8

appendix b
Trou bleshootin g 3ds M ax
This section describes a collection of problematic
situations and what you can do to diagnose and
fix them. These include many common problems
that are reported to Autodesk Product Support,
and the things you can try in order to resolve the
problems yourself.
When starting to diagnose a problem, by yourself
or with the intent of contacting Product Support,
you should take stock of the situation by answering
the follow ing questions.
• What’s changed since the last time I ran
3ds Max?
• Has the 3ds Max display configuration been
changed?
• Was an updated video driver or new operating
system service pack installed recently?
• Has 3ds Max been running successfully without
lock-ups or crashes?
Handl ing File Cor ruptions
Nothingismorefrighteningoraggravatingthan
attempting to open a scene and you encounter an
Assertion Failed error, File Open Failed error, or
perhaps no error at al l. The file just does not load.
You hav e encountered a corrupt file. A number of
things can cause a file corruption, including the
following:
• Some component built in another program has
been imported or referenced with an XRef.
•Thescenefailedtosaveproperlyduetoapower
failure or system c rash.
• Apoorlycodedplug-inwasusedthatcorrupted
an object in the scene.
Probl ems a nd Resolut ions
Asser tion Failed Errors
The assertion failed error occurs commonly when
you try to load a corrupt file. The error gives you a
line number and file name where the corruption
occurred. You are then left with t he options to
retry or cancel.
Unfortunately,thelinenumberandfileoftendon’t
help because that isn’t necessar ily where the error
is actually occurring. Most people click the Retry
option a couple of times then give up, fearing
they’ve lost many hours of work. Don’t panic yet.
There are a number of things you can try before
you have to start rebuilding.
The first thing to try is keep clicking the Retry
button. If there is a corruption to the vertices of
an object, you might have to parse through each
Tr oubleshooti ng 3 ds M ax