ZBrushCentral

Constant Crashes

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Before today, ZBrush was one of the most stable programs I had ever used. Today I had it crash 5 times.
This last time has left me EXTREMELY UPSET… I lost all the work I had done today because the last time I saved before the crash, most of the tool was hidden. (I did not know it did not save the whole tool. WHY does it not save the whole tool!!! Interestingly I never learned this because Zbrush has always been so stable!!)

I can think of only 2 possible causes now.
These are the only significant differences to my system since I was using zbrush last.

Video card drivers - I have nvidia 186.18 - has anyone noticed crashes with these??
Firewall - Comodo firewall.
(I know that xnormal and 3ds max WILL NOT RUN AT ALL if symantec antivirus is installed…So I am a little suspicious of firewalls/antivirus progs for compatibility.)

Please let me know what other info would be helpful in troubleshooting this problem?? I would hate to be forced to stop using Zbrush

EDIT - a little more info… I’m not 100% sure but it seems to crash mostly when i am masking or unmasking. Or hiding/unhiding. But it is fairly random. The crash does not occur when I am not doing anything (I left the program on quite some time without incident.)

#2

Video drivers and firewall/antivirus won’t be to blame. Here are some things to consider:


  1. Viruses and spyware can suck up resources and cause ZBrush to run out of memory when it needs it most.
  2. Have you cranked up the Preferences>Mem>Undo settings? For most systems, they should be at 4 or lower. Higher values eat up memory fast.
  3. Does the hard drive where ZBrush is installed have at least 15% free space? Has it been defragmented?
  4. Is your RAM possibly going bad? Try running a RAM diagnostic tool. Several good ones can be found through Google.
By the way, use SubTool Master to save your models. It has a save button that has some routines to help avoid problems caused by hidden geometry or other common errors.