NXT Hang-ups

[Steve M]

Roy,

Any thoughts as to why my nXt sometimes hangs on me?  When I mean it hangs, I'm talking that it freezes for a long time and then starts running again.  Sometimes it can hang for 20-30 minutes.

Examples of when it happens:

• Initializing nXt once I've opened an older model that was created back with older versions of nXt.  (I never had these problems back when I originally was working on these files.)  Also, if I do this in reverse where I load nXt first, and then try to open the model, it hangs for the same amount of time trying to open the file.  The kicker is that once nXt is loaded and I close down the file (without shutting down AutoCAD) I can re-open the file with no problems.  It doesn't hang any other time except for at nXt initialization.  Although...
• Yesterday it hung on me when trying to insert a nXt tree.  Once it started up running again, it worked fine and I could add other trees no problem.  I haven't spent too much time with nXt trees so I can't say if it would happen other times.
• I've had it happen while adding a material from file, also.  Same thing as trees, once the hanging stops I can load other materials from file without any problems.  With the trees and materials, it only happens the first time I try to do this.

The problem is, it's random when it happens.  I haven't been able to pinpoint what is causing it.  Actually, It's not completely random.  I can pretty much count on it happening with any older model.  My current stuff is fine.  I thought that you might want me to send you a file to test but I don't have to, it happened on alexinfla's test file.

 

This is EXTREMELY frustrating.  Right now I am waiting to render an older file that I had to make changes to.  I've been waiting for the hang-up for over 20 minutes.  Forcing acad to shut down and trying again doesn't help.  It will happen again and also tomorrow if I have to work on it again.  I have no recourse, I have to render this file.

 

I can't pinpoint when all this started but it hasn't always been like this.  My computer system hasn't changed since I started using nXt (its a 32-bit dual-core athlon processor with 4GB ram on acad 2009).  It happens on our newest computer (quad-core 64-bit 6GB ram) as well but the hang-up is less because it is a faster machine.

 

-Steve M

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

Best guess-- and it's just a guess-- it's probably trying to load materials/textures across a slow network or doing something like searching an entire hard drive or dvd drive.  

 

If you're comfortable using regedit you can check your search paths to see if there's anything fishy.

 

The nXt ones are located in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\McNeel\AccuRender nXt -OR- the same key in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE hive.

 

The legacy ones are in \Software\McNeel\AccuRender Libraries\Version 1.0\Paths

 

Let me know....

[Steve M]

The path for AccuRender nXt was "C:\Program Files\AccuRender nXt\"

The lagacy ones are only set to the accurender3 support folders on my hard drive.  I don't think this is a legacy drawing issue.  Everything I mentioned is strictly nXt.  I do use AR4 for trees sometimes but I don't think that is the issue.  The file I'm working with now has no legacy stuff in it.  Perhaps a long time ago it was converted from an original AR3 drawing but back then, after the conversion,  I had no issues and it had been worked on in many sessions without an issue.  It's only now that I'm opening it a year later.

If it was a slow network then this would happen every time.  It only seems to happen with files created when I was using older versions of nXt.

Of course, this doesn't address the issues with the nXt trees and materials.

 

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

No clue-- it's not happening here generally nor do I have any other open issues re: this sort of thing.  What build are you using?

 

Send me a model that it's happening on reliably-- use the upload link-- and I'll see what I get.

 

Just out of curiosity, you could try typing nXt first, then loading your drawing.

 

 

 

[Chas / Aug Posekany]

Roy will have to make the final call but as the issue is with older drawings I would guess the legacy drawing conversion is the killer. This should only happen on the initial time you open the file in Nxt though.

for the tree insertion, what tree were you trying to insert? A legacy tree from AR4 or before or one from the Nxt collection? If it is a legacy tree from AR4 or before it could be a search path issue.

 

As I read your description each incidence could be related to search paths. (Network speed killing you?)

[Steve M]

Thanks, Aug, but I'm pretty sure this isn't a legacy issue.  These files have long ago been converted from AR3 and have been edited and modified with nXT quite a bit.

As I said in my reply to Roy.  A slow network would be killing me every time.  Not just when I open files that I just haven't been working on in awhile.

 

I don't think the trees or the materials were being loaded over a network - though I will have to confirm that.

[Wayne Williamson]

I can say I have experienced the first & third exemple but it's not a program problem. I expect that the second example is a similar situtaion as well. When NXT loads an old file it has to convert the old materials and import them, I see this often because of the kind of work we do. In addition when making a new  complex material, importing a complex material it will take a couple minutes. Usually my system runs for 2-3 minutes when importing a material that has several maps, but sometimes when its a block with several of these types of materals it will grind for a while. An older model may take 20 minutes if it has many materials to update. I updated my old library structure over a weekend only to find that the older materials are not as visually pleasing or as streamlined as NXT materials.

 

My advise, more horsepower or more simple textures and materials for new stuff; use AR4 for old models.

[Steve M]

I appreciate the help and it is nice to know that someone has a similar problem.  However, I am not converting legacy AR4 drawings when I have my problems.  I have been using nXt since the early betas so I very rarely have to convert any legacy drawings any more.  When I refer to old drawings, I am talking about drawings that were created while using nXt but with older versions of it - not old AR4 drawings.

 

I agree that more horsepower will help but that doesn't explain why a very complex model I created last week has no issues but a less complex model I created a year ago (and haven't edited since) can hold up my machine for over 30 minutes (or more!).