Ever since I tried adding morrigan's light set to my scene - when I press "render" the whole program collapses with this message above. And now I've shut down the computer, reopened the scene - saved BEFORE addition of lights but not after, and tried to do a normal Open GL render (something that worked before) but now the scene keeps on collapsing. Help???

What version of D|S are you running, and have you submitted a bug report?

What video card, do you have the latest drivers from the chipset maker (not Microsoft)? The first block of text in Help>About your video card... will tell you.

It MAY be that it's trying to use too much space. I have a similar problem with a piece of mapping software... when I try to export an unusually large bmp, it does the same thing... when I pare the data down a bit, I usually get a warning that it's too big... then I have to pare it down a LOT... this sounds a lot similar. Lou.

Is this just after adding the light, or are you trying to render? There shouldn't be a problem, since each light is only 1 distance light, but, like the others said, there may be a problem with your video card and/or Open GL settings. Also, just as an aside, I've found, personally, that the OpenGL renders don't work very well for shadows, and, that's basically what those light sets are designed for. I hope you get this fixed. I know you've been having a lot of frustration around the program :(

The opengl is bad w/ shadows especially. Check the log.txt in daz root to see if it says anything(not sure if it logs everything)also check windows application error logs.I would make sure you have latest daz too. Think it is 1.01. Rendering in daz w/ opengl is not a good idea. 3delight is nice, but it is slower. Tons of memory may make a difference tho.

artroland, What version of D|S are you running, and have you submitted a bug report? No. They don't reply other than to close the thing down. Pointless. RHaseltine What? Don't understand any of that. archdruid, Sorry but I dont understand how what you said is the same as "add light, click render". Mind you, I don't really understand what you said, period. MorriganShadow "Is this just after adding the light, or are you trying to render?" See message 1 above. So are you and ren_mem both saying "dont use opengl to render with"? because if so, what on earth am I supposed to do? OpenGL is all there IS in DazStudio. And please folks, if you are kind enough to reply (and I do appreciate all your efforts to help me) can you please PLEASE keep such replies simple? As a) I am NOT techincal like you lot are, and b) I'm thick. Thick thick thick, thick like the Laurentian Abyss. (bottom lip trembling pathetically)

Erm, if you use the 'render settings' option on the main menu, and go to the second page 'advanced settings' you can set studio to use the 3Delight Raytracer instead of opengl...

Attached Link: DAZ|Studio PDF Manual

I'm going to be honest and blunt with you here. My suggestion would be to just shelf the render you're working on and really pore over the DAZ|Studio Manual. I am, by no means, an expert on the program. I'm not a programer, nor do I wish to be, lol. If I find something cool that I've done, 9 times out of 10, I stumbled upon it just playing with things. But, there are things that you need to do in order to make it work properly. Open GL doesn't handle shadows well if your video card or video chip isn't high-quality. Most times, Open GL doesn't handle shadows at all. The reason I'm suggesting to read the manual is, rather than reinvent the wheel here, DAZ has compiled a great manual on, basically, what different parts of the programs do, and actually explains somewhat what you can do with them. I know you've been struggling for a while with D|S, and I'm very glad you haven't given up. And, you will too, once you get the hang of it. No program is easy. It took me a couple months to figure it out, myself. Heck, I'm *still* trying to figure it out. I'd rather you not pull your hair out over this render if there is a setting you can change or some tips in the manual that would take 2 or 3 seconds to change. My advice? Read the manual, and always keep your render settings on 3Delight. I'm currently having computer problems (waiting for a new CPU fan), so I can't give you screenshots, but, the manual does have a screenshot of the Render Settings screen, on Page 27. I'm sorry I can't do more than that right now. MS

What is your video and system memory? Sounds like some kind of page fault. Certain lighting will call for much larger memory stacks than others. I agree with Morrigan, going over the video settings may help a lot. Reducing number of passes per light, bucket size, and ray trace depth, can reduce the number of calculations the program has to do and therefore reduce processor and memory usage.

