[Solved] Gmax : error writing to file

[Raymond7cn 6,772]

Hello Everybody,

I'm a freshman of modelling, Today when I was learning and building a simple Lot with BAT, Suddenly, a message came out : error writing to file  . I confirmed the message and when I want to save the model, This message came again. I had to quit the gmax even the program gave me a hint to save but I can't. Then when I restarted BAT and want to open my last saved gmax file, I found that even the file was gone. Then I tried to find that in my computer, I couldn't found out it except a windows recent .lnk file. 

In gmax.log, There were only some information about  Loaded and Job of my file and the error message: 2020/01/07 11:01:44 ERR: Error writing to file.

Is anybody familiar with this issue? I have no idea if that situation will happen again. Thanks for your help!

Sincerely,

-- Raymond

  Edited January 9, 2020 by Raymond7cn  
Solved

[xxdita 1,097]

I have no experience with gmax, so I'm not totally certain. Is this the first time you're using the program? You may need to make sure you have all permissions set properly. Check this thread.

[Raymond7cn 6,772]

Hi xxdita, I began to learning batting about one month ago, After Mr @rsc204 suggested me to start from the bat essentials tutorial, I start to use BAT(GMAX), Frankly, My study are not very fast, however this is my second lot, I never met this issue before. I guess maybe it's relevant to my OS's environment. because I couldn't found enough info about this error with google, So I plan to change the running style of gmax to Compatibility mode with WinXP mode to see if it happen again. Anyway, it's maybe a good thing to a newbie like me, not so bad, since I can do more batting to be familiar with the theory of it. I just publish this post as maybe it's helpful to others. Thank you for your kindly reply.

Best Regards,

-- Raymond

[rsc204 21,806]

Where did you Install gMax? It really hates being anywhere other than the root of a drive, for example C:\gmax. If you've put it in Program Files, especially under newer versions of Windows, you are going to run into permissions hell very quickly.

I suspect however, you might already be there, since these errors suggest Windows is preventing the application from writing data. Step one is to install gMax using Admin rights, likewise you want to be running the application with Admin rights too. Whenever you use an older application (designed for XP or older), it simply won't have been designed to request the correct permissions from the O/S that it needs to work. This is especially a problem when apps need to write data in protected areas, which under Windows 10 has been expanded more than ever. I don't recommend it if you don't know what you are doing, but disabling UAC (User Access Control) certainly helps here sometimes.

If you are still stuck after that, I can do some checking on my Win10 system here. I can also pass you some SC4 BAT files to mess around with. Since the last thing you need when starting out is to be loosing a lot of progress.

[Raymond7cn 6,772]

2 hours ago, rsc204 said:

If you've put it in Program Files, especially under newer versions of Windows, you are going to run into permissions hell very quickly

 

2 hours ago, rsc204 said:

I don't recommend it if you don't know what you are doing, but disabling UAC (User Access Control) certainly helps here sometimes.

 

2 hours ago, rsc204 said:

I can do some checking on my Win10 system here. I can also pass you some SC4 BAT files to mess around with.

Dear RSC204, Thank you very much, I totally agree with your points, and you always get right to the point. Like Holmes.

The questions above I had been carefully  treated when I Installed it by your tips before, also BAT and its fixs, I have checked all of the gmax directories and files's authority, Anyways,  In-short, I found that there was a windows power relevant error in the system logs during that time. I had sent the messages and dumped file etc to Microsoft, I feel that they will answer me that question quickly.

And also I created two simple houses just with some array windows, Everything is ok. Anyway, Just for safe, I wrote a simply batch script which can auto backup my work directory to another place per 30 minutes.

If I get the reply from Microsoft, I will post it here soon, Thank you Mr RSC204, I really appreciate your thoughtful concern. Thank you.

Yours Sincerely,

-- Raymond

[Raymond7cn 6,772]

Dear Mr Robin,  My issue has been solved today by the help of MS. I'm so fortunate in having a good service engineer who also is a SimCity lover and my company's friend. He solved it by online service. In short, even though He use many troublehooting commands (I couldn't recognized all of them due to too fast, chkdsk privileges etc) and finally He told me that it's because of my Nvidia card's setting. If video card/graphics hardware conflicting with elements in the scene, the issue happened. Frankly It's maybe my fault, I forgot when and why I add gmax.exe into the Nvidia controlpanel's setting. I guess it means that after I add gmax forcedly, Intel and Nvidia both of them want to render or using some resource, then caused an error. The MS also told me that not only gmax but also 3dmax has same problem from their knowledge base.

Anyway, I'm so glad to tell you this, and btw the tutorial you send to me is wonderful, I have finished part 3, Thanks to Mr phillippbo and you.

