Yeah I might give that a shot then.

Vassago, I wish I could make that happen. It would just be major headache to move all the existing messy max files around and reconfigure everything, plus it might open up for bugs.

...which is exactly the main thing that 3DSclean fixes. It makes sure that it becomes much easier to move config files from one max install to another. The drawback is that at one point you do have to install a fresh copy of max.


Tip:
I've always kept a CFG folder under "my documents". In there I store all configuration files I need. Photoshop brushes and actions. Document templates. Max keyboard shortcut setups, script installers, etc. Zbrush UI. Windows registry modification files. HoeKey scripts. etc etc.

You'll most likely end up installing a lot of stuff for max, so keep track of it that way. I even copy all those files to my gmail account, under a CFG label there. It enables me to work with my personal setup on any machine and any install.

As long as you don't overwrite 3dsmax.ini you're free to move files from your old setup over a 3DSclean install. Just make sure you have some idea what you're doing. The directories are all documented and some tips too, in the readme file.

I always make a copy of max after clean install, so I can at any time revert to it. You just copy the files back in, no more work needed (provided that you've installed 3DSclean)

Oh an one more thing for those who consider installing: Don't let all the text in the first post scare you. It's very simple.

All you need to do is:

• Copy the3DSclean files to a clean max install dir
• Run 3DSclean.bat
• End of story

You don't even need to read the feature list - it's all pretty safe and standard max stuff.

How about getting your color/icon UI files? ^_^

Okay I'm having an issue now. =\
There are two directories which I'm finding myself confused with. When it asked where to install the 3dsclean folder it said maxroot, documents or user specified. I chose the documents folder.
So it created a 3dsclean folder in there, but there's also a "%USERPROFILE%" (percentage signs included) folder in the root max directory that also has a bunch of shit in it. Which one of these directories am I supposed to be updating with scripts and such? Each one has a scripts folder.

Also, when max starts it errors saying it can't find the maxstart max file. Here's a pic:



The max file is in the "%USERPROFILE%" folder in the maxroot, though. Is that folder supposed to be named as my PC's user name? If so, it bugged out on install.

Vassago:
ok, you're on max2008 which is unsupported, but let's see if we can work it out.

I believe some people experience slower performance in 2008 than 2009 still; may be related to 3d hardware perhaps. If you don't have any specific reasons for not using 2009, I absolutely recommend it (provided you install the latest update)

Can you send me your 3dsmax.ini? (per128 at the gmails)
Also if you can PM me the result of running the following command from the shell (start menu->run->cmd):

FOR /F "tokens=3" %A IN ('reg query "HKCUSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerUser Shell Folders" /v personal ^| FIND "personal"') DO @ECHO %A3dsclean

edit: copy the text like normal, then right click in the shell and choose paste

Anyway, that behaviour is very strange. If you remembered to do a copy of the max install before running 3DSclean, copy it back in and instead of choosing my documents, try to manually type in the directory you want your max setup to reside in. In the meanwhile I'll look at the data you send me and see if I can make things run smoother on max2008.


edit: Keep in mind that maxstart.max won't ever load as it is a max2k9 file. If you had problems with 2009 in the past, they have most likely been fixed by service packs and hotfixes since. I would personally only recommend using max8 or 2009.

Oh, and also tell me your windows version and service packs installed. It's likely there will be problems trying to install to "my documents" on vista.

Originally Posted by perna

edit: Keep in mind that maxstart.max won't ever load as it is a max2k9 file.

Yep, that did it :P
Saved over it w/2008 file and it all loads fine.

So I guess I just save scripts into the max dir user folder? The one in "My documents" is much more lean than the one in the max dir

yep, you're running vista. So from what I see, the following should work for you (allowing for smaller incompatibilities between max 2k8 and 2k9)

-install like normal but choose manual entry for destination directory
-overwrite the max file with a 2008 one.

