OctaneRender® 2026.2 for 3ds max® v26.5

[Elvissuperstar007]

It works normally and does not crash until I change the lighting. If I reopen the scene and immediately switch to this lighting setup, the scene renders without any issues. However, as soon as I change the lights and the Environment again in the same scene, 3ds Max crashes without any error message.

This issue does not occur in Octane 2024 — that build is stable. Here is a test video: I didn’t even need to work for 20–30 minutes; something immediately triggers a crash when changing the lighting. And this is not the first scene that behaves this way.

My system is fully capable of running Octane Render. Yes, the CPU is old, but it is still powerful — 10 cores and 20 threads, which is quite solid. Most importantly, it runs cool and remains reliable. The RAM is also working properly: 64 GB of DDR3 at 1866 MHz in quad-channel mode. In quad-channel, it performs faster than DDR4 in dual-channel mode.

Considering the global memory crisis, older system builds will remain relevant for a long time. Of course, this is assuming OTOY does not suddenly start requiring AVX2 instructions, which would be unfortunate, since they only became common in CPUs around 2016.

My operating system is Windows 11 Pro. I have not installed the latest update, as I am concerned about potential issues from Microsoft.

[Elvissuperstar007]

You need to enable the "Autosave Error Log" checkbox so that the user can click it and, the next time the app crashes, they can open a text document and see where Octane crashed.
I recorded the octane log on video, but in the video when 3dsmax crashes, it is empty.

[Elvissuperstar007]

I accidentally clicked on the viewport and three functions popped up, and if you click them you can no longer close them. I had to restart 3D Max.

[paride4331]

It works normally and does not crash until I change the lighting. If I reopen the scene and immediately switch to this lighting setup, the scene renders without any issues. However, as soon as I change the lights and the Environment again in the same scene, 3ds Max crashes without any error message.

This issue does not occur in Octane 2024 — that build is stable. Here is a test video: I didn’t even need to work for 20–30 minutes; something immediately triggers a crash when changing the lighting. And this is not the first scene that behaves this way.

My system is fully capable of running Octane Render. Yes, the CPU is old, but it is still powerful — 10 cores and 20 threads, which is quite solid. Most importantly, it runs cool and remains reliable. The RAM is also working properly: 64 GB of DDR3 at 1866 MHz in quad-channel mode. In quad-channel, it performs faster than DDR4 in dual-channel mode.

Considering the global memory crisis, older system builds will remain relevant for a long time. Of course, this is assuming OTOY does not suddenly start requiring AVX2 instructions, which would be unfortunate, since they only became common in CPUs around 2016.

My operating system is Windows 11 Pro. I have not installed the latest update, as I am concerned about potential issues from Microsoft.

Hi Elvis,
Just for clarification, could you please confirm which version of 3ds Max you are using and which version of OctaneRender you have installed?
Regards
Paride

[paride4331]

It works normally and does not crash until I change the lighting. If I reopen the scene and immediately switch to this lighting setup, the scene renders without any issues. However, as soon as I change the lights and the Environment again in the same scene, 3ds Max crashes without any error message.

This issue does not occur in Octane 2024 — that build is stable. Here is a test video: I didn’t even need to work for 20–30 minutes; something immediately triggers a crash when changing the lighting. And this is not the first scene that behaves this way.

My system is fully capable of running Octane Render. Yes, the CPU is old, but it is still powerful — 10 cores and 20 threads, which is quite solid. Most importantly, it runs cool and remains reliable. The RAM is also working properly: 64 GB of DDR3 at 1866 MHz in quad-channel mode. In quad-channel, it performs faster than DDR4 in dual-channel mode.

Considering the global memory crisis, older system builds will remain relevant for a long time. Of course, this is assuming OTOY does not suddenly start requiring AVX2 instructions, which would be unfortunate, since they only became common in CPUs around 2016.

My operating system is Windows 11 Pro. I have not installed the latest update, as I am concerned about potential issues from Microsoft.

Hi Elvis,
I would be more inclined to think this is a motherboard or CPU issue rather than a problem related to AVX2 instructions, which Octane does not list as a requirement: the MSI X79A-GD45 (8D) motherboard and Intel Xeon E5-2690 v2 CPU aren't officially compatible with Windows 11. The processor isn't on Microsoft's supported list, which starts with much newer generations like 8th Gen Core or equivalent Xeons. The board also lacks TPM 2.0 support, as it's limited to older TPM versions.
Regards
Paride

[Elvissuperstar007]

OctaneRender® 2026.2 для 3ds max® v26.5
3ds max 2025.3.2

I’m aware of that — Windows 11 runs perfectly fine even on a Socket 775 platform. All the installation restrictions can be easily bypassed when installing the official image.
Regarding AVX2, I only mentioned it because V-Ray 7 has started using it. Octane obviously doesn’t really need it since it runs on CUDA cores and the GPU, while V-Ray relies on the CPU.
I just brought that up as a side note.
The Octane crashes started with the 2026 release — and it’s happening to everyone. The version itself is stable, but this particular bug is what’s crashing 3ds Max.

[Elvissuperstar007]

There's such a memory crisis right now that even those who wanted to upgrade to AVX2 processors can't afford it; RAM costs as much as a Boeing wing, so people have started building computers with DDR3 and a more or less decent graphics card.

[paride4331]

I just checked and couldn’t find it, but it was in Octane! I remember there was a procedural brushed metal with circular patterns. I clearly remember testing Octane procedurals about 7 years ago, and it was there.

Hi Elvis,

[coilbook]

Please add AI powered hot pixel removal tool. Currently hot pixel removal tool does its job but blurs out the final image. Image doesn't look as sharp as far as tiny details. Thanks

[coilbook]

Hi coilbook,
It should be something like this, more or less, and then it can be adjusted as needed.
Regards
Paride

00.jpg
01ge.zip

Thank you!

Anyway to get better vram usage. Parallels samples from 16 to 32 use like 2 gb of vram, AI light uses like 3-4 gb of vram. That's a lot of wasted vram. So half of 12 GB of precious vram gets used by octane for technical purposes only.

Hi coilbook,
Could you provide some information about the type and number of light sources in the scene?
Regards
Paride

Hi Paride,
AO kernel, octane sun and three octane lights with some mesh lights that have diffuse light disabled. Not much but vram usage is huge when AI light is on