Bug Report 3D MAX "Error reading mini-FAT or directory stream"

[abdel@transloadit.com]

Hello,
We have been experiencing a problem with 3D MAX files on our linux machines using version 10.20, Getting an output of "Error reading mini-FAT or directory stream" when trying to read meta-data.

Files are attached.

[Phil Harvey]

Interesting.  ExifTool doesn't support .max files but it seems that they are using the painful and obsolete Windows Compound Binary File format (like FlashPix), so they are identified as FlashPix files.  However my guess is that they aren't obeying the specification, and if so I'm not surprised at the error.  I'll take a closer look if I get a chance.

- Phil

[abdel@transloadit.com]

Hey Phil,

Have you had the chance to look at the files and see why it's not working? Our customer is reporting that it worked perfectly in previous versions of ExifTool.

[Phil Harvey]

Interesting.  I haven't changed the FlashPix decoding in ages.  What version number did it work for?

- Phil

[abdel@transloadit.com]

We upgraded our ExifTool version from 8.79 to 10.20. And that broke it for this customer who was able to use correctly to read .max files with the previous version.

[Phil Harvey]

OK, thanks.  I'll take a look.

- Phil

[Phil Harvey]

I ran ExifTool 8.79 on the files you posted, and other than some additional System information extracted by 10.33 the results were identical, including the "Error reading mini-FAT or directory stream" error.  So it isn't something that changed in ExifTool.

Code Select Expand

> Image-ExifTool-8.79/exiftool ~/Desktop/ -ext max -G1
======== /Users/phil/Desktop/Lesson1.max
[ExifTool]      ExifTool Version Number         : 8.79
[ExifTool]      Error                           : Error reading mini-FAT or directory stream
[System]        File Name                       : Lesson1.max
[System]        Directory                       : /Users/phil/Desktop
[System]        File Size                       : 200 kB
[System]        File Modification Date/Time     : 2016:11:05 15:58:50-04:00
[System]        File Permissions                : rw-r--r--
[File]          File Type                       : FPX
[File]          MIME Type                       : image/vnd.fpx
[Composite]     Base Name                       : Lesson1
[Composite]     File Extension                  : max
[Composite]     File Type Description           : FlashPix
======== /Users/phil/Desktop/Light Settings Basics.max
[ExifTool]      ExifTool Version Number         : 8.79
[ExifTool]      Error                           : Error reading mini-FAT or directory stream
[System]        File Name                       : Light Settings Basics.max
[System]        Directory                       : /Users/phil/Desktop
[System]        File Size                       : 708 kB
[System]        File Modification Date/Time     : 2016:11:05 15:59:30-04:00
[System]        File Permissions                : rw-r--r--
[File]          File Type                       : FPX
[File]          MIME Type                       : image/vnd.fpx
[Composite]     Base Name                       : Light Settings Basics
[Composite]     File Extension                  : max
[Composite]     File Type Description           : FlashPix
    1 directories scanned
    2 image files read

I still plan to take a look to see why ExifTool doesn't like this file, but it may take a while before I get the chance.

- Phil

[Phil Harvey]

Good news.  I have looked into this in some detail and have been able to figure out the problem.

ExifTool 10.36 will support reading MAX files.  (Note that no earlier versions of ExifTool would have been able to read these files.)

Thanks for reporting this.  Sorry I wasn't able to get to this before the 10.35 release today.

- Phil