Anima is crashing on start, how can I fix it?

The issues that can cause Anima to crash during the starting process can be classified in three main groups:

1. Crashes on a new device: Anima has been recently installed in that device, and no previous version of Anima was ever installed there.
2. Crashes after reinstallation on a device with an older Anima version: Anima has been upgraded or installed in a device where there was an older version installed already.
3. Crashes on a device that worked fine before: Anima has not been changed at all, it was working fine the day before, but it suddenly started crashing on start.

Crashes on a new device

Third party libraries

If it is a new device, the most probable cause of the problem is that some of the 3rd party libraries required for Anima to run are still missing.

Usually, the installer is able to autodetect if the system has those libraries already installed and, if not, automatically perform that step in the installation process (if needed). In some rare cases this automatic check might fail and cause Anima to crash on start. Thankfully, this problem can be easily fixed by forcing this step manually when running the installer, by selecting the following options from the "Advanced" mode:

GPU Drivers

Another possibility that could also cause this issue in new devices is the presence of old or incompatible GPU drivers, especially in the case of Nvidia graphics cards.  If you are using Nvidia GPUs, it is required to use the drivers downloaded from the official Nvida website, because the ones provided by Microsoft Update do not include the required CUDA libraries.

If that does not solve the problem or now is not a good time to update your GPU drivers, you can try to switch the "Video decoding device" parameter to CPU in the Anima preferences:

The Preferences dialog can be found in the following menu:

• Anima Menu > Edit > Preferences
  
  

Of course, if Anima is crashing on start you won't be able to get there. You can easily work around that problem and get to the Preferences dialog by starting Anima in Safe Mode, using the shortcut you will find in:

• Windows Start > Chaos Anima 6 > Chaos Anima - Safe Mode
  

Using the CPU for video decoding will decrease the performance when playing multiple 4D models in the Anima Designer application, but it will not have any effect on the render times on the Anima plugins.

If none of these solutions fix the crash on start problem, please try the ones explained in the next section.

Crashes after reinstallation on a device with an older Anima version

If this happens in a device that worked fine before upgrading an older version of Anima, the problem could be caused by some kind of corruption in the anima config files.

Please, follow the steps described below to reset the anima config files to their default state:

1. Close Anima and any other DCC apps with Anima plugins installed (3dsMax, Cinema4D, or Unreal Engine).
2. Go to the "Anima" user config folder at the following location: "%localappdata%/Chaos/Anima"
   
3. Rename it to something else (like "anima_bak").
4. Start the standalone Anima Designer app again and check if it works now.

If it doesn't work yet, please try the solutions explained in the next section.

Crashes on a device that worked fine before

If the crashes appear on devices where you have been using Anima without problems before, either if it is after a recent reinstalling or not, the problem could be related to some corrupted file inside the "Anima" config folder, or inside the local library that is set up in your Anima preferences (the "Purchases" folder).

To fix the case of the "Anima" config folder, please apply the process described in the previous section.

To fix the case of the "Purchases" folder, please apply a reset to the local library by following the steps below:

1. Close Anima and any other 3D app with Anima plugins installed (3dsMax, Cinema4D, or Unreal Engine).
2. Find your "Purchases" folder by starting Anima in Safe Mode
   
3. After opening, the following Preferences Dialog should appear
   
4. Find that path using your Windows File Explorer
5. Rename it to something else (i.e. "Purchases_bak")
6. Create a new empty folder with the same name as the original Purchases you had before, in the same path that was visible in the Preferences dialog (step 3).
7. Start Anima again and check if everything is working now.

This process should force Anima to rebuild the local cache of the library that is stored in the Purchases folder and fix the problem. Once you confirm that the problem is fixed, you can choose to either download the models again or move them gradually from the old renamed library to the new one, respecting the subfolders (make sure to move only the *.y files, not the other ones).

If you chose the "move" option, please notice that some of the models existing in the older Purchases might be the culprit for the crashes. Therefore, if you want to keep using those, we would recommend moving them to the new Purchases folder in relatively small batches, trying to start Anima after each copy. That would help you identify which one is causing the problem. If, by any chance, you are able to identify one of those models, we would greatly appreciate it if you can share it with us so we can better understand the problem and create a permanent fix.

Please try the solutions provided and don't hesitate to submit a support request if you have any doubt or need further assistance.