Hi All,
FUMEFX ( fume fx ) NETWORK SIMULATING
I may be slighly impaired but is anyone able to give a step by step run down of how this is achieved with dealine?
I think many people would benefit
Best Regards
Mark
Hi Mark,
I think only 3 things are needed to accomplish this:
-
Your render nodes need to have Fume FX licensed properly, either with a “full” or “simulation” licenses. This requirement is the same if you were rendering with Backburner:
afterworks.com/FumeFX.asp?ID=11 -
Before you launch the 3dsmax submission script, make sure that the Fume FX NetRender toggle button is “ON” in the Fume FX options in 3dsmax.
-
Before you submit the job, make sure the “Disable Progress Update Timeout” option is enabled under the Render in the 3dsmax submission window.
That should be it. This is all we had to do here to perform network simulations via Deadline in the past.
Cheers,
- Ryan
Hi Ryan,
Cheers for your response, that is how I have been trying to submit my fume sims (minus the “Disable Progress Update Timeout” option)
anyway tried it like you said, still doesn’t seem to be saving out the .fxd files or doing much of anything,
should I be changing any of my render settings or file output in max?
bit lost here…
running full versions of fumefx on all slave nodes
running Deadline Version: 4.0.0.39104
I recall when we set it up for production here a while back (probably over a year ago), we HAD to use simulation licenses, but according to the link I posted earlier, that no longer seems to be the case. Have you tried running a sim through Backburner on one of your nodes to see if that works? Theoretically, if it’s working in Backburner, it should work in Deadline.
Cheers,
- Ryan
I guess maybe I would have to have the backburner server running on all nodes as well! doh…
I had some trouble with this and it was that the simulation licenses were not installed correctly. Talk to Turbosquid. It works like a charm now.
Fred
I’m using full ffx licenses, sims seem to “pop” when done through backburner. basically I just gave up
still can’t get it to work with deadline 
I am curious if anyone knows how to license a fume sim install in max without running max?
The copies of max on our farm are for render only and when they are run it starts the 30day count down, so i dont know how to license the program since Max wont start up without activating it.
thanks
I have a similar issue right now…I just tried to sim fume over deadline, and the sims take pretty long (~10 hours)
now I submit to render just one frame, with backburner mode ON in fume, and the node starts simming on the farm
the problem though is, that the node restarts the simulation after a random time. sometimes after 1hour, sometimes after some minutes…just random.
I first thought this’d be due to some timeout, but the min and max timeouts are set to 0 minutes, and auto timeouts are both turned off, for prerender stuff and the actual rendering.
has anybody else had this issue?
using deadline 4.1 here.
If Deadline is restarting a task, it usually means that an error has occurred. An error would cause the task to be requeued so that it can be attempted again. You can see if a job has errors by looking at the Error column in the job list. You can view the errors by right-clicking on the job and selecting Job Reports -> View Error Reports. If you post a few reports, we can take a look at them and try to figure out what’s going on.
Cheers,
- Ryan
most or the messages were “stalled Slave”
I think we found the issue. the slaves had a different local time and dates set in their windows. that was mismatching the submission times and caused errors. at least thats what IT says here 
Hello there,
We’re submitting FumeFX sims to the farm using Deadline. Everything works well although for some reason our sims stop at frame 100 every time.
I’ve tried the “Disable Progress Update Timeout” option to no effect. Also I’ve noticed if I sim frames 110-150, then my ffx files still start numbered from 0.
It’s all very odd, FumeFX version 2 and Deadline version 4.0.
Please don’t make me go back to backburner !
cheers
ben
Hi Ben,
Do you have auto-timeout enabled for the sim job? Would be good to see the error/progress log to see what is happening. If its timing out, the log will say so.
Can you check the RAM usage during the sim? Is it exceeding the RAM in the slave machine?
The logs should tell us more what is going on at point of failure.
Fume sim jobs disregard the deadline/3dsMax frame range and always start back at frame 0 every time. Backburner would do the same thing.
