"Error has been encountered while trying to load a Tool. Loading has been aborted."

#1

Hi guys, I’m having a big issue and I’m stumped.

I was working on a model in Zbrush for my demo reel, and suddenly I tried opening it and Zbrush tells me:

“Error has been encountered while trying to load a Tool.
Loading has been aborted.”

followed by…

“Error has been encountered while trying to load the file.
Loading has been aborted.”

This has happened to all 20 of my backup .zpr files as well that I have not even opened in months, so I find it hard to believe the files are corrupt from saving incorrectly or anything like that. Other models are all opening up correctly without any issues.

The only other problem I am having right now, is after I tried reinstalling, my .zpr files will no longer recognize that they are supposed to be opened with Zbrush, even though if I open them from within Zbrush, they open fine. I tried fixing my registry and shortcuts for this, but nothing is working. I only mention this because I am not sure if it is related as a directory issue.

I am running Windows 7 Professional if it matters.

If anyone has any idea how to fix this, please let me know. I have a lot of time invested in this model and I really cannot afford to start over on it at this time.

Thank you in advance!

#2

It happened to me today, i got the same errors while opening ZPR file
“Error has been encountered while trying to load a Tool”
and
“Error has been encountered while trying to load the file”
Yesterday

Zbrush 4R6, Windows 7

I don’t know what to do ? Did you solve the problem ?

Please help !

#3

I wasn’t able to fix it, but after doing some more research I have a theory on why mine could have gotten messed up.

All of my files that are not working were originally started on my mac version of ZBrush, and I had read that there is a possibility that this could cause problems from switching from a mac to a windows os with the file’s executable coding (or something along those lines).

Does this relate to you at all? I’m still trying to figure this out.

#4

Hello,

I am an official ZBrush Certified artist and may be able to assist you here. We have seen this before and you are correct in that mac files when opened with a windows install can indeed pose issues. Also, some OLD versions of ZB going to more newer versions, like 3.x to 4.x may have issues as well if they have not been kept up to date.

Best thing to do with old files is open them in ZB when a major revision comes out like using the example above of 3.x to 4.x and re-save them. As to a solution, you may be able to “export” them out of ZB and “import” them into the version that does not work. Also, give “obj” a try and see if that works.

At this point, you may have some really weird file associations or other issues. I would advise later starting totally over with a “fresh install” of ZB. You can find details on their web site for instructions.

You need to post more details or screen shots of the issue, how you are importing or loading them, version of files, etc. and I will try to see if I can come up with something more.

Good luck

#5

Hi Jeff!

Thank you for the response! I did in fact have some very odd file associations, it was trying to tell me to open my .zpr files with adobe acrobat. I managed to fix that, but no matter what I do, I can’t get the files to open.

I started on ZBrush 4 on my Mac, then had the same version on my PC. When this problem occurred, I tried putting them back into my Mac, eventually I tried updating ZBrush to 4r6, and I even tried a terminal command chmod -x to get rid of the OS association with the file, but nothing seemed to work.

I can’t open anything to try to export it. With one of the models, I happened to have an exported .obj for Maya, and when I imported that, all of my old subdivisions, texture maps, and project info came back with it! Unfortunately, that was the only model I had an .obj for.

If you need snapshots, let me know, but I believe about the only thing relevant I can give you is pictures of the error telling me I can’t load the file.

If you have any other ideas I can try to fix these, let me know! Otherwise, from now on I will try to avoid switching my models between Mac and PC!

Thank you!

#6

what file sizes are these .zpr ?
if there very large try preferences and max count up and press compact now,
do this before you load it.
if you can load it then DELETE the tools you dont use under tool
because .zpr files save every tool under the tool pallet then re save as a .zpr
if your trying to open them in lightbox and still not working
then try the FILE menu on top>open.

if that dont work i guess save them as a obj from your mac and reload them on your pc and re save
but you will lose a lot of things that a .zpr file saves.

you could upload and post a smaller .zpr files here

#7

I just got this error this evening and here is (LUCKILY) what I did to resolve the issue.

I load my file and get the double error: “Error has been encountered while trying to load a Tool.
Loading has been aborted.”

While it looks like nothing happened ZBrush actually DID load everything that it possibly COULD load, minus that corrupt ZTool(s). Click on your Current Tool icon as if you’re loading a primitive and you will see all of the tools that are loaded. Draw the tool back out and then start SAVING YOUR ASS OFF. :slight_smile:

The crazy thing is that the interface doesn’t change and makes it appear like nothing happened. This is at least what happened for me and I only HOPE that you and anyone else searching for this error also has a successful result.

#8

No problem, I will see if there is anything else I may be able to come up with. In regard to the reply posted by “informerman”, do NOT try this as it may only lead to more issues. I posted a long reply in another thread about a user having trouble getting more than 8-10 million poly counts. Here’s a nutshell:

It’s a common misconception that you need to adjust anything in the preferences>mem settings. This is automatically done for you when it launches and sets up with preferences your machine can handle. If you increase the “maxpolycount” from what the default was, you may drive your system beyond it’s ability and run into issues loading files, memory, etc. Also, the “compact memory” does NOT need to be changed from default nor do you need to select “compact now”. What “compact memory” is asking you is how much to use when NOT working in ZB. In other words, if you go say from ZB into Photoshop to work this is saying to ONLY use this amount when idle. Therefore, if you turn up this setting, you are wasting memory and saying you want to use MORE memory when ZB is not in use.