I hope everyone understands that I'd rather focus on the majority of users (win XP, max 2009) than to support all platforms and installs as that would take time away from adding features. However, for someone technical it should be fairly straightforward to modify the installer to support your platform and max versions.

I reinstalled, chose the main max dir instead this time. Works like a charm.

/me hugs per <3

Awesome man. You shouldn't have any problems because you're running 2008. The only thing that might happen is that some modifications don't work (they'll be like default max install).

I want to get you the icon/color setup. Let me do some cleanups there first

3 Point Max Plugin Toggler v0.14
dev.3pointstudios.com
dev.3pointstudios.com/pub/3PointMPT.zip

3Point Max Plugin Toggler disables a large number of rarely used 3DS Max 2009
plugins to speed up the program loading time.

Disabling nearly 40 MB of plugins ensures things like Scene Explorer,
SteeringWheels and the Viewcube are never even loaded into memory. The toggles
try to focus on largely unused plugins, removing uncommon file import/export
formats, CROWD, REACTOR, Autocad Objects, Window/Railing/Door Objects, etc.
A complete list is included below. Refer to it in case a feature you use is
disabled and you wish to manually re-enable only that one plugin.

While only Max 2009 is tested, this should work with any version. If something
breaks, re-enable the plugins with the script. All changes are reversible.

Unsupported and provided without any warranty.

CHANGELOG

071709 v0.14

• Now compatible with 32bit Operating Systems
• Will now remove infocenter (can speed up max inits significantly)

071509 v0.11

• Added "aggressive" mode.

3 Point Maxstart.max
dev.3pointstudios.com
http://dev.3pointstudios.com/pub/3Po...xstart_std.zip

Replace your current maxstart.max with this for a good clean setup and minimal DLL dependency. This should load faster than most maxstart.max files. This works with any max configuration version 2009 and up.

CONFIGURATION:

Grids disabled
3 small, 1 large viewport, ideally sized for 1:333 renderoutput on widescreen monitors
Viewport statistics toggled off by default. When enabled, shows currently selected and total number of triangles only.
Disabled selection brackets
Show edges for selected objects
Area filter set to 1.0. This is the correct way to fix blurry renders in max, not by changing the filter type.
Increased loading speed by removing dependency on acadblocks.dlu and reactor.dlc

2nd time reinstalling max today.. hopefully i can get it to work this time

Installed max
Downloaded and installed latest hotfix
Extracted 3dsClean files to 3ds Max 2009 folder

I dont think the next part is working correctly... I run the 3DSclean.bat but it just pops up a small window for a fraction of a second then goes away... my first time through i thought "that was fast" then opened max and everything was default. no changes. The instructions are simple enough but somehow i screwed somethin up. I just reinstalled max again and went through the same process. I'm at the point where i need to run the .bat file but I don't really wanna move forward until i know i'm on the right path.

Cant wait to get this working

Ben: What OS are you running? 32 or 64 bit? Sounds like you're running vista. You may not have support for the "choice" command.

Try going to command mode (start menu->run->cmd.exe) and enter "choice". It should prompt you "[Y,N]?". If it does, then try running the 3DSclean.bat file from command line and tell me what it does.

If it does NOT, then you can redownload an updated version of the installer I just upladed and run "3DSclean_noprompt.bat" instead of "3DSclean.bat". Please note that this is quickly hacked together and won't give you a choice of where to install. It will move all your user files to a "3DSclean" directory in your max dir, which is my preference. If someone would like to update the batch file to use SET instead of CHOICE I would be happy to incorporate that but I can't guarantee I'll get around to doing that myself.

Hope this helps.

the plugin toggler labels are incorrect. 1 does disable them (aggressively), but 2 reenables them instead of 3, and 3 just exits. 6 also exits.

So there is no "normal remove" option, only an aggressive remove.
But it is fine for me personally, so thanks

Oh, last minute typo there. Thanks buddy. Fixed and uploaded (http://boards.polycount.net/showpost...3&postcount=87)

Anyone who used the previous version can revert the changes with the uploaded one.

