I submited the form detailing the issue. Wanted to post this here to bring more attention to it as well as see if others had the same issue or if they had a solution.

I upgraded today to the 13.1 Catalyst driver (I have an HD 7870, on Windows 7 64bit), and 3D Studio Max now crashes.

I rolled back the driver to 12.10 and things are back to normal (no problems 3D Studio Max 8 starts fine). I've never had problems before.

I cannot use more recent versions of 3D Studio Max since most of my tools are only for Max 8 or are no longer supported.

Using the OpenGL or Software modes in Max 8 still did not work (it would crash anyways).

For now I rolled back to 12.10 so I can continue working.

Update: I updated to 12.11 Beta and that driver worked perfectly (3Ds Max works perfectly including all D3D Viewport shader renderers. For now I'm using 12.11

Here's hoping AMD can fix the new 13.1 since I like to keep my drivers current.

Graphics Card
XFS Black 7870 2GB FX-787A-CDBC

AMD Catalyst Driver Version, and Driver History
13.1 Crashes 3D Studio Max 8, I do not have issues with other applications (Firefall Beta, XCom, etc)

12.11 Beta  No problems with any applications.

12.10 No problems with any applications I use

Operating System
Windows 7 64bit, Home Premium, Service Pack 1

Issue Details
-3D Studio Max 8 after loading will crash as soon as it tries to load the Viewport.

-I have it set to Direct 3D render (DirectX 9). I changed it to the OpenGL Renderer and still crashed. I tried Software Renderer, still crashed. I must be able to use the Direct 3D render for the type of work I do.

Motherboard or System Make & Model

Power Supply

Display Device(s) and Connection(s) Used

Applications and Games
- 3D Studio Max 8 (Service Pack 3)

CPU Details

Motherboard BIOS Version

System Memory Type & Amount

Additional Hardware

Additional Details

Update: I updated to Catalyst 12.11 Beta drivers and 3D Studio Max 8 works perfectly.

I can take advantage of the performance optimizations the 12.11 provides as it is my understanding that those are the same as in 13.1

Sadly something happened in 13.1 that affects 3D Studio Max 8

Tried the new 13.2 Beta drivers and still Max 8 crashes. I also did a clean driver install by using the driver cleanup utility. Still crashes.

I reverted to 12.11.

Anyone have any workarounds?

Sucks if I have to switch to NVidia cards from now on

Max 8 is updated to service pack 3 by autodesk.