Mike
Hi Mike,
Thanks for the response … I’m pretty sure out auto-timeout is disabled. And if I sim a series of very quick or very slow Fume sims I still only get 100 frames, which makes me think it’s not down to a time out
Here’s the output for the last sim I tried :
Log Message
0: Task timeout is disabled.
0: Loaded job: FumeFx-test Sim (002_050_007_0f64c4b5)
0: INFO: StartJob: initializing script plugin 3dsmax
0: INFO: About: 3dsmax Plugin for Deadline
0: INFO: Start Job called - starting up 3dsmax plugin
0: INFO: Rendering with 3dsmax version: 2010
0: INFO: Build of 3dsmax to force: 64bit
0: INFO: Rendering with executable: C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 2010\3dsmax.exe
0: INFO: Checking registry for 3dsmax language code
0: INFO: Found language code: 409
0: INFO: Language code string: enu
0: INFO: Fail on existing 3dsmax process: 0
0: INFO: Load 3dsmax timeout: 1000 seconds
0: INFO: Start job timeout: 1000 seconds
0: INFO: Progress update timeout: 8000 seconds
0: INFO: Progress update timout disabled: 0
0: INFO: Slave mode enabled: 1
0: INFO: Silent mode enabled: 0
0: INFO: Local rendering enabled: 1
0: INFO: Strict 3dsmax check enabled: 1
0: INFO: Verifying installation of 3dsmax 2010 at C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 2010
0: INFO: Version of core.dll: 12.1.0.310
0: INFO: Ensuring 3dsmax install is valid
0: INFO: Running 3dsmaxcmd workaround
0: INFO: 3dsmaxcmd.exe returned: P18/10/2010 10:43:48; Error opening scene file: "C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 2010\"
0: INFO: 3dsmax start up file: C:\Documents and Settings\render\Local Settings\Application Data\Prime Focus\Deadline\slave\plugins\deadlineStartupMax2010.max
0: INFO: Using user profiles: 0
0: INFO: Using 3dsmax ini file: C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 2010\3dsmax.ini
0: INFO: Network log file: C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 2010\Network\Max.log
0: INFO: Plugin ini file: C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 2010\plugin.ini
0: INFO: Lightning connection plugin: C:\Documents and Settings\render\Local Settings\Application Data\Prime Focus\Deadline\slave\plugins\lightning64Max2010.dlx
0: INFO: 3dsmax socket connection port: 1541
0: INFO: Creating startup script: C:\Documents and Settings\render\Local Settings\Temp\lightning_startup.ms
0: INFO: Copying C:\Documents and Settings\render\Local Settings\Application Data\Prime Focus\Deadline\slave\plugins\lightning64Max2010.dlx to C:\Documents and Settings\render\Local Settings\Application Data\Prime Focus\Deadline\temp\lightning\lightning.dlx
0: INFO: Copying dl.ini to C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 2010 to workaround a problem with version 2010
0: INFO: If this fails, make sure that the necessary permissions are set on this folder to allow for this copy to take place
0: INFO: Starting monitored managed process 3dsmaxProcess
0: INFO: Any popup windows with titles matching the regular expression ".*Brazil Console.*" will be ignored
0: INFO: Any popup windows with titles matching the regular expression ".*MSP Acceleration.*" will be ignored
0: INFO: Any popup windows with titles matching the regular expression ".*FumeFX:.*" will be ignored
0: INFO: Any popup windows with titles matching the regular expression ".*FumeFX Dynamics:.*" will be ignored
0: INFO: Any popup windows with titles matching the regular expression ".*Maxwell Translation Window.*" will be ignored
0: INFO: Any popup windows with titles matching the regular expression ".*New updates are available - Craft Director Tools.*" will be ignored
0: INFO: Any popup windows with titles matching the regular expression ".*VRay authorization.*" will be handled by pressing "Cancel"
0: INFO: Any popup windows with titles matching the regular expression ".*V-Ray warning.*" will be handled by pressing "OK"
0: INFO: Any popup windows with titles matching the regular expression ".*File Load: Units Mismatch.*" will be handled by pressing "Adopt the File's Unit Scale?;OK"
0: INFO: Any popup windows with titles matching the regular expression ".*Frame Rate Change.*" will be handled by pressing "OK"
0: INFO: Any popup windows with titles matching the regular expression ".*MAXScript Auto-load Script Error.*" will be handled by pressing "OK"
