Cura 5.6 and 5.7 refuse to slice basic cube.

[zBeeble 2]

So... I run Cura 5.4 just fine.  I have a custom printer that I built myself.  Roughly following the pursa mendel format and running with Duet2wifi electronics.  When I upgraded to 5.6 and now again when I try 5.7, I get this (this is the calibration cube from the Extensions -> Parts for Calibration menu ... but it happens equally with a part that I made.  I used the calibration cube so that nobody needed to ask or examine my own part ... for whatever problems it might have.

 

 

... so note that it's not indicating any config item.  I strongly suspect that the duet printer plugin has something to do with this error ... but I don't know where to start debugging.

 

Another thing ... even under 5.4, after printing at least once, the interface zooms in some random amount and will no longer zoom out past that amount.  I don't know what sets the level of zoom, but it means that I re-run 5.4 a lot to  be able to look at the part.

 

[GregValiant 1,273]

That the generic "I'm not gonna slice this and I ain't tell you why" warning.

Do you have the Printer Settings plugin loaded?  Are any of the Cura setting boxes "red"?  I ask because some of the settings like "Max Speed Z" in the Printer Settings might be lower than a setting you have in Cura.  Something like that will cause a "won't slice" condition.

What computer system are you running Cura on?

If you post the Cura.log file (use "Help | Show Configuration Folder" to find it) it might point to something.

A Project file with the calibration cube might be helpful as well.

[Slashee_the_Cow 295]

Often it helps if you just change a setting then change it back, or move it a little on the build plate.

[zBeeble 2]

I have the DuetRRF printer module loaded.  I'm running on win10.  I've attached the cura.log.  Moving the print sometimes fixed it with 5.6, but does not fix this one on 5.7.

 

Actually... this cube (made in openscad with "cube(20);" as input, slices infinitely.  If I pause it and then unpause it, it finishes with the error.

 

The settings are the same as 5.4 and none of them are red.

cura.log CalibrationCube.stl CFFFP_CalibrationCube.3mf

[GregValiant 1,273]

I see a plugin in the log "PauseBackendPlugin" which I guess your "...pause it and un-pause it..." comment is referring to.  It appears to be associated with an error in the log.

 

Try disabling that plugin and see if things improve.

[ahoeben 1,953]

Oh, sure, go ahead, blame the innocent plugin 😉

 

I don't see how that plugin could cause CuraEngine to fail... It mostly just toggles the Cura preference to auto-slice. Pausing and unpausing effectively results in restarting the slice, which CuraEngine should be able to do just fine.

Edited April 22 by ahoeben

[GregValiant 1,273]

Ya know, I was trying to sneak that by.

There may be some issues with the "Tiled Infill" plugin (at least on certain systems).  Since they are both in the back end I thought I'd mention it.

[zBeeble 2]

So which plugin do you think is the issue?  Tiled infill?  It's not clear from what you're saying.

[zBeeble 2]

I don't see "tiled infill" as enabled.

[zBeeble 2]

I think I get your question about 'pause' ... when it fails, I click pause ... so it changes to 'play' ... when I then click to try slicing again ... which also fails.  Here's a new log with the printer plugin disabled.

 

To be clear, I think the printer plugin is responsible for the zoom problem, but this unable to slice problem continues after I disabled the printer plugin.  The log I've dragged in here is just loading it, command it to slice a cube and the printer is disabled before loading cura.

cura.log

[GregValiant 1,273]

"Tiled Infill" is in the Marketplace and I think you need to go there to disable it.

 

Right near the end of that log file is:

"Unable to slice with the current settings. The following settings have errors: "

But it doesn't mention the settings that have errors.  There are a couple of other errors mentioned but I'm not well versed enough in the logs to decipher them.

 

 

Maybe if @ahoeben has a minute he can take a look.  

 

[zBeeble 2]

Yeah.  I got that.  5.4 slices with these settings.  None of them AFAIK are outliers.  Is there a way I can upload my settings or turn on more debugging?

[GregValiant 1,273]

There is another plugin in the MarketPlace "Extensive Support Logging" which will add more information to the log file.

 

You can try setting up your slice in 5.4 and then creating a "Project File".  Open the project in 5.7 and it will carry over the settings from 5.4.  You can also export your custom setting profile from 5.4 and import it into 5.7.  Going from 5.6 to 5.7 those sorts of things carry over automatically but I don't know how many versions back Cura will go.

 

One error I know occurs is when the "Max Speed Z" is set to maybe 10mm/sec but the "Z-hop Speed" is set to 20mm/sec.  I know that will cause a "won't slice" and there are probably others.  Beyond that - just going down through all the settings and looking for ones that are red may net you something.

[zBeeble 2]

I added the log plugin.  Then I saved a project in 5.4.  Loading that project in 5.7 works.  Then CTRL-N and loading the 10cube works.  But restarting cura and loading 10cube then fails.  It just goes on slicing infinitely.  I've attached the log.

cura.log

[GregValiant 1,273]

I'm not familiar with the errors I see in the log.  Someone better versed in them will have to take a look.

