I'm more than a little gutted that having trialled Vue 4, bought Vue 5 and recommended it to many others I seem to be having the worst experience with it of anyone I've spoken to. I already had to reinstall the original disk version (after uninstalling 2 automatic updates) after Vue wouldn't open some of my files. After a few weeks of operating satisfactorily again Vue now hangs for up to 15 minutes when opening certain files. It's actually worse if opening a new blank file! Some Vue files have become enormously bloated for no apparent reason. A 1.2Mb file which had been worked on and saved several times without problems suddenly became 243.7Mb, despite no additions of materials or geometry. Material previews often become blacked out. This has no relation to material preview settings in the Options window. I have had problems from the start of not being able to save atmospheres in some files. I got around this by saving the file under another name and deleting all geometry. Hardly satisfactory though. Options, Render and other pop-up windows stay frozen in the Vue window until I hit Ctrl+Alt+Del, impeding access to any other commands in the main window. This has just started happening in the last 2 weeks. Of course one suspect for some of these issues would be OpenGL support or lack of it, but I'm running a fully-supported nVidia GeForce FX Go5700, which passes Vue's in-built OpenGL test. Running P4 3.2Ghz, 1.27Mb RAM. As computer visualisation is my livelihood I'm pretty upset that Eon would release software as unstable as this. Can anyone offer any advice? Many thanks in advance, Jackson Barkess

Hmmmm. I think that it may be your system that is causing problems. I'm assuming that you have 1.27Gb of ram, not 1.27Mb.

Check the amount of free hard disk space on your Hard Drive. Also check to see how you specified the directory structure on installation. It sounds like VUE cannot find the files it is looking for.

Check the size of your "Swap File". It should be at least 2Gb in size, and it should be static, not dynamic. (IE) Both 'max' & 'min' sizes should be the same for best efficiency.

Check to see if your system is infected with excess 'cookies' and other internet crap eating up HD & memory space. Run an online virus scanner & Ad-Aware just in case.

I've been running VUE for the past 4 years and have not had any issues, outside of the usual documented bugs.

FYI - I run 4 separate hard drive partitions or physical hard drives. one for the OS, a second one for installed programs, third one for data and the 4th one for the Windows swap file (can be stuck in the OS partition). By segregating data, HD crap can be kept to a minimum.

It sounds to me that your install may be a problem as VUE cannot locate sub-folders, hence they are 'blacked' out. I do not know how much of technically (hardware/software) savy you are, so check the above and let us know.

Message edited on: 03/21/2005 12:09

Also check for bad RAM. manowar

Thanks guys, Surveyman- I'll print off your advice and attempt to run through all those possibilities on reinstall, however I'm not really savvy on either front so must admit to being a daunted by your advice. How would I specify the directory structure on installation? If Vue worked fine for weeks, then started crashing all the time, could that be blamed on directory structure? Where and how do I access the settings for my swap file? I will look into partitioning my harddrive, but it's a big step for a guy like me. Oh and yep, I meant 1.27Gb RAM! Manowar- How would I check for bad RAM? Many thanks for your help, Jackson

I am on a Mac so I am at a disadvantage:) in relating exactiy how on a PC; however, I know it is a very real problem for some. There are third party utilities, one being the free "memtest". This software has a version for the Mac and operates on the console; in other words the GUI is unixy. See http://www.memtest86.com/ However, before dealing with that I would check out Microsoft's Windows Memory Diagnostic: http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp manowar

1st step to solving the internal problems IS to admit that you are not very tech-savy. We've all been there and its taken something like your problems to educate ourselves.

I would not re-partition your hard drives at this point. We're talking 'nuking' everything on your hard drive and starting from 'square one', re-partitioning and re-installing everything including the OS(Operating System).

First off, check your 'Swap File' size and location. 'Right-Click' on 'My Computer' and select 'Properties'. Select the 'Advanced' tab and select the "Settings" button in the 'Performance' section. In the 'Performance Options' dialog box, select the 'Advanced' Tab. At the bottom there should be a "Virtual Memory" section, select the "Change" button. Swap File is properly called Virtual Memory in Windows.

In the 'Virtual Memory' dialog box, look at the "Paging File for selected Drive". That will tell you where the Swap File is located. Ideally, your Swap File(Virtual Memory) should be 2.5 times your physical memory. Change your Swap File size by specifying the drive your Swap File is on, clicking on the "Custom Size" radio button, and typing in the 'Initial Size' and 'Maximum Size' as "3000mb" (close enough to 2.5x). Yes - they should both be the same number - this prevents the Swap File from constantly re-sizing itself and chewing up memory and HD time. When done, click the 'Set" button.

Secondly, defrag your hard Drive(s). Right-click on "My Computer", select "Manage", and click on the "Disk Defragmenter" under "Storage". You should see all your hard drives or partitions, and how much free space you have left.