0: INFO: Any popup windows with titles matching the regular expression ".*Render history settings.*" will be handled by pressing "OK;No"
0: INFO: Any popup windows with titles matching the regular expression ".*Warning - the software has encountered a problem.*" will be handled by pressing "Don't show me this error again;Continue"
0: INFO: Any popup windows with titles matching the regular expression ".*Frantic Films FPS Watchdog.*" will be handled by pressing "OK"
0: INFO: Any popup windows with titles matching the regular expression ".*Missing Dlls.*" will be handled by pressing "Cancel"
0: INFO: Any popup windows with titles matching the regular expression "Brazil r/s Rio Warning" will be handled by pressing "OK"
0: INFO: Any popup windows with titles matching the regular expression "3D Studio MAX" will be handled by pressing "OK"
0: INFO: Any popup windows with titles matching the regular expression ".*New updates are available - Craft Director Tools.*" will be handled by pressing "Cancel"
0: INFO: Any popup windows with titles matching the regular expression ".*Pop-up Note.*" will be handled by pressing "OK"
0: INFO: Any popup windows with titles matching the regular expression ".*Tablet Version Mismatch.*" will be handled by pressing "OK"
0: INFO: Any popup windows with titles matching the regular expression ".*Tablet Driver.*" will be handled by pressing "OK"
0: INFO: Any popup windows with titles matching the regular expression ".*Gather error.*" will be handled by pressing "OK"
0: INFO: Any popup windows with titles matching the regular expression ".*Image I/O Error.*" will be handled by pressing "Retry"
0: INFO: Any popup windows with titles matching the regular expression ".*Important nPower Plug-in Messages.*" will be handled by pressing "OK"
0: INFO: Any popup windows with titles matching the regular expression ".*glu3D.*" will be handled by pressing "OK"
0: INFO: Any popup windows with titles matching the regular expression ".*glu3D Warning!.*" will be handled by pressing "OK"
0: INFO: Any popup windows with titles matching the regular expression ".*Bitmap Filter Error.*" will be handled by pressing "OK"
0: INFO: Any popup windows with titles matching the regular expression ".*Maxwell Plug-in Update Notification.*" will be handled by pressing "Don't notify me about this version automatically;Close"
0: INFO: Any popup windows with titles matching the regular expression ".*RealFlow Plug-in Update Notification.*" will be handled by pressing "Don't notify me about this version automatically;Close"
0: INFO: Any popup windows with titles matching the regular expression ".*Learning Movies.*" will be handled by pressing "Show this dialog at startup;Close"
0: INFO: Any popup windows with titles matching the regular expression ".*Obsolete File.*" will be handled by pressing "Don't display this message.;OK"
0: INFO: Any popup windows with titles matching the regular expression ".*Error Loading.*" will be handled by pressing "OK"
0: INFO: Any popup windows with titles matching the regular expression ".*IO Error.*" will be handled by pressing "OK"
0: INFO: Any popup windows with titles matching the regular expression ".*Error.*" will be handled by pressing "OK"
0: INFO: Any popup windows with titles matching the regular expression "Warning" will be handled by pressing "OK"
0: INFO: Stdout Handling Enabled: False
0: INFO: Popup Handling Enabled: True
0: INFO: Using Process Tree: True
0: INFO: Hiding DOS Window: False
0: INFO: Creating New Console: False
0: INFO: Render Executable: "C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 2010\3dsmax.exe"
0: INFO: Render Argument: -p "dl.ini" -q -s "C:\Documents and Settings\render\Local Settings\Application Data\Prime Focus\Deadline\slave\plugins\deadlineStartupMax2010.max"
0: INFO: Startup Directory: "C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 2010"
0: INFO: Process Priority: BelowNormal
0: INFO: Process is now running
0: INFO: Waiting for connection from 3dsmax
0: WARNING: Could not find the "Don't show me this error again" button on popup "Warning - the software has encountered a problem"
0: WARNING: Pressed the "Continue" button on popup "Warning - the software has encountered a problem"
0: STDOUT: ---------------------------
0: STDOUT: Havok - Build (0)
0: STDOUT: Base system initialized.
