I have been having the same issues other people have been reporting with my file dialog windows (saving or loading) crashing zbrush 2 & 3. Sometimes it does it and sometimes it does not. It’s a crapshoot and is very frustrating when it happens while saving a file I have been working on. Is there anyway to disable the thumbnail preview in zbrush’s dialog window? Maybe that would fix it because i have heard it might be cause by the previewing of certain files. I have also tried saving and loading from an empty folder without any 8, 16, or 32 bit .bmp images in it at all to see if that helped. Alas it does not. If any solution to this is known please let me know… it is really starting to affect my work.
there is the path:
Pixologic\ZBrush3\ZStartup\ConfigFiles
there you have the file:
StartupScript_RecentFiles.mem
if you delete ONLY this file you have the default ZBrush3 init window.
Andreseloy
Sorry Andreseloy, but that is not the cause of my issues. I know how to clear that screen and reset it to default. That is not the file dialog I am having issues with. As I said this was an issue with Zbrush 2 as well, which did not have that starter screen. It is the “Windows style” dialog window that comes up when you load, import, save or export. It has little preview window that shows a thumbnail in it. When I am sifting around looking at file to load, or navigating to a folder to save to, sometimes Zbrush will just close and crash.
Thanks for trying to help though Andreseloy. Maybe we can finally tackle this issue… keep the ideas coming!
Seth
SethG911:
Please include your systems spacs (as indicated in here).
- Can you identify which file (or file type) is causing the problem?
- Are you using the Preferences:File:Compress Files option? In the next update this option will not be visible, ZBrush will use file compression as needed.
ZBrush versions 2.0 AND 3.0 (crashes both) , Windows XP Professional 32-Bit, Intel Core 2 Duo 6600 2.4ghz (overclocked to 3.0ghz), 2GB RAM, 300 GB of diskspace (on the C: drive where it is installed), Nvidia 7950GT SLI (512mb RAM onboard card). CPU runs at 33C-42C and the PSU is a 750W with 52amps on its 12volt rails… so heat and power are not an issue.
It is not a specific file type that is causing the issue. It is simply when browsing files in the dialog box. I do not have to click on, or even open a file for the program to crash. It simply crashes and closes immediately when browsing for a file or location to open or save. This crashing does not happen every time… maybe once every 3 times I use the dialog boxes.
No I am not using file compression.
This did the same thing on my old system as well, which had COMPLETELY different hardware in it… so I am pretty sure it is not hardware related. My co-worker has it happen occasionally on his system as well.
I consider myself a fairly advanced user of Zbrush, and knowledgeable of both hardware and software (OS’s and such), which is why this is really baffling me 
. I absolutely LOVE the program but I am finding myself avoiding the dialog unless absolutely necessary, which gets frustrating when I need to save hours of work.:lol:
Thanks again for all your hard work helping me figure this out! Keep’em coming!
Seth
can you send part or some of the model to see what happen?
Andreseloy
It is not a model or file that is giving me problems. It is simply the dialog box that appears whenever you try to open or save files and such. As I said, I don’t even have to click on (let alone open a file of ANY type) a file to have it crash. It usually crashes when I am just navigating to a folder to save or open a file.
Attachments
the only suggestion i have is to delete the zsphereman.ztl that is not native to the original startup.ztl window, i see you modified this data and as have been pointed early the modification of the zdata make impredictable results!!
Andreseloy
Again it is not the files that I am having a problem with. I included a shot of that folder for no particular reason… I just wanted to show the dialog box. It does not even crash during that particular folder usually. It crashes in random folders, and I have not been able to link a similarity to any of them. Some folders it crashes in contain ztl files, sometimes just images, and sometimes it crashes in folders that have nothing at all in them. It has nothing to do with a corrupt file. And as I mentioned this used to happen way before I even had those startup files; as it used to do the same thing with ZBrush 2. (that did not even come with those startup files) Honestly I think it has something to do with Windows tooltip and Zbrush conflicting… seems to happen a lot of time right when I hover over something.
sorry i cant help
Andreseloy
Hehe, no worries man. 
It’s a very unusual problem and sadly I don’t think it can be solved by just reseting things or “standard trouble shooting.” But any help is always appreciated 
If you get any ideas don’t hesitate to post them.
Posted below is an error screen I got… this does not come up all the time when I get the crash, just occasionally. Not sure if this will help diagnose anything, but who knows.
Seth
Attachments
I got the same problem for zb2 and zb3 at home, but not at work.
im not using compress file option.
the file dialogue crash happens from time to time,
home spec(the one that’s crashing):
windows xp 32bit
amd opteron 175 2,2GHz(dual core(its the same if i turn off all dual core stuff in Z))
2GB RAM
ati fireGL v5100 128MB
work spec(the one that works fine):
windows vista 32bit
intel core duo
2GB ram
geforce 8800, something
Great to hear! I mean it sucks you are having the problem too; but at least I know my co-worker and I are not the only ones. I was thinking maybe it was an Nvidia issue, so it is nice to be able to knock that theory out since you have an ATI doing it too. And apparently it is not an Intel only issue either.
Keep the theories rolling!
We can get this guys! And we won’t have to live in fear of those dialog boxes any longer!
Seth
.
I have this exact problem as well. It happens in both zb2 and zb3 on my work computer. The strange thing is that most of our computers are configured exactly the same and other people arent having the same problems. I go to save a ztl and zbrush just closes completely. The files i work on work fine on other computers here. Even sculpting only for a half hour, and using no advanced techniques and then trying to save will sometimes cause a total crash. But I’ve also noticed zb3 will sometimes save a ztl file but this will be a bad file, and cause any persons zb3 to crash, but in this case a dialogue will pop up before the crash. I have tried reinstalling zb3 and it made no difference.
**update - ive noticed that if i hit “save as” and the dialoge pops up to save to desktop, then hit cancel, and repeat this, I can get zb3 to crash within about 1 minute. If i take the same model and do this only saving to the default Ztools folder i can’t get it to crash at all. having image files on the desktop made no difference. will try with other models and folders.
using xp sp2
dual core intel 3.4
2 gb ram
7900gtx w/ 84.21 drivers
This is similar to reports by users of ‘Adobe Acrobat Reader’.
Apparently, there is/was a problem with ‘Acrobat Reader’ which resulted in a file dialog instability to other running applications. You do not even need to have Acrobat Reader running in order for this problem to surface, simply installing it will result in Open/Save instability.
If you do have Acrobat Reader installed then I recommend that you temporarily uninstall it and test ZBrush.
Please let me know if… 1. You have Acrobat Reader installed ? 2. Uninstalling Acrobat Reader resolved the problem ?
Thanks.
wow, i think that worked. Yes i had adobe acrobat v7 installed, removed it and haven’t been able to crash zb3 yet. I also talked to some coworkers who have acrobat v8 installed and have no probs, so it seems like the problem has been fixed with the newer updates. I’ll work with zb3 all day today to really make sure its totally working. Thanks a lot for the help, I never would have solved this oddball issue except for a fresh install of the whole os and apps.
I purposely don’t use acrobat to view pdfs and such so I never install it. I find it is too slow and use FoxIt instead. Not sure if the same issues you are talking about apply to FoxIt as well or not. Hopefully this fixes the issues for others though. I’ll keep trying to narrow it down.
Seth
While I have noticed the crash happening when I do other things, I can almost always get it to crash by hovering over a .psd file. Again I don’t have Acrobat installed and since I am running CS3, I would have Acrobat 8 installed if I did.
Seth
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