Hello,

My Houdini is was crashing all the time on Windows XP Pro. I reinstalled Windows and upgraded to SP2. Houdini was working fine until I hit the render button.
Now it is crashing all the time. I don't understand why.
I installed Houdini 7.0.231 on both Windows and Debian. (I have a dual boot)
Under Debian, no prob. everything is cool. But not under Windows. I would like some explaination. I don't want to reboot everytime a want to use Houdini. especially if a started a Tut on the Windows version of it.

I have 512Mo of DDRAM, and AMD XP2800+ and a GeforceFX 5600 Ultra.

Some users seems to experience the same thing. But nobody answer to there question. WHY DOES IT CRASHES ON WINDOWS ?

Please, can someone tell me what is going on.

Thanks for your answers

It is crashing exactly when? When you try to render a particular scene? Does a simple scene work? Which video driver version are you running? Are you able to download a newer version of Houdini from http://www.sidefx.com/download/index.php [sidefx.com] ?

Without more details, it's very hard to give a sensible reply.

It crash randomly at any time. But especially when I want to render.
With any kind of scene. Even a teapot with a Vex plastic on it.
I have the latest version of houdini.
I have the latest nvidia drivers.

It been a while that I am looking for a solution.

Thank you for your help

7.0.231 is NOT the latest version though. Are you using the Apprentice version? What specific video driver are you using? I've encountered bad latest drivers once in a while. When it crashes, does it say where it crashed? Do you have a consistent case where it crashes (ie. hip file) that maybe someone else could try?

Find out where your $HOME/houdini7.0 directory is (eg. echo $HOME/houdini7.0 in the textport). Close Houdini, then rename it to something else, start Houdini again to have all the default preferences.

I'm running on WinXP Pro w/SP2 on a GeForce 2 GTS and I can render a teapot with vex plastic shader just fine.

Yes, I am using apprentice version.
I am usinf the latest video drivers. Even though. I don't think it is a driver problem because Houdini was working and not crashing at all.

it doesn't either why it crashes. But I noticed that it crashes when I start playing with shaders.
It is not a hardware prolem either. It doesn't crash on Linux.
It is something to do with OpenGL on windows but I don't know how to fix these kind of problems.
Windows is a real mess.

What else do you want to know ?

I have the same problem here. Using Windows Houdini is crashing constantly. With Linux everything is fine. I'm running a GeforceFX 5600, too. Before I had a Geforce 2GT, which didn't have the problems. Perhaps the troublemaker is the GeforceFX. I noticed, that Houdini is often crashing when opening a new window (e.g. rendering, or opening the textport). But switching the desktop (e.g from Build to Animate) is also risky.
What's also interesting is, that this only happend with Houdini > 6.0. H5.5 is running fine with Windows on my system.

Daek, you seem to say that Houdini used to be fine … so any idea on what might have changed?

We have a couple of XP boxes at work with the GeForce 5600FX in them and they have always been fine. The only time we did have problems was a hardware issue, one of the chips had gone (dual proc machines) it caused it to crashed randomly. Is your system dual proc? maybe windows handles duals differently to linux?

Hi Simon!
That's interresting, because I have a dual-proc-system, too. But my two processors seem to be ok. Well, it doesn't matter, because I will give this computer away.

hi,

No , I don't have a dual proc.
I just reinstalled Windows XP pro SP2 (again). I installed Houdini 7.0.231 (for some reason I can't download 7.0.455).

I installed acrobat reader and Avast (antivirus).
It is crashing less often. but still it crashes. for the same reasons FrankFirsching. But I noticed it is manly when shaders are concerned.

I think it comes from and OpenGL issue. But I have no Idea how to really configure OpenGL. I used the panels of my graphics card. But there is very few you can tweak.

The most annoying is that no error message is given when it crashes. It is really hard to tell where it comes from.

Thanks

It is very probable that the reason lies in open gl.
I have lots of problems with houdini on windows and absolutely no problems on linux (same machines)
On xp I had to check drivers, test them reinstall, choose the best option and still display quality is HORRIBLE, the performance is unstable and everything works like it's just about to crash.
On suse when i finally installed everything…oh boy, works like a charm.
Perhaps there are fresher and better drivers for linux, perhaps it's overall system stability.
It's better not to think what's wrong and move to linux. You'd be happier using XP for editing only.

cheers

Peter

Try setting the HOUDINI_OGL_DBL_BUFFER_FIX environment variable to 1 prior to starting Houdini. Do a search for this here if you don't know how to do this on Windows.

If that doesn't work, there's always HOUDINI_OGL_SOFTWARE which will bypass the hardware accelerated driver altogether.

Well.

I reinstall Windows and Houdini was the first package I have installed. It is not crashing now. But still is far slower than under Linux.

I think the problem comes from one of the software I use to install. I think it is my antivirus and farewall (Avast!) that make Houdini crashes. I am not sure though.

I will install more and more software and see if Houdini craches again.

thanks

Hmm … I don't think it's Avast or the XP firewall as I have both of those running on my XP box on the GeForce 2GTS as well. Maybe some application (game or 3D) has an opengl.dll that they then add the directory to in the PATH environment variable.

Daek, if you figure which app was causing the problem, I'd be interested to know what it is. Thanks!

I think it is something to do with avast! my antivirus and firewall.
I am using Houdini, I still didn't install Avast!. Houdini is not crashing anymore.
For some reason, avast!firewall might blocks the connection between Houdini and the license server.

I will install avast! later and tweek the software cuz' Avast! is a very good antivirus and firewall and it is free for home users.

Windows XP SP2, Avast Home edition, XP firewall, on Toshiba M200 with geforce FX 5200. Never had Houdini crash on me in one year. Though there are some performance problems mainly relating in Houdini using (i presume) OpenGL calls for the interface. That coupled with low graphics ram on the tablet PC (64 Mb) makes 2 or more opengl contextess fill up and beyond the 64 mb and use the system ram or even software opengl (if there is such a thing as per context switch). It can be circumvented by using smaller open gl window. Same thing happens with XSI + any other open gl app open at the same time, so its not Houdini specific.

Intel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics chip set Controller (128 mb)
Windows SP2
Game Accelerator
Pc Accelorator

I have Houdini and I have no problems with it! IDK why it is crashing in urs.