Posted by: jetteroheller | March 9, 2007

3DS Max 9 on Windows Vista

I just got a pair of brilliant new Gateway AMD Athlon64 5200+ machines for 3DS Max. They came pre-installed with Windows Vista Home Premium, so I thought it a great time to try out Windows Vista.

Of course, I install 3DS Max 9 as the first app. However, I go to run the thing and I get nothing but a big, fat error. Apparently, 3D Studio Max does not run on Windows Vista. That’s what it says on the Autodesk site, that’s what it says on Maxforums, and that’s what I’m seeing in real life. Don’t see a patch for it either.

Anyone have a clue here? Know when they’re going to be doing something about this? A bit odd that the OS that the blasted planet (unfortunately) is going to be using doesn’t work with 3DS.

Now I REALLY wish it worked on Linux.

technorati tags:, , , ,

Blogged with Flock

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

Categories:

« What’s the Difference between AMD64 and Intel EM64T?
Casperize: My Italian Scientology Counterpart »

Responses

[...] read more | digg story   [...]

By: What!? 3DS Max 9 doesn’t work on Vista! « Going where the action is! on March 9, 2007
at 7:05 am

I had a similar experience when I bought a new HP 64bit dual core machine for my render farm. Good deal at about $800. Came with Vista Home Premium. Tried to install HP on second drive with XP but HP isn’t supplying any XP drivers for the MOBO. Friend who works for Microsoft quoted Steve Ballmer saying “It doens’t matter if people don’t buy Vista right away because every new PC will come only with Vista installed” basically like it or not, XP is done. I took the HP back to the store and now I’m going back to my plan to build a hellacious quad core from scratch when the next check comes from a client, and install XP. I’ve read that a 30 minute image will render in 6 on a well built quad.

By: Mark Walsh on March 10, 2007
at 4:40 am

Mark -
That’s the way to go, I think. I ended up getting Windows XP x64 for the two Gateway boxes, and they’re busy rendering away on 3DS Max 9 now. The Athlon64 5200+ boxes aren’t quite as quick as a fast Core2 Duo, but they’re still twice as fast as the dual 2.8Ghz Xeon boxes they’re replacing.

Interesting you mentioned the quad though. I just built a Core2 Extreme Quad QX6700 box (2.66Ghz) and it definitely smokes. A render that took 6 minutes on the dual 2.8ghz machine is around 2.1 minutes on the Core2 Quad. There’s more optimization to do, but it’s still a marked improvement.

The Quad’s running XP 32-bit though. :) Certainly not Vista.

By: jetteroheller on March 10, 2007
at 5:27 am

[...] 3DS Max 9 on Windows Vista Not so lucky if you're running 3D Studio Max… (tags: Software Compatibility) [...]

By: links for 2007-03-10 | ITsVISTA on March 10, 2007
at 10:19 am

You can get it to run on Vista if you right click on the shortcut, click properties, go to the compatibility tab, and check disable desktop composition! :).

By: Novaoblivion on March 11, 2007
at 6:44 pm

Oh, that’s lame. I totally re-installed off of Vista to XP 64-bit because of that. You’ve gotten it to fully work with that configuration?

By: jetteroheller on March 13, 2007
at 4:33 am

yes I would like to know that too - is that for real? I am trying to re-install Windows xp 64 and it is a real pain!

By: julian boswell on March 13, 2007
at 5:43 pm

that don’t work dick..you got my hopes up too… Apparently there is a way to shadow your hd and have XP on it as well, and then you can just boot up XP and run 3dsmax on that… It is just hopeless !!! oh, it uses 900mb of RAM just to bloody idle as well, so there goes a bit of renderin’ grunt anywayz… not much hope for us…

By: Chris Worsfold on March 16, 2007
at 11:29 am

Chris -
As Vista is a total resource hog, and as I was going to turn off ALL of Vista’s visual effects & such to run 3DS Max, it was sort of a no brainer to say to heck with it and just grab Windows XP 64 and fire it up. After all, I dropped $1000 on that QX6700 CPU so I could get some performance, not so my computer would look cute and fuzzy while using my system resources.

By: jetteroheller on March 16, 2007
at 7:21 pm

I managed to get 3DSMax9 to work with Vista Home Premium, doing as Novaoblivion mentioned earlier. However I also set the program to run with Windows XP SP2 compatibility and as administrator. I just finished doing this right now, tried building a few simple primitives and rendering it with mental ray, everything is working fine so far. The only problem I have is the program not using my mouse’s side button (which I’ve designated as my middle button) to move the camera around. I can use the actual middle button though. I also still get that “DxDDS.bmi failed to initialize” error, but other than that, it seems to be working fine.

