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ZB3 and XP64

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Ok, now that it’s finally out I am seriously considering moving to the next version.
For starters, there’s no support for OSX, so once again I am forced to keep switching to Windows, which is annoying enough…

However, on top of the many complaints I’ve been following here, a friend told me he couldn’t get ZB3 to run on his WindowsXP 64bit machine. He has 4gigs of RAM and was hoping ZB3 would fully support 64bit Windows.

My machine at work is also running WinXP 64 with 4gigs of ram… So, no I’m facing the possibility of not being able to use ZB3 at all!
What is going on guys?!

I really hope there’s a workaround for this, otherwise you may count me among the “disappointed” crowd… :cry:

Gus.

#2

Works fine in my XP64, haven’t tried it yet on Vista64.

#3

it works great on my windows x64 too…

well, just no normal maps, or displacement.

but everything else seems to function just fine

#4

So far it seems to work OK here except that it doesn’t seem to be able to go above 4GB.

#5

Benr,

when you say it doesn’t go above 4GB, you mean your machine is running with 4GB?
I saw people saying in some threads that they had problems running ZB2 on XP64 machines with more than 2GB of RAM installed, so I am wondering if it would work on my machine at work…

Thanks in advance for all info guys! :wink:

Gus.

#6

Hi Gus,
I have an xp64 workstation with 6GB RAM. ZB3 seems to work fine so far except that I can’t get it to use above 4GB. Actually the Compact Memory slider has an upper limit of 4GB. Also the memory use readout at the top of the ZB interface never shows above 4095. It would be nice to be able to use all the RAM I have available, though you can certainly get nice poly counts with 3GB. When I’ve tried to keep subdividing to push the limit, I always seem to trigger memory compacting around 3.1 to 3.3 GB.
Ben

#7

I also have a pc workstation with XP64 and 6GB ram. ZB2 does have that limit of 4gb, but if I remember correct, that limit is there for a reason. Something, about leaving some amount of ram available for other use. I’ll try and track down the actual explanation from where ever I got it.

Anyways, I still haven’t installed ZB3 due to the various bugs being reported, and the missing parts. But, when I do, I don’t expect ZB3 to not work.

#8

Thanks for the info guys!

I was under the impression that ZB3 would fully support 64bit systems, meaning there would be no 2GB RAM limitations as with 32bit environments.
So, is this first release 32bit-only?

Even with HD Geometry capabilities, it would be VERY nice to be able to use 4GB or even more, as the new systems become able to handle even larger amounts of RAM…

Cheers!

#9

It seems to be some kind of hybrid. The main program installs as a 32-bit exe but it uses 64-bit Windows dll’s and is certainly able to use above 3GB RAM.

#10

I’m running ZB3 on WIn64 and it works fine - it crashed once on day 1 but has been stable ever since but as I’m still trying to work it out without the benefit of any documentation (I know about the wiki so nobody needs to remind me about it).

#11

I’m running into problems on Windows Vista Ultimate 64 bit, my configuration is in a post from a couple of days ago so I won’t belabour the point. I did contact customer support and they replied with a note that stated Vista Ultimate 64 bit is causing them some grief. Go figure, that’s what I get for trying to stay ahead of the curve. But, there is apparently a new build in the offing to address this and other fixes soon. Hopefully soon is real soon, I’m getting pretty jealous watching everyone crank out some pretty cool works and being left on the sidelines.
:cry:

#12

It wont even register…I installed it and keep getting a wierd error when trying to run it.

I have Vista 64bit Home Premium

Customer support: they arent responding…

#13

Can we get an official reply from Pixologic regarding an official 64 bit version? Any 32 bit app will run on Win64 but it will not use more than 4GB of RAM. I would think with ZB3’s higher poly limit, they would have introduced a 64bit version as well to give users even more room to build obscenely huge meshes.

#14

Quote" Polaris30it works great on my windows x64 too…

well, just no normal maps, or displacement.

but everything else seems to function just fine "

No normal maps and displancement in xp64???:confused:
Doesn this mean I have to go back to a 32-bit version to get the two map types generated?

Z3 runs better on XP64 than my first 32-bit install, except, I didnt get as far as trying to generate normal or displacment maps in the new version yet. And yeah, the mem slider goes only up to 4 Gig, but that is my max mem anyways. That’s a bugger if you have more, but does anybody here privately really have more than that on his/her system?

#15

I’m running 8Gb with a 512Mb FX4500 Video card. Does that qualify?

#16

MadMutant: Damn! :smiley: Does it really make a difference? I mean, I sometimes dont feel a difference between the 4 I have now and the 2 I had before.

#17

LOL, sometimes, it depends on the aps I’m running. Most are 32 bit so it doesn’t, but I’ve got a couple that take advantage of it where it comes in handy. Besides, I can’t afford a BMW or a Lamborghini so I’ve had to settle for kick butt system and it’s a little more style. I really love the look on some faces when I tell them that I have a dual 3.2Gz box with 8Gb of ram, a terrabyte of drive space, a 512Mb video card, 12 x 12 tablet and dual 24" monitors.

#18

Now, that is a pretty bad-ass system. :o

You might not have been able to get a Lamborghini, but still a nice Bimmer for the kind of money that must have cost you, but hey… who needs a Bimmer anyways when he/she can have not just one but, countless CG F50’s, a yacht and tropical island ! lol

#19

For those of you who couldn’t register, try redownloading using your download link. There’s a new version that fix this problem. (it is not x64 related)

That is not exactly accurate, the regular normal map and dispmap generator is available, it’s just that the old dispexporter and zmapper is incompatible with the new version. A new version is “coming soon”. Pixologic time, of course.

Officially, the Z2 x64 is actually still x32 version. Only the x64 (or release 2 as some have refererd to it) has some extra code to use x64 memory limitations instead of the usual x32 limit. ZB3 is intended for x64 and x32. It should be able to use more than 3 GB of memory. (max on 32 bit system) Even Z2 R2 can be cranked up to the max 10 million polys. That takes about 5 GB of memory.

#20

Thanks, feureau! :+1: