A few 3D Max Questions

I have two 3D Max 4.0 question I haveny found a solution for.

1) Why do none of my plugin ever work?

2) I cant get JarJar's highly detailed Star Destroyer to work. It keeps telling me insufficent memory when I try to render the image.

Thanks!

 

1. Your plug-ins aren't in the correct folder.

2. You have insuffecient memory. Time for an upgrade.



SK

 

More on question 2: The message says something like "Insufficent Memory for ISD Shadow Buffer Lamp 12"

Max is loaded into my H Drive (all storage 40 gb left)...with a link to it on G (Win2000 1.5 gb left). JarJars model was directly extracted into the H drive

 

That's HD space, not memory. You'll have 128MB or 256MB of memory or something. That's what you need to increase.


I think....

 

As a rule of thumb, it is probably best that you upgrade your memory to as much as you can afford (and you motherboard can handle) anyway. And with the low prices of memory these days -it's the perfect time to do it.

 

with regards to question 2, i have 512 meg of ram and some times have problems rendering jarjars ISD!!! so look to get more than that!

 

not neccesarily TAC, but in most cases, yes. In certain cases, 512MB can actually be speedier than say 1024. For example, if you have one stick of 512, it -could possibly- be faster than 4 sticks of 256, adding up to 1024. It depends on your motherboard layout (it has do with having an extended circuit the more sticks you have). In most cases more is better, but, if you plan on upping your RAM with some discount Crucial, I'd reccomend looking into replacing ALL your RAM with a single, bigger stick.

 

OH FINE then.

 

I have 384 MB of Ram and every other highly detailed and large file works.

PS: What is the correct folder to load the plugin into. I was loading it into H:\3dsmax4\plugins. It tells me the ones I put in failed to initialze

Edit: I just got wave2 and greeble to load. However. it still says Linear.dlt and patchwork.dlt failed to intialzie

 

*bump*

 

If your plug-ins are in the correct location and just not initilizing it may be because you have incompatible plug-ins meaning they are for R3 not R4.

Your Insufficent Memory error is caused by the lack of memory on your system, but it may be the size of your shadow maps on your lights. If you have alot of Shadow Map lights on your scene with high values it will kill your memory, especially with omni lights as they have to create 6 shadow maps for each light.

That is just another suggestion to look at.

I still agree with everyone else get more memory if it is in your budget.

 

I've got 256meg and have exactly the same problem. But I've got a solution for you as well

Whats happening is after 3ds has used up all your virtual swap memory, it requests more, windows will automatically increase your swap size to meet this new demand. However during increasing the swap size it denies any more memory requests.

Rather than asking a few times max just phreaks and quits.

You need to set your virtual swap managment to "manual" rather than letting windows manage it, and increase the default size to the maximum of 4 gig.

You should then be able to render the SD. However it will take a long time due to all the HD swapping that is occuring.

The other solution is if your shot only requires a small segment of the SD such as the top or one side, then cut it in half and delete 1/2 the model. You will then have simplified the scene and it should be a bit quicker.

However the only true solution is to buy more memory. Unfortunatly for me, P4 rimm memory is a bit too expensive at the moment


Hope that helps you out.

bye.

 

Thanks! I'll take a look at that and see what I can do.

 

Increasing your virtual memory cache would do the trick bvut let me tell you this...your hard drive can only take so much!
After awhile, you'll end up with serious surface errors/damage on your hard drive due to wear and tear.
Better to do a total upgrade if you feel the need to enter the ever demanding world of mulitmedia processing.

 

I'm looking at a computer that can handle 2 gig of ram, and I'm thinking of maxing that out.

Can XP Pro cope with all that? Or will it be put to waste...

Cya
Mike

 

XP Pro? I would think so, a very good chance. Why not, it is built of network technology so is should work woth no problems.