By: Josh Williams on March 19, 2007
at 12:19 pm

I experience a similar situation, and changed the compatability and everything worked, but somewhere down the line my X,Y and Z movement axis disabled. i have to change view port windows depending on where/how i want to move my models. i’m brand new to 3ds max, so i don’t know if i did that myself (from not knowing the program), but it is very frustrating. if anyone can help i would really appreciate it.

By: Andrew Segars on March 20, 2007
at 9:54 pm

press x and see what happens ;)

By: M575 on March 21, 2007
at 6:35 am

If it says that it won’t work with Vista then it wont. Kind’a like your car that says it requires unleaded gas but you want to put diesel in it.

By: Erik on March 21, 2007
at 7:29 pm

I have gotten it to work no problem, didn’t have to put in compatibility mode either. But when I move around in one viewport all other inactive viewports go crazy :(

By: zach reed on March 21, 2007
at 10:40 pm

It’s been a few days now, everything is still running smoothly, I’m just waiting for that error to bite me in the ass when I least expect it. I still have to get used to using the actual middle button rather than the button on the side of my mouse though, it’s kind of a bummer, like going from inverted camera movement to normal… annoying at first but you get used to it.

By: Josh Williams on March 22, 2007
at 11:46 am

yea so vista sux for 3d max huh. max needs to change and change fast.

By: rory on March 23, 2007
at 12:05 am

max 8 works bang on ! I know ive been running it for weeks now….

By: Louis on March 24, 2007
at 1:03 pm

I’ve had max 8 running for a while aswell but it makes me miss the features of max 9 so I’ve been trying for a while to get 9 working properly. It actually made me wonder for the longest time why an older version of a program would be more compatible than a newer one…

By: Josh Williams on March 25, 2007
at 4:39 am

autodesk releases the productivity booster extension for subscription members of 3dsmax 9 owners on march 29th (one day), which supports vista 32- and 64 bit as well as directX 10.

http://www.digitalproduction.com/dp/news_detail.asp?ID=4051&MODE=5

By: moofi on March 28, 2007
at 4:49 am

So does the scroll wheel work normally with max 8 on Vista?

By: Cathy on March 29, 2007
at 4:00 am

Compatibility
With 3ds Max 9 Extension: Productivity Booster, 3ds Max 9 software is officially compatible with Microsoft® Windows Vista™ 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems, and Microsoft DirectX® 10 platform.

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=9093251

What do you guys make of this.. WHERE DO U GET THE PRODUCTIVITY BOOSTER FROM? will it fix the damn mouse.. i miss the mouse working properly :(

By: Cathy on March 29, 2007
at 4:03 am

I second that, i cant go without 3ds max, it i my bible, and i cant be bothered to re-install xp (after the trouble i had upgrading to vista. a clean install was required after days of tweaking), where can i download this patch and i it quality!!?

By: Dan on April 1, 2007
at 11:20 pm

I had the same problem, but if you right click on the icon and go to “run as adiministrator” it worked just fine.

By: Fernando on April 3, 2007
at 7:53 pm

My Razer Diamondback mouse doesn’t work for panning for me, only a crapy two button mouse with a standard

By: Thomaseo1 on April 5, 2007
at 9:42 am

My Razer Diamondback mouse doesn’t work for panning for me, only a crapy two button mouse with a standard scroller works. But as far as Vista and computability all you have to do is disable UAC (Which sucks!!!) and turn off the transparency’s theme that messes up direct 10 with 3DS 9

By: Thomaseo1 on April 5, 2007
at 9:48 am

I just finished installing Extension 1: Productivity booster, everything works 100% now. My mouse is fine with the extra button functioning properly and that error I used to get doesn’t pop up anymore. Cheers to Autodesk.

