Soft crashing like a concorde

[noar]

Okay... here's the problem... and this has been happening for a LONG time now.

Using softimage 3.9, i generally dont use shaded mode in my perspective viewport, cuz frankly, it barely works. On a simple scene, shure, it'll work fine... but as soon as my scenes start to get complex, softimage locks up during the viewport refresh.

Say i've got a nurbs surface and im tweaking points in shaded mode, 95% of the time, soft will lockup on the 2nd or 3rd refresh.

It's to the point where im scared to even USE the shaded view mode.

and when i say lockup, i mean locking up the whole computer, no keyboard access, no ctrlALTdel nothing... just a hardware reboot is possible.

has ANYONE had this problem?
I'm thinkin' it's a graphics card issue, so if it matters, im running an Nvidea Geforce Elsa Erazor X2 with 32megs on a win2k dual processor box.

any ideas?
Thanks in advance for your help.

[atyss]

Dear KiFe

Like MANY other people, you have problems with your GeForce2 graphic card. What makes me think so? If Softimage is properly installed, using a legal license of course, there should be no problems with the software itself.

The GeForce is an extremely powerful card, and the price is now very reasonnable. BUT it is totally crap when it comes to Softimage. You are one among so many to have problems with these stupid cards. I too own a GeForce2 card, and I too have problems (too many to list).

I know that many users of GeForce2 card will object on what I said, but the fact is, based on personal experience (forums, mailing lists, friends and co-workers), they are minority. I tried many hardware and software configurations, with the same results.

I spoke with Softimage's Technical Support, and what they told me is that Nvidia doesn't care about their GeForce2, they care only about their GeForce 3 and their Linux drivers. So don't expect any improvements to your problems.

Besides that, have you done the normal checkup things? Like reinstalling your grapic card driver, downloading the most recent one, trying another card, reinstalling Softimage, reinstalling Windows, trying your card on another machine with Softimage, and the like?

Sorry to give you bad news. The next purchase, in my advice, should be a 3DLab card. That's my choice for an upcoming card.

Bernard Lebel

[noar]

That's some crummy news. thanks nonetheless for your reply... it is MUCH appreceated... I had a feeling this thread was gonna bomb out of page 1 in no time.

I've updated drivers and done diagnostics on the driver settings... all to no avail. Your comments seem right on the money, which i guess kinda sucks. I should be starting work soon, and when i do, one of my first purchases will be a new graphics card.

I mean, im REALLY happy with my card still.. i like it and aside from the qwerks in softimage, it has been a really good card for me. But it's already over a year old, and only a measly 32megs of vram. S'about time i get a new one.

But thanks again, for your reply.. hehe i guess i can just call it closure to an irrepreable bug for the time being.

[atyss]

I agree with you. I like very much my GeForce card, it is a very good choice for 3ds max and Maya, as well as for games.

But what really pisses me off is that I paid CAN$530.00 for this card, when it just came out on the market (around June 2000). It is a Hercules-Guillemot 3D Prophet 2 GTS 64 Mbs, a real bomb! But not so much of a bomb when I opened Softimage.

I was at school when I bought my system. My fellow comrades bought their machine too at the same time, and we all got a GeForce 2 card. Well, we soon found that we all had the same problems! We got different models of card, different machines (I was the only one to buy an Athlon system), different OS configuration (some on NT 4 sp5, some on NT4 sp6a, and some on 2k), as well as various hardwares.

Since then, I regularly hear from people having troubles with their GeForce 2 card. This issue is frequently mentioned in the Softimage mailing list.

Take care
Bernard Lebel

[noar]

In reply to: Since then, I regularly hear from people having troubles with their GeForce 2 card. This issue is frequently mentioned in the Softimage mailing list.

Take care
Bernard Lebel

and as of yet softimage and geforce have still done nothing to address the problem hunh? such a shame.

[fredc]

I know I'm gonna regret this, but the Wildcat cards generally have much better drivers for Softimage 3D. Yes, the latest Wildcats are thousands, but you can usally buy an older version cheap off of Ebay. Yes, I know lots of other cards exist with better specs than older wildcats. However, as you can see specs are useless if it doesn't run properly. I personal think many competitors use bogus specs, but that is another issue.

Sorry if I seem defensive. However, everytime someone mentions Wildcats people start flaming. Yet, the Wildcats just keep on going in the most difficult work.

I don't really care what card you use. Just trying to help.

Urp

[atyss]

Well Urp I don't know to whom your post was intended to, but in my case I totally agree with you! I would love to have a Wildcat or an Oxygen Gvx... Like I said, GeForce2 cards is a great choice... but not for Softimage. However some people say that the GeForce3 cards are awesome.

I think that it is better to pay more but to be confident that the only weak part of the chain can be... the user! Only few things are worse than not being able to go through a production because of a hardware or software issue.

Bernard

[richard-sher]

Don't know if this will help but... Try adding these settings into your SETENV.bat.

set SI_NO_OGL_ACCELERATION=1
set SI_GRIDWITHOUTSTIPPLE=1
set SI_OVERLAY=disable

I've also found that turning off the "plug-play" feature on your motherboards bios helps when you are using a TNT or GeFroce card with Soft. (I don't know why)

Ed
XSI Videos, Classes, Tutorials, Tools, Shaders....
Available at:http://www.EdHarriss.comhttp://www.EdHarriss.com

[noar]

In reply to: I've also found that turning off the "plug-play" feature on your motherboards bios helps when you are using a TNT or GeFroce card with Soft. (I don't know why)

What does the 'plug and play' feature do in bios? will it aversely affect my system with the expence of properly running softimage with my grforce card?

thanks.

[rafael-adamy]

In reply to:
Okay... here's the problem... and this has been happening for a LONG time now.

