XSI Experience instability?

[oMarKs]

Hi, I've got the free XSI Experience and ive found it to be very unstable. It randomly freezes my computer. does anyone else have this problem? or any ideas why it might be doing this?

spec:
Win2k pro
amd 1700
256mb ram
radeon 7000 64mb (eek)
20gb hard drive (quite full)

cheers

 

[Dark-Angel]

might be the video card, hear few bugs with ati cards when it comes to xsi. some thing to do with the number of bits your card is runing your desktop at and what xsi is using. i think at 16bit you shouldnt have any trouble.

 

[The Dark Elf]

256mb is waay too low to run XSI properly, you should be looking at a gig or more for anything above basic stuff. XSI is a very stable program. Video card should be fine, but check the drivers just incase. Running in 32bit is good with XSI.

 

[oMarKs]

when im running XSI my memory isnt being fully used, though admittedley a lot is being used. i think ill buy some more tomorrow. when you say 16 and 32bit do you mean colours? because i was running at 16bit colours, which ive just changed to 32bit

 

[Jaenos]

Welcome to XSI!!

It crashes, it freezes, it corrupts data, it takes out your entire OS!

Seriously though, it is getting better with every version.

 

[The Dark Elf]

Originally posted by oMarKs
when im running XSI my memory isnt being fully used, though admittedley a lot is being used. i think ill buy some more tomorrow. when you say 16 and 32bit do you mean colours? because i was running at 16bit colours, which ive just changed to 32bit

yeah 32bit color. 16bit is ok but the banding that always shows does my head in and you just can't judge images as well with it. Besides with 32bit, when you start creating models for HL2 you'll be able to see exactly how they'll appear in the game in realtime without having to go back and forth putting them in the game running it etc.

 

[oMarKs]

ive got a couple of other newbie questions:

with XSI experience as far as im aware, you can only save the files as 'scenes' (.exp). Does anyone know whether there will be something with the sdk that will be able to convert these in to a format that can be imported into hammer?

Also are there any limitations as to what can be imported into hammer? like can subdivision be used etc? or can anything be imported into hammer? (as long as its the right format obviously)

cheers

 

[The Dark Elf]

Originally posted by oMarKs
ive got a couple of other newbie questions:

with XSI experience as far as im aware, you can only save the files as 'scenes' (.exp). Does anyone know whether there will be something with the sdk that will be able to convert these in to a format that can be imported into hammer?

Well firstly Softimage might be packaging a different version of a cut down XSI, one without particles, dynamics, hair/fur, mental ray etc. cause those things aren't needed for working in HL2 and it would just promote piracy to keep them in there (even though pirate users of XSI are living on borrowed time cause they can't do anything publicly thats any good without being noticed and asked to prove their above board, which is cool . In the meantime though the XSI scene format includes everything, and since you can't currently do any modding legally or properly for HL2, your best off saving in that format then atleast you'll keep everything you've done in its native format and not lose anything in saves for later

Originally posted by oMarKs
Also are there any limitations as to what can be imported into hammer? like can subdivision be used etc? or can anything be imported into hammer? (as long as its the right format obviously)

cheers

I imagine Valve will release with HL2 a small program to convert XSI files to the HL2 mdl format and then create other files that might be needed. props will probably be imported in a similar way as usual models but with different options.

As for subdivision, NURBS and other fancy features, no its unlikely they'll be possible to import into HL2 without converting to regular three point polys first. Though if you keep the master objects separate and with construction history, it may make life easier if it turns out you need to create LOD versions manually.

I wonder if the mods here would be interested in me doing some tutorials in XSI, used to do loads then stopped for some reason heh

 

[oMarKs]

thanks for the help

 

[The Dark Elf]

your welcome

 

[Jaenos]

I doubt there will be any conversion tool of a XSI scene file to HL; you'll have to export it as a xsi model or a direct xsi plugin that will export it(File>Export>whatever) that comes with Hl2.

 

[The Dark Elf]

It depends on the complexity of the format. the XSI scene files can contain all the information needed, other formats have varied success at retaining information, even their own dotxsi format doesn't keep everything intact. Course the new mdl format could be very similar to XSI if its as intergrated as they've claimed. So xsiaddons and visual basic scripts would be a possibility without requiring anything too different. I imagine preset rigs and helpers will probably end up being included too. There should be plenty of custom stuff Valve used that they can include. Maybe customised UI's setup for working on models with all the required tools easily available, it'll be handy for those with little to no experience of XSI I would think then.

