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  1. #1
    emmie is offline Registered User Promoted
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    Nov 2010
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    X3 Ray Tracer not working

    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

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    LOCKPORT NY
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    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
    Lew Buttery
    Castle Golden Design - "We make dreams visible"

    Lockport, NY
    716-434-5051
    www.castlegoldendesign.com
    lbuttery at castlegoldendesign.com

    CHIEF X5 (started with v9.5)

  3. #3
    emmie is offline Registered User Promoted
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    Nov 2010
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    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?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
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    LOCKPORT NY
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    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
    Lew Buttery
    Castle Golden Design - "We make dreams visible"

    Lockport, NY
    716-434-5051
    www.castlegoldendesign.com
    lbuttery at castlegoldendesign.com

    CHIEF X5 (started with v9.5)

  5. #5
    emmie is offline Registered User Promoted
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    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

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Bedford, TX
    Posts
    22
    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
    Michael C. LaMacchia
    conchflyer@icloud.com
    Retina MacBook Pro (15", quad core I7)
    X5 via Bootcamp
    Autocad 2007 via Bootcamp
    817-846-3192

  7. #7
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Location
    Houston, Texas
    Posts
    7,619
    I would highly recommend having at 4 Gbs of system RAM for X3. Just a personal opinion and what I tell others.
    Tommy Blair
    Houston, TX.
    (713) 467-0579
    tblair55@sbcglobal.net
    Avid Chief User V8-X5
    Lead Houston User's Group
    HP Dv7t Quad Edition Laptop
    W7 Home Premium, 64-Bit
    2nd Gen. Intel Quad Core i7-2720QM 2.2 GHz (turbo boost to 3.3 GHz)
    1GB Radeon HD 6770M GDDR5
    8GB DDR3 System Memory, 640GB 7200rpm Hard Drive
    (2) 2.0 ports, (2) 3.0 ports
    17.3" Monitor (1600x900)

  8. #8
    Join Date
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    LOCKPORT NY
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    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
    Last edited by lbuttery; 11-28-2010 at 07:29 PM.
    Lew Buttery
    Castle Golden Design - "We make dreams visible"

    Lockport, NY
    716-434-5051
    www.castlegoldendesign.com
    lbuttery at castlegoldendesign.com

    CHIEF X5 (started with v9.5)

  9. #9
    emmie is offline Registered User Promoted
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    Nov 2010
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    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

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    6500 N. Mineral Drive
    Posts
    119
    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
    Susan Jeffery
    Sales and Marketing Assistant
    Chief Architect, Inc.
    http://www.chiefarchitect.com

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jan 2000
    Posts
    4,161
    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.
    Doug Park
    Principal Software Architect
    Chief Architect, Inc.

  12. #12
    emmie is offline Registered User Promoted
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    Nov 2010
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    Just upgraded the RAM, but the raytrace is still not working.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    LOCKPORT NY
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    18,655
    you will probably need to contact tech support

    open 6 AM - 5 PM Pacific

    Lew
    Lew Buttery
    Castle Golden Design - "We make dreams visible"

    Lockport, NY
    716-434-5051
    www.castlegoldendesign.com
    lbuttery at castlegoldendesign.com

    CHIEF X5 (started with v9.5)

 

 

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