3ds Max won't launch successfully if CPUs aren't compatible with the Arnold Render plugin

Autodesk Support

Oct 8, 2023


Products and versions covered


Issue:

3ds Max won't launch successfully and will close on startup with the message, “An error has occurred and the application will now close. Do you want to attempt to save a copy of the current scene?”

Causes:

Incompatibility between the computer's CPU (central processing unit) instruction set and the Arnold rendering engine. Arnold requires CPUs running with the Intel SSE 4.1 instruction set.
 

Solution:

To determine if a machine's CPU supports the MAXtoA plugin for Arnold, review the information listed in the Arnold and SSE 4.1 CPU Requirements with 3ds Max or Maya article.

To check if your CPU supports SSE4.1, see this article.

If the CPU is unsupported

If a CPU is unsupported, then remove the MAXtoA plugin via the Windows Control Panel:
  1. Navigate to the Windows Control Panel > Programs and Features menu and locate the entries for MAXtoA for 3ds Max 20xx. The Publisher is Solid Angle.
    Remove MaxToA Program 
  2. Select each entry as necessary, then right-click to bring up the “Uninstall" menu. Once the MAXtoA for 3ds Max 20xx components are uninstalled, 3ds Max will start without errors.

Products:

3ds Max; Arnold;


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