0: STDOUT: ----------------------------
0: STDOUT: ---------------------------
0: STDOUT: Havok - Build (0)
0: STDOUT: Base system initialized.
0: STDOUT: ----------------------------
0: STDOUT: ---------------------------
0: STDOUT: Havok - Build (0)
0: STDOUT: Base system initialized.
0: STDOUT: ----------------------------
0: STDOUT: ---------------------------
0: STDOUT: Havok - Build (0)
0: STDOUT: Base system initialized.
0: STDOUT: ----------------------------
0: STDOUT: ---------------------------
0: STDOUT: Havok - Build (0)
0: STDOUT: Base system initialized.
0: STDOUT: ----------------------------
0: STDOUT: ---------------------------
0: STDOUT: Havok - Build (0)
0: STDOUT: Base system initialized.
0: STDOUT: ----------------------------
0: STDOUT: ---------------------------
0: STDOUT: Havok - Build (0)
0: STDOUT: Base system initialized.
0: STDOUT: ----------------------------
0: INFO: Connected to 3dsmax plugin version Lightning 4.0.0.39705 Jan 25 2010 14:42:04 R
0: INFO: Scene file to render: C:\Documents and Settings\render\Local Settings\Application Data\Prime Focus\Deadline\slave\jobsData\untitled.max
0: INFO: Camera: no camera specified, rendering active viewport
0: INFO: Restarting 3dsmax after each frame: 1
0: INFO: Showing frame buffer: 1
0: INFO: Overriding render output: C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 2010\renderoutput\
0: INFO: Overriding save file option: False
0: INFO: Frame number base: 0
0: INFO: Remove padding from output filename: 0
0: INFO: Ignore missing external file errors: 1
0: INFO: Ignore missing UVW errors: 1
0: INFO: Ignore missing XREF errors: 1
0: INFO: Ignore missing DLL errors: 1
0: INFO: Disabling Multipass: 0
0: INFO: Loading 3dsmax scene file
0: INFO: [filename]
[format]
[size] 640x480
[aspect] 1
0: INFO: Executing script: C:\Documents and Settings\render\Local Settings\Application Data\Prime Focus\Deadline\slave\plugins\customize.ms
0: INFO: Applying customizations to max file...
0: INFO: >Adding scene path 'C:\Documents and Settings\render\Local Settings\Application Data\Prime Focus\Deadline\slave\jobsData' to session paths
0: INFO: >General Renderer Settings:
0: INFO: +Render Width set to 640
0: INFO: +Render Height set to 480
0: INFO: +Pixel Aspect set to 1.0
0: INFO: +Atmospherics set to true
0: INFO: +Effects set to true
0: INFO: +Displacements set to true
0: INFO: +Area Lights/Shadows As Points set to false
0: INFO: +Force 2-Sided set to false
0: INFO: +Render Hidden Geometry set to false
0: INFO: +Video Color Check set to false
0: INFO: +Super Black set to false
0: INFO: +Render To Fields set to false
0: INFO: +Skip Existing Frames set to false
0: INFO: >Bitmap Pager Settings:
0: INFO: +Not overriding Bitmap Pager setting
0: INFO: >Render Environment Settings:
0: INFO: +Background Color set to (color 0 0 0)
0: INFO: +Use Environment Map set to false
0: INFO: +Ambient Color set to (color 0 0 0)
0: INFO: +Global Light Tint Color set to (color 255 255 255)
0: INFO: +Global Light Level set to 1.0
0: INFO: >V-Ray detected as current renderer.
