[JDHill]

I'm not convinced it's necessarily a problem with the shell extension itself, since I find no problem with the code, and since I've never seen any such crash occur here. That, and the fact that however many thousands of people use the extension without reporting similar crashes, tends to indicate it would likely be due to some conflict on these few machines where it is being reported. If you look through your Windows error reporting (Administrative Tools > Event Viewer > Windows Logs > Application and/or System) and find a reference to one of these crashes, perhaps it will be possible to get a crash dump to look at, and if so, please let me know (jeremy at nextlimit dotcom). It can be extremely difficult to debug these though, since extensions (you say you have no others installed, but that is unlikely; there may be some you're not aware of -- you may want to use a tool like this to check exactly what is being run on your machine) all run in the same space, so an error in one can easily be caused by memory corruption from another, with no good way to trace down the root cause, other than process of elimination.

[bruno.sdi]

Hi there JDHill,
I just sent you an email with the crash dump like you requested.
Thanks!

[numerobis]

here is a copy of the crash log


1000, Application Error:

explorer.exe
6.1.7601.17567
4d672ee4
maxwell.shell.dll
3.0.0.0
5298e127
c0000005
00000000001cb20b
eac
01cf772b9d43568f
C:\Windows\explorer.exe
C:\Program Files\Next Limit\Maxwell 3\shell\x64\maxwell.shell.dll
f28305e1-e336-11e3-972b-10bf484ee3b3


1001, Windows Error Reporting

148260647
4
APPCRASH
Nicht verfügbar
0
explorer.exe
6.1.7601.17567
4d672ee4
maxwell.shell.dll
3.0.0.0
5298e127
c0000005
00000000001cb20b


C:\Users\...\AppData\Local\Temp\WER56E9.tmp.WERInternalMetadata.xml
C:\Users\...\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArchive\AppCrash_explorer.exe_2e68498719a6e939ddafd5ee45c242a249d842a_070284cb

0
f28305e1-e336-11e3-972b-10bf484ee3b3
0

[numerobis]

still very annoying...

[JDHill]

As I wrote above, it's quite possibly due to another Explorer extension. The main reasons being that I observe no crashes here, and that the Maxwell shell extension is installed by default on every single installation, with only a few people reporting an issue -- I've never heard of it being reported anywhere but in this thread, and there have been no questions about it from the regular help desk, to my knowledge.

You wrote above it seemed related to right-clicking on things; is that still the pattern? The guy posting above (bruno.sdi) sent me some information, but it was not revealing of much; later, he uninstalled some 3ds max components (like the material libraries, he said, though I don't know what that means, not being a 3ds max user), defragged the disk, and said that this seemed to help, but that is pretty inconclusive. He hasn't posted back here since, though.

There is an outside possibility that you could have some particular MXM, or set of MXMs, which are commonly in your directories, and which produce some issue with the MXM-reading code. That could also be the case, but with MXI files or IES/EULUMDAT, since the extension handles them all. If you can see any kind of pattern, and send me a zipped folder of MXMs, I can see if that would allow me to reproduce it.

The main theme being: we are looking for something that is very specific to your machine, whether it be other Explorer extensions, certain MXM/MXI/etc files that only you use, and so forth.

[numerobis]

I will build a new workstation in september and do a fresh reinstall... i hope that will fix the problem. But i'm not sure about that because the MXMs are stored on the file server.

I remember that i experienced the MXI copy/rename crash problem on some other systems too since v2.
I think the MXM crash reported in this thread is only happening on my workstation since the upgrade to v3, but i normally open MXMs only on this machine so i'm not sure about that.
Is it possible that it is a problem with too many MXM files in one folder? Currently i have 2290 MXMs in this folder. Maybe i should copy them in steps of 100 or 50 files to another folder
to see if the problem is quantity related.

[JDHill]

The quantity shouldn't matter, and I've tested with several thousands. The more likely factor would be that in a couple thousand MXMs collected/created over some years, there could be one that uncovers a bug in the code. In the past, there have been issues related to esoteric combinations of factors -- an MXM that has a description, but no preview, and also has a path set in the MXM reference -- a contrived example, but something along those lines.

[Asmithey]

I am having these issues as well. They seemed to have occurred when i uninstalled v2. I have render nodes crashing, mxed crashing windows explorer, thumbnails just showing the mxed logo, no material preview. This was all working fine with v2 installed. I have no x64 folder in shell folder only the maxwell.shell.x64.msi. When I try to run it, I only get errors. I have re-installed several times. Still same issues.

[JDHill]

Please let me know which version of Maxwell (release or early build, & version number) you are using, which OS, and also the nature of the errors that occur when you attempt to run the MSI.

[Asmithey]

Thank you...

Here is the info.

I have recently purchased v3. I went to the help splash screen and it shows 3.0.1.0 x64.

Operating system:
Windows 7 Pro.

The errors:
maxwell.shell.dll failed to register

Policy 9.0 microsoft.vc90.alt,version 9.0.30729616 public key token="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b," processor
Architecture="amd64", type=win32-policy.

[JDHill]

That sounds like a Windows Installer problem of some sort. I would uninstall the shell extension using Programs and Features, reboot the machine, and then try to install it again.

[Asmithey]

I tried that as it was stated in one of your earlier posts. After I did that, I does not show in programs and features anymore as it will not install. Seems to me it must be a something conflicting in the registry. What if I uninstalled the 10 different redistributable programs it shows in programs and features? Then reinstall MW v3?

[JDHill]

I don't think I can offer much advice, because things are clearly not working as they should on your machine. You can certainly try uninstalling and reinstalling MSVC redists, in case one has somehow become corrupted or misconfigured, but that's just a shot in the dark, and you should keep in mind that multiple programs likely depend on each redist, so if you inadvertently end up not reinstalling all those you currently have, various programs could potentially stop working. My instinct, though, given the info you've provided, is that it sounds more like a permissions issue, and/or a problem with Windows Installer itself.

[Asmithey]

This all happened upon my uninstall of MW v2. I think it is a registry conflict issue. Old files that did not get removed during the uninstall. I have a friend who is a IT guy. He is going to look into it for me.

[pdqwest]

I am having the exact same problem and I have traced it to certain MXM files that I have downloaded from the Maxwell library. Please take a look at Sand_p_2097 and concrete_weathered_1123 as examples of what crash explorer on my 64 bit windows 7 machine. First time downloading the material I go to compile it, save it and then there is a crash. If I create my own materials there is no problem.