Deadline + houdini 20.5, Hython hangs for 15mn before starting

[lfb]

Hello.

I’m dealing with a bit of an unusual situation and could use some advice. I have two machines: one with a licensed version of Redshift (RS) and one without. Both machines have Houdini and Redshift installed, allowing me to open scenes without causing issues. Everything works fine in the GUI.

However, when I try to run simulations or any Houdini-related tasks on the unlicensed machine using Deadline to manage the queue, Houdini starts but then just hangs. There’s no error message, and the CPU usage is zero.

If I disable RS from the package, Houdini throws errors about missing RS nodes since RS isn’t installed, but it doesn’t hang. On the other hand, if I send a scene that’s been cleared of RS nodes, everything works perfectly.

Is it possible that Redshift is causing issues by trying to find a license unnecessarily when using Deadline? Are there any known workarounds for this?

[jarak]

Hello.

Does the redshift log have anything useful – e.g. cannot find a license.

c:\ProgramData\Redshift\Log\Log.latest.0\log.html
or
~/redshift/log/log.latest.0/log.html

[jarak]

I was curious because I remember seeing something similar while testing. I was able to make Houdini crash on the commandline render. As a quick test, I just pointed redshift_LICENSE to something bogus. Houdini 20.5.278 RS 3.6.04

Maxon redshift log reported:(I just remembered that this box above used to have a node-locked license)

17:25:45   3584MB ERROR:        Maxon licensing error: User not logged in Domain: General (2)
17:25:45   3584MB ERROR:        Writing Redshift crash dump to C:\Users\deadline\AppData\Local\Temp\Redshift\20240819-172545-12404-23468.dmp

and on another box there is a dialog box /window popping up asking about “mxapp”, but the logs show:

17:46:00   3971MB ERROR:        Maxon licensing error: Please update your Maxon App to at least version 2024.2 (current version ). (16)
17:46:00   3970MB ERROR:        Writing Redshift crash dump to C:\Users\deadline\AppData\Local\Temp\Redshift\20240819-174600-6896-13024.dmp

Maybe time to contact Maxon for a bug report…

[lfb]

It’s not redshift, and I’m on the old license system alone. But thanks for the suggestions!

[lfb]

I finally found some error messages, but I don’t know how to fix this.
Fyi, it eventually starts, but after hanging for 15mn.

2024-08-31 11:38:46: Python 3.10.13 | packaged by Thinkbox Software | (main, Mar 9 2024, 00:36:53) [GCC 4.8.5 20150623 (Red Hat 4.8.5-44)]
2024-08-31 11:38:46: Time to show main window: 60.000 ms
2024-08-31 13:47:46: Traceback (most recent call last):
2024-08-31 13:47:46: File “C:\thinkbox-conda\conda-bld\deadline_1710521802267\work\DeadlineProject\DeadlineUI\Forms\RepositoryOptionsForms\PerformanceSettingsForm.py”, line 198, in changeSlaveCount
2024-08-31 13:47:46: AttributeError: ‘SlavesInFarmDialog’ object has no attribute ‘workerProgressPercentageLimitUpdateSpinBox’
2024-08-31 13:50:44: Connecting to Worker log: monolith-2070
2024-08-31 13:51:59: Error occurred while updating task cache: Connection Server error: Illegal characters in path. (Parameter ‘path’) (System.ArgumentException)
2024-08-31 13:51:59: at System.IO.Path.GetFullPath(String path)
2024-08-31 13:51:59: at System.IO.Directory.CreateDirectory(String path)
2024-08-31 13:51:59: at Deadline.Configuration.DeadlineConfig.i(String dgj)
2024-08-31 13:51:59: at Deadline.Configuration.DeadlineConfig.CheckConfigFile(Boolean allUsers)
2024-08-31 13:51:59: at Deadline.Configuration.DeadlineConfig.GetIniFileSetting(String key, String defaultValue, Boolean errorOnNoConfig)
2024-08-31 13:51:59: at Deadline.Configuration.DeadlineConfig.GetConnectionType()
2024-08-31 13:51:59: at Deadline.StorageDB.Proxy.Utils.RequestModels.RequestDataFactory.Create(String baseUri, Int32 port, String rootEndpoint, String endPoint, String method, String certificate, Dictionary2 queryString, Dictionary2 headers, Object dataObject, String resource)
2024-08-31 13:51:59: at Deadline.StorageDB.Proxy.ProxyJobStorage.GetTasks(String jobID, Boolean invalidateCache, String[] fields) (FranticX.Database.DatabaseConnectionException)
2024-08-31 13:51:59: at Deadline.StorageDB.Proxy.Utils.ProxyUtils.HandleException(Exception e, NetworkManager manager, String server, Int32 port, String certificatePath)
2024-08-31 13:51:59: at Deadline.StorageDB.Proxy.ProxyJobStorage.GetTasks(String jobID, Boolean invalidateCache, String[] fields)
2024-08-31 13:51:59: at Deadline.StorageDB.Proxy.ProxyJobStorage.GetJobTaskCollection(String jobID, Boolean invalidateCache, String[] fields)
2024-08-31 13:51:59: at Deadline.StorageDB.JobStorage.a(Object ks)
2024-08-31 13:51:59: ---------- Inner Stack Trace (System.ArgumentException) ----------
2024-08-31 13:51:59: at System.IO.Path.GetFullPath(String path)
2024-08-31 13:51:59: at System.IO.Directory.CreateDirectory(String path)
2024-08-31 13:51:59: at Deadline.Configuration.DeadlineConfig.i(String dgj)
2024-08-31 13:51:59: at Deadline.Configuration.DeadlineConfig.CheckConfigFile(Boolean allUsers)
2024-08-31 13:51:59: at Deadline.Configuration.DeadlineConfig.GetIniFileSetting(String key, String defaultValue, Boolean errorOnNoConfig)
2024-08-31 13:51:59: at Deadline.Configuration.DeadlineConfig.GetConnectionType()
2024-08-31 13:51:59: at Deadline.StorageDB.Proxy.Utils.RequestModels.RequestDataFactory.Create(String baseUri, Int32 port, String rootEndpoint, String endPoint, String method, String certificate, Dictionary2 queryString, Dictionary2 headers, Object dataObject, String resource)
2024-08-31 13:51:59: at Deadline.StorageDB.Proxy.ProxyJobStorage.GetTasks(String jobID, Boolean invalidateCache, String[] fields)

[lfb]

I removed all but the one active ROP export nodes, (I had around 20). The hang time reduced from 15mn to 3mn. I disabled path mapping as this is the last info I get on the log before it hangs “Begin path mapping.” That didn’t change a thing, and this message is still displayed as if it had not been disabled.

[lfb]

ugh… finally. This is the fix :

DEADLINE takes long time to start the job, stuck at certain phase for about 10 min

Go to your …\DeadlineRepository10\custom\plugins\Houdini\hrender_dl.py around line 343 and comment out from “gather a list…” to "… pathmap_parms(tempdir, parms) def perform_pathmapping(tempdir): """ Perform pathmapping on all input parameters and other select parameters :param tempdir: the temporary location that a text file will be written to to aid pathmapping. :return: None """ if not tempdir: print("Temporary Directory has not been set. Skipping Pathmappin…

[mois.moshev]

This is the relevant error

Illegal characters in path. (Parameter ‘path’)

I’m guessing because hou.fileReferences() returns also internal references (e.g. op://) there are some that are not valid paths.