Forest Pack Lite hangs up my computer

[DanConnor]

I just started using this software- but whenever I set up an area with some trees and work with it for a while- my computer gets unworkably slow- and windows that pops up (like when I go to save or close my max file) are blank, unless I wait for a very long time.

Is this indicative of anything in particular I should look for? I'm working with max 2017 and Mental Ray.

I was hoping to purchase the pro version of the software...

[Rokas]

Hi

Does it become slow after You open such  a file ? If so please send it to us and we will check it.

[DanConnor]

I haven't tried opening a file. I just draw a rectangle, add the tree from the library, play around with distributions and transforms and then I'm out of business.

[Rokas]

That is not happening here. Without more information, hard to identify the problem.

[DanConnor]

As a new user, its likely the problem is on my end. I just don't know where to look for a solution.
The problem appears display related- I'm using a 1080 ti display card, which should be plenty robust.   Drivers current.

If I have this problem with lite, should I assume the full version with be the same for me?

[Rokas]

Maybe You viewing the scattered items as mesh? Maybe there are too many of them.

If only You would send us some example lagging scene we can check if it lags for us. If it does- we will provide a solution. If not we will be able to ask  further questions.

[DanConnor]

I narrowed down where the problem occurs. If I make a new document with scanline renderer- I can mess with it all day long. As soon as I enable mental ray is where things go south. When I try to render, it requests some changes (use placeholder objs, scanline disabled, Ray accel BSP2, hide custom objects) and I have tried both agreeing or ignoring that request- doesn't seem to make a difference.

Sending file

[Rokas]

Hi
Thanks for the file.

It renders here fine. And scene is behaving as expected.



Would You please try
Close 3ds Max
Go to this folder:
%localappdata%\Autodesk\3dsMax\2017 - 64bit
Rename  ENU folder to ENU_Old

Load Max and try again. If the issue persits close max and delete ENU folder and rename ENU_Old back to ENU.

Let me know if this helped.

[DanConnor]

No, sorry

[Rokas]

Let's try to troubleshoot the issue.
Please download logging tool- process monitor (free windows application).

Open it and set up:
1 You need only File System Activity selected:


2 Enable Autoscroll:


3. Once you see list of programs scrolling look for 3dsmax.exe.
disable autoscroll, find 3dsmax.exe, rightclick it and use Include '3dsmax.exe'


Now only 3dsmax activity will be visible in the log.
Try doing what is causing the slowdown for You and watch the log.
Once 3dsmax freezes do a screenshot (where "Time" and "Path" are fully visible) of the Process Monitor and send it to us.


Thanks in advance for any further comments on this issue you can share with us / our user community (in case some user(s) will run into similar troubles).

[DanConnor]

I just sent it to you.

I started out with just 3 trees in a rectangle and the problem didn't occur. When I upped to a few dozen or so it started.
In kind of an incremental way.
All the while the process monitor is making dozens of lines every second, so I'm not sure I caught it at a useful spot or not...

[Rokas]

It should be staying still for 5 seconds or so. We need to see on which spot it hangs. If it just scrolls, then info is not relevant.