0: INFO: +Enabled VRay silent mode
0: INFO: +fixedRate_subdivs set to 1
0: INFO: +twoLevel_baseSubdivs set to 1
0: INFO: +twoLevel_fineSubdivs set to 4
0: INFO: +adaptiveSubdivision_minRate set to -1
0: INFO: +adaptiveSubdivision_maxRate set to 2
0: INFO: +adaptiveSubdivision_threshold set to 0.1
0: INFO: +adaptiveSubdivision_rand set to true
0: INFO: +imageSampler_outline set to false
0: INFO: +imageSampler_normal set to false
0: INFO: +imageSamper_normal_threshold set to 0.05
0: INFO: +filter_on set to true
0: INFO: +filter_size set to 1.5
0: INFO: +options_displacement set to true
0: INFO: +options_lights set to true
0: INFO: +options_hiddenLights set to true
0: INFO: +options_shadows set to true
0: INFO: +options_defaultLights set to 2
0: INFO: +options_reflectionRefraction set to true
0: INFO: +options_limitDepth set to false
0: INFO: +options_maxDepth set to 2
0: INFO: +options_maps set to true
0: INFO: +options_filterMaps set to true
0: INFO: +options_transpMaxLevels set to 50
0: INFO: +options_transpCutoff set to 0.001
0: INFO: +options_dontRenderImage set to false
0: INFO: +options_overrideMtl_on set to false
0: INFO: +options_showGIOnly set to false
0: INFO: +options_ray_bias set to 0.0
0: INFO: +options_glossyEffects set to true
0: INFO: +gi_on set to false
0: INFO: +gi_reflectCaustics set to false
0: INFO: +gi_refractCaustics set to true
0: INFO: +gi_saturation set to 1.0
0: INFO: +gi_contrast set to 1.0
0: INFO: +gi_contrast_base set to 0.5
0: INFO: +gi_saveMapsPerFrame set to true
0: INFO: +gi_irradmap_minRate set to -3
0: INFO: +gi_irradmap_maxRate set to 0
0: INFO: +gi_irradmap_subdivs set to 50
0: INFO: +gi_irradmap_interpSamples set to 20
0: INFO: +gi_irradmap_colorThreshold set to 0.3
0: INFO: +gi_irradmap_normalThreshold set to 0.1
0: INFO: +gi_irradmap_distThreshold set to 0.1
0: INFO: +gi_irradmap_blurGI set to 0.0
0: INFO: +gi_irradmap_showCalcPhase set to false
0: INFO: +gi_irradmap_showDirectLight set to false
0: INFO: +gi_irradmap_showSamples set to false
0: INFO: +adv_irradmap_calcInterpSamples set to 10
0: INFO: +adv_irradmap_randomize set to true
0: INFO: +adv_irradmap_checkSampleVisibility set to false
0: INFO: +adv_irradmap_dontDelete set to true
0: INFO: +adv_irradmap_useCurrentPassSamples set to true
0: INFO: +adv_irradmap_autoSave set to false
0: INFO: +adv_irradmap_switchToSavedMap set to false
0: INFO: +photonMap_bounces set to 10
0: INFO: +photonMap_autoDist set to true
0: INFO: +photonMap_searchDist set to 20.0
0: INFO: +photonMap_maxPhotons set to 30
0: INFO: +photonMap_multiplier set to 1.0
0: INFO: +photonMap_maxDensity set to 0.0
0: INFO: +photonMap_convert set to false
0: INFO: +photonMap_interpSamples set to 10
0: INFO: +photonMap_convexHullEstimate set to false
0: INFO: +photonMap_storeDirectLight set to true
0: INFO: +photonMap_retraceCorners set to 0.0
0: INFO: +photonMap_retraceBounces set to 10
0: INFO: +photonMap_dontDelete set to true
0: INFO: +photonMap_autoSave set to false
0: INFO: +photonMap_switchToSavedMap set to false
0: INFO: +lightcache_subdivs set to 1000
0: INFO: +lightcache_sampleSize set to 0.02
0: INFO: +lightcache_filter_type set to 1
0: INFO: +lightcache_filter_size set to 0.04
0: INFO: +lightcache_bounces set to 100
0: INFO: +lightcache_showCalcPhase set to 0
0: INFO: +lightcache_storeDirectLight set to 1
0: INFO: +lightcache_scale set to 0
0: INFO: +lightcache_mode set to 0