The bad news is it may just be faster to try and get what you can from the OBJ save and start the project over. I will be talking to them later on this month and will see if it’s just the Mac > PC issues, corrupt files or anything else. Most likely, it’s what I said and is just some issues you had when making the model on a different OS.

Good luck.

#9

if you dont increase your memory then you wont be able to load the files,
increase your memory once then you can set it back to default once your done.
far as i know these files are not corrupted for pc im not sure about a mac, there just to LARGE to load because if your working on more then 1 models then .zpr save EVERY tool in the tool pallet,
so to fix it >compact now and load the .zpr and in TOOL >delete the tools you dont use>tool>subtool>delete then save as a .zpr and the file size wont be to LARGE to load

#10

Thank you for all of the responses everyone!

WilliamDettrey: I checked and actually one of the subtools HAD loaded, but it was one tiny piece of many, haha. This was actually the one subtool I had probably made on my PC, so I think this further concludes the problem of transferring from Mac to PC.

Informerman: I have a custom built computer that has no problem opening huge files, this one was not my biggest file and I could still open the bigger ones. I did try your solution though just for the hell of it, and it made no difference.

Jeff: I think you’re right, at this point, it would just be better to restart the project. Luckily, this one is the least important of my finished models. If you could bring this problem up to them, that would be great! If anything I would just like to see if this problem can be addressed. It would be great to work on my models while on the go with my macbook, but until there is a solution to this, I will keep models to their own OS.

Thank you everyone for the input, it was very insightful and if anyone has anymore ideas, I am welcome to try.

#11

post your file that you can not open and tell us what version of zbrush it was saved from

#12

I wanted to get back with you on a few things and also to make sure others are clear. While this is in no way intended to offend, the user that keeps posting, “informerman” has totally false and inaccurate information. Those ZB settings work precisely how I have explained them in my prior posts at length. It should be made clear that is the the reason why it failed to resolve any issues you were having because that information from “informerman” is wrong. A screenshot is posted just to be clear and those menu settings work exactly as I have stated.

Also, I will be happy to bring this up, but one thing that would be HIGHLY advisable is to NOT keep going from Mac to PC working on projects. I would pick one or the other and stay that way even if it means getting rid of your Macbook for a Windows laptop. There’s just too many things that make me uncomfortable and why I don’t combine them myself.

You don’t need to post the files, but if you can post screenshots of your Preferences>Mem, Preferences>Performance and of the files that won’t load in “detail” view in Windows Explorer that would let me know more which may or may not help. At least we can try.

#13

Here is a snapshot of everything you asked for Jeff. Thanks again and let me know if you need anything else.

#14

There’s a couple of things to go over at this point. What’s your system specs (CPU, memory, OS 64 or 32 bit, hard drive type/speed, etc.)?

Some things to consider, you really must have a 64 bit OS, rather Windows 7 or 8.1 for best use. The reason is a 64bit OS will allocate up to 4GB of memory per 32 bit application on Windows. Therefore, a bare minimum of 8GB is required and I would say no less than 12GB given how cheap RAM is now days. Invest in good, name brand memory, like Crucial, Corsair, etc., not the cheap brands.

For the Mac, this is a bit different. Their OS only allocates about 3.2GB of memory on a 32bit app on their 64bit OS. So, that could mean if you design on a Windows OS and go to a Mac OS you may have had more room to load/save, etc. your files slightly. That’s why I mentioned going from Mac to PC working on ZB is NOT something I would advise personally.

Your file sizes are getting quite HUGE in size with some approaching nearly 1GB. One tip that comes from them is to not let it get so large and save more frequently your versions. Personally, I may have 10 or more versions of a single sculpt from different stages. I am not sure how your files got that large, is it because you have left “undo history” on and not saved iterations and purged or is it due to your tool/sub-tool size?

What you can try that I would suggest at this time is turning off the load undo history when opening a file. This will save some memory for sure and just attempt to load the tools and settings of the zpr file. A screenshot is below and I will keep checking.

#15

Some of my specs are:

Windows 7 (64bit)
32gb RAM
GeForce 500 series graphics card
Intel i7 Processor
2tb of memory

Nothing has been able to slow this computer down except maybe rendering very large or detailed scenes. The project that is reaching that high of space is actually one of my very first projects created in ZBrush 4. I did a lot of topology work and did not know you had to erase the separate tools. So it ended up getting quite high just due to multiple tools clogging it up. I had one project afterwords that got to be almost 1.5gb and that’s when I learned to delete your tools. That file still opened fine though at that size.

I also never save my undo history as I’ve noticed it dramatically increases your file size and to me is not worth it.

Even those smaller files came from Mac and won’t open. So more evidence towards that theory I suppose.

#16

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