Using softimage 3.9, i generally dont use shaded mode in my perspective viewport, cuz frankly, it barely works. On a simple scene, shure, it'll work fine... but as soon as my scenes start to get complex, softimage locks up during the viewport refresh.

Say i've got a nurbs surface and im tweaking points in shaded mode, 95% of the time, soft will lockup on the 2nd or 3rd refresh.

It's to the point where im scared to even USE the shaded view mode.

and when i say lockup, i mean locking up the whole computer, no keyboard access, no ctrlALTdel nothing... just a hardware reboot is possible.

has ANYONE had this problem?
I'm thinkin' it's a graphics card issue, so if it matters, im running an Nvidea Geforce Elsa Erazor X2 with 32megs on a win2k dual processor box.

any ideas?
Thanks in advance for your help.

[rafael-adamy]

KiFe, I use Soft all day everyday, and since using the SoftQuadro drivers with Win2k and GeForce 2, I've experienced no Freeze's or crashes.
Can't remember the download site address, but do a search for "softquadro" and you should find the drivers.

[pomme]

Kife
Maybe you should try to reinstall both windows and soft. I have a funny feeling that it is coused by the driver. Because elsa's driver sucks with soft 3D. I have a Elsa tnt2. Oh well, i am working with it. But when i turn on shaded mode. The normal of the polygon are fliped, not all of the polygon are fliped, only those are at the edges. This is funny. I turn on the wire frame mode, turn on show normal. They are facing the right direction. This is fine for me since i can still work with fliped nomal. Of course it is anoying. The funny thing is, this is the 2nd time i install soft(because my win2k crashed once) course this problem. The first time is fine. The 2nd time having this, and no matter now manytimes i reinstall, same thing. Okay, i browse on Elsa's home page and try to update driver. I got it updated. The result is even worse. Haha, trick you son!!! My fliped normal thing didn't fixed of course. And it gave me 1 more feature, when you choose object in soft. You hold down space, and drag a little box to pick an object right? well, it picked, but the view port will not update. only the little box that you have drag. Anything inside that area of the box will update only. Which means, if you are in ortho mode. You usually do , pick, orbit, and now, it goes pick, but when you orbit, image will only updated within the box that you have just drag. so, if you drag a small box, haha, you will have a big trouble. This kills me i tell you. i can't work with that. i am scrared to open soft in those days. Anyways, after a month or so, my win2k crashed. I should say freeze. Because it really froze like a freezy. Win2k will not tell you when it is going to freeze, or where it is going to freeze. Sometimes i brower around, i freeze, i want to empty my recycle bin. it freeze. i go start-> programm->so..f.t..... freeze. Finally i reinstall everything. now, win2k is fine. reinstall soft. The box orbit never update has been fixed. But the normal problem is still on going. I will not update the driver. I don't want it happen again.. So now i can work. i work. I really don't know how to solve your problem, but this is something that i want to share with you about my sweet elsa product. i didn't try to plug in a different video card. maybe i should and try if it is really elsa's prob.

[sam-hassen]

I'm thinkin' it's a graphics card issue, so if it matters, im running an Nvidea Geforce Elsa Erazor X2 with 32megs

[sam-hassen]

ok Kife, i tihnk you should realise the the Elsa Eraxor X2 is a GeForce 1....not GeForce 2.
Last time i check Softimage doesnt support this card so i suggest you shell out for a better card.
problem solved...everyone back to work...by the way Kife, most of teh questions you ask in here we clearly covered in School...but you werent in attendace half the time were you.

I'm thinkin' it's a graphics card issue, so if it matters, im >running an Nvidea Geforce Elsa Erazor X2 with 32megs

[rafael-adamy]

Kife, you said you're using Soft 3.9, well it has to be at least 3.9.1 to work well with Win2K, anything below that and you'll experience loads of freeze-ups...3.9.0 was extremely buggy with Win2K.

[atyss]

Muff, sorry to contradict you but I use Soft 3.8 sp 2 on a w2k machine (on a regular basis) and it runs without problems (so far). In fact, it runs way better than it used to when I was on NT4!

Bernard Lebel

[rafael-adamy]

Well maybe it's the tools I commonly use (for game development) but before 3.9.1 (using Win2k) Soft would crash from commands like "center2vertices", and in "Paint" when UV mapping and moving untagged vertices, plus various others....and I wasn't the only one who experienced these problems.

[pomme]

true, my soft will crash when going into paint mode. but not all the time. I just do all the paint job on photoshop instead.

[noar]

In reply to:..by the way Kife, most of teh questions you ask in here we clearly covered in School...but you werent in attendace half the time were you.

WHAAT?! WHO ARE YOU?

[cowsmanaut]

One thing that I've noticed from softimage (using it on various configs and various versions) is that it is a finicky beast. It can completely be the hardware you are using or the software you have installed.

You however can't say it's just win2k or just this video card because it's a combintation. It's like in the movie Batman where the joker messed with cosmetics. Lipstick itself wasn't dangerous but when mixed with babypowder and hairspray it killed. (lame example I know but I'm sure it served my point)

The idea is to find someone with a config close to yours.. that means if you are using a celeron so should theirs be.. if it's a pentium 3 then thus so should yours.. etc etc.. same graphics card and same OS.

Also, seting up which drivers to use for your card can change what you see when using the software. I've noted that the geforce 2 MX from creative labs with windows 2k seems work very well using either the Nvidia drivers on faster PC's pentium 3's and higher or with the creativelabs drivers on slower PC's pentium 1 (MMX) .. odd?

XSI is less biased.. it'll accept most configs. This however will not stop it from crashing.. Long Live XSI2 .. (I hope)

cheers..