Hello,
We’re getting this error:
Error in StartJob: There was an error running 3dsmaxcmd.exe. This may be caused by an incorrect or out of date install of 3dsmax. Try updating 3dsmax on this machine and try again.
at Deadline.Plugins.ScriptPlugin.StartJob(Job job, String& outMessage, AbortLevel& abortLevel)
I’m sure the max version from the job matches the version on the slave, and it’s only happening on one slave. Any ideas?
Thanks!
Hi,
Please could you provide a full log report from this one machine. The log will help narrow down the issue with this one machine.
Thanks,
Mike
Hi,
I tracked it down to it not finding the backburner server.exe, I’m checking out on the solution for a similar problem Laszlo has reported.
Log is:
Error in StartJob: There was an error running 3dsmaxcmd.exe. This may be caused by an incorrect or out of date install of 3dsmax. Try updating 3dsmax on this machine and try again.
at Deadline.Plugins.ScriptPlugin.StartJob(Job job, String& outMessage, AbortLevel& abortLevel)
RenderPluginException
at Deadline.Plugins.Plugin.StartJob(Job job)
at Deadline.Slaves.SlaveRenderThread.RenderCurrentTask(TaskLogWriter tlw)
0: Task timeout is disabled.
0: Loaded job: qtr_rnd_000_fx_asteroid-maker_hv_v003 (53299e8e26fc5f3390465149)
0: Skipping drive mapping because they have already been mapped for this job
0: INFO: Executing plugin script C:\Users\svc_deadline\AppData\Local\Thinkbox\Deadline6\slave\SHIP01\plugins\53299e8e26fc5f3390465149\3dsmax.py
0: INFO: About: 3dsmax Plugin for Deadline
0: INFO: The current environment will be used for rendering
0: INFO: Start Job called - starting up 3dsmax plugin
0: INFO: Sys Env Var PATH: C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Autodesk Shared
0: INFO: Sys Env Var PATH length: 146
0: WARNING: Autodesk Backburner server.exe could not be found on this machine, it is required to run Deadline-3dsMax plugin
0: WARNING: Please install or upgrade Backburner on this machine and try again.
0: INFO: Rendering with 3dsmax version: 2014
0: INFO: Not forcing a build of 3dsmax because version 2014 and later is 64 bit only
0: INFO: Rendering with executable: C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 2014\3dsmax.exe
0: INFO: Slave 3dsmax.exe version: 16.3.253.0
0: INFO: Slave 3dsmax.exe description: 3dsMax 2014 + servicepack_sp3/subs_py_stereo_cam_extension
0: INFO: Submitted from 3dsmax.exe version: 16.3.253.0
0: INFO: Submitted from 3dsmax.exe description: 3dsMax 2014 + servicepack_sp3/subs_py_stereo_cam_extension
0: INFO: Checking registry for 3dsmax language code
0: INFO: Language code string: ENU
0: INFO: Language sub directory: en-US
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 timeout disabled: 0
0: INFO: Kill ADSK WSCommCntr*.exe process: False
0: INFO: Slave mode enabled: 1
0: INFO: Silent mode enabled: 0
0: INFO: Local rendering enabled: 1
0: INFO: Running render sanity check using 3dsmaxcmd.exe
0: INFO: 3dsmaxcmd.exe returned: 19.3.2014
Yep, that’s the issue:
Either the latest version of Backburner isn’t installed on this machine and/or the Backburner path is missing from the system’s Environment variable: PATH
You can see in your log it is missing:
Needs adding (done automatically by the Backburner installer):
“C:\Program Files (x86)\Autodesk\Backburner”
Our deadline is 6-1-54665.
I tried the solution here:
viewtopic.php?f=86&t=10786
but it didn’t work.
Strange, because I checked with path in the cmd and it was there, I’ll check again.
That thread is discussing the initial implementation of my deep-dive debug code to assist users in the future work out why 3dsMax isn’t working. I was slightly over-zealous in my first beta implementation and we pulled back slightly in later beta versions and just printed a warning instead of execute a failure 
However, your issue looks to be different and a case of Backburner either not being installed or missing from the sys env variable PATH.
