[solved] 3ds Max 2023 slow startup

[CharlyRT]

Hello there, recently I have moved to 3ds Max 2023 and theres an strange behaivior when installing Corona, 3ds Max takes too much time to load, I have tested it installing and uninstalling every component. Keeping only the main plugin (without scatter, ) seems to improve loading times, im using Corona 8, with Corona 7 Hotfix 1, doesnt seem to work even that the installer says that it support max 2023. Have you noticed something similar?
It also affects when installing GrowFX for this version.

[maru]

Hi, Corona 8 supports 3ds Max 2023, Corona 7 doesn't (even though it shows in the installer - it's a bug). The supported 3ds Max versions are always listed here: https://corona-renderer.com/download

As to the slow startup - could you please try clearing your ENU folder and check if it improves the startup times? Please note that this will remove your custom settings such as keyboard shortcuts, buttons, etc, so it's best to keep a backup of the original ENU folder as explained in the article, and only try refreshing it to see if the issue goes away or not: https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/3ds-max/learn-explore/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Resetting-3ds-Max-3ds-Max-Design.html#:~:text=You%20can%20reset%20the%203ds,each%20user%20profile%20in%20Windows.

[CharlyRT]

Hi Maru, thanks for answering, I have tried what u suggested, it was the first thing on the list, but its very odd, I have reinstalled Max 2022 in order to do some time comparisons because I didnt note any of them on that version a week ago, but the problem its repeating also in this other version, I have reinstall 3ds Max 2023 and tried to clean every single file from Autodesk, and i cannot figure it out what is causing this.

Here are my time tests so far while installing these plugins:

Max 2022
Free Plugins (BerconMaps+MultiTexture+FloorGenerator+SiNi) - 35s
iToo ForesPack+RailClone - 38s
GrowFX - 36s
Vray 5 - 1:05 min
Corona 8 - 1:24 min
Everything - 1:33 min

Max 2023
Free Plugins (BerconMaps+MultiTexture+FloorGenerator+SiNi) - 36s
iToo ForesPack+RailClone - 38s
Vray 5 - 1:05 min
Corona 8 - 1:27 min
GrowFX - 1:30 min
Everything - 2:27 min

Im gonna try in an different machine that has been formatted recently and has no software installed, I dont want to format this PC :(

[maru]

If you don't have available Corona / V-Ray licenses, this can cause startup slowdowns.
Do you have available licenses in the Chaos License Server and are they getting correctly activated once 3ds Max starts?

[CharlyRT]

I have Vray license, I use Corona in "demo mode" in order to do the conversions so I just Install the main Plugin, I have read that this could cause some issues with startup slowndows, but like i said I didnt notice this before, could it be that I was using Corona 7? I know that in Corona 8 there was a merge with the whole licenses in Chaos, Right now im testing Vray 6 Beta and the license is activated correctly.

[maru]

So both your V-Ray license and Corona (trial) license are correctly getting activated through the Chaos License Server, right?

[CharlyRT]

Yeah I dont have any trouble about it, but sorry, I made a mistake saying that I have Corona in demo mode, I mean I dont have it activated I just use it for scene conversions. sorry for the mistake

[maru]

Hmm, so it might be related to the license not getting activated. I will soon contact you with some more info/questions.

[CharlyRT]

Thanks so much for your quick replies, I was checking all of the plugins that I had and totally forgot to mention tyFlow, just for curiosity I delete it and now the Startup time improve in max 2023 from 2:27 min to 1:41 min, and with max 2022 from 1:33 min to 0:46 sec, it doesnt get stuck loading Corona plugins, now, it still seems to take some time in max 2023 startup but this is definetely an improve, so thankfully this is nothing from Corona, sorry for all the inconvenience, but it could be something to check.

[maru]

This is now resolved, right? You don't need any further help?

[CharlyRT]

Hi Maru:

Well as I said, deleting Tyflow plugins reduced considerably loading times in both max versions, but again, like I said, it seems that startup times are very long having Corona in Max2023, ill give it a chance with trial period to compare.

[maru]

Hi Maru:

Well as I said, deleting Tyflow plugins reduced considerably loading times in both max versions, but again, like I said, it seems that startup times are very long having Corona in Max2023, ill give it a chance with trial period to compare.

Ok, thanks for clarifying. We will test this and contact you if needed.
Thank you once again for looking into this and reporting.

[maru]

Here are my tests:

- Using the newest available versions of 3ds Max 2022 and 2023 (updated today 07.07.2022 through the Autodesk Desktop App)
- Windows 10
- Ryzen 3900X
- XPG Spectrix S40G (factory specs: read 3500 MBs / write 3000 MB/s)
- Ryzen High Performance power plan enabled in Windows

2022 no plugins - 27s
2022 added Corona 8 hf2 - 30s
2022 added TyFlow - 33s
2022 added other plugins (Forest, RailClone, FloorGen, other) - 33s
2022 added V-Ray 5 -1st run - 43s; 2nd run - 33s

2023 no plugins - 30s
2023 added Corona 8 hf2 - 33s
2023 added TyFlow - 33s
[did not have any other plugins to add]
2023 added V-Ray 5 - 1st run - 33s

The plugin loading window when starting 3ds Max where it is showing tet with currently loading plugin names is visible for ~10 seconds.

As you can see, my times are much shorter than yours. It could be hardware difference (please tell me what is your hardware), or there could be some other underlying issue - for example damaged disk, lack of some driver, maybe something wrong with the chipset driver?

[CharlyRT]

Hi Maru:

First of all, let me thank u for all your replies, I decided to reinstall 3ds Max one more time, and now the times are reflecting that the real problem is GrowFX, its strange because the last time Corona with Free Plugins seemed to be the problem, but now here are my tests, always on 2ond run because my PC its not the state of the art hahahaha :(

Max 2023.1
Free (Floor Generator+MultiTexture+BerconTiles+TyFlow)
iToo (ForestPack+Railclone)
Chaos (Vray 5 + Phoenix 5 + Corona 8 hf1) = 0:47s
with GrowFX = 02:27 min

All of this test were made the moment you can do anything with 3ds Max (select a viewport for example)
My Pc has
-Windows 10
-Corei7-4790
-32 gb Ram
-GeForce GTX 1050Ti
-Gigabyte SSD Read 500 MBs / Write 420 MBs

Like I said, Thank u so much for your replies, AutoDesk and GrowFX guys havent respond me at all. Ill try to give some pressure to ExLevel guys

[Ist1111]

Just had the same issue with 2024 and Corona 11 on two workstations. 3ds max took ages to load up from a PCI4 SSD. It also caused crashes after loading up. Deleting ENU folder didn't help, not even reinstalling max, corona, vray. I spent hours on this issue before I found this post. The lic server at the office was down which caused the problem.

I have had similar problems with the license before but it never slowed 3ds max down!

Anyone who has a similar problem give a try to this.