Lately,  when I open Poser 8 or 9, they constantly crash, usually before I remember to save my creation!   Any help is appreciated! 

Update your graphics card device drivers. Might solve the problem.

Mmmm backup and reformat and reinstall everything ...

the problem you got can have 1.000.000.000 reasons ..

So clean up your system ..i guess its windows .. and reinstall the lot ...

Other then a general advice like this there is not much we can do ..

Chris

but if it's the same graphics card, should it matter what age the drivers are? If they've been there as long as Poser?

Just thinking out loud here :) In old time there was the option of deleting Poser.rsr - but  I don't think tgat file is even present in the newer versions.

I'd reinstall on top of the existing installation just in case something had become corrupted.

When does it crash? Right when you load it? After 30 minutes? When you start rendering?

OK, thanks!   Sniff.

Is there an error when it crashes or is it just "poof"?

It could be graphics drivers (for all you know there's a bug with openGl or whatnot on a specific card or cards with a specific driver).

It could be a bad Microsoft Visual C++ installation.

It could be something running the background interfering (often but not always these are things showing up in the taskbar).  Programs that hook into windows don't always make other programs happy.

If you are a Mac user, I don't have enough experience to advise.

Quote - OK, thanks!   Sniff.

Was that Mac or Windows?

Thanks all!  It crashes right after I create something wonderful, and am about to render. It's evil!

Windows 7.  I have another computer with Windows 8, but haven't used it much for Poser 7 and 8.  

So.. it crashes when you hit Render? Does it even attempt to start rendering or does it just keel over and die? And in what manner? Close to desktop? White out the screen and become unresponsive? Do you get any "Poser has stopped working" error message?

Also what's your render settings?

One both P8 and P9 are 32 bit apps no matter if you are running a 32 or 64 bit OS. 

First order of business is to learn to save often.  Two, how many levels of undo do you have in the general prefs?  It defaults at 100.  Lower it as much as you can.  This helps keep Poser from eating memory with the render cache.

Before you attempt to render, save the scene.  Open the general prefs in the edit drop down and clear the undo cache.  This will free up resources that can lead to crashes.

After you save the scene, close Poser.  Leave it closed for a couple of minutes before relaunching.  If you have been working a long time, or it's a large scene, it's sometimes a good idea to reboot the system.

If you have been having a number of crashes to the desktop, you may need to delete the Poser.ini and have it rebuild.  Go into Roaming>app data and locate the Poser folders.  Back up the ini file by renaming it.  Be sure Poser is closed when you do this.  Let the ini file rebuild itself when you next launch Poser.

If this is a constant problem and always comes when you go to render, I'd hazard a guess that you are running out of memory.  Not because you don't have it one your system but because both P8 and P9 are limited by their 32 bit configuration.

Morphing often causes this problem in P8/pp2010. I don't have that prob in pp2012/2014

Just my two cents, but check the amount of space left on the drive you are rendering to.

The video driver comment was right on too.  They can get corrupted.  You may want to see if there is a newer one.  If it was rendering before, then the version of the driver is probably not the issue, but it still may be corrupt.

Have you installed anything new?

Have you checked the event log in the admin tools?  Sometimes can help.

You may want to consider resinstalling poser, over your current version. Could be a corrupt firefly file since it happens when you render.  Biggest hassle is adding your libraries if you have a lot runtime folders.

If everything else is working on your system, I doubt it's windows.  Something changed.  Something evil.

Hopefully you don't have any virus or malware running.

Good luck.

I do have lots of memory!  Hate the Windows 7 Gateway computer.  Good suggestions from all!  Thank you!  Poser works better on my new W8 HP Laptop, but of course it  has a smaller monitor screen.  

Sometimes it crashes before I render.  And yes, sometimes it dies during rendering.  No message.  Just dies, thanks!

Quote - So.. it crashes when you hit Render? Does it even attempt to start rendering or does it just keel over and die? And in what manner? Close to desktop? White out the screen and become unresponsive? Do you get any "Poser has stopped working" error message?

