Moho 12.5 crashes on registration popup

[Scripten]

Hi folks! I recently bought Moho 12 through Humble and went about installing and activating it. However, I can't seem to get the program to open far enough for me to even input my registration to activate. The popup box shows up, and then after about five seconds, it crashes with no error message or anything else to indicate why. I've done the following steps to try to remedy the issue, to no avail so far:

1. Ran in compatibility mode for Win10/8/7 and also in Administrator mode
2. Restarted my computer (multiple times)
3. Reinstalled from scratch, both using the 64-bit and 32-bit executables
4. Deleted the Smithmicro folders from ProgramData and elsewhere
5. Made sure my registry was clean of anything Moho-related
6. Checked my processes to ensure no Moho-related processes were running
7. Made sure that Moho was set to run under my dedicated graphics card and not my intel display adapter

It seems like, no matter what I do, I can't actually run this program. I have updated drivers for my computer, which is a Dell G7 with an RTX 3K series and 32gb of RAM, so I well exceed the minimum program requirements. I do have a Wacom tablet currently plugged in, which I intend to use with Moho, but I can't see any reason why they would be in conflict. Otherwise, it's a fairly standard peripheral setup of keyboard, mouse, headset, all with up-to-date drivers. I've tried tracking down a log file but no clue where that might be or if it exists at all.

Does anyone have any insight on what might be happening and what I could do to help fix this? I'd really hate to file for a return after seeing the features list for Moho, but I don't want to spend additional money for an upgrade without at least learning on the already purchased version. Thanks very much in advance!

[synthsin75]

You'll want to download the latest installer here: https://my.smithmicro.com/

The one you have is likely looking for the verification server, which no longer exists. These final installers work without the verification servers.

[Scripten]

Thanks for the quick reply! Unfortunately, that is the installer I am currently using. The install always completes successfully and, as far as I can tell, all of the program files and data are present. It's upon opening the program for the first time that it just closes with no additional info at all. I don't get a bug report window or an error message.

[alanthebox]

Not sure if this information is helpful, but I believe I've seen others on one of the Moho discord servers mentioning purchasing 12.5 through the Humble Bundle, but not reporting any installation problems. To me, this would suggest it's an issue with your particular machine and not the installer or activation servers.

Sorry, though! Definitely sounds frustrating and it looks like you've tried all of the regularly recommended fixes.

[Greenlaw]

Moho 12.5 is pretty old and Smith Micro (the company that released it) no longer supports it. That said, you can still download the final installer program from their website here:

https://my.smithmicro.com/

Note that you MUST use this version of the installer...other Moho 12.5 installers will not work because Smith Micro's license servers don't exist anymore.

Lost Marble only supports their own Moho versions beginning with Moho 13.5.5. Fortunately, if you're interested in upgrading, Lost Marble will for a limited time recognize existing Moho 12.5 licenses for upgrading at a substantial discount. There's more info here:

https://moho.lostmarble.com/pages/buy

Scroll down to the section Discounted Upgrade.

Hope this helps.

[alanthebox]

One more question - do you have anything like GPU Tweak installed?

[Scripten]

Not sure if this information is helpful, but I believe I've seen others on one of the Moho discord servers mentioning purchasing 12.5 through the Humble Bundle, but not reporting any installation problems. To me, this would suggest it's an issue with your particular machine and not the installer or activation servers.

Sorry, though! Definitely sounds frustrating and it looks like you've tried all of the regularly recommended fixes.

I imagine that's likely the case. I just can't imagine what the issue could even be - I'm using a stock Dell G7 with nothing but more RAM. If I had a way to look at what it was trying to do, I'd at least be able to tell where to look to further troubleshoot.

One more question - do you have anything like GPU Tweak installed?

I have CoreTemp on my system, but it's a portable executable and isn't running. Otherwise, just stock nVidia RTX settings. I have Moho explicitly set to use my GPU.

Lost Marble only supports their own Moho versions beginning with Moho 13.5.5. Fortunately, if you're interested in upgrading, Lost Marble will for a limited time recognize existing Moho 12.5 licenses for upgrading at a substantial discount. There's more info here:

https://moho.lostmarble.com/pages/buy

Scroll down to the section Discounted Upgrade.

Hope this helps.

Thanks! Unfortunately, I'm already using that version of the installer: it finishes installing fine, but upon opening the program for the first time, it just closes with nothing else available - sometimes, I can hit the "Use Pro Demo" and get the splash screen to appear, but it never loads, just crashes immediately. I double checked and it doesn't seem to be getting hit by my antivirus.

Not sure how comfy I am with upgrading when this version doesn't work at all - I'm not really upset at Smithmicro, but it definitely rubs me the wrong way that Humble is selling a product that doesn't have any official support.

Edit: Upon turning off my wifi, I was able to start the program and it ran until I closed it. However, upon retrying it (no changes to anything), the erroneous behavior began again. This suggests to me that the program is failing upon trying to check the server, but I've been using the installer from the linked URL. I made sure to reinstall just in case.

[Greenlaw]

This won't help with your Moho 12.5 issue but if you're interested in Moho 13.5.5, you can download that installer from Lost Marble's website. If the Lost Marble installer has the same problem on your system then at least we know something else is causing the problem.

If it works, you can try Moho 13.5.5 for 30 days and have the option to upgrade at a discount using your 12.5 license.

Is it worth it?

IMO, 12.5 was a solid version...I used to create character animations for many TV shows where I work and never had problems with it.

That said, I love all of the new features in Moho 13.5.5 like the new mesh warping systems and Vitruvian Bones. There are a lot of nice UI and workflow improvements too!

[synthsin75]

Edit: Upon turning off my wifi, I was able to start the program and it ran until I closed it. However, upon retrying it (no changes to anything), the erroneous behavior began again. This suggests to me that the program is failing upon trying to check the server, but I've been using the installer from the linked URL. I made sure to reinstall just in case.

So you were able to enter the license number with your wifi off?

If so, you might try with your anti-virus disabled. Maybe that's checking something online and thinking Moho is a problem.

Just a guess, mind you.

[Greenlaw]

Here's something else to try:

1. Uninstall Moho 12.5.
2. Go into your C:\ProgramData folder. (You may need to enable Show Hidden Folders to see it.)
3. Look for any Moho 12.5 files the uninstaller failed to remove and manually delete them. I can't check here but they're probably in a Smith Micro folder.
4. Reboot the computer.
5. Try running the 12.5 Final Installer again.

The thinking is that maybe the data in that folder is corrupted and preventing Moho from updating the files.

The wifi issue is puzzling because AFAIK the 12.5 Final installer shouldn't be calling home.

[synthsin75]

3. Look for any Moho 12.5 files the uninstaller failed to remove and manually delete them. I can't check here but they're probably in a Smith Micro folder.

C:\ProgramData\Smith Micro\Moho\12

[Belgarath]

Hi Scripten. If you haven't done so already, you can contact technical support by going to

https://lostmarble.com/support/

and clicking on the blue "Open a New Ticket" button.

[Scripten]

Hi all. Thanks again for all of the help so far. Unfortunately, no luck yet after following each of the suggestions in the thread - I've engaged Moho support so hopefully they can help figure out what's going on.