By: Josh Williams on April 5, 2007
at 1:44 pm

Hello I have Windows VISTA Home Prem. & 3ds Max 9 didn’t work on it yesterday.. Thank you for all the instructions, now I can get it to WORK by right click on the short-cut & choose ‘Properties’. Then under the ‘Compatibility’ tab I check these boxes:
1/ Run this program in compatibility mode for Windows XP
2/ Disable Desktop composition (eliminate viewport error)
3/ Run this program as an administrator
That’s it. Hope everyone can get it to work :)

By: orangetintin on April 7, 2007
at 3:42 pm

compatability and turning of the desktop composition worked for both of my autodesk progs, 3ds and maya

By: bizzle on April 8, 2007
at 11:31 am

wow thanks A LOT guys, those instructions about changing the compatibility options worked perfectly for me!

By: ildemaro on April 10, 2007
at 3:04 am

me too :)

By: Kuggar on April 11, 2007
at 2:34 am

I’m running Max 9 on vista fine :) thanks to Novaoblivion posted on - March 11, 2007.

This is what i did.
Right click on autodesk 3dsmax 9 32bit
clicked on properties
clicked on compatability tab and click on run this program in compatability mode for windows sp2
Disabled desktop desktop compossition
Finally i checked run this program as an administrator

thats it fellas, it works fine :)

By: AUTODESK 3Dsmax 9 User on April 11, 2007
at 7:24 pm

where can i find “requires 3ds Max 9 Extension 1: Productivity Booster”?
Also, I’ve changed the compatability and desktop composition but still doesn’t work. any idea?
Disable Desktopm composition should be on or off?

By: Sean on April 12, 2007
at 4:02 pm

It should be OFF :)

By: AUTODESK 3Dsmax 9 User on April 15, 2007
at 1:16 am

hello
why 3ds max 9 dos not work in vista ?

By: ehsan_architect on April 16, 2007
at 4:49 pm

I was just close to uninstall 3d max 9 if it wasnt for orangetintin and this forum.. thanks dude now i get my windows vista home premium to run 3d max 9 sp1

By: oosswwaalldd on April 17, 2007
at 3:32 pm

Running in compatibility mode (xp) and turning off desktop composition, as well as running as admin, 3ds max loads up, but then becomes unclickable and then doesnt respond. Does anyone know what’s wrong?

By: LinkStatic on April 17, 2007
at 9:47 pm

thanks guys
I did what dos three steps
clicked on properties
clicked on compatability tab and click on run this program in compatability mode for windows sp2
Disabled desktop desktop compossition
and it works fine, still has the error message, but it’s working

By: johy_arch on April 18, 2007
at 2:31 am

I’ve been running Vista Business for over a month now on a new alienware machine, and I’ve had no issues whatsoever with it. Best OS Microsoft has ever put out. You just have to know what you’re doing. When I install a new device, it asks me if I have a driver… do I have one… no, so I pick search online… no luck… so I tell it to look in c:\windows\system32… and BINGO, there’s the driver. Repeat for each driver that needs to be installed for the device. Might seem like a hassle to many people, but HEY… that’s the correct order that driver’s SHOULD BE searched for when installing. Think about it: 1. drivers that came with it. 2. most up to date driver. 3. drivers that come with vista. What a beautiful OS.

People who have problems with Vista lack a basic understanding of what’s changed. DAHH, you can get apps like 3DS Max 9 to run fine by turning off desktop composition and allowing the program the same level of access it had in XP by running it as administrator. And of course checking XP compatibility mode makes sense as well, since after all, it was designed for XP. Those three steps seem like no-brainers to me.

Anyway, what’s neat about the hardware accelerated / composed desktop is that since the printscreen key is now taking screenshots of a composed desktop image, I can now press printscreen and capture DVD images playing in Windows Media Player! No more of that blank spot appearing like in XP, which kinda let every different app monopolize different rectangles on the screen. In Vista’s composed desktop, it’s just one big final rendered image, that I’m free to printscreen and do whatever I want with it. It’s wonderful.

By: Triynko on April 19, 2007
at 11:41 am

Just tried your solution. Ran the full install in xp compatibility, as adim, and with the desktop compossition off… same with the program when innstalled.

It fiered up fine, (wich it didn’t before) but freezed as soon as it opened, just before the welcomescreen…

Then i tried to install the productivity booster, but i was only abale to run the .msi install file for thatone. once the install was a micro second from complete, it told me i had innsuficcient permission and needed to log on as administrator.

I pressed ok, and the install semmed to be complete, but know i crashes as soon as i hit the shortcut.

And I can’t seem to find a way to log on as admin although i should have all the admin permissions.

By: Shane on April 22, 2007
at 2:31 pm

To all people having problem using 3d max 9 on vista , I got you the solution.
1.right click on the shortcut, click properties, go to the compatibility tab, and check disable desktop composition!