Also what's your render settings?

Windows 8 and 9.

Just opened Windows 8.  As I was doing a search,   I got the message that Poser has stopped working and do I want to find out the cause.  I never do find the cause.  That's the message I always get as Poser crashes. 

Romangirl,

As i cannot see your screen, everything is just a guess.  In my horrible experience using pc's its almost always the video driver.  You can try searching for a newer driver, or research google on that video card's stability issues.

I wasn't suggesting you were out of memory, but maybe hard drive space?  If you have windows 8, it must be a fairly new computer, and you "should" have plenty of space and enough memory to run poser.  If you crash ONLY during the render, you may want to check your render settings, and lower them.  There are way smarter people in here about what the settings mean and do, but lower the size of your bucket and see if that helps.  Make sure you are not running anything in the background when using poser for rendering. (it frees up memory).

You "might" get an answer to your crashes in Settings, Admin, Event Viewer.  Sometimes, the messages in there actually help.  I'm guessing subfolder Applications, look for poser crashes.

I hope it helps.  Google is indespensible for solving these types of problems.  Usually someone has already had them.

Thanks!  No, it doesn't just happen when I'm rendering.  Sometimes, I'll open Poser 8 or 9, and am about to do a search for something in the library.   I'll get the message that there is a problem, and Poser will have to close.  Poser 7 seems more stable, but doesn't have the great search feature.  

First thing to try, is simply reinstall it.  That actually may help.  Second, you might want to make sure that Poser runs as an Admin.  Right Click the icon, or start menu Poser item and look at properties.  Shold be one that says Run as Admin.  

You may be bombing out on Windows security feature, path not set or you cant write to a certain directory because you dont have priveleges.

Yes, thanks, I have to reinstall Poser 8 and 9 with updates.  Ugh!  I've been using Poser 7 lately, and it is problem-free.  If only it had the search library feature.  Thanks again, all!

I just went to properties for Poser 8 and 9, and changed to admin.  we'll see what happens.  Thnks!

Quote - First thing to try, is simply reinstall it.  That actually may help.  Second, you might want to make sure that Poser runs as an Admin.  Right Click the icon, or start menu Poser item and look at properties.  Shold be one that says Run as Admin.  

You may be bombing out on Windows security feature, path not set or you cant write to a certain directory because you dont have priveleges.

 

This may sound dumb, but are you sure you are crashing?

I have a really fast computer.  Sometimes, when I render it "looks" like Poser is crashed, poser turns white or light colored, the firefly render box seems to disappear, windows (being stupid) reports "Poser is not responding."  In reality, Poser is working hard doing the render, and using up all of windows resources.  Windows simply reports it as not responding.  It appears windows is being snubbed and windows doesnt like that.  

I found out merely by stepping away from the computer for a bit, and when I came back, so did Poser, with the render completed.

I've done a lot of foolish things, this is just one of them, so don't feel bad if you did it too.

Good luck.

Thanks, but it also does it when I'm not rendering, like maybe starting a search.  It says Poser is not responding, and Windows will try to find a solution.  But it never does.

BUT HELP!  I just reinstalled Poser 8 with updates.  When I first opened Victoria figures, I had to find BlMilWom_v4b.... which I did.  But all the color is gone in Vickie (seems ok in Michael).  I'm asked to find Null.  I found it but can't open it.   

I belive Vicki is her own install.  Reinstall her.

Perhaps she is just reading the news and all the color has gone from her...jk.

If you are crashing after reinstalling, you may want to go to Smith Micro and search their knowledge base.  I don't have Window 8, so I can't help much with why IT doesn't work. 

I have had decent tech support from them, after creating a ticket.  It takes about 24 hours...a lifetime when you want to do some work in poser, but...it's worth a shot.

I would also look at EVENTS in windows.  It may give a clue to why you are crashing.  You say you "crash" but you don't get an error message?  Is the machine just locked up?

