Hello out there....
I recently took the plunge into a dual quad core Vista64 computer to run MAX2009 64-bit.
I took delivery just before Hurricane Ike hit and moved the system to a hotel in San Antonio for two weeks waiting for power to come back on.
While in S.A. I worked on an auto accident and everything seemed to work great.

My system vender emailed that there was a recently released driver for my NVidia FX4600 card.
When I got back to Houston, I downloaded the Maxtreme_11.00.00_X64.exe driver and loaded it.

Now in MAX2009, when I window an area (like when I am selecting vertices during a mesh edit) the area inside the select window is grey (the viewport background color).
I cannot see what I am selecting and have to work blind.

When I look at my MAX2009 display driver dialog, it was set to “Custom” and 3dsmaxpd.drv was in the slot.
The other options are “Direct3D (Recommended)”....which behaves the same and “OpenGL” which appears to work properly.
With OpenGL selected, the driver lists as “OpenGL (NVIDIA Coproration version 2.1.1).”

I made the leap to Vista64, MAX2009 and choose an NVidia FX4600 for top performance.
I have no clue as to whether my system is in top form or running in a lame, crippled mode.

I would appreciate knowing what is this system/hardware configuration’s proper and peak settings.
Then, is it working or are there flaws to be reconciled?

Thanks,
Buck Wyckoff
Buckward Digital Services, Inc.

use direct 3D 9 not 10

I appreciate the input.
Being the curious and lust for knowledge type guy I am....
what are the reasons, issues, etc?…
I like to know why, not just what button to push.
Thanks.

direct X 10 can cause max to crash

That’s good to know, but I don’t think my original question has been addressed.

NVidia makes a custom driver for MAX2009 and their board.  I have the windowing problem.
I’m Trying to solve it and know I’m utilizing the graphic board’s full capabilities.  Otherwise that’s money down the drain.
Is doing what you suggest a software solution that does not harness the FX4600?  I just don’t know what is going on and I want to know.  These components were carefully chosen and I want to know that are doing something useful.

Hi buckdog,

your problem is Aero. You have to switch the Desktop Composition off for using Maxtreme without this window problem. Or when you install the latest NVIDIA drivers (178.46) and you keep the AERO on, by every MAX start (using Maxtreme) Vista will turn off the Desktop Composition automatically. This is a “new feature” of the latest drivers - instead of correcting the window problem they force the OS to switch AERO off.

3ds Max Design 2009
HP xw8600
2xIntel Xeon X5482
16GB RAM
Quadro FX 5800
SAS RAID 5

Thanks.
I hope this does the trick.
“Aero” and “Desktop Composition” are new to me so I have to get up to speed on that.

In Vista go to Control Panel, double click on Performance Information and Tools, then on the left side click on Adjust Visual effects and in the list of features turn off Enable desktop composition

I don’t see any other way how to work with Max without problems in Vista. Even when not using Maxtreme I have huge problems with latest Nvidia Quadro drivers in combination with AERO.

3ds Max Design 2009
HP xw8600
2xIntel Xeon X5482
16GB RAM
Quadro FX 5800
SAS RAID 5

Thanks a bunch!  That did the trick.
What is AERO?
Thanks again.

AERO is the technology that got obsolete as soon as it hit the market ... vista graphic user inferace
that gives you the effect but not the performance.

Studio Max 2009 x64
X5000 Chipset | Dual Core Intel 5140 | 4G RAM | Nvidia FX3450 | WindowsXP 64

Thanks.
If anyone can clear it up even more, I’m curious to know the deal.  The info is sketchy at this point.

At any rate I’m glad I moved back to Maxextreme and everything works great.

Thanks ya’ll !!