BAT - Troubleshooting & General Discussion

[IL. 1,043]

So when I extract the file, and go to see it on lot editor, I get a confused model, I get some random, errored maxis buildings, instead of my own building, however, if I zoom back 3 times, I can see my building.

So I guessed that the problem is that what I asked about, since I already refited the LODs and restarted the lights and cameras and such things...

[IL. 1,043]

So I tested the program one more time, I maked a small box, and exported it, and I had the same problem in Lot editor with that model (the boxe), so I reinstalled B.A.T. and now everything is good

So I tested the program one more time, I maked a small box, and exported it, and I had the same problem in Lot editor with that model (the boxe), so I reinstalled B.A.T. and now everything is good

[Fribe 150]

Not sure what's going on here. Keeps coming up when I try to render...

The model might be a bit large, but I don't think it's extreme. But I've never seen this error series pop up before, it comes up when I'm waiting for the preview, and only for this file.

Update: In case it was too large, I removed a third of it and tried to render. Started to work, but then I noticed that none of my textures showed up.

Update 2: A few of the textures show up, but that's it.

  Edited January 10, 2012 by Fribe  

[Fribe 150]

Still having problems. Seems like it has something to do with the size of the project and how many objects are in it, but isn't solving everything. I've been deleting as much minor detail as possible, but it still crashes with those error messages either after the preview, or after the first render view.

In the one render view I get before it blows up with the Unknown System Exception, I'm still missing textures. Again, any clue what's going on?

[Jasoncw 11,934]

The two problems might not be connected. Earlier in the thread people talk about the missing texture problem and there might be a solution there.

I don't know about the other errors. But instead of deleting detail, try just attaching objects together. For example, all of the benches that are the same color could all be attached into one object. If objects use the same material and same uvw map as other objects it's really convenient to attach them. This might smooth things out enough that you can render it. People have rendered much bigger and more complicated things in gmax, so it should be possible to render that. Or the file could just be corrupt in some way, or there could be some other bug. If it seems like the problem is because of a corrupt scene file or a related bug you can merge your model into a new scene (those are the only problems that merging a model into a new scene could help).

[Fribe 150]

Er, how do I attach objects together? Never tried it before.

Update: Also getting MaxScript errors a lot. Usually Code 4.

  Edited January 12, 2012 by Fribe  

[Jasoncw 11,934]

There should be an attach button in the menu on the right side of your screen somewhere. I think one button that says attach and then maybe another button that has some kind of a list icon. The first button will let you attach things by clicking on them and the second button will let you attach things from a list (a list of all the objects in your scene).

If the object is an editable spline that has an extrude modifier, then it will probably be easier to convert it to an editable poly (right click convert to>editable poly). If your objects are one of the default shapes (box, sphere, cylinder, teapot, etc.) then you can also right click to convert it, and then attach things.

[Fribe 150]

Hrm. Well I've been attaching some items to test - already cut down from 14,800 to 14,300 objects - but as I've been doing that the size of the actual gmax file is ballooning.

[Jasoncw 11,934]

Another thing you want to do is go to preferences and find the "increment on save" option. When you save it will automatically save a copy, adding a number to the end. So MyBAT-01.gmax would become MyBAT-02.gmax upon saving, so you can always go back to older versions.

If you go to Edit>Select By you can see you can select objects en mass by either their color or their name, so when you BAT try to name and color things in a useful way. You can also hide things by selecting them and right clicking and selecting one of the hide options. You can hide everything that you don't want to attach, and then when you go to attach something using the Attach List button, only the visible objects will show up, so you can just select all the objects in the list and they'll become one object.

But yeah 14,000 is a ton of objects. I think at the most you would want 1,000, but that is still a lot. Depending on the BAT it could be a few dozen objects or even just a handful of objects.

[Fribe 150]

I definitely botched this one up pretty good. Example: The railings. Way too many pieces for something that will hardly be noticable at the closest zoom, and I got sloppy with cloning, resulting in a lot of duplicate overlaps. Go to delete one post, and find there's actually four there. Those things add up. I've been saving different versions along the way, I think I'll just take a few steps back and try to start over from there.

  Edited January 13, 2012 by Fribe  

[Jasoncw 11,934]

Yeah, accidental clonings are something that I used to do too. I think that, and disorganized scenes in general are things most people do when they start.

Restarting parts of it isn't as bad as it seems. Once you make something once you have a better idea of how to make it again, so it goes a lot faster.

[madhatter106 3,905]

I'm guessing the number of objects only weighs in when it comes to the render time on the computer?

Not in terms of how big the output model file is?

[Jasoncw 11,934]

The number of objects affects viewport lag, and also rendering. Your scene is a big database, and each object is an entry into it. Max prefers a small number of high poly objects over a large number of low poly objects.

BATs are pre-rendered, so as long as the rendered image is the same the file size will be the same. The only things that affect the size of a .SC4Model file are the pixel dimensions of the rendered images and the complexity of those images.

[Kdogfour 0]

I keep having an issue with SC4 BAT. Every time i go to render something i get this error at 13% rendered.

"Export failed!

Code = 6"

I dont know what to do. This is my first time using BAT. Can anyone help?