If you have less than 25%, the program/data could be running out of space and could be causing problems. This is especially true if your Swap File is dynamically sized, as it stretches when more room is needed - when you do not know about it. By making the Swap File size static, you prevent the Swap File from expanding and eating hard drive space. You allocate enough room for the Swap File to function properly when it is static, as we have done above.

Back to the 'Defragmenter'. Click on a drive, then click on the "Analyze" button. This will show you how much the drive is fragmented. Then click on the "Defragment" button to 'Defrag' that particular drive. The Defragmenter will NOT work properly with less than 15% of space left. Time to add another hard drive or move some data to another drive.

Do the above and see what it does. Do some reading in the Windows HELP files or go to a local book store and pick up a book on Windows XP. I recommend a book on XP, preferably one with at least 500+ pages that explains all the functions. Something like "Microsoft Windows XP Inside Out". It should be your desktop reference for tweaking your system and understanding how it works. Read it in the book store to make sure that it speaks your language (that you an understand the way the author communicates). Avoid any of the cheap "Dummies" books and clones - they don't have enough info to get you out of a shoe box. The book is a cheap price to pay for a lot of knowledge and time saved.

I am assuming that you've already checked for Viruses (any online company ussualy has a free online checker)and Spyware (Ad-Aware and/or Spybot). Unfortunately, if I could have a look at your system I would, but I can't so I recommend that you get the book. I can only see your problems through your eyes, not through mine, as I may come to a different conclusion.

Keep us posted.

Message edited on: 03/22/2005 09:52

Thanks so much for your time, patience and wisdom guys, I ran the Windows Memory Diagnostic and there were no problems there. I set the swap file as advised, 3OOOMb initial and max and restarted. I defragged a couple of days ago, even though the analysis said I didn't need to. I have 49% free spage on my HD. I run Norton and Spybot every Friday, although whether they can catch everything is dubious. Alas, the problems with Vue persist. :( Surveyman- when you said "check to see how you specified the directory structure on installation" do you mean where the Vue program files are located? They're in C: Program Files. I guess I'll have to try reinstalling Vue again to see if that will (at least temporarily) get things running again. Many thanks, Jackson

Before U re-install, make sure that you un-install properly. After you un-install, check the "Program Files" directory & ensure that everything has been deleted. By that I mean that there sould be NO Vue folders at all. If there are, delete them manually. Also, check the below for info: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?Form.ShowMessage=2097889 http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?Form.ShowMessage=1989639 You can 'search' the forum for similar threads.

I think Vue5 have little trouble with nvidia card , i`ve been test with several card based on Nvidia but they give more trouble than my Ati 9600pro I dont know with new driver from nvidia ...

Some more general Windows troubleshooting tips: 1. Buy a copy of RegistryMechanic (Google for it) and run it whenever programs fail, or every month. Bad installs/uninstalls and program crashes often damage the registry (the huge OS database which keeps track of all settings of all software and hardware (except the motherboard's built-in BIOS). 2. I thought the virtual memory was to be set to a max of 1.5X actual menory chip size, not 2.5X? Check this and learn a lot by always searching Microsoft's Knowledgebase when you have problems or error messages. From their main page, click on "Support" in the left column, then on the next page, click on "KB" (oe is it "KnowledgeBase"?) on the horizontal bar across the top. 3. It is correct that Windows needs a MINIMUM of 20% to 25% of your hard drive (or current partition) to be free for it's own use - but you have that covered. 4. Modern Windows PC's run very hot, so i would not be without a temp/voltage monitor running all the time. I use Intel motherboards and always install the "Intel Active Monitor", plus 1-2 extra fans. If your programs run fine at startup, but get flakey after a few minutes, suspect overheated memory an/or glue chips and/or processor. 5. Yes, be very careful about installs/uninstalls that might have gone bad. If you suspect that, discover where all the parts of the program are (many may be in C:documents and settingsusername (since Windows XP is a multi-user OS, stuff for different users must be kept separate and that is where they do that). First do the WIndows Add/Remove programs, then manually delete all program folders for the program you are uninstalling, then run RegistryMechanic to clean out any left over garbage from the Registry. After all that, a new install should REALLY BE a new install. 6. Always run the latest driver for your gaphics card (unless you can prove it's buggy, then fall back to the next to latest. 7. Always run the latest version of Microsoft Direct-X. That's about all that i can think of at the moment - by the way, i've been a PC consultant for 20 years and fix stuff like this all the time. Though i mostly do web work these days.

Thanks everyone, I uninstalled and reinstalled Vue and guess what? It works again! This is the 2nd time I've had to do this though, so I guess it's a quick fix. Hopefully having set the virtual memory to 3Mb will prevent it from happening again. JC- you could be on to something with the heat issue. I'm running Vue on a P4 3.2GHz HP 7000 laptop and it runs VERY hot. I typically keep it lifted at the back while working, but if I'm rendering overnight I leave the vents overhanging the edge of the desk. I downloaded Registry Mechanic, so we'll see if that helps stabilise things. Thanks again, Jackson p.s. attached is latest rendering, medium radiosity quality settings.