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Noise maker force crashes Zbrush to desktop 100% of time.

PARENT-SUPPORT CHILD-Startup And Compatibility Troubleshooting
#1

( I have reposted this from “other questions and troubleshooting”. Sorry for the re-post, I just have not had a response in over a 2 weeks on that forum.)

I am still getting a force crash every time I activate the noisemaker. Regardless of the complexity of the model Zbrush force crashes.

Zbrush 4R5

I have a 4 core AMD

4 gigs of ram.

Win 7, 64bit

ATI 5800 HD video card

Intuos 4 Wacom draw pad

I load a simple prim, a cube for example, click edit, Make pollymesh 3D, Sub D it 3 times. Next I open up the surface tab, Click Lightbox>Noisemakers. Select an alpha for the list. The alpha appears on the cube. I next whether I click Noise or Edit Zbrush then force crashes to the desktop.

I have tried adjusting the MEM setting under preferences, both up and down, neither seem to make a difference. I have been having this issue for 3 builds now. I am extremely frustrated. there has been zero response since I first encountered the problem on this forum. Yes, I have a legal copy of Zbrush. Am I even posting this issue in the right forum? I was under the understanding this is where these issues are supposed to go.

If I need to re-install Zbrush how do I do that these days? I have been using the auto-updater since it first came out. Where do I get a fresh copy? If I re-install do I have to remap my whole interface by hand again? I have custom colors and layouts I use…

I truely appriciate any advice I can get from anyone here.

Thank you for your time :cool:
~ Gridlost

#2

Have you tried running the vcredist installers found in your ZBrush installation’s Troubleshoot Help folder?

#3

i was unaware of that function. thank you Aurik, i will try that and let u know what i find

#4

ok when I try to run either x64 or x86 I get this error:

A newer version of Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable has been detected on the machine.

I go online to find the newest MS visual and then DL the 2012, try to install it, and I get this error:
frameworks error2.jpg

#5

There’s a very good chance that one of more of your C++ components is corrupted. It happens.

The solution that usually works it to use the Control Panel > Remove Programs and uninstall anything that’s Microsoft C++. Then restart your computer, followed by running those vcredist installers from the Troubleshoot Help folder.

#6

ok I have done this. Removed all of the C++'s from my system. and I ran both of those vcredist. both of those ran fine. fully installed properly. Unfortunately I am still having the same original issue with Zbrush. Noisemaker still crashes Zbrush to the desktop. No error window. Just crash.

here is a snapshot of my control panel programs list. This is what was added after I ran both vcredist.

issue3.jpg

What is our next step sir?

And thank you for your time Aurik! Oh, and happy holidays btw! :smiley:

#7

Did you view the error log for details?

#8

As Doug suggested, pulling up the event log for the time of the crash should give an idea as to why the crash happened. The easiest way to get there is to right-click on “Computer” and choose “Manage”. In that window you’ll be able to bring up the Event Viewer. You may have to hunt a bit to find the message(s) for this specific crash. But usually this will say why the crash happened and then we’ll have an idea where to go forward.

#9

OK im stumped. I have the event viewer open, but I see nothing in there concerning Zbrush. I see some errors concerning some Autodesk softwares that I have not opened in months. Could those be the culprit?
Microsoft.VC80.DebugCRT,processorArchitecture=“x86”,publicKeyToken=“1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b”,type=“win32”,version=“8.0.50608.0”

||||C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Softimage 2013\Application\python\Lib\distutils\command\wininst-8_d.exe
|—|---|—|

[TABLE]
[TR]
[TD]|Microsoft.VC80.DebugCRT,processorArchitecture=“x86”,publicKeyToken=“1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b”,type=“win32”,version=“8.0.50608.0”|

||||C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Composite 2013\python\lib\distutils\command\wininst-8_d.exe
|—|---|—|
[TABLE]
[TR]
[TD]|Microsoft.VC80.MFC,processorArchitecture=“amd64”,publicKeyToken=“1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b”,type=“win32”,version=“8.0.50727.762”|

||||C:\Program Files\Common Files\Autodesk Shared\Revit Interoperabilit 2013\Rx\ProjectPointClient.dll
|—|---|—|

These are showing that they took place on the 28th. (yesterday) I have not run any Autodesk software in many months.|

[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
I can and have recreated the crash. I did so this morning. I did not see an error report in the event viewe for it. Should it show up as soon as Zbrush crashes?

I have a few errors back in August for zbrush:

Log Name: System
Source: Microsoft-Windows-DNS-Client
Date: 8/19/2012 2:03:38 PM
Event ID: 1014
Task Category: None
Level: Warning
Keywords:
User: NETWORK SERVICE
Computer: Josh-PC
Description:
Name resolution for the name www.zbrush.co.kr timed out after none of the configured DNS servers responded.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns=“http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event”>
<System>
<Provider Name=“Microsoft-Windows-DNS-Client” Guid="{1C95126E-7EEA-49A9-A3FE-A378B03DDB4D}" />
<EventID>1014</EventID>
<Version>0</Version>
<Level>3</Level>
<Task>0</Task>
<Opcode>0</Opcode>
<Keywords>0x4000000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime=“2012-08-19T21:03:38.116911300Z” />
<EventRecordID>478485</EventRecordID>
<Correlation />
<Execution ProcessID=“1224” ThreadID=“4248” />
<Channel>System</Channel>
<Computer>Josh-PC</Computer>
<Security UserID=“S-1-5-20” />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data Name=“QueryName”>www.zbrush.co.kr</Data>
<Data Name=“AddressLength”>16</Data>
<Data Name=“Address”>020000354B4B4C4C0000000000000000</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>

So, what do I do now?

#10

I tried to crash following your steps but didn’t. There’s more than one error type. It’s probably hung app. I deleted a bunch of older log files as they’re just occupying space.

#11

a hung ap would mean just a freak occurance right? If that is the case, how is it I am able to repeat this xrash 100% of the time? I am completely unable to use the surface noisemaker. :cry:

#12

What flavor of Win 7? That log file is of no help. Look for a newer one…and… Details> XML View
It has usually happened to me when I ask too much of it (sub divide something insane to start with).
Looks like you’re networked somehow??, I wonder if that is part of the problem…

#13

I’m not sure how being networked could be the issue. I have to be networked. My home has 3 devices that need internet access. My PC, my Wife’s PC and our PS3. Who isn’t network out of necessity these days? I will try the xml I guess, I did not realize that was more up to date.

#14

ok I had an odd thing happen while trying to reproduce the crash.

using the same steps above, Minus the Sub D, I got this window popping open:

odd screen 1.jpg
odd screen 1.jpg1746×1080 398 KB

odd screen 2.jpg
odd screen 2.jpg1683×1080 267 KB

This Mesh only had 1 Sub D.

then after hitting ok for the 2nd time Zbrush decided to crash on me…

SO next I decided to take a screenie of my mem tab setting to show you what I have it set too:

mem screen 1.jpg

and in case this helps I took a screenie of my performance tab:

performance tab.jpg

I went to look for today’s crash error and I was unable to find it in the Administrative events Log. Its as if Windows dose not seem to think this crash is worthy of logging :mad: grrrr. Gotta love MS…

so to reiterate, I have 4 gigs of ram, 64 bit OS, 4 core amd Processor.

I am not looking under the right log? The most recent error logged for Zbrush is the one from august that I listed above.

Oh, and thank you for your time. This is so frustrating.

#15

What flavor of Windows 7? Can you use it with just NOISE from LightBox, rather than an alpha? Seems to work here. You may have to submit a ticket with support.

#16

The insufficient memory error, under the circumstances that you describe, indicates that for whatever reason ZBrush was unable to make use of the C:\Users\Public\Documents\ZBrushData\VMem directory. (Or if you’ve edited your ZBrushScratchDiskPath file, then whatever location you specified for the scratch disk data.) There are a few possibilities:


  • Your drive is getting really full.
  • Your drive is badly fragmented, so that although there is a lot of free space the chunks are too small for ZBrush to use.
  • Something is going wrong with one of your RAM modules. The best is to test with MemTest 86 – which is a royal pain since you have to remove all but one stick of RAM and then test them one at a time. You should run at least two full passes per stick.
  • There’s a permissions issue preventing ZBrush from writing its scratch data. This is unlikely as you would get the error every time you try to do anything.
  • Windows is going kaput. Depending on how heavily you use your computer, Windows is typically only stable from six months to about two years.
  • Spyware and/or viruses can be sucking up resources and playing merry hell with other stuff on your computer.
  • Your installation of ZBrush is corrupt, in which case a FULL reinstall (where you delete the ZBrush 4R5 folder and the ZBrushData folder before reinstalling) would fix the issue.

Those are the things I can think of off hand. The NoiseMaker crash is almost certainly a matter of a .dll issue. The steps I had you follow before USUALLY fix that problem. The only time that they don’t is when the problem is more fundamental. For example, if Windows didn’t let the C++ files uninstall properly then there can be a conflict when they’re reinstalled. The fact that you also got that random virtual memory error is what makes this particularly nasty. With what you were doing at the time that you got that error, I don’t think that virtual memory should have been necessary at all. The fact that ZBrush was trying to use the scratch disk for that implies that there’s a RAM issue. After all, virtual memory is only used when available RAM isn’t sufficient for the task at hand. But the fact that ZBrush then couldn’t even write to virtual memory escalates the issue. It’s conceivable that bad RAM could be at play in that ZBrush was trying to move data from RAM to disk but the RAM misbehaved and ZBrush threw the only diagnostic error it could. Or it could be that the problem is in the OS itself.

Now you said that you have multiple computers. Have you tried installing ZBrush on one of the other computers and doing the same things with the same files? If you get the same error on both machines, then there’s a problem in the files or in ZBrush. But if you get the error on one machine and not the other then either the ZBrush installation is flawed or the computer is.

Hopefully all of this info at least gives you a good idea where to look. At this point the only way to get to the bottom of the issue is to systematically troubleshoot. I would start with tests on a second computer to rule out ZBrush itself. Then move to a full reinstall of ZBrush on the problem computer. Then on to the deeper diagnostic things, probably starting with MemTest 86.

#17

thank you for the response! I am betting that the issue is either ram, and or Win 7. I have not formatted the PC since I got it. which was over 2 years ago… reformatting is ugly business. I have allot of files to back up. arg… well… if I decide to reformat, I should put win 7 in its own partician, so If and when i have to reformat in the future all i have to do is just format that partician. hmmm pisser. I plan on getting a laptop here soon for a portable art pad. maybe I will push up that timetable… get the laptop, then reformat my PC.

#18

Try defragmenting; Task manager can do it while you’re sleeping or AFK. There’s a MEM test in ZBrush, I don’t know why it wasn’t recommended. Hope you get sorted soon. And FWIW, I’ve run versions of Windows without reformatting for at least that long.

#19

thanks Doug, I will give that a try. I should probably Clean out my hard drive too. There is allot of crap I don’t use anymore.

#20

How about delete the old ZBrushData, and restart Zbrush with the legal license?