Crashes on OSX

VDMX
1

I am trying to move from Modul8 to VDMX. Finally!
However, on OSX High Sierra, the first two times I opened VDMX, it stalled after some very simple interaction. Spinning wheel of death + ‘not responding’ in the Activity Monitor of OSX. So, it doesn’t really crash, it just stalls and become unresponsive. Therefore, I don’t get a crash report. But I have saved a ‘sample’ from the Activity Monitor while VDMX freezes - and included it here

    • crash: When resizing a window
    • crash: Clicking ‘show input’ on the webcam source. It tried again after restarting VDMX and it crashes again…

So, what’s up? Is this normal? If so, it’s of course not possible for me to use VDMX after all. Any ideas what the problem could be?

Br, Donleavy

01 Sample of VDMX5.txt.zip (39.4 KB)

2

b8.7.2.10 is 10.13+. For 10.10, you’ll want to use an older version of VDMX. Possibly: b8.2.3.2?

https://vidvox.net/download/VDMX5_b8.2.3.2.dmg

Let me know if that version works for your older OS.

3

OSX High Sierra is 10.13…

The problem persists. I open VDMX, I resize for instance an Audio Analysis window or a LFO window a couple of times, and then VDMX freezes. It never actually crashes - it just becomes unresponsive.

So, t’s impossible for me to use VDMX at all. What’s wrong???
Any other application on my system works fine. And I work with a lot of other applications!

/Dl

4

Maybe list some more information about your setup. Version of VDMX, System specs? OSX 10.13 is pretty broad at this point

5

VDMX 5 Version b0.8.7.2.10

Macbook Pro mid 2012
OSX 10.13.6 High Sierra
Processor 2,7 GHz Intel Core i7
16 GB RAM
Intel HD Graphics 4000 1536 MB

6

Macbook Pro Mid 2021 running 10.13.6 seems a bit odd. Also, you only have an Intel HD Graphics card?

Do you have automatic graphics switching on? I’m assuming you also have an Nvidia or ATI GFX card in your machine if it is a MBP.

7

Mid 2012, of course I have a support case open with you vua e-mail about this issue, Cornelius.

Br, Dl

8

Understood. Thanks for clarifying.

  • So to confirm, you have a 2012 MBP running 10.13.6 with an NVidia GFX card and an Intel HD?

And is graphics switching turned off, or is your computer automatically chosing which GFX card for you?

  • If Etre Check, what does it say?

Thanks

9

In the system report I can see that there is an Intel HD Graphics 4000 + an NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M.
In the Energy Saver pref. pane, there is a checkmark in ‘Automatic graphics switching’ in both the Battery and Power Adapter tab.

10

First step, turn Automatic Graphics Switching off. Or run something like https://gfx.io/ to see which one your computer is putting into play.

Additionally, the 2012 MBP were prone to failing Nvidia GPUs (one of the many reasons apple separated from Nvidia long ago). I’m not suggesting your Nvidia GPU is failing, but if you turn off Graphics switching and force the Nvidia to be on all the time, then encounter a number of graphics glitches or crashes, then it might hint that your GPU is failing.

Assuming the GFX card is fine. What does EtreCheck say?

Plus, you can also try older versions of VDMX and see if one ends up being more stable than another:
https://vidvox.net/download/VDMX5_b8.7.2.9.dmg
https://vidvox.net/download/VDMX5_b8.2.3.2.dmg
https://vidvox.net/download/VDMX5_b8.7.2.7.dmg
You can find earlier versions with a quick google search.

If you’re GPU is struggling with the GUI graphics you can change the GUI graphics refresh rate in the VDMX > Preferences > Rendering

From there you can also find a number of options that might help if VDMX is crashing.

The computer is 10 years old at this point, so it might take a bit of poking around to find a stable setup (it shouldn’t, but we were unable to recreate the same issue on our end). David is going to look into it further and see if something stands out.

11

Yes, I know that the computer is old, but it’s still a damn fine computer and it has been alive and kicking all these years. All my other applications are working fine!! And I do have quite a variety of applications (3D, graphics, sound, video). So, I really don’t think that it’s my hardware in itself which is the issue….No glitches here in any hardware whatsoever!

/A

12

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202053

and

https://gfx.io/

If auto-switching is on, then you’ll want to know which GFX card is running VDMX.

I had a 2012 MBP with the same specs, the GFX card failed multiple times and applecare gave me a brand new 2015 MBP before it ended. I had graphics switching off the entire time for the reasons aforementioned.

13

Yes, but as I have described: the computer is running perfectly with all other software. There is no problem with my graphics cards at all!!! Please accept this fact that I have stated many times now.

VDMX uses the NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 1024 MB graphics as it should - and so does all my other video applications: Modul8, MadMapper, FinalCut, Motion and so on. And there are no problems here at all.