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Anim scene with referenced rig - stop at 100% loading after reloading the the lastest rig reference

Rigging General
#1

Recently, I came across a problem when I updated my rig and asked the animator to reload it. At first, everything was fine, but the animator couldn’t reopen the file after saving and closing it. Maya freezes at 100% loading and won’t go any further. I asked Claude about it, and it mentioned that reference blocks, reference edits, or PHL could be causing this issue.

I have no idea how to fix it. The only workaround I know is to save the animation data through Studio Library to prevent the issue. But even when I ask animators to do this, the new file they transfer the animation data into sometimes still can’t be opened.

Has anyone experienced this and found a solution?

#2

// Joint template: .
// Initializing RigLogic.
// Initializing RigLogic - Done.
// Warning: file: C:/Users/VFW04/Desktop/Pianist_Rig.ma line 1503869: ‘:defaultArnoldDisplayDriver.message’ is already connected to ‘:defaultArnoldRenderOptions.drivers’.
// Warning: file: C:/Users/VFW04/Desktop/Pianist_Rig.ma line 1526145: Structure ‘Blur3dMetaData’ is already defined. Using the original rather than creating a copy.
// Warning: file: C:/Users/VFW04/Desktop/Pianist_Rig.ma line 1526146: Structure ‘idStructure’ is already defined. Using the original rather than creating a copy.

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This is the last part of script editor history when maya froze.

#3

Hi @jeffchen0725
I dont think this is mGear directly related, but a general Maya question. Maybe something related with reference edits

#4

Hi @Miquel
I wanted to share an update on this issue and ask for your thoughts.

After some investigation, I found that the animation file could be opened successfully after uninstalling mGear. This led me to believe the freeze at 100% loading might be related to mGear version differences between machines.

To address this, I have since taken two steps:

  1. Version management — I now manage the mGear version across all machines to ensure everyone is on the same version.
  2. Optimize Unknown Nodes before publishing — Before publishing any rig update, I clean up unknown nodes to avoid leaving stale plugin references in the file.

That said, I’m still not 100% sure whether version mismatch was the true root cause, or if there’s something else going on. Has anyone else experienced Maya freezing at 100% loading with an mGear rig, even with a consistent version across all machines? And is there anything specific in the mGear loading process that could trigger a hang when encountering unknown or stale nodes?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!