I'm running windows xp pro 32bit - version 2002 - service pack 2

Typing CHOICE did not prompt anything, just threw up a flag saying it was not recognized.

The new .bat file got me further than the other but it left me at this screen.



The first time it went through it said 4 files copied, then i uninstalled an reinstalled and this time around it said 1 file copied. At first I assumed that all of this meant it worked but then I fired up max and no luck.

Thanks for your time perna

this stuff rocks! max really needs this springcleaning.
hah, if the autodesk cronies had done this, they'd charge you 1000$
i've done a lot of removing myself, but it turns out some of the damn export plugins are bundled with some useful utilities, like the polygon counter..

my quad:


easy primitive access!

should probably remove the curve editor, dope sheet and that third thing as well..

tried the primitive macroscripts, but they don't work for max 8

Nice updates, Per. Thanks.

the batch file to disable plugins made max 2010 unhappy. something in the 'improved' ui in the top left didn't like the moved plugins. it didnt compain onstartup, but clicking the top left square caused it to cough. just a fyi.

Originally Posted by dejawolf

should probably remove the curve editor, dope sheet and that third thing as well..

Schematic view? Lets not and say you did. Some people access those all day ever day.

Hopefully Per will keep this (like he said) a base for everyone to start from and not heavily customize it toward modeling.

If there was a way for you to save your quad UI (pretty sure you can) and post it like he posted the toolbar that would work but I'd hate to see this become a modeling only set up.

Quad UIs are saved as .mnu ... but one .mnu stores the quad settings AND the application's menus together, making the format absolutely useless especially since the menu organisation has been changed recently! Meaning, you want to import your carefully crafted quad from last year and bam menus start to show missing items.

Hi guys. Thanks for the feedback and comments.

I'm trying at all times to keep these things open and generic. I don't like being forced on someone else's very specific idea of a good UI (zbrush), so don't want to do the same myself. However it's limited how much testing can be done. I'm reliant on feedback to get these things running on various systems. What I can say is if you're running max 2009 on xp64 you ought to be very safe indeed, as that is my setup, and is what I recommend as the most stable, fast and efficient max install our there now.

3dsclean is now updated (v.166) to increase compatibility with everything from 32bit OSes to Vista. I'm surprised more problems didn't pop up with xp32 users, maybe more use 64 than I'm aware. Certainly any professional artists should not still want to be stuck running 32 bits.

imb3nt: You need to make sure it's a clean max install. In this case you are trying to install on top of another 3DSclean install, which will always fail. The new version will work for you and will give you error messages if you're trying to install on top of an existing version. Max uninstall won't remove user files; you need to do that manually.

Pior, aye. mnu files should be split in 2 setups, and all the setup files (keyboard shortcuts, menus, toolbar, etc) should be clear text and contain macroscripts, not strange numeric references.

Deja and Pior, I was a longtime max8 lover and did a fair bit of customization on that too. Really recommend you give 2009 a try though, especially with the 3dsclean and plugin toggler installed. They will literally rip out stuff like the viewcube from the installation entirely (not just hide them from the viewport). If you don't have hardware incompatabilities, 2009 should run very significantly faster, plus more stability, better maxscript support (just make sure to install the latest hotfix)

I can also recommend xp64 to everyone. Unless you have particularly obscure hardware you will find drivers for it. I don't make any sacrifices running xp64. It's the fastest and most efficient OS out there, particularly when using heavy duty apps like max and mudbox. It's not only a matter of accessing more RAM. It's simply much faster. I can't tell you why or why it makes sense, I just see from experience and feedback from others that it is the case.

Wallasaurus: I expect the plugin toggler to kill functionality for someone. Since it's easy to fix I'll just respond to feedback there and make the necessary changes. If you tell me which error message you received, I'll have a look at it. Some of the disabled plugins are low in size or even deferred and can be re-enabled without it being much of a sacrifice.

I'm sure few animators use CROWD, but more use REACTOR. Maybe reactor removal should be optional. What do you say Vig?