ZBrushCentral

3/26/2016 Windows 10 Professional - hanging on startup

Hello all - I’ve already put in an official ticket but thought it wise to make a post here.

Sometime between February 25th 2016 and sometime last week (3/20/2016 - or around about there) - something broke on my Windows 10 install.

Before February 25th (the latest .ZTL I opened) I was able to run both 32 and 64bit zbrush perfectly fine (4R7). Recently when I tried to open her up again Zbrush would simply hang at startup and I would be greeted with an infinitely spinning Windows 10 pinwheel. No zbrush UI or any other indication that it’s starting up or running - other than the .exe being visible in the task manager.

While in this suspended and hanging state it consumes about 9% (8.5-9.2 cpu%) of my cpu - 5930k - and 8.4 MB ram. The longest I’ve let it sit this way is about 30 minutes.

I’ve tried

Uninstalling and reinstalling - on the same C drive, as well as different drives.

Deleted all config files found in any branch of my documents or users referencing Zbrush/pixologic

Rolled back Nvidia drivers to before when I couldn’t start the program.

Installing sysinternals process monitor to see if I can spot anything -

Starting the program in safe mode after a reinstall.


The only 3 things that have changed that I had control over was 1. the Installation of Uplay and the division - however I was able to use both the game and the platform for the betas and still use Zbrush

  1. Update my Nvidia drivers.

I don’t doubt Windows updated itself along the way but it offers me no rollback point to a point before when Zbrush broke.


32GB ram, 980ti, 5930k,

Never had an issue with Zbrush in the past and this “feels” like a windows 10 BS issue. Autodesk programs work fine. Adobe works fine.


Has anyone else run into a recent issue like this?

[edit]

I don’t have a screenshot of the UI because it simply will not load - it just shows my desktop hanging with the blue pinwheel and essentially a “this program has stopped working” hang state - Bringing the Zbrush exe to focus locks up the entire desktop ui unless you ctrl-alt-delete, tab out, or select something else from the toolbar on a second screen.

[2nd edit]

I’ve also manually given full permissions to the 32 bit exe to see if this would help - no dice.

I’ve got Windows 10 installed and Zbrush 4R7 64bits, some days ago it was working perfectly but now I have the same issue as Hamakua. Any solutions?

Thank you.

This is most commonly caused by a problem with the C++ components on your computer.

Windows comes with a “toolbox” of frequently-used software code. Rather than rewriting that code from scratch, developers can instead tap into it and call it as needed. The catch is that every now and then, a developer will do something that modifies that library in a way that’s incompatible with other programs. It is possible that one of the programs you’ve recently installed did exactly that. Uninstalling that program won’t fix the problem because it doesn’t revert the various .dll’s involved.

Before we assume that’s the problem, though, delete your C:\Users\Public\Documents\ZBrushData folder. This contains your various settings and some temporary data. If any of that has gotten corrupted it can cause problems. The folder will be rebuilt automatically when you next launch ZBrush, with default settings.

If that doesn’t work, it’s time to deal with the C++ stuff.

The first thing to try is to go to your ZBrush 4R7\Troubleshoothelp folder and run the vcredist installers found there. Some will tell you that you don’t need them. Some may install properly. If you simply have a missing .dll then this will put it where it needs to be. But if you have a corrupted .dll then more drastic measures are necessary.

At that point, go to your Windows Control Panel > Uninstall a Program. Uninstall EVERYTHING that says “Microsoft Visual C++” You’ll probably have a ton of these. Then go back to the Troubleshoothelp folder and run the vcredist installers again.

This should fix the problem.

Most things I’m reading about messing with C++ says it’s a bad idea to do so. I’m having the same problem with hangups on startup, but I’m getting desperate. Backing up everything and going to give it a shot, but this seems like a bad idea. Something else I use I fear is going to get screwed up.

Because I feared with the bugs in Z R47 I would run into these terrible issues and I’m almost always on a bad deadline. I’m having issues like this as well on brand new rig thats best of breed with all fresh installs. I use ZBrush daily and have never had these issues until today with Windows and only Zbrush out of 24 program installs. Its Zbrush and Windows there,s something going on with the software and its compatibility with Windows.

I put in a trouble ticket I’ll report back here to help who I can, this is REALLY annoying and threatening a deadline I have coming up.

I’m having to do fresh installs to get the high poly geo out to retop just to get by. The legacy issues in the response above convince me this is an issue Pixologic needs to address asap.

[Note]

I’m running 32 mbs of DDR4, X-99 Extreme, Dual Titan X EVGA, Windows 10 [Day 2]

I too am using a fresh install. I put in a ticket recently, and after a larger runaround they ultimately gave up on me and told me it was my buyer software. This, after I tried to install completely removing my virus software, deleting all of the pixologic folders, and I still get the same hang on start up. I hope you get a different response from them because I certainly got nothing.

980ti, 32g ram, skylake i7 4K ghz … Uninstalled bit defender

the support ticket response #4:

This is very strange indeed, and not a common issue.

Are you on a Windows version of ZBrush? What exact Operating system are you running? Do you have any other programs installed on your machine that could act as an anti virus, or block certain programs running in any way? There is no real way to sort this out, but it seems as if there is something specific on your system that is blocking ZBrush from starting up.

Furthermore, as for you processor and graphics card, I would make sure all of them have up to date drivers as well.

Sincerely,

Solomon Blair
Advanced Support Specialist

So, apparently removing a video capturing program called d3dgear solved the problem for me. Very curious if any of you have any video capturing anything installed?

I created a “new” admin account, regardless if you already have one. I made a new one, new name and made sure all anti-virus was not just running but removed.

I then made sure I had no legacy shortcuts, alphas or plug ins. Just the most bare bones install possible.

After that still would work without hang up, so I decided to open Zbrush “Minimized” just in case it was a Windows issue because I have 3 very large monitors and wanted to make sure it wasn’t a driver issue.

Lastly I opened the fresh install and left it open all day and saved every 30 minutes.

Its now worked for 3 days no issues except a minor delay. Keyshot Bridge for Zbrush isn’t working but that might just need a fresh download and install.

Nightmare!

Removing d3dgear fixed problem for me. Thanks!

OMG thanks a lot I was going crazy, removing d3dgear did fix the problem for me too.

Thanks for posting this solution.

Franck

Thank you radiosigurtwin uninstalling D3Dgear capturing program solve my problem too.​

Uninstalling D3DGear solved my problem!

I have just installed the last version of D3D 5.00 Build 2036, and it works perfectly now, no more problem with D3D, Zbrush Start, and desktop recording have been really improve.

Franck