You "could" also try to update video drivers.  I dont know why search would be affected by this.  Shouldn't.

You need to become a software detective.  Try to find an error message, or ask SmithMicro to help with the problem.   They may have already experienced it and resolved it.

No, sorry, there is an error message...."Poser has stopped working. Windows is trying to find a solution."    But it never does.

Ya, not really helpful.  Try the event manager.  If you dont know what that is google it.

That may tell you where you are dying.  May not, but it's your best bet.

thanks!

oK I reinstalled !DAZ figures and got the color back in the V4 morphs! Thanks!

Quote - I belive Vicki is her own install.  Reinstall her.

Perhaps she is just reading the news and all the color has gone from her...jk.

If you are crashing after reinstalling, you may want to go to Smith Micro and search their knowledge base.  I don't have Window 8, so I can't help much with why IT doesn't work. 

I have had decent tech support from them, after creating a ticket.  It takes about 24 hours...a lifetime when you want to do some work in poser, but...it's worth a shot.

 

I would also look at EVENTS in windows.  It may give a clue to why you are crashing.  You say you "crash" but you don't get an error message?  Is the machine just locked up?

You "could" also try to update video drivers.  I dont know why search would be affected by this.  Shouldn't.

You need to become a software detective.  Try to find an error message, or ask SmithMicro to help with the problem.   They may have already experienced it and resolved it.

Quote - oK I reinstalled !DAZ figures and got the color back in the V4 morphs! Thanks!

 

Quote - I belive Vicki is her own install.  Reinstall her.

Perhaps she is just reading the news and all the color has gone from her...jk.

If you are crashing after reinstalling, you may want to go to Smith Micro and search their knowledge base.  I don't have Window 8, so I can't help much with why IT doesn't work. 

I have had decent tech support from them, after creating a ticket.  It takes about 24 hours...a lifetime when you want to do some work in poser, but...it's worth a shot.

 

I would also look at EVENTS in windows.  It may give a clue to why you are crashing.  You say you "crash" but you don't get an error message?  Is the machine just locked up?

You "could" also try to update video drivers.  I dont know why search would be affected by this.  Shouldn't.

You need to become a software detective.  Try to find an error message, or ask SmithMicro to help with the problem.   They may have already experienced it and resolved it.

OK I reinstalled !DAZ and got the color back in the V4 morphs!

Poser 8 still crashes.

I had trouble with an ssd drive awhile back that made poser crazy.  Crashes etc.

Turned out to be hardward, not software or windows at all.  I don't know if this is a possibility for you, but very hard to troubleshoot software problem when it turns out to be hardware.

Glad you got your color back :)

Attached Link: http://poser.smithmicro.com/poser8updates.html

I do have the latest SR, thanks!

Hardware probem?  You could be right.  I also hae a new HP laptop, and am going to try using it instead of my (pretty new) Gateway desktop, which I hate.  Thanks!

Quote - I had trouble with an ssd drive awhile back that made poser crazy.  Crashes etc.

Turned out to be hardward, not software or windows at all.  I don't know if this is a possibility for you, but very hard to troubleshoot software problem when it turns out to be hardware.

 

Glad you got your color back :)

not saying you DO have one, but some of the first SSD drives were buggy as heck.  I had one.  It caused me untold nightmares. I still have ptsd.  

Do other programs run fine?  If you start to notice trouble with other things, I'd suspect the drive may be wacky. 

Other programs are fine, thanks.  Now I'm forced to use Poser 7, because Poser 8 and 9 constantly crash.  So discouraging!

rgirl,

Seriously, try smith micro tech support.  You bought the programs.  If they don't work in a system they are supposed to work on, they can either help you solve the problem (they are way smarter than I am) or they can refund your money until the next version.

I've had good luck with them.  They do seem overworked, so be patient, but they do respond.

If you have a geeky friend who knows windows, maybe they can look at your system and see if they can find the problem.  There are services that can log into your system using a variety of online tools to try to diagnose the problem, but I still would go to SM simply because everything else works and it appears to be a poser problem.

