I am using maya 2024, mGrear v.4.2.2 on a windows 11 platform.
The problem started suddenly without any new updates being installed to any of these applications.
I have a project that I’ve been working on, it is using three main references to build the scene, and other than that I only have cameras in the scene. Each reference file is able to work on there own, but when i try to open the scene with the references, Maya gets stuck and freezes indefinitely. I was able to open and close the scene before without any issues, but now it is not working.
If i remove mGear i am able to open the file, but i then lose a character that was rigged with mGear.
The scene includes some very basic animation of the cameras and of one of the references- in order to build a basic layout of a scene, but it isn’t anything that should be causing issues.
I have tried to reinstall the program, to reset the prefs, to try working on a stronger computer, to update mGear, and also tried opening it on a macbook pro. Non of these have yielded a different result.
Any and all help would be greatly appreciated 
Hi dahlia,
This is pretty common for Maya. Scenes can just cause problems like this, for no good reason. And reinstalling Maya isn’t really going to change anything.
These are some things I try when I have a scene that crashes when opening.
First, open an empty scene and save it as .ma or .mb, whatever you use. Because once you load some stuff in you might not be able to change the file type. So save your empty scene first. Then:
- Instead of opening the scene, try referencing it. If it loads as a reference, then go to the Reference Editor, and try to File → Import Objects from Reference. Then save a new version.
- Instead of opening the file, try to import it. Sometimes that works for some weird reason. Then save a new version.
If it still crashes when you try those things, then reply back and I’ll see if I can think of any other suggestions. Or maybe someone else has some ideas.
And if either of those things works, but then it freezes again next time you open the fixed scene, then you might have to dig deeper into your reference scenes and look for nodes you can clean up.