 

[operative x]

Which XSI is the best for mod makeing? Theres 6 danm different versions! And can my comp handle xsi? p4 3GHz, radeon 9700 pro, 512DDR SDRAM.

 

[The Dark Elf]

Originally posted by operative x
Which XSI is the best for mod makeing? Theres 6 danm different versions! And can my comp handle xsi? p4 3GHz, radeon 9700 pro, 512DDR SDRAM.

For mod making you'd only need the basics, the full package with all the bells and whistles about 90% of that isn't much use for HL2 models and props. Really you just need the modeling features and realtime shader support. No need for Mental Ray (unless your creating textures and normal maps via XSI), Hair Dynamics, Rigid/Soft body dynamics, particles, and other stuff in that area. The Essentials version could probably cover everything you need for HL2 model work I think.. It's cheaper too. You wont need Behavior or the SDK or batch stuff and the other gubbins, not for modding. Softimage|3D 4 is also an option as its likely even cheaper, but its old and apart from a few places and a small number of people, its not regularly used these days as XSI is fast replacing it, and XSI is easier to use and does more than 3D. Just some prefer the other version.

your specs should be ok, but again about a gig memory to be sure, and even then you need to remember this was an app made for use by the likes of ILM. Even I don't use it _just_ on a single machine, I've access to my old companies renderfarm, which is how I get away with using it, setup with a network all the remote machines can act as one for rendering with MR via XSI (not applicable really unless your doing textures from 3D objects, you don't need all that for realtime shaders) I couldn't have afforded the full thing alone, the licences are too much for an individual, if it hadn't been for the company I'd have been still using Lightwave

You'll probably have to wait and see what Softimage have planned, they may do a gmax type version with just whats required for HL2 modding. Or they may just include the EXP version. Which I reckon is fine so long as you don't plan on rendering properly with it. Though IIRC that version, or the one before has some limitations, limited rendered image size and watermarks (could be a problem for textures) and some important script support is disabled.. course the last experience version I remember using was v2.0, we bought it shortly after that, and I only briefly used the more recent EXP version when I did a review of it. So I reckon it makes sense they'll do a version with everything you need in it.. I can't see them expecting just anyone to buy their full versions, very few people have that kind of money just laying around to spend on applications that might only be used for a few months then never again, and its not like a normal program bought off the shelf, there's a lot more involved with it (though that depends on the licence purchased and who bought it, individuals might get different deals to studios)

ooh I almost forgot, aswell as the student methods of getting it (which aren't perfect, not all students are eligible) and the many other ways of getting it from them, I think Softimage still do like a hire scheme, something like $300 per month or something to that effect, I didn't pay much attention to it at the time, but its always an option for the bigger modding teams who just need the advanced features for a few months but wont need it after that, since its similar to Max with the NFR and then the weird licencing can often trip some up and they'll pay a fortune for it only to find in a year it wont run anymore.

If your in the UK I suggest you give Tyrell a call or email them at [email protected] and see if you can work out some deal with them. Thats who we went with and they were very helpful, we managed to work out a special deal that included 30 licences of Mental Ray, and 10 of Softimage XSI v2. Obviously I can't say exactly what we paid But the deal got us the advanced versions plus some extra's for less than normal because of buying in bulk and method of payment and other fun stuff that I should thank the accountants and legal guys for one day heh

Then sorted the upgrade to v3 but had issues with that as the deal we did didn't cover us for a free upgrade even though we were within the period where some v2 purchases were allowed to upgrade for free. Got messy (if you can call me shooting my mouth off over the phone in a really unprofessional manner messy ) but since we we're also buying Behavior at that point, we managed to work things out. So in general their pretty flexible... to a point

If your serious though about buying the full version of XSI, either Advanced of Essential then their probably your best bet, and if they can't help you they'll put you onto someone who can. You could of course contact Softimage directly, though they can sometimes be a little loose on details, and can be a bit slow responding. When I first ordered the original demo of version 2 it was taking Softimage a while to send it, Tyrell called one afternoon (like they do to see if they can have your money yet heh) I mentioned it hadn't arrived, next morning it turned up special delivery.

I've gone on a bit but yeah Softimage is cool, nice people, friendly and the more important part being the software is very powerful, and Tyrell are good to buy from.

 

[oMarKs]

back to the original topic, ive just installed a new 512 ddr ram stick, but i can still make it crash unfortunately. I tried a reinstall but same thing happens. doh

 

[crabcakes66]

im guessing it doent like your vid-card