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I have only recently purchased X3, though have been using chief since 10.
The problem is that if I try to ray trace it comes up with an error note, simply saying "Chief Architect Ray Tracer has encountered a problem and needs to close." It does not actually specify the problem as far as I can tell, and then the whole program shuts down.
Any help would be appreciated
Emmie:
are you using Win XP or Vista or Win7 ???
how much cpu ram do you have ???
more info is needed on what you have, what you are doing etc
pics of dbx's may help
you may need to contact tech support
they may be closed on Fri so you may have to wait until Monday ?
Lew
XP
Intel Core2 Duo
2.67GHz, 2.00GB RAM
Sorry, you'll have to excuse me. I'm not use to seeking help. Can I ask what a DBX is?
DBX = dialog box
XP with 2 GB is probably not "strong" enough to run X3
you will probably need to add more ram
or think about getting a new PC
discuss with tech support on Fri, maybe Mon before taking action
Lew
I was thinking that myself, as both the PC's that i have tried it on have the same spec's but 1 operates off Vista. Both have the same problem.
Thanks for your help. I will put it to tech support I think.
Thanks again
I got the same message on two different Dell Laptops - after spending multiple hours on the phone with tech support (Helpfull and kind tech support i might add) we turned firewall, security essentials and various networking components off and on to no avail. I had a AT&T laptop data card installed in both so uninstalled the driver and application to no avail, then remembered that I had a backup image of my hard drive available (I have a HP MediaSmart Home Server) from before I installed the AT&T card. I restored to the earlier date, updated Chief and was finally able to Raytace in X3.
Hope this info might help
MCL
I would highly recommend having at 4 Gbs of system RAM for X3. Just a personal opinion and what I tell others.
Tommy:
I agree 4 GB minimum
CA (and others) have been posting lately that 8 GB would be preferred
until Chief goes 64-bit more than 8 GB probably wouldn't be necessary
all depends on how many other apps are running
or if you are doing heavy duty raytracing (which uses CPU and CPU ram)
Lew
Yer, with what I am running I can even close down everything and still get the same error. Guess its time to upgrade my ram.
Thanks for the help everyone
Chief Architect Recommended Computer Specs:
Windows 7 64 bit
Quad-Core CPU (e.g., Intel i7)
6 GB of Memory
50 GB of available hard disk space
1 GB high performance video card (e.g., NVIDIA or ATI)
http://www.chiefarchitect.com/products/sysreq.html
The information on our website is somewhat stale.
i7 is misleading now. When these specs were first put up there was really only a very few choices for an i7 and they were all good. Today there are fast and slow choices for an i7 so you need to make sure you know what you are buying. Choose a fast i7.
Not all 1 GB video cards are created equal. Some 1 GB cards are slow as slugs so using the memory as the only qualification can lead you to making a poor buying decision. You want a fast video card with 1 GB or more of memory.
Under tips on buying a new computer the information on ray tracing should read that more cores is the most important factor. While memory and cpu speed are important they are secondary to number of cores.
The recommendation of sacrificing CPU speed for memory speed is dated. Today's multi-core CPUs have a much better memory to CPU speed ratio because of the need to get data to the cores quicker. This means that the recommendation of sacrificing CPU speed for faster memory is typically less of a consideration.
On the minimum system side the 2.4GHz recommendation is poor as there are 1.6 GHz systems that are much faster than 2.4GHz systems. This would probably better read 2.4GHz P4 or a dual core or better system.
I have a request in to update this information, but it hasn't been done yet. I will check on the progress of the request.
Just upgraded the RAM, but the raytrace is still not working.
you will probably need to contact tech support
open 6 AM - 5 PM Pacific
Lew