I wish I could help more, but not much I can do from here.

Good luck

Thanks!  I will check with Smith Micro.  You're right, I bought the products.  If they don't work, I would never buy Poser 10.  

First thing I always try when faced with a issue like that is follow the steps in removing the preference file here

https://support.smithmicro.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2076/~/solving-weird-issues-with-poser-by-removing-the-preferences

If that doesn't work then I'll go back to a earlier restor point in Windows 7 if I have one. It may have created one when you installed Poser the first time.

If that doesn't fix it I then go for new video drivers. I know they didn't change but some times Windows bit rot can corrupt them.

If that doesn't solve it then I'll consider doing a disk scan on my computer. When the drive is fragmented enough programs can become unstable. Before doing this ask Smith Micro support about your situation. I've always been uncomfortable with doing disk scan and haven't done one since Windows XP.

OK I will try your suggestions, thanks!

IF you do resolve the issue, please post it so maybe someone else will be saved from your pain.

Will do!  Thanks!

Sad.   Last time, I installed Poser 8 over the exisiting files, using the old preferences.

Just now, I completely uninstalled Poser 8,  and reinstalled, including deleting the old preferences.  I then added the updates, and started a search in the library......CRASH!   Yesterday, I had an online chat with a Smith Micro support tech.  He suggested I update my Internet explorer and first uninstall Poser before reinstalling.   He also advised me to check my firewall.   I really don't like to mess with that.  I'm sure it will be ditto for Poser 9.  I guess I'll never buy  Poser 10!   Tried updating internet explorer, but it didn't take.  I guess I'll try that again,

Latest IE is buggy.  Try Firefox or Chrome.  MS included the upgrade automatically in windows and it caused a lot of problems IMHO.

Before you try anything else, try right clicking on the poser shortcut icon.  Select properties and choose Run as Admin.  There are also compatibility settings Run as Windows XP or whatever.  You can try that too.

Search "may" be dying on admin security of folders in your system.

OK thanks, I just did that.  Some tips.  I spent the entire day, first with a "Norton tech" who wanted to charge me $140 to fix Poser.   When I asked who he really was, he gave me the Norton support link and disappeared.  A few weeks ago, I couldn't get into Yahoo.  A "Yahoo tech" wanted to charge me $300 or (or "how much can you pay?").  When I questioned him, he disappeared.  The rest of today, I spent with a real Norton tech who removed the firewall, proving that it is most likely my own computer problem.  

I tried updating IE from 6 to higher, and had problems downloading it (couldn't).   

My lesson for today is be careful when you click on support sites.   Lot of wolves there.

The Smith Micro tech didn't help me much either, so thanks for all your suggestions!  

Have you tried doing a malware scan?  You have norton so I'm guessing its not a virus issue...probably.  Based on the experience you reported, you are not very experienced on the what is safe on the web, no offense.

If the computer is new, and you have the backup or windows reinstall disc, you "could" try erasing the hard drive, then reinstalling windows from scratch.  Probably help to have someone handy who is a computer nerd, to help you.

Unless you found  or heard about a lot of people having a problem with Windows 8 and poser 9 etc, it's your computer hardware or software installation.  You could have a bad piece of hardware, ie. video card or you could have bad drivers, or malware or virus.  So many possibilities it is very hard to troubleshoot without actually logging into your computer.

If you have a savvy computer friend, ask them to take a look and buy them a pizza or something.

Thanks for your advice!  I spent hours with the Norton tech yesterday, so I don't think I have a virus.  I'm inclined towards thinking it is my computer.   It's a Windows 7 Gateway, and i hate it.  Sometimes, it takes forever to fire up.   It has gotten better.  I've heard and believe, that computers do fix themselves to a certain extent.  I have googled Poser 8 and 9, and there are several crash complaints.   I do have a new Windows 8 Gateway laptop that seems to work ok with Poser 8 and 9, but it has a much smaller monitor, not nearly as good for rendering.