Issues with 4.22.0.16 release version (new issue solved)

paulawp (marahzen)

In recent weeks, I've started having severe issues with certain things, but only in my main release installation of Daz. The beta instance (4.22.1.88) - on the same computer - is not affected by these problems. I upgraded the main instance from 4.21 to 4.22.0.16 around the time that the trouble was first noticed, but I do software support IRL - let's at least leave open the possibility that the problem is not due to the upgrade. 

Basic specs on the computer are: Win 10/64GB RAM/EVGA GeForce RTX 3090 - Driver 551.23.

The first problem I noticed was when I opened a saved Ultrascenery file (original Ultrascenery - this was before Ultrascenery 2 was released) and rendered an ordinary image that should take a few minutes to finish on this computer. I started it, went to do some things with the expectation that it would be done long before I got back, and 45 minutes later, I found that it was only at 15%. That's insane. Of course my first thought was that something was wrong with the computer, but I thought to test that same saved file with my beta Daz - and it rendered in a few minutes, as expected. Further comparison testing showed that if there weren't a lot of trees, the production instance could get the job done eventually - although still some 10-20 times slower than the same scene in the beta instance.

The problem continued with USC2 and it got to the point where I simply accepted that I now would have to create and save USC images in my production Daz instance and render them in the beta instance. I tested disabling plug-ins in my production instance to no avail. There are some render setting differences between 4.22.0.x and 4.22.1.x, so I have been hoping that when production gets to the 4.22.1.x track, the problem will self-resolve. 

In recent days while product testing some new stuff, I was getting terrible results with some recently acquired OOT hair. I have great respect for that vendor's products, so I was wondering if I was just doing something weird. No, the problem is, my 4.22.0.x instance can't competently render at least some strand hairs. Here is an example using Chevybabe's Vavoom hair with Omni shaders. Same file, same computer, same Nvidia drivers, five minutes apart ... the difference is beta 4.22.1.88 vs release 4.22.0.16, and whatever difference is causing these problems. Desperately seeking suggestions - don't know what I'm going to find tomorrow doesn't work in production ...

    

barbult

What tool do you have selected?  Geometry editing tools like Mesh Grabber or the Geometry Editor will cause the strand-based hair to render only the guide hairs, I believe. This is true in both the General Release and the Beta, but you might have different tools selected in each one.

ArtAngel

paulawp (marahzen) said:

In recent weeks, I've started having severe issues with certain things, but only in my main release installation of Daz. The beta instance (4.22.1.88) - on the same computer - is not affected by these problems. I upgraded the main instance from 4.21 to 4.22.0.16 around the time that the trouble was first noticed, but I do software support IRL - let's at least leave open the possibility that the problem is not due to the upgrade. 

Basic specs on the computer are: Win 10/64GB RAM/EVGA GeForce RTX 3090 - Driver 551.23.

The first problem I noticed was when I opened a saved Ultrascenery file (original Ultrascenery - this was before Ultrascenery 2 was released) and rendered an ordinary image that should take a few minutes to finish on this computer. I started it, went to do some things with the expectation that it would be done long before I got back, and 45 minutes later, I found that it was only at 15%. That's insane. Of course my first thought was that something was wrong with the computer, but I thought to test that same saved file with my beta Daz - and it rendered in a few minutes, as expected. Further comparison testing showed that if there weren't a lot of trees, the production instance could get the job done eventually - although still some 10-20 times slower than the same scene in the beta instance.

The problem continued with USC2 and it got to the point where I simply accepted that I now would have to create and save USC images in my production Daz instance and render them in the beta instance. I tested disabling plug-ins in my production instance to no avail. There are some render setting differences between 4.22.0.x and 4.22.1.x, so I have been hoping that when production gets to the 4.22.1.x track, the problem will self-resolve. 

In recent days while product testing some new stuff, I was getting terrible results with some recently acquired OOT hair. I have great respect for that vendor's products, so I was wondering if I was just doing something weird. No, the problem is, my 4.22.0.x instance can't competently render at least some strand hairs. Here is an example using Chevybabe's Vavoom hair with Omni shaders. Same file, same computer, same Nvidia drivers, five minutes apart ... the difference is beta 4.22.1.88 vs release 4.22.0.16, and whatever difference is causing these problems. Desperately seeking suggestions - don't know what I'm going to find tomorrow doesn't work in production ...

