Vray for SU 1.48.66 crashes on render

[MartinPh]

On the moderator's request, to avoid mixing up of possibly different problems, I repost this one in a separate thread (I can't resist adding that I find it pretty shocking that software sold at this price tag comes with enough bugs to confuse forum threads...)

Anyway.

I installed the new Vray for SU yesterday, after having very good experiences with the demo version of 'old' Vray. The installation went smoothly and all Vray functionality is accessible in SU.

I did notice, however, that at startup of SU five pop-up windows flash by. This happens in very quick succession, so fast that none of the windows has time to fully 'materialize', so I don't know if these are warnings or error messages or anything of that kind. I then loaded a large, complex model that I had been rendering succesfully in old Vray. On loading the model two more of these superfast pop-ups flashed by.

I then started a render with default settings. Vray processes the scene; the frame buffer window appears, as well as the progress window; the latter remains stuck at 'starting first thread; waiting for thread completion' - and then after a few minutes both Vray and SU itself shut down without any further warning, after which an SU bugsplat window appears. This happened every time I attempted to render this model. I tried the several material debugging options, but without effect. Rendering with material override didn't work either. Following suggestions I found elsewhere on this site I tried optimizing memory usage by changing several system settings, again without effect.

Interestingly, when I tried to replicate the problem just now it went slightly differently. SU didn't shut down by itself, but a blank 'error' window popped up after which SU greyed out. On closing the empty error message, a new message appeared 'SU had encountered a problem and has to shut down'.

From what I read more people have this or very similar problems, and I get the impression that this is a memory issue, not a materials issue as suggested in another thread. I should add that small, simple scenes render without any trouble.

I'm on a P4, dual core 2,133 Ghz Vista PC with 4 GB of RAM, nVidia Geforce LE video card, and am using SU 7.1

Any ideas??

[dkendig]

Re: Vray for SU 1.48.66 crashes on render

On the moderator's request, to avoid mixing up of possibly different problems, I repost this one in a separate thread (I can't resist adding that I find it pretty shocking that software sold at this price tag comes with enough bugs to confuse forum threads...)

It was just that there were so many people falsely saying "this is exactly the same thing that is happening to me" when it was clear that there were certain symptoms present with one person's issue, but not in another's. It may be that you all suffer from the same issue, but you are all exhibiting slightly different symptoms. And as far as software being sold at a given price point with bugs... with any luck we'll fix the handful of bugs that are left over very soon.

I did notice, however, that at startup of SU five pop-up windows flash by. This happens in very quick succession, so fast that none of the windows has time to fully 'materialize', so I don't know if these are warnings or error messages or anything of that kind. I then loaded a large, complex model that I had been rendering succesfully in old Vray. On loading the model two more of these superfast pop-ups flashed by.

Those are our dialogs being created for the first time, completely harmless.

I get the impression that this is a memory issue, not a materials issue as suggested in another thread

What about this issue makes you think that? How large of a scene are we talking about? You said it worked in the previous version right? How many complex scenes have you tested with, does this happen with all of them? Have you looked at your task manager to see how much memory SketchUp is using while rendering? If so, how much memory was being used by the SketchUp process before it crashes? Would it be possible for you to send us an example scene that demonstrates this issue?

[MartinPh]

Re: Vray for SU 1.48.66 crashes on render

Thanks again, dkendig, for your superfast response, that's great, and at least I don't have to worry about these strange pop-ups anymore. I'll suppress my disappointment and nagging about price points for now and just get down to your questions:

- This is a 48MB model, with nearly 700,000 faces and over 5000 groups and component instances and 40 materials.
- I tested it with an even larger model (60MB). In that case, the frame buffer doesn't even appear. The status line 'Vray is processing your scene, please wait...' simply disappears after a while, and after that it's as if I never hit the render button at all. Well, at least that saves me a crash. So I think it is a memory issue because troubles seem to increase with model size. I should add that I never rendered this model in the old vray, so I don't know if that would have worked; the 48MB model did, however.
- After the (48 MB) model has loaded, SU uses 409 MB of RAM. This increases steadily after hitting render, and then jumps from somewhere in the 700 MB region to 1.3 GB when the VFB appears. Memory usage increases to nearly 1.7GB after that, at which point the error message appears and SU greys out. According to the task manager the system is using just over 70% of RAM at that moment (so not a memory issue after all...?)

