly takes to crash the program with one render. It seems like the brief stop when Pulze saves the render and starts the next (2 min) is enough to prevent the program from crashing.

[vladimir_krastev]

Hi, have you checked your power settings of your computer? Just a wild guess but I think it is worth checking.