    

All I can say is [goodness me]! Hope someone has an answer for you. I suggest you edit your post and do an @outoftouch and maybe an @howiefarkes and certainly an @barbult because there's not much (especially about Ultra Scenery that barbult doesn't know. Sorry I could not be more helpful.

paulawp (marahzen)

barbult said:

What tool do you have selected?  Geometry editing tools like Mesh Grabber or the Geometry Editor will cause the strand-based hair to render only the guide hairs, I believe. This is true in both the General Release and the Beta, but you might have different tools selected in each one.

OMG, that was it! Thank you! I selected a different tool and the strand hair problem is resolved.

I don't use either of those things you mentioned, but my cat walked on the keyboard a few days ago and randomly stepped on a lot of keys. At the time, I just noticed that the viewport was moved a bit. Keyboard Navigation was also selected, which I don't think I normally have selected. 

The performance issue is clearly not related. I will shush now. 

barbult

OK, your hair problem is solved. What about UltraScenery?

paulawp (marahzen)

barbult said:

OK, your hair problem is solved. What about UltraScenery?

I gave up. Beta works OK when I need to render something, as long as I don't put anything in the scene that is using one of my custom Daz directories. I'm hoping it's better when 4.22.1.x comes along as a release version.

richardandtracy

And have you had a long talk with the cat about their computer use? Our 'Squeaky' sat an my wife's laptop keyboard when the pc was in sleep mode, and next time she woke it up, the browser had been opened and was on an expensive cat food web page. Regards, Richard.

paulawp (marahzen)

richardandtracy said:

And have you had a long talk with the cat about their computer use? Our 'Squeaky' sat an my wife's laptop keyboard when the pc was in sleep mode, and next time she woke it up, the browser had been opened and was on an expensive cat food web page. Regards, Richard.

Years ago, I was using an all-in-one touchscreen as a main production computer. It was generally a reliable computer, but I did have a problem with cats deleting things, setting Outlook appointments and otherwise causing mayhem and mischief, just by walking by the thing. It came out of the box with a cute screen saver featuring fish that would swim away when you clicked on them - that is, touched them. Um, yeah. That had to go.

 

barbult

paulawp (marahzen) said:

barbult said:

OK, your hair problem is solved. What about UltraScenery?

I gave up. Beta works OK when I need to render something, as long as I don't put anything in the scene that is using one of my custom Daz directories. I'm hoping it's better when 4.22.1.x comes along as a release version.

Why can't the beta access your coustom Daz directories? On the same computer, it should be able to access all the same content easily. Perhaps you need the script to copy the settings from the GR to the beta. 

Richard Haseltine

The US issue isn't that you are (for soem reason) running out of memory and it is dropping to CPU (which would then render slowly until DS was restarted)?

paulawp (marahzen)

Richard Haseltine said:

The US issue isn't that you are (for soem reason) running out of memory and it is dropping to CPU (which would then render slowly until DS was restarted)?

CPU is running around 30%. Here's the state of things at about 1 minute, 30 seconds in to rendering the same basic scene from the same file - Woodlands 2 here. 

   

Release at left, is 7% done. Beta, at right, is 37% done. (Full size screen shots attached.) In this particular test, which was done twice in each instance, the differential on finishing the render was closer than it usually is: production finished around 5 minutes, beta around 3 minutes. 

NylonGirl

richardandtracy said:

And have you had a long talk with the cat about their computer use? Our 'Squeaky' sat an my wife's laptop keyboard when the pc was in sleep mode, and next time she woke it up, the browser had been opened and was on an expensive cat food web page. Regards, Richard.

It is sometimes amazing how good cats are at finding keyboard shortcuts. 

memcneil70

NylonGirl said:

richardandtracy said:

And have you had a long talk with the cat about their computer use? Our 'Squeaky' sat an my wife's laptop keyboard when the pc was in sleep mode, and next time she woke it up, the browser had been opened and was on an expensive cat food web page. Regards, Richard.

It is sometimes amazing how good cats are at finding keyboard shortcuts. 

Or my iPad touch screen. Simon loves to watch cat videos, while Charlie the elder cat will watch anyone talking in a soothing, quiet voice. He particulary loves university professors.