I don't know if there is a way to send a file of this size?

[dkendig]

Re: Vray for SU 1.48.66 crashes on render

Yeah, that doesn't sound like a memory issue. There is a limit of about 2gb of RAM that can be used by a 32-bit application, this can be upped by using the /3gb switch (google it, you should find it easily). If you're only hitting 1.5mb though, then I'd say there's something else going on.

So let's see here, your first model doesn't sound too awful complex. Your second model sounds a bit more involved, but that doesn't mean it's issues can be attributed to a ram issue either. Did you try running the force sync debugging tool on that scene?

We do have an error log now in our latest release, which is located in the ASGvis folder, maybe it can shed some light on these issues. The ASGvis folder changes location according to the OS you use:

XP:
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\ASGVIS\VfS\vfs_stderr.txt

Vista and Win7:
C:\Program Data\ASGVIS\VfS\vfs_stderr.txt

OS X:
/Applications/ASGVIS /VfS/vfs_stderr.txt

The error log is wiped every time you open SketchUp, and it won't be fully written out unless SketchUp is completely closed. So really as soon as you see a problem of some sort, close SketchUp, and then open the error log file to see what it says. If there's an issue with materials being mismatched or something along those lines, you should see some sort of message about that particular asset in the error log.

(Just posted this, thought it might help some people out: http://forum.asgvis.com/index.php?topic=7503.0)

To send us a large file like the scenes you're having issues with, you can upload them to a file sharing site such as MediaFire. If your work is confidential and you would rather not have the rest of the forum download your scene, you can contact us via email about the issue (support@asgvis.com), and we can work something else out.

So let us know what you see in the error log file, and we can go from there

[thomthom]

Re: Vray for SU 1.48.66 crashes on render

Martin; is this the model you mentioned crashed while modelling as well?

[MartinPh]

Re: Vray for SU 1.48.66 crashes on render

Hi guys,

I replicated the problem again, which resulted in the following error log:

About to make our qapp
after make qapp
C:\ProgramData\ASGVIS\Python26\Lib\site-packages\Ft\Lib\__init__.py:47: DeprecationWarning: functions overriding warnings.showwarning() must support the 'line' argument
self.message = messages[errorCode] % msgargs
C:\ProgramData\ASGVIS\Python26\Lib\site-packages\Ft\Lib\__init__.py:47: DeprecationWarning: BaseException.message has been deprecated as of Python 2.6
self.message = messages[errorCode] % msgargs
C:\ProgramData\ASGVIS\Python26\Lib\site-packages\Ft\Lib\__init__.py:48: DeprecationWarning: functions overriding warnings.showwarning() must support the 'line' argument
Exception.__init__(self, self.message, args)
C:\ProgramData\ASGVIS\Python26\Lib\site-packages\Ft\Lib\__init__.py:48: DeprecationWarning: BaseException.message has been deprecated as of Python 2.6
Exception.__init__(self, self.message, args)
C:\ProgramData\ASGVIS\Python26\Lib\site-packages\Ft\Xml\Catalog.py:583: DeprecationWarning: functions overriding warnings.showwarning() must support the 'line' argument
e.message),
C:\ProgramData\ASGVIS\Python26\Lib\site-packages\Ft\Xml\Catalog.py:583: DeprecationWarning: BaseException.message has been deprecated as of Python 2.6
e.message),
C:\ProgramData\ASGVIS\Python26\Lib\site-packages\Ft\Xml\Catalog.py:584: DeprecationWarning: functions overriding warnings.showwarning() must support the 'line' argument
FtWarning)
FtWarning: Catalog resource (file:///C:/Python26/Share/4Suite/default.cat) disabled: Error retrieving resource 'file:///C:/Python26/Share/4Suite/default.cat (C:\\Python26\\Share\\4Suite\\default.cat)': [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'C:\\Python26\\Share\\4Suite\\default.cat'
C:\ProgramData\ASGVIS\VfS\\VRayPlugins.xml
Made it after UIManager.initialize
C:\ProgramData\ASGVIS\Python26\Lib\site-packages\Ft\Xml\InputSource.py:346: DeprecationWarning: functions overriding warnings.showwarning() must support the 'line' argument
FtWarning, 2)
FtWarning: Creation of InputSource without a URI

All Greek to me ofcourse, but Ãt would be great if this tells you something useful...

