Vray 2.1 for Maya 2012 instability issues. Maya or V-ray, or both?

[matteley]

Hi, I've been experiencing a lot instability using V-ray for Maya 2012 since upgrading from 2011. I'm not sure if this is a Maya issue or V-ray, or both but it would be very interesting to hear if anyone else is having the same experience? V-ray RT for example has become incredibly unstable since upgrading and crashes far more often than it did in 2011.

Our studio recently upgraded to Maya 2012 SP2 hoping most of the bugs (and there were quite a few) had been resolved from the initial release. We've all been experiencing far more crashes with vray for Maya 2012 than with 2011.

Versions we're running:

Maya 2012 x64 SAP SP1
V-Ray for Maya version 2.10.01, revision 18514 from Jan 11 2012

System info:

Operating System: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.110622-1506)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Hewlett-Packard
System Model: HP Z600 Workstation
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Processor: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU X5650 @ 2.67GHz (24 CPUs), ~2.7GHz
Memory: 24576MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 24560MB RAM

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA Quadro 4000
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: Quadro 4000
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_06DD&SUBSYS_0780103C&REV_A3
Display Memory: 1750 MB
Dedicated Memory: 2014 MB
Shared Memory: 3831 MB
Current Mode: 1920 x 1200 (32 bit) (59Hz)


Matt

[alexitoland]

Hi Mattley,
we got the exact same issues than yours since we got the new machines and Maya 2012. We have very similar machines to yours.
I have been reporting our problems for months, lots of problems, random crashes, corrupted scenes in our farm ..... having a new machine and not being able of using VraRt in a production it has been very frustrating. I am really sorry to say that we are currently testing other rendering engines .... anyway there´s a new hope with latest release, i reallly really hope is way much stable than the one before , specially when you are in the middle of a heavy production. I will keep you update it on it.
Thanks a lot.
Alex.

[matteley]

Hi Alex, thanks for your reply. Sorry to hear you not the only having the same problem as us, it's incredibly frustrating and costs the studio time.

I'd be surprised if the problem is being caused by the hardware, especially as the HP Z600s come recommended for CG, but then I wouldn't to rule that out either so would be interesting to hear from a few more people too.

Personally I'm not holding out much hope for the 1.0 release of Maya 2013 as they always manage to wreck a few things but would be interested to hear how you get on with it.

Thanks
Matt

[vlado]

Matt, have you tried a newer build? There were some Qt-related crashes that we fixed recently. Also, do the crashes happen during your normal work in Maya, or when rendering? Do you use the V-Ray VFB or just the regular Render View? If you have any crash dumps from Maya it would be very helpful if you can send them to me at vlado@chaosgroup.com

Best regards,
Vlado

[matteley]

Hi Vlado thanks for your respnse, I've just installed build 2.10.01, revision 19179 so will test that and send over any crash dumps if they continue to occur.
The crashes tend to happen much more often when using the VFB so I switched back to the native one, they do still happen but less frequently and more so when using RT. The other crashes I'm sure are Maya related, even simple operations like selecting a plane will cause it to fall over.

Thanks
Matt

[Morbid Angel]

Regretfully I must add my self to this list. I have been experiencing an abnormal amount of crashes with maya2012. Sometimes every 5-10 minutes, of not even doing anything. Maya would just be sitting in the background after render and when I comeback to it, it displays that maya has crashed.
Almost impossible to work with. I have checked my computer for bad ram as I thought that might have been the issue. No solution at this point, Im also running the above mentioned build.
Will let you know in a bit if I have any success.
In general maya 2011 and onward is a lot more unstable

Also I am not using vray framebuffer at all.

[vlado]

Do you get these issues if V-Ray is not loaded at all?

Best regards,
Vlado

[vlado]

Also, I know I mentioned it before, but it _really_ would be better if you update that build. The way it processed Windows messages could cause Maya to crash after the end of the render (although usually right after the render, and not some random time afterwards).

Best regards,
Vlado

[Morbid Angel]

Im going to speculate, but I think my maya crashing was caused by autosave. Since disabeling it, the crashing has stopped (so far) has been working stable for an hour or so. I did get a few render irradience thread exceptions though.

[matteley]

I have been testing the new build of V-Ray from 5th Feb and it has definitely improved stability so far, with and without the VFB. A great improvement, thanks.

I'll continue to use it throughout today and let you know how it goes. I've not yet tested without V-Ray loaded but will do today also. I agree with Morbid Angel that Maya 2011+ isn't the most stable through general use anyway so I would still expect to see some random crashes.

Thanks
Matt

[alainfx]

I have been testing the new build of V-Ray from 5th Feb and it has definitely improved stability so far, with and without the VFB.

Two builds were released on 5th Feb :
-v2.25.01 (nightly)
-v2.10.01 (stable2.1)

Which one did you install ?
Thanks.

[matteley]

Sorry, it was the stable. (V-Ray: V-Ray for Maya version 2.10.01, revision 19179 from Feb 5 2012)

[alainfx]

Sorry, it was the stable. (V-Ray: V-Ray for Maya version 2.10.01, revision 19179 from Feb 5 2012)

Thanks.

Did you notice this ?
On 3rd Feb, was released VRay for maya 2.20.01 (official main build, not nightly beta or nigthly stable)
On 5th Feb, was released VRay for maya 2.10.01 (stable 2.1)

So, you can install a more advanced version (2.20.01), that was released before the newest (2.10.01)
(I guess it's because nobody found new bugs in 2.20.01)

[vlado]

Don't read too much into the versions... as it says in the release notes, the only difference between the 2.1 and 2.2 versions is the removal of .exe extensions on executable files for Linux and Mac OS X, and the GUI installer on Mac. In any case, I would recommend running a stable build rather than a nightly one, unless there is a specific feature you need.

Best regards,
Vlado

[matteley]

All has been running well today this latest stable build, not had any crashes so far which is really good.

I have however had the VFB disappear a couple of times and it's not just been minimised in windows like it used to previously (hovering over the maya icon does not show the thumbnail).