Thanks

[ReshiramLover 49]

I cannot export my BAT!! I get the following error every time I try to export!!

-- no "Flush" function for undefined

[Fribe 150]

Hm. Well my retool and revamp cut my object total from 14,000 to about 9,400, and it's still blowing up. I'll just keep on merging and attaching until something changes, there's plenty more I can do.

Update: Down to 9200, still either having textures come on gray or getting error codes 4 or 6.

Update: Tried export at 9,050, made it through the first render after the preview, then got about three angry looking errors again. The first stadium I made had about 5,600 objects and it worked like a charm, so I guess my fail safe line is down there. Still doesn't make sense, I don't know where all these objects are coming from. It's like there's a bank of 3,000 hidden away somewhere in there.

Update: Down to 8,600 objects, still WILL NOT get past the first view on export. Unknown system error.

  Edited January 18, 2012 by Fribe  

[Jasoncw 11,934]

Something else to try is to check your textures and make sure their pixel dimensions aren't super big. gmax has to load all the textures into memory for rendering, which means that there's less memory for the actual rendering.

But maybe first, delete everything in your scene and make a teapot or something and try exporting that.

[Fribe 150]

Teapot on the deleted scene worked. I'll double check all the textures, but I'm pretty sure they're all reasonably sized (they're cleary not ginormous, I can see repetition on the walls)

[harishna 847]

The repetition on the walls is only partly related the size of the images, what is more or equally important is the UWV map applied.

[Fribe 150]

None of the textures or map settings seem out of the ordinary.

My last try (modified some textures, object count down to 8,100). But this time I made it all the way to the end of the East view, a new record.

  Edited January 19, 2012 by Fribe  

[SimHoTToDDy 2,939]

On top of it all it looks like you are missing your shadows, that might cut memory use so I wouldn't celebrate just yet.

[Kdogfour 0]

I keep having an issue with SC4 BAT. Every time i go to render something i get this error at 13% rendered.

"Export failed!

Code = 6"

I dont know what to do. This is my first time using BAT. Can anyone help?

Thanks

[Jasoncw 11,934]

I don't know off hand but it's a common problem. If you read through this thread and maybe one of the older troubleshooting threads you'll find some people talking about it.

Code 6 is a generic code and just means that something went wrong. Unfortunately it's not very specific.

[Fribe 150]

Stadium still won't export, and I'm at wit's end. Down to half as many objects as I started with, rechecked textures, and still coming up with nothing.

[Xyloxadoria 1,098]

Stadium still won't export, and I'm at wit's end. Down to half as many objects as I started with, rechecked textures, and still coming up with nothing.

It might be that your computer simply doesnt have enough memory to render the stadium. That stadium is a highly complex and detalied object. It would take a fairly powerful computer to be able to render it. if you cant render it, start a BAT thread. In that BAT thread (or in a reply post here) you could explain that you can't render, then offer up the gmax file for someone to do it for you.

Gmax has a quick and esay way of sending someone your scene and all its textures. Just look for "Archive" in the File menu its in the same place as the save and save as and such. That will make a zip file you can post for someone else to render.

Also a general tip on the look of your stadium: Gmax will birghten textures because it adds "sun" to them. Its done that to your model especially to the seats, which make them look very bright. Purposely darken your textures and that will fix it.

[Fribe 150]

I just don't buy into the not enough memory theory, I feel like this machine is plenty powerful.

On the bright side, maybe I'm making progress. A test export just made it further than any before, before bonking out with this angry message. But I made it all the way through Zooms 5 and 4. I'll keep on at it with trial and error.

[Jasoncw 11,934]

So it looks like your problem might be related to that somehow. I don't really know anything about it though.

About memory, the limit in this case wouldn't be your computer, it would be how much of it gmax can handle, and how effectively it can use that memory to render (it's a clunky render). But still, more complicated things have been exported out of gmax in the past, so it should be possible to export this as well.

[Fribe 150]

I'm just going to keep shedding objects - I've deleted or merged more than half of what I started with - and keep on trying. The killer I found were the support poles, some of those were stacked in places I don't even remember building.

[harishna 847]

Fribe maybe it is time to open your own thread, just a thought...

[IPayItForward 3]

Just wanted to drop a quick line in here to ask a few general questions. I am learning 3ds max and gmax. I have noticed while playing around with exports, that things tend to lock up or fail to export with really large texture images. I have been looking through threads, but have not found any that specifically tell me what size to use. I am guessing that smaller is better for use in gaming applications?

Upon doing my test exports, i have noticed that anything i have created with small texture or material images, came out perfect. While others with more detailed and larger pixel images came up with many error codes, including the ERROR 6 message mentioned earlier in this thread.

Can someone please direct me to a thread that discusses the following:

Good Rules to follow when creating models for SimCity

what file sizes to use for best performance or rendering?

Most common issues? (or what to try to avoid?)

Best practices for reducing your file size to make sure it will be compatible for exporting it to an sc4 model.

And anything other suggested reading, for a person interested in JUST learning for right now.

Finally - on a side note: If i were to create a building or other items, and pack it up into a zip file, are there people here that would be willing to covert it into an sc4 model until i learn this process completely?

Thanks in advance,

Stephen