2.Run change graphic mood and choose software instead of open Gl, or 3d hardware.

3. you will still have the error message DsDDs.bmi…….
but guess what…… it works great
cheers

By: Raed Haddad on April 24, 2007
at 11:30 am

It works! That’s great! You are genius!

By: Janie on April 26, 2007
at 6:48 am

What about the productivity booster? anyone managed to install that on Vista? to bypass the Adminstrator bullshit…
I couldn’t acess the change gfx. mode either now. Guess i’ll have to start over agin on a fresh install…

But won’t Software mode slow down the program pretty bad???

By: Shane on April 26, 2007
at 3:49 pm

Hey Raed Haddad, what do you mean by saying “Run change graphic mood” in your step 2, because I can’t figure out how to do it.

By: Luis on April 27, 2007
at 1:58 am

by the way I tried changing everything that you guys say when I right click on the shortcut, like the compatibility with xp, running the program as an administrator and the disable desktop composition, but still I get the same freakin’ error. Fuck!!

By: Luis on April 27, 2007
at 2:06 am

If you read the instructions that come with the Productivity Booster, you’ll see that it says you need to turn off the User Access Control (UAC) temporarily to install. I personally just leave it off because it’s a pain in the ass. Once you turn it off, restart your computer, install the Productivity Booster, turn it back on (if you want to put up with it) then restart again. It should install fine.

By: Josh Williams on April 28, 2007
at 3:06 pm

Interesting info about installation on Vista, thanks to you all. But what is still not clear to me is that the Productivity Booster requires Max 9 to be installed first, but the installer only allows a 32-bit install on my 64-bit Vista Business system. What steps should I follow to get Max 9 64-bit running on my Vista Business? I know that Max 9 32-bit doesn’t want to run unless I completely deinstall my NOD32 antivirus software. I’d rather skip all the hassle if possible.

By: Sevensheaven on April 29, 2007
at 7:20 pm

Ah … found it. You can manually override the automatic setup by exploring the installation DVD and going to the 64-bit installation folder and run the setup that can be found there to install the 64-bit version of Max 9 on Vista. After having done that you can install the 64-bit version of the Productivity Booster and you’re ready to go for Max in full 64-bit glory. :) I did read somewhere though that Max 9 64-bit has problems running in OpenGL mode when using Vista. Have to check that out yet.

By: Sevensheaven on April 29, 2007
at 8:17 pm

A designer that does work with me was just asking if, now that new macs are all Intel-based, whether or not 3DS Max will get ported to OSX. With all of the difficulties people are having just to get it working on Vista, though, I tend to think not. Anyone know?

By: jetteroheller on May 8, 2007
at 9:45 pm

Just set it as : run as administrator, and leave all the other options to whatever youd like. Works like a charm, no need to put it in compatability mode.

By: Andreas on May 9, 2007
at 8:10 pm

hi
while i was looking for a a solution for this very same problem .. i found this page .. it was left opened with other pages unitil i found the best solution to work the compatibility issue out ..
you guys should get this 3ds Max 9 Extension: Productivity Booster you can find more about it here

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=9093251

its available to download for autodesk registrars or something .. but since i’m a warez user ( no need to talk about it now ) i was able to get a torrent of it .. unfortunatly .. i dont think its quite “alive” so the download is gonna take some time .. well for premium users of 3ds max i dont think that getting the extension would be such a hard thing .. but if you(any one) want the “illegal” version i may help you out .. email me !

By: Hitman on May 14, 2007
at 6:05 pm

thanks for the advise, nearly had to partition my 2 grand beast to run xp to house 3ds max….

worked a treat, just wish autocad didnt charge a subscription for DX10 support.

Anyone know of a third party plugin, or a crack or patch to run DX10 in max 9?

BTW anyone had issues with bipeds crashing in max 9? i got SP2, but its still screwed.

Dual core, overclock, 8800 gtx 768mb & 3 gig of ram, and it fucking freezes.

nagdammit

waz m

By: waz on May 14, 2007
at 8:22 pm

who can help me and send 3d max 4 windows vista
thank u so m.

