Double GMAX Problem

[Guest FR153]

Near the completeion of a Scenery (Hangar) GMAX, out of the blue, popped an Assertion Error - - In File::'....maxsdkincludetab.h' Line 117 error. Ahhhh! Exactly why we back-up the files.... Backup is showing exactly the same thing. When a merge is attempted, it throws the same error and jumps out of GMAX program. I'll concede that the job is gone from everything I have read, but, my question is 'what happened ?'Therein comes the second blast of GMAX for the day.... The GMAX Support Forum is down as well. Hope somebody can shed some light on this grom here.....ThanksAl

[Guest fantasy]

Hi,not everything is gone! gmax automatically makes an backup file every 5 minutes or so. You can set this in the preferences.You will find severall of them in the gmaxautoback folder. They are called autobak1.gx; autobak2.gx and so on. Just load a little older one to recover your work. I have no idea of the other prob.gerd

[arno 1]

Do you think this problem is related to your files or to GMax in general? Have you for example tried to open some of the example GMax files that came with FS? If these open correct it seems to be something with your files, otherwise it could be that you need to reinstall GMax or so.

[Guest FR153]

Hi Arno,To answer the question I have to back up and explain what happened....I always back up my work in gmax because I have lost some good sized projects in the past because of the 'File already open' problem. Lately, I have been using the '01' feature on the 'Save As' page. Even at that, I usually make a file with the word 'backup' in it as well, plus, autobak is turned on. Sounds like a pretty solid plan for backup to me...hehehe. On this project, I had NOT make the extra 'backup' file, using just the autobak and the '01'. Shame on me. The project, a hangar, was just about to the point of exporting but still needed the doors to be set up with animation. Immediately after backing up to the '01' file, and when everything appeared normal, I slid the bar for animation to the first point for the set-up of the pocket door. I went back up to the main screen to highlight and move the first pocket door (had not clicked on the 'Annimation' button)when a flag appeared indicating that the error had happened and asked if I want to attempt to save my data. I wrote the error down, then answered 'yes'. From there, it all went downhill. The autobak gave me the same error. I then attempted to open an OLD project 'backup' of a project, which opened fine. I then went to the '01' file for this hangar, and had a no-go, same error. I then attempted the 'original', same error. Then to the autobak.gk, same problem. The whole project was shot. About 15 hours work - - gone.I attempted closing the program and reopening... No good. Tried rebooting and reopening, to the same result. I kept the files in case somebody could make sense out of them but on and restarted the project again. In all seriousness, I now not only have a 'backup' but I have an '01' and a 'backup01' as well. The project is now in final stages, animation set, 'CAT' applied and in final adjustment of shingles, transparancies on the windows, etc. Now, to answer the original question. It appeared to be a program problem in that I had just done a save and all of the backups were corrupted even though they should be separate files. But, only this project was affected, indicating that it was 'file or project' related. Therein the question: what could be in the project to bomb all the files that way?????? Or, what did the program do that clobbered the project???? Looking here on AVSIM, it appears that this type of 'Assertion Failed' error has been happening but not with the "In File: '....maxsdkincludetab.h' Line 117 flag to it. To me, that is pointing to a very specific file and line of that file. I would strongly suspect that includetab.h -----Line 117 is pointed directly at something with the animation bar. BTW, CAT worked great on the remake, per usual. Thanks again.... Later,Al