I can run build 16.0.504.20 without issues. Newer builds like 16.0.557 and 16.0.578 are completely unstable, they crash just from trying to use the top menus of the interface; specifically the File and Assets menu.

I did file a bug report but wondering if anyone else is having similar issues or if there are ways to troubleshoot these kinds of problems. I am new to Houdini so I don't know what to try although I did try deleting the Houdini16.0 folder in documents and also deleting the houdini_temp directory. No luck with either of those.

Thanks for any insight.

Steve

Moin, Steve,

it would help a lot if you could provide information about the system you are running on.

For me .20 has been “OK-ish”, but (aside for some bugs getting introduced, then squashed out) the later builds made things better where they weren't perfect with release. For example: I had a lot of random crashes when quitting H or loading a new HIP, these crashes for me are gone with .564+
In short: It's gotten better on my side, running Windows 10 pro.

You might want to try the Qt4 version, there have been some reports about Qt5 not playing nice with everyone's setup.

Marc

Thanks Marc,

I wasn't aware of the QT4 builds and these DO work so the problem seems to be limited to only the QT5 builds. Thanks for the insight and I have to say that SESI has been great on the tech support side. For reference, here is the info on my current build. I suspect the QT5 issues might have something to do with me using an NVMe drive as my primary drive or my Wacom tablet since everything else in my system seems pretty common.

Computer setup:
Windows 10 Pro, 64 bit, build 1607
Samsung 950 Pro NVMe M.2 for OS drive
Intel Core i7-5960x processor
64GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti (for display)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (headless)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (headless)
Display driver: 381.65
Display resolution: 3840 x 2160
Wacom tablet

Hi, Steve,

thanks for the update! I am running SSD exclusively on all my systems and I do have a Wacom connected (and in use) for H16, so I have some doubts about those being the problem - although it might be that Houdini is using the Qt tablet access (which I assume) - it might make sense to play with driver settings / Windows/Qt access for the Wacom. This most likely is something where SideFX needs to take some time and do some logging.

(Personal rant: My experience is that Qt in general causes a lot of stability issues, no matter what version. Since I full heartedly dislike its UI and UXP, I never understood why more and more programs are using it as their UI framework, it's not like there is no cross platform choice available. Rant off)

I am using the same NVidia driver on Win10pro/64. I wonder if the multi-GPU setup has anything to do with it, even if the 1080 are running headless.

Marc

Hi Marc,

Good to know you are using a Wacom tablet as well. Most applications handle them quite well but there are always little quirks when companies don't account for them in testing; the more of us the better.

I can't say I have any real knowledge of the different UI frameworks . . . I suspect I could grow to love QT5 if it only worked on my machine. I can say that I feel pretty comfortable with the overall Houdini interface. It scales up nicely for 4k, the node editor works seamlessly, etc.

I did try several different video drivers, from different branches, with no luck and I tried using different cards to drive the display also with no success although having the different cards installed could still be an issue. I did offer SESI tech support that I'd be glad to give more info, test builds, etc.

Steve