 

One additional thing you can try.  You haven't mentioned what OS your computer is running but t's been determined that on some Windows systems - right-clicking on the Cura desktop icon and selecting "Run as Administrator" can fix some "won't slice" crashes.  (That bug has been worked on and should be fixed in the next release.)

 

 

[Slashee_the_Cow 295]

1 hour ago, GregValiant said:

I'm not familiar with the errors I see in the log.  Someone better versed in them will have to take a look.

The only things I can see that stands out at all are these:

2024-05-05 19:05:03,012 - WARNING - [MainThread] UM.Qt.QtApplication.__onQmlWarning [448]: file:///C:/Program Files/UltiMaker Cura 5.7.0/share/cura/resources/qml/PrintSetupSelector/Recommended/RecommendedSupportSelector.qml:95:17: Unable to assign [undefined] to int

2024-05-05 19:06:33,428 - WARNING - [MainThread] UM.Qt.QtApplication.__onQmlWarning [448]: file:///C:/Program Files/UltiMaker Cura 5.7.0/share/cura/resources/qml/PrintSetupSelector/ProfileWarningReset.qml:77: TypeError: Cannot read property 'name' of null

Looks like it's trying to load a quality profile but can't find it.

 

The rest of it, warning-wise, is just Qt's usual complaints that shouldn't affect functionality.

 

1 hour ago, GregValiant said:

You haven't mentioned what OS your computer is running

Windows. It only takes about three seconds looking at the log to see filenames in that format 😄 

 

1 hour ago, GregValiant said:

t's been determined that on some Windows systems - right-clicking on the Cura desktop icon and selecting "Run as Administrator" can fix some "won't slice" crashes

Ironically running the AppImage on Linux as root tends to break things rather than fix them.

[zBeeble 2]

So... It's win10 on which it's running.  I changed it to run as administrator --- no change in behavior.  Still tries to slice the 10cube infinitely.

 

If it was running on FreeBSD, I'd already be using it, but Cura is the only software in my build chain that doesn't run there (so windows is still in use).  I'm trying to correct this, but Cura's build chain is somewhat obtuse.

 

Anyways... no change.

 

[zBeeble 2]

OK.  What do I do next to diagnose this.  I don't want to wall myself off from Cura updates.

[Slashee_the_Cow 295]

24 minutes ago, zBeeble said:

OK.  What do I do next to diagnose this.  I don't want to wall myself off from Cura updates.

Well you can approach this from one of two directions (as literally as possible), I prefer the "scorched earth" approach myself.

 

Go to %APPDATA% and rename the entire cura folder so it's forced to generate a completely new config from a blank slate. If you're using a custom printer definition, open Cura, then just quit it and put your definition in the %APPDATA%\cura\5.7  (definitions and variants if necessary, if you have a custom definition then you've already done this) folder it should have created so you can open it again and your printer will be in the list to add.

Anyways, set up your printer. Get a model which won't slice (if you want one from the calibration shapes plugin, then go to  the configuration folder you just moved out of the way and they're in plugins\CalibrationShapes\CalibrationShapes\models\) and see if it'll slice. If it doesn't, then either your custom printer definition is causing it or you have bigger problems.

 

Then it's basically a matter of "close Cura, copy something from previous configuration folder into new one, open Cura, test". If it stops slicing after you copy something, you've found your culprit.

Personally I'd test in this order:

1. cura.cfg (overwrite the new one it made)
2. If your printer setup differs from its definition (you've changed some of its settings in Cura) then the changes will be in a file in the definitions_changes folder, so that
3. All the post-processing scripts (which should have nothing to do with it, but computer programs break in mysterious ways)
4. Any custom/changed materials (just the whole materials folder), although if it's happening with a generic material it's probably not this
5. All your quality settings profiles (they're in the quality_changes folder) and then test with those profiles
6. Plugins. Ideally, one at a time. Yes, I know it can take a bit of time if you have a few (I have plenty). To cheat, you can do it about three at a time, just remember which three in case it breaks it you can uninstall those three and test individually.
   For ones you can find in the Marketplace, download them from there, if something is no longer listed there, copy it from the plugins folder in your old config folder.

Then... that's about everything covered. If it works after that, you probably had a bum configuration file somewhere.

 

And when I say you can approach it from the other direction: that's starting with what you have now and removing things individually until it works. But I prefer to do it from the ground up in case of things like aforementioned bum configuration file somewhere which you wouldn't get around to removing.

[zBeeble 2]

ugh.  So much memory is in the config.  I'm always so frightened to move on --- that I'll never get back to where I am ... or will chase little errors.

 

But the obvious solution is to try this first on my workstation ... and not the workshop laptop.  And I agree, it's a good thing and  the right direction.

 

I just want you to know that it's _very_ scary!

[Slashee_the_Cow 295]

6 hours ago, zBeeble said:

I just want you to know that it's _very_ scary!

This is why you rename the config directory instead of delete it. All your settings are still going to be around and if nothing in there is a problem, sure you have bigger problems, but you can just rename it back and everything will be just like it was. And doing it this way if something in there is a problem, you'll have everything except that.