Sorry Fran, sometimes I get too technical... the point of what I was saying is that, In most cases, if a program tries to use (allocate) too much RAM, or too much pagefile space, (Hard drive space that is a temporary slot for information... graphics, calculations...that sort of thing), Windows will do exactly what you got. the biggest problem with the runtime error from windows is that they don't explain what the problem IS. The reason everyone's saying "check your open GL settings" is that Open GL uses cache , Hard drive space, too, and if it's Too big Windows will object...Error messages. Lighting adds to the amount of data space that's needed... sometimes DRASTICALLY! Anyway, maybe, after you get this straightened out, You'll have the answer for someone else.. 's how it works. Lou.

Try a Studio reinstall and get the latest Visual C install as well; then make sure your graphics card driver is up to date and I think the problem will go away unless you have an old machine.

"AestheticDemon on 12/1/05 11:39 Erm, if you use the 'render settings' option on the main menu, and go to the second page 'advanced settings' you can set studio to use the 3Delight Raytracer instead of opengl..." Thanks very much for that, it might help.... Did that, it DID help. No more crash... now I have new questions... (big grin) "9. Re: Daz Collapsing - Help? by MorriganShadow on 12/1/05 14:07 Attached Link: DAZ|Studio PDF Manual I'm going to be honest and blunt with you here. My suggestion would be to just shelf the render you're working on and really pore over the DAZ|Studio Manual." Oh I shelved the render when it wouldn't work... the file is still sitting there saved as it was before addition of the light, so I can go back to it at any time if I ever figure out what the problem actually IS, but I think I'll probably have to start the whole thing over again from scratch. Which I'm putting off, because it's such a big job... It's a pity you can't get models frm Bryce into Daz, cos I've a bryce file with the same things in it as this, already sitting there with two figures in it, but when I tried it all I got was 1 of the figures... (blows raspberry at Daz) But as for pooring over the manual I'm not ready for death yet. gg A manual would be a help if you knew what you were looking for, but I don't. "But, there are things that you need to do in order to make it work properly. Open GL doesn't handle shadows well if your video card or video chip isn't high-quality." This machine was bought specifically to be high quality and specifically for rendering graphics. If someone who knows how to, could just give me specific instructions on where to look for the information I'm sure I could show you all just exactly what my graphics card IS and the driver... wherever that may be. Is it somewhere in "Control Panel/System"??? I've got a feeling it might be but I've already looked in there and I can't tell, nor do I know where else to look after you've opened "System". "Most times, Open GL doesn't handle shadows at all." As it didnt render at all, it didnt get far enough for me to tell if shadows are visible or not. "The reason I'm suggesting to read the manual is, rather than reinvent the wheel here, DAZ has compiled a great manual on, basically, what different parts of the programs do, and actually explains somewhat what you can do with them. I know you've been struggling for a while with D|S, and I'm very glad you haven't given up. And, you will too, once you get the hang of it. No program is easy. It took me a couple months to figure it out, myself. Heck, I'm still trying to figure it out. I'd rather you not pull your hair out over this render if there is a setting you can change or some tips in the manual that would take 2 or 3 seconds to change. My advice?" Yes, but I'll bet there isnt a section or even a mention of "crash - lights caused by". "always keep your render settings on 3Delight." Yes, well I followed AestheticDemon's nice simple instructions for that. And it solved the crashing problem. "10. Re: Daz Collapsing - Help? by mumbocat on 12/2/05 00:43 What is your video and system memory? Sounds like some kind of page fault." Dunno, and I dunno how to find out either. "Certain lighting will call for much larger memory stacks than others." What even after I'd removed the light? "I agree with Morrigan, going over the video settings may help a lot. Reducing number of passes per light, bucket size, and ray trace depth, can reduce the number of calculations the program has to do and therefore reduce processor and memory usage." "11. Re: Daz Collapsing - Help? by archdruid on 12/2/05 01:36 Sorry Fran, sometimes I get too technical... the point of what I was saying is that, In most cases, if a program tries to use (allocate) too much RAM, or too much pagefile space, (Hard drive space that is a temporary slot for information... graphics, calculations...that sort of thing), Windows will do exactly what you got. the biggest problem with the runtime error from windows is that they don't explain what the problem IS. The reason everyone's saying "check your open GL settings" is that Open GL uses cache ," Yes well, if just one person could tell me exactly HOW to do that checking, I'd do it. "Hard drive space, too, and if it's Too big Windows will object...Error messages. Lighting adds to the amount of data space that's needed... sometimes DRASTICALLY! Anyway, maybe, after you get this straightened out, You'll have the answer for someone else.. 's how it works. Lou." "12. Re: Daz Collapsing - Help? by gezinorgiva on 12/2/05 04:29 Try a reinstall and get the latest Visual C install as well; then make sure your graphics card driver is up to date and I think the problem will go away unless you have an old machine." Machine new this year...