That is very weird - I am looking at it and it is there, the last entry, but the Deadline log says it’s missing.
And we have another identical machine that is running without a problem, the path variable is the same, yet Deadline does report the backburner entry into it, and the length is 190 vs 146 of the one that’s not working.
Can you try restarting the machine? My guess is that Deadline doesn’t recognize the updated PATH because it was already running when the PATH was updated. You could also just restart all the Deadline applications (including the Launcher), but a machine restart guarantees that everything will be “refreshed”.
Cheers,
Ryan
Ok, so i reshufled the entries so the backburner one is first, restarted and now it’s showing up correctly. But still no render - this time I get ‘render plugin exception’ and again the same error about max versions. The scene is a teapot and camera, scanline, renders ok local.
Log:
Error in StartJob: There was an error running 3dsmaxcmd.exe. This may be caused by an incorrect or out of date install of 3dsmax. Try updating 3dsmax on this machine and try again.
at Deadline.Plugins.ScriptPlugin.StartJob(Job job, String& outMessage, AbortLevel& abortLevel)
RenderPluginException
at Deadline.Plugins.Plugin.StartJob(Job job)
at Deadline.Slaves.SlaveRenderThread.RenderCurrentTask(TaskLogWriter tlw)
0: Task timeout is disabled.
0: Loaded job: rnd_000_000_fx_test_hv_v001 (5329c25326fc5f54d48d03dc)
0: Skipping X: because it is already mapped
0: Skipping Z: because it is already mapped
0: INFO: Executing plugin script C:\Users\svc_deadline\AppData\Local\Thinkbox\Deadline6\slave\SHIP01\plugins\5329c25326fc5f54d48d03dc\3dsmax.py
0: INFO: About: 3dsmax Plugin for Deadline
0: INFO: The current environment will be used for rendering
0: INFO: Start Job called - starting up 3dsmax plugin
0: INFO: Sys Env Var PATH: C:\Program Files (x86)\Autodesk\Backburner;C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Autodesk Shared
0: INFO: Sys Env Var PATH length: 190
0: INFO: Backburner Path(s) Found in PATH: ‘C:\Program Files (x86)\Autodesk\Backburner’
0: INFO: Backburner server.exe version: 2014.0.0.1635
0: INFO: Rendering with 3dsmax version: 2014
0: INFO: Not forcing a build of 3dsmax because version 2014 and later is 64 bit only
0: INFO: Rendering with executable: C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 2014\3dsmax.exe
0: INFO: Slave 3dsmax.exe version: 16.3.253.0
0: INFO: Slave 3dsmax.exe description: 3dsMax 2014 + servicepack_sp3/subs_py_stereo_cam_extension
0: INFO: Submitted from 3dsmax.exe version: 16.3.253.0
0: INFO: Submitted from 3dsmax.exe description: 3dsMax 2014 + servicepack_sp3/subs_py_stereo_cam_extension
0: INFO: Checking registry for 3dsmax language code
0: INFO: Language code string: ENU
0: INFO: Language sub directory: en-US
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 timeout disabled: 0
0: INFO: Kill ADSK WSCommCntr*.exe process: False
0: INFO: Slave mode enabled: 1
0: INFO: Silent mode enabled: 0
0: INFO: Local rendering enabled: 1
0: INFO: Running render sanity check using 3dsmaxcmd.exe
0: INFO: 3dsmaxcmd.exe returned: 19.3.2014
Hmm, so it looks like we may need to soften our sanity check. It looks like your 3dsmaxcmd.exe’s last line of output is different that what we’re expecting, and my guess is it’s a regional thing.
For now, you can disable this sanity check from the 3dsmax plugin configuration in the Monitor:
thinkboxsoftware.com/deadlin … figuration
Try that and submit the job again to see if it makes a difference.
Cheers,
Ryan
Ha! Now it works. Yes, there is some autodetect in the region when you install Max. Crazy.
Thanks!
Thanks for confirming! We’ll soften our sanity check in Deadline 6.2 to avoid false positives like this in the future.
Cheers,
Ryan