By: jon on May 24, 2007
at 5:48 am

i have the same problem as you guys with my 3dstudio 9, i did the compatibility thing but im still having problems with vista!!
have any of you where can i get it for free?
thanks a lot Mauricio

By: Mauricio Zacur on June 1, 2007
at 5:15 am

A big Kiss for who saved my life with fixing 3DMax 9 for the bloody VISTA !
i owe you. guys :-)

By: sfree_00 on June 3, 2007
at 6:14 am

Ok well I figured out how to fix this. Follow this link:
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=9593622&linkID=9241177
from that page download service pack 2 for 3DS Max 9. Install the patch. Right click the 3DS Max Icon and go to properties. In the compatibility tab turn OFF compatibility mode and uncheck Desktop Composition. 3DS Max 9 SP2 automatically handles these mow. You may still need to give the program administrative access. Run the program and voila!. IT WORKS!!!

By: Lucrin on June 17, 2007
at 4:26 am

Thank you Lucrin. That really helped.

By: Bill on June 18, 2007
at 11:14 pm

I have windows vista and i am trying to run 3d studio max 9 and i installed it and i went to properties and changed everything to what it is suppose to be like put it compatible with xp and disable desktop composition and also run as administrator but when i click on it it says: The application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000142). Click OK to terminate the application. Does anyone know what is going on and how to fix it?????

By: josh on June 19, 2007
at 1:38 am

Someone mentioned you have to know how Vista works and this is very true.

Vista has new security features in place that protect the Program Files location that is used by 99% of apps to install into.

However as this is a protected area you will have allot of issues unless the application vendor has catered for the new Virtual Folder feature. To get around this issue and also allow 3D Max 9 to work properly I recommend you install 3DS Max 9 into a different location other than C:\Program Files\….

I have installed 3DS Max 9 into another folder I created for all of my programs:

C:\My Apps\Autodesk\….

This allows me to update my applications whenever they need them without encountering the stupid Vista security.

There are some caveats, you lose the benefits of the protected file space however for power users this is not an issue as long as you use some common sense and your PC is well protected.

The SP2 update will work fine now, no need to log in as an Admin, simply right-click the setup.exe file and choose “Run As Administrator” to continue, as your install is outside of the protected space the installation will work just fine.

You can also do this for the Productivity Booster. As my install was outside the protected file space I was able to run the install as an admin without having to log in as the admin.

Finally you will get the benefits of not having to go into compatibility mode however some users may still get screwed up viewports. If this is the case then I recommend you use software mode driver for the time being until your card vendor comes out with a better solution.

I am using a nVidia 7959 Ultra AGP card and it occasionaly has issues if I am using Direct3D mode whereby the viewports turn white or black. To resolve this I had to change to software mode however I found no loss in performance. You only loose some of the Direct3D effects but not really required for 3DS work.

Hope this helps,

Faz

By: Faz on June 21, 2007
at 6:53 pm

well, in my vista computer, i had to check “run in compatibility” for windows NT or uncheck it but check “run as administrator”. Otherwise it won’t work. But it’s still make that glitches white light in it. And does everyone know what happen to it when “memory failed to initialize..” ?

By: Apathy on June 27, 2007
at 9:51 am

Novaoblivion - That worked for me! Thanks matey you totally made my day! :D

By: Jon on June 28, 2007
at 11:51 am

You are crazy?
Thanks A LOT!!!!!
:):):):):):):) :)

Hello I have Windows VISTA Home Prem. & 3ds Max 9 didn’t work on it yesterday.. Thank you for all the instructions, now I can get it to WORK by right click on the short-cut & choose ‘Properties’. Then under the ‘Compatibility’ tab I check these boxes:
1/ Run this program in compatibility mode for Windows XP
2/ Disable Desktop composition (eliminate viewport error)
3/ Run this program as an administrator
That’s it. Hope everyone can get it to work :)

By: ernandes13 on July 6, 2007
at 6:52 pm

installing the service pack 2 for 3ds max 9 has solved for me the problem of loading the application in vista 32 ultimate. google it and download it and install it. good luck

By: Victor John Saliba on July 12, 2007
at 3:15 am

aarrgghhh~!!! after doing:

1/ Run this program in compatibility mode for Windows XP
2/ Disable Desktop composition (eliminate viewport error)
3/ Run this program as an administrator

my recent work in 3ds max cannot be open. i dnt know… some error in opening… somebody who’s pro. please help. I NEED THIZ! ITS MA JOB!

By: EBlaze on August 1, 2007
at 4:30 am

plzzz plzzzzz plzzzzz guys any help here i need the solution for tht fuckin problems in 3dmax in vista all my work and projects is stop cus i upgrade the new laptops and pcs wth vista so there any solve for tht brplm. thx

By: OMAR on August 4, 2007
at 7:16 pm

Regarding the Viewport Mess-Up thingie when clicking through various viewports in 3DS Max 9 under Vista 64, try what i describe next: In 3DS Max 9 go to Customize->Preferences->Viewports->Configure Driver (For Direct3D 9 or above) and in the new window that appears check the “Redraw Scene on Window expose”. This forces Direct3D to clear the buffer and redraw the contents of the viewports thus the flashing is removed.

Hope this helps.

By: Stelios81 on August 5, 2007
at 10:49 am

What’s your e-mail??

By: Tati on August 7, 2007
at 2:06 pm

Hitman, what’s your email? I’m interested on that version! :)

By: Tati on August 7, 2007
at 2:07 pm

HITMAN!!!
When you see this message mail me, please!!! That way I’ll know you email.
My email is tatisari22@hotmail.com
Thanks

By: Tati on August 7, 2007
at 2:08 pm

Does Anybody have the 3D max 9 extension??
I tried the other way but I couldn’t fix the problem.
I’m still can’t open my program at my notebook. :(
Anybody can help me, please mail me!
tatisari22@hotmail.com

By: Tati on August 8, 2007
at 2:27 pm

Got max 9 to work with vista business, but sfmgr.exe fails to work. It stops working for some reason. Just in case you don’t know sfmgr.exe is the file for brazil needed for the license. any help is much appreciated.

By: erok on August 8, 2007
at 10:17 pm

im so happy .. i had days tryingto solve the compatibility issue and just got on this place and SOMEBODY HAS AN ANSWER… well is no victory yet .. my primary issue is that i dont have a licence is just a download because i dont have 500 box to get the program and i just got this new job and i have everithing needed for the position except by 3d max experience so im learning and im counting back days so he will not be valid on my pc ,, any idea?? also do you knoe if photoshop have compatibility???

By: ssubiru on August 12, 2007
at 3:40 am

i was just on top of frustration i have this new computer that my boyfriend gave me so i will not use his.. but the laptop came with vista and i found that any of my design programs wont work exept by 3d max .. im happy to solve this but .. not sure if still with issues . i heard tried to open the file will not work?? is that true

By: ssubiru on August 12, 2007
at 3:43 am

Lucrin’s update worked like black magic:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=9593622&linkID=9241177

Just get SP2, no more administrator and compatibility and composition shit

By: Syraxius on August 20, 2007
at 10:11 am

ive tried everything to get 3ds max 9 to work,
ive downloaded the extension service pack 2 and all the other service packs before it and tried all all the following

1/ Run this program in compatibility mode for Windows XP
2/ Disable Desktop composition (eliminate viewport error)
3/ Run this program as an administrator

but still cannot get 3ds max 9 to run on vista?
im ready for smashing my laptop up and and throwing it out of the window,

any suggestions anyone, please

By: speirso on August 21, 2007
at 1:52 pm

HAI GUYS

CAN ANY ONE TELL ME IF I HAVE A 3DSTUDIO MAX9 FILE SAVED CAN THAT FILE WILL OPEN WITH 3D STUDIOMAX 8.

By: MALICK on August 28, 2007
at 7:31 am

AI_USMAN@YAHOO.COM

By: MALICK on August 28, 2007
at 7:34 am

speirso, install directx 9.0c first. then do those 3 steps.

By: Raihan Hasnain on August 29, 2007
at 4:40 pm

thks guys its finally working with me

By: max on September 4, 2007
at 7:51 pm

service pack 2 works fine. just download that and then run it. it should work fine with no probs

By: volvaga0 on September 13, 2007
at 10:01 pm

im using windows vista too, windows vista home edition genuine copy……. but i got just a liitle problem with 3d max 9. one dll is not working. but it still okay. once i start 3d max 9, the message will appear looking for one dll that is not compatible. i just fired enter and it works. my computer….. pentium dual core 2, 2 gb ram upgradebalt to 4gb. 250 gb harddisk memory capacity.