Best Regards,

-- Raymond

[rsc204 21,806]

Did you set gMax to use the HEIDI Software Renderer? Under Customize/Preferences/Viewports, you can alter this:

Given the age of the application, it tends to be the most reliable method of using gMax. But if you've any sort of modern PC, you'll have no performance issues whatsoever by switching to software rendering.

[Raymond7cn 6,772]

Dear Mr Robin, No, I didn't set these settings after installed gmax, 

here is my default setting above, And I'm stupid to set Nvidia from here like this below,

I'm still a freshman, May I confirm that did you suggest me to change it to HEIDI>Software Z, I don't understand the meaning of HEIDI, It looks like the Knowledge is everywhere, I need to read, study and learn about everything important in my life. Anyway, I will likewise google those optimized settings of gmax. Thank you Mr Robin, You are always so thoughtful!

Sincerely,

-- Raymond

[Raymond7cn 6,772]

Dear Mr Robin, After pan around on net with google, I guess I kind of understood some now.

HEIDI is a proprietary 3D-interface, made by discreet, It's a display driver, Use CPU to convert 3D objects into 2D images, So It depends on my CPU's capacity by using HEIDI. And there are some advanced video cards can support HEIDI with GPU, But obviously, not my card.

I also learnt some information about Direct3D (D3D) and OPENGL and what the difference between Game video card and Profession Model video card. However It seems far away from my topic, and I thought I need to pay more attention on learning basic knowledge of modelling, Those are also useful knowledge to me but not now.

Anyways, I learnt when I got a problem, I can check my device settings by using the -H command line option", and try to slove it with switch all three drivers (HEIDI/DX/OGL).

Thank you Mr Robin, I appreciate your tips which let me learnt so many knowledge. Thanks again.

Hope It can help others Gmax FAQ

Yours Sincerely,

-- Raymond

 

[rsc204 21,806]

8 hours ago, Raymond7cn said:

No, I didn't set these settings after installed gmax

Are you using SC4 BAT or gMax?

SC4 BAT re-skins the application so it appears blue not grey, just like my screenshot. If you want to export models SC4 can use, you must run SC4 BAT, because otherwise you won't have the necessary SC4 scripts in place to render models.

8 hours ago, Raymond7cn said:

here is my default setting above, And I'm stupid to set Nvidia from here like this below,

Right, but the settings as shown only affect the SC4 Game itself. It won't automatically apply to tools like gMax/SC4 BAT. Unless of course you've done similar for these applications too.

8 hours ago, Raymond7cn said:

May I confirm that did you suggest me to change it to HEIDI>Software Z, I don't understand the meaning of HEIDI

HEIDI is just an acronym, I've no idea what it stands for, but it just means Software Render. However, each application has different compatibility needs, personally I can't get SC4BAT to work without using this Software Renderer. Given it's a really old application, this seems to be necessary, but if you can make DirectX work, that would also be fine. Unlike SC4 itself, using software rendering here won't come with any drawbacks, complex to explain. But yes, I would recommend using this setting.

3 hours ago, Raymond7cn said:

HEIDI is a proprietary 3D-interface, made by discreet, It's a display driver, Use CPU to convert 3D objects into 2D images, So It depends on my CPU's capacity by using HEIDI.

Exactly, in short it's a software renderer that doesn't rely on GPU support to work. Your CPU will have no issues using it, assuming it's x86 compatible (it will be). Back when gMax was first released however, likely many CPUs wouldn't have worked so well with it. But today CPU's have so much power, something like gMax won't trouble them.

8 hours ago, Raymond7cn said:

Dear Mr Robin,

Just a little tip here for improving your English. If using a formal greeting such as Mr, we always use the last name or surname thereafter, e.g. Mr Smith. Since you are using my first name, just "Dear Robin," is sufficient/correct.

[Raymond7cn 6,772]

4 hours ago, rsc204 said:

you must run SC4 BAT

 

4 hours ago, rsc204 said:

but the settings as shown only affect the SC4 Game itself

Dear Robin, Yes, I'm using BAT even thought it's maybe a gmax script MOD, the screen-shot I show you is GMAX, since I misunderstand your picture, I thought you want me to show you gmax. This point you had gave me tips before, and The Nvidia setting, I have deleted the gmax.exe which I added before manually. I just show you where I made the mistake. I can felt from your kind words you are a thoughtful and responsible person. Thank you, I mean it.

4 hours ago, rsc204 said:

Just a little tip here for improving your English.

Thanks again, Robin, You not only helped me solve the problem but also teach me knowledge and language, You are a gentleman and an expert. I'm very sorry for that, I will correct my mistake, Hope you can forgive and understand me for this.

Best Regards,

-- Raymond

[rsc204 21,806]

22 hours ago, Raymond7cn said:

I'm very sorry for that, I will correct my mistake, Hope you can forgive and understand me for this.

Please, fret not, I simply figured you'd prefer to be told this, otherwise how would you ever know of the problem? But it's not like you've offended me or anything here.