Here's the situation:
Users were running 3DMax R3 on Windows 2000 Machines and everything worked well. Unfortunately, I did not support this network during that time, so I am relying on architect's reports of performance degradation since machines were re-built. Reports are that it started out bad and has gotten progressively worse over the past several months. That may just be perception as they grow increasingly frustrated over time.
When things 'worked well', modifications to the image occurred virtually instantaneously- for example, when you rotate or move the image it moved along with the mouse. Now, there is a significant lag-- several seconds-- from the time of the movement with the mouse to it's appearing moved on the screen. CPU spikes to 100%. Also will spike to 100%- for several (8-12) seconds when I open/close the program. Hardware specs seemingly make no difference in problem. Issue is the same on a PIII 1 Ghz + 512 MB RAM as PIII 500 + 384 MB RAM.
This is not a networking problem, nor a conflict with another application (such as Anti-Virus). I had to wipe a system clean and installed only Windows 2000 and 3DMax on that machine. Same problem.
Here is the configuration of that computer:
Windows 2000; 384 MB RAM (with 500+ MB page file); 733 Mhz Pentium III; 80 GB IDE drive; 32MB NVidiaTNT Graphics card 1024x768 & 24-bit color.
This is what I've tried- (not necessarily in order of attempt) but all with seemingly no effect:
2.) Not a networking issue- same issue if file is worked on locally with computer that hasn't been connected ever
3.) Defragmented hard drive
4.) Using latest driver for video card and monitor (19" LCD or CRT)
5.) Used different driver for 3DMax - Heidi, OpenGL and DirectD
6.) Modified resolution on Graphics Card- including increasing refresh rates.
7.) Tried several files- happens regardless of size or complexity
8.) Modified some settings in preferences that seemed related to how the image is re-drawn/displayed- such as dual display. This is where I gave up as I feel I'm now shooting in the dark.
I followed the default installation and presume that was done the first time the application was installed (one of the architect's just loaded it, so I don't think they made any customizations to settings).
Does anyone know where I can go from here to identify the problem? Please don't tell me it's time to upgrade. These machines were running the application fine for several months- so I don't think the processor is underpowered and RAM usage typically doesn't even hit the page file. Upgrades are in the future, but until that happens in 6 months, we need a solution to this. Are there preferences that are 'optimal' for the way the image is created on-screen? What settings affect these areas?
Any and all help is much appreciated.