By: arch ronel k. pabico on September 16, 2007
at 10:54 am

hi

this may be something youve heard before but try right clicking on the 3ds max startup icon, selecting properties, then compatabilty, then select run as administrator, then select all users, then run as administrator again. then click apply and ok on both windows. then restart. then try running 3ds again, allow windows to open it as administrator and it may work, i tried this and it works with very little problems

hope this helps you

sam

By: sam moffatt on September 28, 2007
at 2:51 pm

I have Windows Vista Ultimate and I have followed the steps to Disable the desktop thing and to enable compatibility mode but when I start it up some welcome screen comes up and FREEZES! Its all blank and I can’t click on anything. So I have to end the process and such… Please help me out.

By: jagger27 on October 2, 2007
at 1:32 am

it works PERFECTLY!!!!! i have vista…all i did was to check “run this program as adminstrator” in properties and it opened!!!

By: Emmanuel on October 3, 2007
at 8:12 am

i cant change the compatibility settings before i install. if i do it after, it makes no difference. max 9 works fine on my parents computer with XP, using the same stuff as im using for my own. they live too far away to be using there comp. can anyone help???????

cheers chris

By: chrisG on October 3, 2007
at 4:37 pm

ok guys you’ve been a great help espacially red headed thanks’ i’ve read the whole thing i cant open my eyes now.
though the view ports glitch where cleared. i have some problems with the compound objects. any way any other shitty stuff will appear cause i dont want to explode into my face

By: jabi on October 6, 2007
at 7:06 pm

I have Windows Vista Ultimate and I have followed the steps to Disable the desktop thing and to enable compatibility mode but when I start it up some welcome screen comes up and FREEZES! Its all blank and I can’t click on anything. So I have to end the process and such… Please help me out.

^
I have the same problem and same OS as jagger 27. Please someone help us out!

By: bomba on October 10, 2007
at 10:34 am

Good remarks about 3D max 9 although I did install the productivity booster (basically Service Pack 2 for max) and it seemed to work fine under Vista.
I’m still encountering problems though, when the vertex and polygon count get high, there is a high risk of the program to crash AND corrupt the save file, so do be careful to do increment saves under different filenames.
There are a lot of glitches still, especially when selecting edges and vertices as they do not highlight properly until you move in viewport.

Im running a Q6600 quad with 2gigs of ram and an 8600GT (DX10) and im thinking of dual booting with XP only for max. Its a disappointment that such a fine OS like Vista has such problems with 3D max :(
(I’m suspecting that DX10 might not fully support max)

By: Ian on October 13, 2007
at 11:54 am

Novaoblivion was right, you can get 3dsmax 9 to run on Vista if you right click on the shortcut, click properties, go to the compatibility tab, and check disable desktop composition! It worked for me.
Thanks Novaoblion

By: mcs4855 on October 17, 2007
at 4:46 am

Looking to buy a BOXX machine dual xeon 2.66
8GB RAM and a Nvidia Quadro 3500.

I’m running MAX 9 and Autocad 2006

But I really don’t know what OSystem to install.
XPpro 64bit or Vista 64bit

By: Shinny on October 17, 2007
at 11:32 pm

All I had to do is right click on the desktop icon and go to run as administrator

By: timsipps on October 25, 2007
at 3:16 pm

Guys thanks very much for the great contribution to make 3 d max work on vista
one more thing i would like to add
before installing 3dmax 9 sp2 , right click on the setup of the sp2 and check the administrator box the same as for the max.exe
thats what sorted out my problem , offcourse plus all the above mentioned tricks

By: sherif on October 25, 2007
at 9:25 pm

Thanks Novaoblivion! Works like a charm! :)

By: driks on October 29, 2007
at 9:33 pm

Ops, I forgot.. I run 3ds max 2008, so it’s the same problem there..

By: driks on October 29, 2007
at 9:35 pm

hmm, I just tried to set a viewport background, and it behaves just like it did when it turned black.. The viewport background goes crazy when I click on different viewports… Don’t know if 3ds max 9 have this problem, but the 2008 version does =\

I may not be able to check back for answers, at least not on this computer, cuz’ I’m throwing it into the wall right.. …NOW!

By: driks on October 29, 2007
at 9:46 pm

its like cake and cake is good but too much cake is bad and sometimes you have to sacrifice a bit of that cake in order to enjoy the other cake more and as much as i like vista cake i like 3ds max cake even more so it looks like my lovely vista cake in its shiny new quad core box will have to go and be replaced with the less pretty but more healthy xp cake but atleast then i will appreciate the 3dsmax cake they way it was meant to be .