I would prefer not to share this model on the forum, it is quite a labor of love and I just don't like the idea of other people potentially running off with it (or not yet at least).

Thomthom, the model never gave any trouble in SU, works just as smoothly as much simpler ones and never caused crashes.

(PS. After posting this message, I worked a bit on the model, then tried another render. Now I got an error message I hadn't seen before: "failed to create dump file (error 183)". Then SU grey-out and crashed as usual)

[MartinPh]

Re: Vray for SU 1.48.66 crashes on render

...just giving this thread a little bump, after four unhappy days with new software that won't do what I bought it for...

[dkendig]

Re: Vray for SU 1.48.66 crashes on render

Hmm... Don't see anything in the error log that's of any help. Just warnings, no errors.

I would prefer not to share this model on the forum, it is quite a labor of love and I just don't like the idea of other people potentially running off with it

Could you please send us a bug report about this? Just send an email to vfswip@asgvis.com (note to anyone that reads this: please don't just send stuff here unless we know about it, otherwise we might not look at it for a while... like a month... or five). That way we can continue this conversation off of the forum, so you don't have to share anything publicly.

[mattDPA]

Re: Vray for SU 1.48.66 crashes on render

I also get a similar issue on a large model (45MB, 603k faces) . I get the failed to create dump file error 183 box. Here's a copy from the log.


About to make our qapp
after make qapp
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\ASGVIS\Python26\Lib\site-packages\Ft\Lib\__init__.py:47: DeprecationWarning: functions overriding warnings.showwarning() must support the 'line' argument
self.message = messages[errorCode] % msgargs
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\ASGVIS\Python26\Lib\site-packages\Ft\Lib\__init__.py:47: DeprecationWarning: BaseException.message has been deprecated as of Python 2.6
self.message = messages[errorCode] % msgargs
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\ASGVIS\Python26\Lib\site-packages\Ft\Lib\__init__.py:48: DeprecationWarning: functions overriding warnings.showwarning() must support the 'line' argument
Exception.__init__(self, self.message, args)
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\ASGVIS\Python26\Lib\site-packages\Ft\Lib\__init__.py:48: DeprecationWarning: BaseException.message has been deprecated as of Python 2.6
Exception.__init__(self, self.message, args)
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\ASGVIS\Python26\Lib\site-packages\Ft\Xml\Catalog.py:583: DeprecationWarning: functions overriding warnings.showwarning() must support the 'line' argument
e.message),
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\ASGVIS\Python26\Lib\site-packages\Ft\Xml\Catalog.py:583: DeprecationWarning: BaseException.message has been deprecated as of Python 2.6
e.message),
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\ASGVIS\Python26\Lib\site-packages\Ft\Xml\Catalog.py:584: DeprecationWarning: functions overriding warnings.showwarning() must support the 'line' argument
FtWarning)
FtWarning: Catalog resource (file:///C:/Python26/Share/4Suite/default.cat) disabled: Error retrieving resource 'file:///C:/Python26/Share/4Suite/default.cat (C:\\Python26\\Share\\4Suite\\default.cat)': [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'C:\\Python26\\Share\\4Suite\\default.cat'
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\ASGVIS\VfS\\VRayPlugins.xml
Made it after UIManager.initialize
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\ASGVIS\Python26\Lib\site-packages\Ft\Xml\InputSource.py:346: DeprecationWarning: functions overriding warnings.showwarning() must support the 'line' argument
FtWarning, 2)
FtWarning: Creation of InputSource without a URI
there is already a sun
update_sun_xml_in_scene was just called with the following argList:[u'SunLight']
Entering renderArchive
About to start readArchive - C:\Documents and Settings\All Users/Application Data/ASGVIS/VfS/current_skp.xml
24.282000 seconds is how long it took to read in our scene file
8.578000 seconds is how long it took to add the plugins to our renderer

[dkendig]

Re: Vray for SU 1.48.66 crashes on render

The "183 error" is a generic windows error message, just saying that the program crashed and it failed to create a temp file that contains some crash information.

