3dsMax 2020 Instantly crashes Scenes containing FP and Multitexure plugin

[Pictor]

Hi there iToo and apologies if this has been addressed already. I've done a search but didn't find the issue documented!

We are having huge issues with Forest Pro objects and 3dsMax 2020:

3dsMax2020 Update 2
Forest Pack Pro 6.2.2
Railclone Pro 3.3.1

We have a simple xref scene with FP objects and multitexture, generating office furniture. The scene opens fine, but when you XREF it, it crashes. This happens with a completly empty scene, just loading the XREF. This is happening with multiple scenes and across multiple workstations.

Oddly, if you use the 3rd party script/plugin SmartRefs (smartrefs.com), it does not happen. This isn't really a solution, as we only have one trial version of the SmartRefs plugin and would prefer not to use it.

I have attached the minidump file for you to look at. I've tried to decipher it myself using WinDbg, but didn't really get anywhere, not being a programmer! Le me know if you would like the max files.

If you could take a look and possibly shed some light on what is going on, I'd really appreciate it. FP and RC have become invaluable tools and these issues are really affecting our time and workflow.

Many thanks,

Tim

[Rokas]

It been reported yesterday about the same (seems like) issue.

It seems like multitexture/max 2020/forestpack combination is key here. Our main developer will look at this issue.

[Pictor]

Rokas, my apologies for not spotting the previous post.

It does indeed look like a problem with Multitexture. As a test, I removed the multitexture mats from the forest objects. The scene then Xreffed fine.

We use multitxture extensively, unfortunately we don't find Forest/Railclone colour to be as powerful. Plus we have hundreds of legacy materials utilising Multitexture.

Do please keep me updated if a fix is coming or indeed possible, I'd be really grateful.

Tim

[iToo]

Hi, this problem has been reported by several customers, and in all cases the Multitexture plugin was involved.

Unfortunately we cannot find any clue in the minidumps which points to Forest Pack, because the crash happens within the Max core.
We have reported the problem both to Autodesk and to the Multixture developers. I will post here as soon as there are news.

Thanks.

(I've modified the thread title adding a reference to Multitexure, so the information is useful to other users)

[Pictor]

Thank you for letting me know Carlos.

It is a strange one. I did hours of painstaking testing yesterday:

1. 8 Forest Pro objects with a single sided mesh as surface, stacked on top of each other to distribute office furniture throughout a building.
2. I removed the material from each FP object, and added them back, one by one, checking the scene loaded (xref) each time. I narrowed it down to 4 problem multi sub mats that cause the crash
3. I then removed each custom geometry item from one of the problem FP objects, and added them back, one by one, in order to identify 1 multi sub material that could be causing the issue (as FP consolidates all the mats into one auto material, with 100's of mat ID's)

And guess what? I added each geometry item back in, in the same order in the geometer roll-out, and the damn scene no longer crashes with that FP object!

I have no doubt this is an issue with 3dsMax, as let's face it, it always is. The fact it xrefs fine using the 3rd party plugin/maxscript SmartRefs, is quite damning.

I'll carry on with some testing and let you know of any significant findings.

Kind regards

Tim

[VelvetElvis]

I hate to dig up an older thread, but I'm hitting this same problem. Has there been a solution yet? Though my issue is persisting with Rail Clone and multi texture.

EDIT: I rebuilt the rail clone object and I do not get the crash anymore even with multi texture. Odd, but a fairly easy work around.

[iToo]

No, i'm afraid there are not news since we reported the problem.

EDIT: I rebuilt the rail clone object and I do not get the crash anymore even with multi texture. Odd, but a fairly easy work around.

Please note it would fail again at any time. We found the crash occurs because a memory corruption, and is very random.

[JG_archviz]

Is this issue persistent in later Max Versions?

I recently finding myself with the same crash and max 2020/multitexture. Didn't knew why, as this wasn't a thing a few month ago. Just started around last year.
Now its more persistent. Which kinda sucks.

At least i might found a workaround to get those corrupted files working - I'm able to merge FP_sets from older scenes when starting max2020 without multitexture-plugin.... then after merging, i copy the material of merged FP-set and rename it and reapply it. than it might be possible to open the saved scene with max2020 and loaded plugin.
Still its some kind of hassle. 

[iToo]

We have not news of the Multitexture developers.
Probably the problem is present yet, but we have not tested it (we don't use Multitexture in our projects).