Oh one other thing on this subject - is it possible to see the render in the daz window rather than having to go out and open another image prog (like PaintShop or whatever) to actually see the result?

Go to Help>About your video card... and you'll get lots of stuff. The card and whether it has drivers from the maker or from Microsoft is contained in the first block of information, four or five lines - the rest is specific feature information that we don't need yet. To get your actual driver version is a bit fiddlier, but check this first as it may tell us all we need.

la_morocha, "Under render settings you have that option" But does that mean I have to render twice? Once to see what it looks like, and once to save the image? That would be once heck of a bind. RHaseltine, "Go to Help>About your video card... and you'll get lots of stuff." Although there is a "help" in "control panel/system/hardware" I can find no mention of "video card" Or just "about".

la_morocha, "If you look in the file menu there is a choice "Save Last Render" this is similar in function to "Save Image as" in Bryce." Aha! That's good.... that's VERY good. Thanks very much. "The mentioned help function is in D|S not the control panel" Oh good grief, and all the time I thought it was something really obscure. I'd never have guessed it was inside Daz. Thanks for telling me... Now... what was I looking for? Oh yes... here a screen shot of what it says - hope it means something to someone. Doesn't mean a lot to me, barring the number of lights bit...

So what do I need to scroll down to? I don't even know what I'm looking for here...

For Info on your Vid card, go to START> Control Panel> Display> Settings> Advanced> Adapter tab. There, it will tell you what card you have, and any resident RAM. Lou.

I'm not sure what features are cut down to make the "Go" version of the FX6800, but I'd expect the current driver software for any recent nVidia card to offer OpenGL 2.0, rather than the 1.5.2 yours offers (I have a positively ancient FX5200 and the drivers have updated it to OpenGL 2). Go to www.nvidia.com, go to Download in the top bar of the page, click Download drivers in the menu that pops up, then in the boxes that appear in the middle of the screen click "Graphics driver", then "GeForce and TNT2", and then your Windows version (XP/2000 by the look of it), and click the Go button under the boxes. That will take you to the page for downloading the installer for the latest driver. I don't know if that will fix your problems, but it should at least reduce them.

archdruid , Okay, (I _thought_ there was something under 'Control Panel') here's the info on the card... RHaseltine, I dunno, you pay for what you _think_ is the best, and what do you get? 2nd grade... Okay, I'll go take a look at nvidia.com. I just hope my computer doesn't melt... gg

I looked on Help in Windows and it says XP professional - but on the site there's only one mention of XP professional and that's combined with 64. But my windows doesn't say XP Professional 64, it just says: XP Professional. Do I still download the XP Professional driver from the NVIDIA site?

XP/2000 would be yours - the drivers are the same for XP Home and XP Pro. "XP Professional x64" is another beast entirely.

Phew! Good job I didn't try it then. What worried me was something on that site that said - first you have to remove your old drivers.... I have only 10 days until my husband the computer guy gets home... I think I'd better wait and let HIM remove drivers, then I can blame him when the laptop melts. gg Thanks for the info everyone, At least I know where to get the right driver FROM now.

Well, I have never removed the old drivers (when updating for the same card - I removed the old drivers when I was changing the hardware) but for the sake of ten days it is probably better to wait. Just make sure you nod over his shoulder so you can do it yourself in future - even if you don't grab every update it's worth not falling too far behind.

Right, will do.