By: diggles on November 6, 2007
at 12:26 am

Checked disable desktop composition;
checked WinXP Sp2
checked as admin

works fine! :)

By: Amber on November 6, 2007
at 8:16 pm

Thanx a ton all of you guys…!
I would have been dead if I couldn’t get Max to work on our copy Vista Business…!

By: Baikunth on November 20, 2007
at 5:06 pm

So I did what Amber said and I finally go the program to run yet it freezes as soon as the design window opens up…any ideas?

By: Justin on December 4, 2007
at 9:44 pm

this is what worked for me- i have an hp 530 with vista
i first downloaded the trial version

right click on the icon
properties
compatibility
then check the following:

1. run this program in compatibility mode for windows xp
2. disable desktop composition
3. run this program as an administrator

i also installed the service pack 1

hope this helps xxx

By: iamdebbiedeb on December 12, 2007
at 11:21 am

fek i spoke to sooooooon
dammitdammitdammit

By: iamdebbiedeb on December 12, 2007
at 12:47 pm

I’m running 32-bit 3ds Max 9 on Vista 64-bit edition without problems. I am newbie to 3ds, so maybe something is not working properly but I have installed it and run it (almost) normally.

3ds max is running without any patches and in about box it says “Release: 9.0″

But, the only goal and a problem is displaying the viewports, and when it is set to Directx 9 then I have to check to disable Aero in the software compatibility tab otherwise every middle-mouse click in the viewport results in a flick of white screen :)

By: zoltarx on January 6, 2008
at 12:17 am

yeah, 3ds9 runs on vista with the compatibility changed. It doesnt work on Aero thats why. Vista will automatically take aero off if youve got all the compatibility settings right

By: cLEVER on January 18, 2008
at 2:32 am

well! it runs in compatibility mode only when you are logged in as administrator. if you r not an administrator then you should click on “show settings for all users”, and the set the compatibility mode of xp sp2.

It’ll surely work as mine is….

By: M.HassanTahir on February 3, 2008
at 6:27 am

I have just loaded 3D Max 9 onto my laptop ( I have Windows Vista 32bit) and it all loads up fine, but when I click to open the program it just crashes at the start screen! Argh… what to do?! Does anyone know how to solve this? as it is driving me crazy! Thanks :)

By: creative_poodle on February 3, 2008
at 8:46 pm

SP2 apparently resolves the issues with Vista:
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=9593622&linkID=9241177

By: Ronaldo on February 14, 2008
at 12:17 pm

Just one more point
1st you have to download and install Autodesk 3ds Max 9 Service Pack 2 from the following site:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=9593622&linkID=9241177

then:
Right click on autodesk 3dsmax 9 32bit
clicked on properties
clicked on compatability tab and click on run this program in compatability mode for windows sp2
Disabled desktop desktop compossition
Finally, run this program as an administrator

it is perfectly working

By: Al Hadidi on March 15, 2008
at 10:30 am

it works PERFECTLY!!!!! i have vista…all i did
to install sp2
thank you thank you thank you thank you ….

By: mohammad on March 16, 2008
at 10:10 am

thanks alot Amber I checked disable desktop composition and now it works fine.

By: victor on April 8, 2008
at 5:56 am

hey guys, does somebody know, why the sfmgr.exe doesnt work with vista ?? or is there a solution yet ?

By: 24h on April 8, 2008
at 7:53 pm

I just bought a new computer with Vista, and went to install 3ds Max 9. It installed fine, but when I double clicked the icon, it gives me the same error message. I tried right clicking on the icon and checking the appropriate boxes under compatability, but it still gives me the error message. I then tried installing 3dsMax9 sp2 from Autodesk, it gets about 99% done, and then gives me an error message saying I don’t have adequate privilleges, even though I’m on an admin account. Is there anything else I can try?

By: Drew on April 14, 2008
at 3:49 am

The sfmgr.exe is a 16 bit application which acts as a license manager for Splutterfish Brazil Rs. It should work under vista 32 but will not work on Vista 64 as 64 bit OSs wont run 16 bit apps. I believe splutterfish have released a compatible license manager with Brazil Rs 2

By: jerry on April 25, 2008
at 12:05 pm

Try the update at http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=9593622&linkID=9241177
I ran 3DSMax 9 successfully in Vista Premium and then upgraded to Vista Ultimate - same thing. System - HP Pavilion 6626us 4Gb just for mean 3D work.

By: r2d2 on April 28, 2008
at 10:56 pm

Leave a response






Your response:

Categories