Viewport Fails

[glorybound]

DR off, and it still froze the viewport.

[Alex_M]

My viewports broke again just now after a distributed rendering finished. Me and Bobby have totally different hardware and software setups. This means it's highly likely to be a bug with V-Ray. Can you kindly look into it? It's extremely annoying and time consuming having to restart 3ds Max 20 times a day.

[glorybound]

I have been complaining about it here for a year with no help from Chaos.

[vladimir_krastev]

Hi Alex_M I was able to finally reproduce this viewport issue while testing your scene for the other thread. My viewports are not showing anything but the default grey blank background.
I will se what we can do about this. Using 3ds Max 2024 here. What version have you been using?

[Alex_M]

Brilliant!! I'm currently using Max 2023.3, but this issue dates back at least 3 years when I used Max 2020.

[glorybound]

MAX 2024 (updated), V-Ray (updated), Video driver (updated) Windows 11 (updated)

[glorybound]

I can't be expected to have to crash Max whenever I stop rendering and want to do something; it is ridiculous! Is there a fix?

[glorybound]

Hello! This is still happening three times today, and the thread seems to be dead.

[Alex_M]

Same here. Yesterday it happened at least 3 times for me as well and its extremely annoying to restart Max over and over again after each distributed rendering. Unfortunately, the latest update doesn't seem to have fixed this.

[glorybound]

MAX 2025, and my screen is still freezing. It is random, comes and goes, but is still causing major issues.

[vladimir_krastev]

Hi, have you tried all of these steps:

1. Graphics Driver Update: Ensure your graphics card drivers are up to date. Outdated or corrupt drivers can cause viewport issues.
2. Viewport Configuration: Try switching the viewport display driver. Go to Customize > Preferences > Viewports and change the driver to Direct3D or OpenGL. Sometimes changing this setting can resolve viewport rendering issues.
3. Reset Viewport: You can reset the viewport settings to default by deleting the 3dsmax.ini file located in the user settings folder. This will reset any custom viewport settings that might be causing issues.
4. Scene Complexity: Large scenes with high poly counts or many objects can slow down viewport performance. Try simplifying your scene or using proxy objects to see if that helps.
5. System Resources: Check if your system is running low on RAM or CPU resources. Closing other applications and ensuring you have enough free system resources can help 3ds Max run more smoothly.
6. Graphics Settings: Lowering the viewport display quality can sometimes help with performance issues. Go to Customize > Preferences > Viewports and adjust the display settings to see if a lower quality setting improves responsiveness.
7. Software Updates: Ensure that you are running the latest version of 3ds Max. Updates often include bug fixes and performance improvements that can resolve issues like this.
8. Disable Background Processes: Certain background processes or applications can interfere with 3ds Max. Try disabling any unnecessary background applications to see if that resolves the issue.
9. Check for Corrupt Scene Elements: Sometimes specific elements in a scene can cause issues. Try merging the scene into a new file, or progressively delete elements to identify any corrupt objects.

The source of the above quote is found here. I will test again myself but if you are faster please share the results.

[glorybound]

I have a beefy 4090, so I don't think resources are the issue. It isn't scene-dependent; it is random around many projects. I have the latest updates and the recommended Video driver.

[Alex_M]

What do you mean by freezing screen? There's a bug currently in V-Ray GPU which makes IPR freeze/stop rendering when using "Region" in the VFB. Is this what you're talking about? Or are saying that the viewports stop updating? Can you post a screenshot or a short video?

[glorybound]

No, I mean stopping a render, and I can't pick anything in the viewport. Turning off/on layers doesn't show any viewport changes. I can pull down menus;it isn't MAx, itis the viewports.

[Alex_M]

Hi Alex_M I was able to finally reproduce this viewport issue while testing your scene for the other thread. My viewports are not showing anything but the default grey blank background.
I will se what we can do about this. Using 3ds Max 2024 here. What version have you been using?

Hi, vladimir_krastev. Any progress in this direction? The problem persists in V-Ray 7 and viewports still go blank after rendering with DR. I'm dreading using DR and often skip it due to fear of having to restart Max, which in both cases results in time lost. New features are nice and much appreciated, but not of much use if the software breaks.