T3 Crash in Windows 8.1

masonspappy · August 28, 2015, 03:32:17 AM

T3 (latest version) running on new HP PC (I7-5820, 6 Core, 3.3GHz not overclocked, 32 GB RAM), Windows 8.1. T3 Crashes about every 5-10 mouse clicks (seems to happen most when populating objects or rendering a scene). Message comes up: " Terragen 3 (64 Bit) has stopped working
a problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available. "
But I don't see any appcrash information. Only other installed programs are xFrog and Blender, and they run fine. Been combing through the forum but not seeing anything that seems applicable. Been running various versions of T3 on older Gateway (I7-860, 8GB RAM) for 5 years with no problems.

Would really appreciate any help or suggestions.
- Cam (Masonspappy)

Oshyan · August 28, 2015, 03:27:38 PM

As always, check graphics card driver version (update if possible) first. You can also try turning down Graphics Acceleration (if available), temporarily, or close the 3D Preview and see if that helps. As you can imagine if TG itself were really that unstable there would be a lot more report of it, so there's something going on in the interaction between TG and your system. We'll do our best to get to the bottom of it with you.

- Oshyan

masonspappy · August 30, 2015, 11:57:07 AM

Update: After a lot of trial and error (and a bit of profanity), the TG crashes diminished considerably after uninstalling McAffee antivirus and Apple's Bonjour app. Still have a few crashes but not nearly as many. Also noticed (as did TheBadger) a curious lag between the time I click an item in the upper left window and anything actually happening (up to a few seconds for populations).

Oshyan · August 30, 2015, 01:02:48 PM

Glad to hear it's gotten better. Did you check the graphics card driver?

- Oshyan

masonspappy · August 30, 2015, 08:09:53 PM

Graphics driver seems to check out ok (Nvidia Geforce GTX 960, graphics driver 9.18.13.4738 which Windows 8.1 says is most up to date).

Oshyan · August 30, 2015, 08:40:52 PM

Are you not using the official Nvidia driver? I wouldn't necessarily rely on the Windows Update version of the Nvidia drivers. The official Nvidia drivers would be specified by a version number like 355.60 (which is the latest as I post this): http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/89119/en-us

- Oshyan

yossam · August 30, 2015, 09:58:50 PM

Be very wary of Windows 10 drivers period when you update.

masonspappy · September 02, 2015, 04:41:28 AM

Well, the crashes as back (after a few days of little or no crashes).
Every few days I save my current project under a slightly different name. The 'D' version of my latest project has worked fun. However, the 'E' version (latest version created yesterday) now crashes as soon as I hit the "force population' button. In retrospect it seems like , many of the crashes involve populations.

Oshyan · September 02, 2015, 03:09:26 PM

So you have two versions of the project, only one of which crashes consistently? Please send them to support AT planetside.co.uk if you can! That could be quite helpful to track this down if indeed it is not a machine-specific issue.

I would also suggest you try disabling (closing) the 3D preview for a while and see if your work is more stable. I know it's a drastic measure, but give it a try if you can. If it helps, then it is likely that it is indeed a problem with the graphics system and how it interacts with TG (not to say your driver or card are broken or anything, just an incompatibility).

- Oshyan

masonspappy · September 07, 2015, 06:00:04 AM

Hi Oshyan, I think the problem was machine-specific after all. I keep all my art related data (TG/Blender/xFrog/DAZ/etc) in a separate database that was attached to the new rig. Moved the database over to an older PC and just access it across the network . Been banging at it pretty hard for the last week and it seems stable again. Thanks for your help!

Oshyan · September 07, 2015, 04:40:37 PM

When you say "database", do you just mean "a bunch of folders with files in them", or do you mean an actual *database*, i.e. a single file that holds data?

- Oshyan

N-drju · October 15, 2015, 02:22:39 AM

This is becoming ever more interesting with the problem I had just two days ago and on a TG2! But in my case I was trying to launch a 64-bit OS made project on a 32-bit version of the software. When I launched the same thing on a 64-bit version I ran about five population tests and got no crash. Perhaps check the version of the soft in use?