0: INFO: +lightcache_interpSamples set to 10
0: INFO: +lightcache_prefilter_on set to false
0: INFO: +lightcache_prefilter_samples set to 10
0: INFO: +lightcache_dontDelete set to true
0: INFO: +lightcache_autoSave set to false
0: INFO: +lightcache_switchToSavedMap set to false
0: INFO: +lightcache_useForGlossyRays set to false
0: INFO: +lightcache_numPasses set to 8
0: INFO: +caustics_on set to false
0: INFO: +caustics_multiplier set to 1.0
0: INFO: +caustics_searchDist set to 5.0
0: INFO: +caustics_maxPhotons set to 60
0: INFO: +caustics_maxDensity set to 0.0
0: INFO: +caustics_dontDelete set to true
0: INFO: +casutics_autoSave set to false
0: INFO: +caustics_switchToSavedMap set to false
0: INFO: +environment_gi_on set to false
0: INFO: +environment_gi_color set to (color 204 229.5 255)
0: INFO: +environment_gi_color_multiplier set to 1.0
0: INFO: +environment_gi_map_on set to true
0: INFO: +environment_rr_on set to false
0: INFO: +environment_rr_color set to (color 0 0 0)
0: INFO: +environment_rr_color_multiplier set to 1.0
0: INFO: +environment_rr_map_on set to true
0: INFO: +colorMapping_type set to 0
0: INFO: +colorMapping_darkMult set to 1.0
0: INFO: +colorMapping_brightMult set to 1.0
0: INFO: +colorMapping_affectBackground set to true
0: INFO: +colorMapping_clampOutput set to false
0: INFO: +camera_type set to 0
0: INFO: +camera_overrideFOV set to false
0: WARNING: Could not find the "Don't show me this error again" button on popup "Warning - the software has encountered a problem"
0: WARNING: Pressed the "Continue" button on popup "Warning - the software has encountered a problem"
This doesn’t look good. Maybe disable the pop-up handler line of code which handles this dialog and then remote into the slave to see what is wrong with it.
# Handle Crash dialog
self.AddPopupHandler( ".*Warning - the software has encountered a problem.*", "Don't show me this error again;Continue" )
Also, the scene doesn’t have a camera, but this shouldn’t matter unless FumeFX is sensitive? Not sure, never tried not using a camera!
Thanks Mike … I’m starting to suspect this is a FumeFX network license sim issue.
The amount of my life I spend fixing DCPFlics network licensing issues is depressing, never mind trying to network deploy all the afterworks plugins across a big studio … it’s such a dumb system … I might give Sitni Sati a bell.
OK.
Make sure DCPFLICS Firewall exceptions are in place on your windows firewall client on your network:
C:\Program Files\DCPFLICS\DCPFLICS.EXE
C:\Program Files (x86)\DCPFLICS\DCPFLICS_tools.exe
C:\Program Files\DCPFLICS\DCPFLICS_tools.exe
TCP Port 4002 (default)
You can force these settings through your network with a GPO.
There is also 2 versions of Fume - (a)full & (b) network sim version.
The full version can network sim as well as net render fumefx jobs.
Check DCPFLICS permissions are set for something generic like “everyone” or “guest” on all machines as well.
Hello,
Just to wrap up this issue it seems to have been due to moving back from FumeFX 2.1 to 2.0, we’ve manually deleted all the 2.1 files and reinstalled 2.0 and it seems to be more stable now. Thanks for all your help guys.
cheers
ben
have there been a lot of issues moving from Fume 2.0 to Fume 2.1 with deadline?
We’re not sure, we were using Fume into Krakatoa and have learnt that Krakatoa doesn’t support Fume 2.1 so we went back to 2.0.
So not had chance to test 2.1 and Deadline.