3DSMax submitter UI not loading correctly (incorrect SMTD paths)

In a small number of submitter installations (2 of 100), an error popup is raised on launching the submitter UI in 3DSMax. The UI launches but is non functioning correctly.

My analysis is that the SMTD paths are all referring to the repository root rather than local folders.

The repository root is \mhl.co.uk\dfs\render\deadline.

The Listener output is as follows:

[code]Resolving Network Path: 153ms
SMTD_AutoLoadSuccessful = true
Running submission script “\mhl.co.uk\dfs\render\deadline\submission\3dsmax\Main\RegionManipulator.ms”
Loading RegionManipulator.ms: 49ms
Running submission script “\mhl.co.uk\dfs\render\deadline\submission\3dsmax\Main\TileManipulator.ms”
Loading TileManipulator.ms: 29ms
Running submission script “\mhl.co.uk\dfs\render\deadline\submission\3dsmax\Main\SubmitMaxToDeadline_Functions.ms”
Loading SubmitMaxToDeadline_Functions.ms: 468ms
Running submission script “\mhl.co.uk\dfs\render\deadline\submission\3dsmax\Main\SubmitMaxToDeadline_SanityCheck_Private.ms”
Loading SubmitMaxToDeadline_SanityCheck_Private.ms: 112ms
Running submission script “\mhl.co.uk\dfs\render\deadline\submission\3dsmax\Main\SubmitMaxToDeadline_SanityCheck_General.ms”
Loading SubmitMaxToDeadline_SanityCheck_General.ms: 46ms
Running submission script “\mhl.co.uk\dfs\render\deadline\submission\3dsmax\Main\SubmitMaxToDeadline_SanityCheck.ms”
Loading SubmitMaxToDeadline_SanityCheck.ms: 35ms
Running submission script “\mhl.co.uk\dfs\render\deadline\submission\3dsmax\Main\SubmitMaxToDeadline.ms”
Loading SubmitMaxToDeadline.ms: 34ms
Running submission script “\mhl.co.uk\dfs\render\deadline\submission\3dsmax\Main\SubmitMaxToDeadline_Defaults.ini”
Loading SubmitMaxToDeadline_Defaults.ini: 31ms
Running submission script “\mhl.co.uk\dfs\render\deadline\submission\3dsmax\Main\SubmitMaxToDeadline_StickySettings.ini”
Loading SubmitMaxToDeadline_StickySettings.ini: 39ms
– Error occurred in SMTD_JobScheduling.open(); filename: C:\Users\boris.otkhmezuri\AppData\Local\Autodesk\3dsMaxDesign\2012 - 64bit\enu\scripts\SubmitMaxToDeadline.ms; position: 114280; line: 2795
– Frame:
– theDate: undefined
– theFS: #()
– theIndex: 1
– tempFile: “\mhl.co.uk\dfs\render\deadline\temp_TempDate.txt”
– theFile: undefined

MAXScript Rollout Handler Exception:
– Runtime error: FileStream cannot create: \mhl.co.uk\dfs\render\deadline\temp_TempDate.txt <<
Total SMTD Launcher Time: 75783ms[/code]

The most obvious symptom would appear to be that SMTDPaths.tempDir is pointing to [repository root]/temp (which does not exist), rather than the normal local directory e.g. "C:\Users\stephen.miller\AppData\Local\Thinkbox\Deadline7\temp".

Below is the complete SMTDPaths struct.

(SMTDPathsStruct HomeDir:"\\mhl.co.uk\dfs\render\deadline\" UserHomeDir:"\\mhl.co.uk\dfs\render\deadline\" BinDir:"C:\Program Files\Thinkbox\Deadline7\bin\" LogsDir:"\\mhl.co.uk\dfs\render\deadline\logs\" tempdir:"\\mhl.co.uk\dfs\render\deadline\temp\" settingsDir:"\\mhl.co.uk\dfs\render\deadline\settings\" DeadlineExec:"C:\Program Files\Thinkbox\Deadline7\bin\deadlinecommand.exe" DeadlineBGExec:"C:\Program Files\Thinkbox\Deadline7\bin\deadlinecommandbg.exe" SubmitInfoFile:"\\mhl.co.uk\dfs\render\deadline\temp\max_submit_info.job" JobInfoFile:"\\mhl.co.uk\dfs\render\deadline\temp\max_job_info.job" DraftConfigFile:"\\mhl.co.uk\dfs\render\deadline\temp\draft_tile_config.txt" resultFile:"\\mhl.co.uk\dfs\render\deadline\temp\max_output.txt" BitmapList:"\\mhl.co.uk\dfs\render\deadline\temp\max_sceneBitmaps.txt" RestoreTempMaxFile:"\\mhl.co.uk\dfs\render\deadline\temp\max_backup_file.mx" SubmitOutput:"C:\Users\BORIS~1.OTK\AppData\Local\Temp\submitOutput.txt" SubmitExitCode:"C:\Users\BORIS~1.OTK\AppData\Local\Temp\submitExitCode.txt" iniFile:"C:\Users\boris.otkhmezuri\AppData\Local\Autodesk\3dsMaxDesign\2012 - 64bit\enu\plugcfg\SubmitMaxToDeadline.ini" ImsqVbscriptFile:"\\mhl.co.uk\dfs\render\deadline\temp\copyImsq.py" NetworkRoot:"\\mhl.co.uk\dfs\render\deadline" submitSubFolder:"C:\Users\BORIS~1.OTK\AppData\Local\Temp\")

At some point in the installation these values have been set incorrectly.

Below are the values for two 3DSMax paths, all of which I believe are set consistent with other installations.

getDir #temp "C:\Users\boris.otkhmezuri\AppData\Local\Autodesk\3dsMaxDesign\2012 - 64bit\enu\temp" getDir #userscripts "C:\Users\boris.otkhmezuri\AppData\Local\Autodesk\3dsMaxDesign\2012 - 64bit\enu\scripts"

Please advise what would have caused the temp (and other folders) to be pointed differently.

Hi Stephen,

This feels very familiar. In Windows Explorer, could you browse to the location of the “3dsmax.exe” on these 2 x troublesome machines, right-click properties, details and confirm the “FileVersion” of the “3dsmax.exe” file?

Can you compare it to this list, as ADSK introduced a bug in the base install & PU6 of Max2012 which stopped our UI submitter working.

Aha!

The machine in question (we rebuilt the other one) is an old one and the version is 14.0.0.121 (2012 base).
Most other machines are 14.2.0.375 (2012 SP2).

We will update and report back.

Thank you Mike, installing SP2 fixed the issue immediately.

Great! Thanks for letting us know.

EDIT: actually, one thing that could be done (for fun/might be useful) is to write a slave centric event plugin, which queries and logs the “3dsmax.exe” FileVersion to an “ExtraInfoX” column of your choosing, whenever say, a slave is started up in your system. Thereby allowing sys admin / IT to track visually in the Deadline Monitor the 3dsmax versions across your farm.

Pretty similar to our example here:
github.com/ThinkboxSoftware/Dea … eExtraInfo

Example Slave Event Plugin for logging into ExtraInfoX the exact sp/pu versions of 3dsMax installed on a machine whenever a slave starts up on a machine:
github.com/ThinkboxSoftware/Dea … nInstalled

Thanks Mike.

In fact we implemented last week 3 userinfo columns on the slave startup event which reported back the 3DSMax, V-Ray and Corona versions. Very easy to do and very useful.