Mattdpa- your error log doesn't have a single error in it either -sigh- This makes me sad... If you can, submit a ticket to our bug tracking system. Just send an email to vfswip@asgvis.com. (Note to anyone else that reads this: if you send a bug report there without being asked by one of our developers, we will yell at you). Attach a scene file that demonstrates the issue if you have one you can send to us. A video describing the issue can be helpful also. System information is VERY helpful also. The more we can find that you and MartinPH have in common, the closer we'll be to finding the source of this problem.

[archigrafix]

Re: Vray for SU 1.48.66 crashes on render

I also get that kind of problems....
My model was rendering well, until I drag and drop a component (with PNG material).
Till then its always crashing on render...
I have tested on my model for hours to see whats causing problem...the only cure I found is deleting all the Vray materials (using debug fonction) then anything work fine again...
I cant sent you the error log file cause when it crashes it says "unable to write this file..."
However when I directly do create the component (PNG one) inside the original file, all works fine. Problem is about materials, and mainly about importing them through a component!

All this is very frustrating, hope for a patch very soon. I know you are working hard to get it...
thanx

[dkendig]

Re: Vray for SU 1.48.66 crashes on render

My model was rendering well, until I drag and drop a component (with PNG material)

If you look at the sticky post about the new debugging tools, you should see "Force Sync for All Materials" listed as one of them. The problem you're talking about here should be solved by using that debugging option. The "Regenerate all V-Ray Materials" tool will basically do the same thing as the Force Sync for All Materials tool, except it will also destroy any V-Ray material data (which is bad if you had some materials set up in our material editor, you'd lose any progress you made). The reason why this tool must be used, is we aren't being notified if an object is copy and pasted or drag and dropped from another window. So we don't know that we need to grab any new materials that component may have had inside of it. Using the Force Sync tool would essentially be the same as manually notifying our plugin that it needs to look for missing materials and create them appropriately.

I cant sent you the error log file cause when it crashes it says "unable to write this file..."

Our plugin constantly writes to a log file, which as nothing to do with SketchUp. I'm guessing that you summarized the error message instead of actually quoting it. (Please refrain from doing that in the future by the way, that makes the error message useless. Sometimes an error message will have a specific word that could totally change the meaning of the error.) It sounds like the error message that happens when SketchUp crashes and is unable to create a dump file in a temp directory. Try looking for our error log:
http://forum.asgvis.com/index.php?topic=7503.0

when I directly do create the component (PNG one) inside the original file, all works fine. Problem is about materials, and mainly about importing them through a component!

Correct. When you are using SketchUp normally and only using objects contained in one scene file (not copy and pasting or drag and dropping between windows), we are notified as we normally would be when a material is modified or created, so we are able to support that PNG texture just fine. It's the drag/drop notification that's the problem. I really wish I could figure out why we aren't notified, and what needs to be done to be notified.

[MartinPh]

Re: Vray for SU 1.48.66 crashes on render

Wel, finally some news in on this issue from the ASGvis developers. Doesn't sound too uplifting thus far. It turns out to be a memory issue after all . With the upcoming patch my model 'may' render, I am told, but it will require 'some pruning'. I.e., the new vray, even with patch, can't handle large models. >

It all sounds seriously frustrating. The only reason for me to buy a render plugin for SU was so I wouldn't have to export large models, which usually causes trouble... I do hope the work will continue to solve this issue; as I understand there ought not to be any size limitations for using vray, and it seems the old version didn't have them.

[dkendig]

Re: Vray for SU 1.48.66 crashes on render

Hey Martin,

I'm the guy who answered the ticket. I agree, I'm disappointed that the model didn't render in our latest version (so far anyway). We are trying to find a better way to manage memory, but we had the same issue in our last version too. I've rendered some large scenes in the latest version, but the one you are having trouble with is just doesn't seem to want to complete the render. The inital issue you had was not due to memory limitations though, just to be clear, there were a couple material related issues, which prevented the VFB from even appearing, that we were able to repair. This scene so far though, is just too much. I'm hoping we'll be able to figure something out soon though. I HATE the ~2gb limitation that we're locked in to with SU, and would love to see it eat the dust.