Realflow updater for MAX causing render problems

Deadline
1

We started getting the following error about a week ago:

Exception during render: An error occurred in RenderTasks(): RenderFrame: Unexpected command “NOVALUE” received. (Deadline.Plugins.ScriptPlugin+FailRenderException) (Deadline.Plugins.RenderPluginException)
at Deadline.Plugins.ScriptPlugin.RenderTasks(Int32 startFrame, Int32 endFrame, String& outMessage)

What happens is there’s an update plug-in for RealFlow that checks to see if there’s a new version. This shows up a couple seconds after Max loads, and apparently after it starts rendering, and Deadline can’t close it so the render fails. The solution for us was to launch Max normally on the affected nodes, check the “Don’t notify me about this version automatically” box, close the dialog box, close MAX, and restart the slave.

Strangely, the dialog box can’t be closed using the normal red X in the upper right hand corner of the dialog box. The “close” button has to be used.

This is happening for us on Max 2009 64-bit SP1 on XP 64-bit with Deadline v3.0.32934 R.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know in case it happens to someone else.

Cheers!

Here’s the relevant part of the log:

0: INFO: Executing script: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Frantic Films\Deadline\slave\plugins\customize.ms
0: INFO: Applying customizations to max file…
0: INFO: _amp;gt;General Renderer Settings:
0: INFO: +Render Width set to 854
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 false
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: _amp;gt;Render Environment Settings:
0: INFO: +Background Color set to (color 255 255 255)
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: _amp;gt;mental ray detected as current renderer.
0: INFO: +Box Filter Width set to 1.0
0: INFO: +Box Filter Height set to 1.0
0: INFO: +Gauss Filter Width set to 3.0
0: INFO: +Gauss Filter Height set to 3.0
0: INFO: +Triangle Filter Width set to 2.0
0: INFO: +Triangle Filter Height set to 2.0
0: INFO: +Mitchell Filter Width set to 4.0
0: INFO: +Mitchell Filter Height set to 4.0
0: INFO: +Lanczos Filter Width set to 4.0
0: INFO: +Lanczos Filter Height set to 4.0
0: INFO: +Red Spatial Contrast set to 0.0509804
0: INFO: +Green Spatial Contrast set to 0.0509804
0: INFO: +Blue Spatial Contrast set to 0.0509804
0: INFO: +Alpha Spatial Contrast set to 0.05
0: INFO: +Lock Samples set to false
0: INFO: +Task Size set to 48
0: INFO: +Jitter set to true
0: WARNING: Detected popup dialog “RealFlow Plug-in Update Notification”.
0: WARNING: ---- dump of dialog ----
0: WARNING: Button: Close
0: WARNING: Static: Click here to see the list of changes
0: WARNING: Static: Click here to download the new version
0: WARNING: Button: Don’t notify me about this version automatically
0: WARNING: Button:
0: WARNING: Static: A new version of the RealFlow plug-in is available.
0: WARNING: Static: Currently installed version: 4.1.16
0: WARNING: Static: Latest version: 4.1.20
0: WARNING: ---- end dump of dialog ----
0: INFO: --Failed to set Scanline Enable to 0
0: INFO: --Failed to set Scanline Method to true
0: INFO: --Failed to set Autovolume to 0
0: INFO: --Failed to set Rapid Motion Resample to false
0: INFO: +Rapid Shading Samples set to 1
0: INFO: --Failed to set Raytrace Enable to 1.0
0: INFO: --Failed to set Maximum Trace Depth to true
etc.

2

Hi,
Deadline can handle pop-ups like this easily :slight_smile:
Go to your repository and edit the following file:

\deadlinerepository\plugins\3dsmax.py

Go to the bottom of the file and locate the code section that looks like this:

	# Handle a 3dsmax warning dialog
	self.AddPopupHandler( "3D Studio MAX", "OK" )

Add the following 2 lines and save the file:

	# Handle RealFlow Plugin-in Update Notification dialog
	self.AddPopupHandler( ".*RealFlow Plug-in Update Notification.*", "Don't notify me about this version automatically;Close" )

If you’re running Maxwell from Next Limit as well, then you will need to do the same thing for their latest plugin as well :frowning:

Hope this helps,
Mike

3

We’ll permanently add this handle for the next Deadline release. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

By the way, if you’ve already created a handler for Maxwell, please pass it along! It probably looks like the following, but just to be safe. :slight_smile:

self.AddPopupHandler( “.Maxwell Plug-in Update Notification.”, “Don’t notify me about this version automatically;Close” )

4

This error returned because NextLimit released version 4.1.21 of their plugin. So I tried MikeOwen’s fix, and it allows the machines to render, but now I get these two lines repeating over and over in the Slave Job Information window:

0: WARNING: Pressed the “Close” button on popup “RealFlow Plug-in Update Notification”
0: WARNING: Pressed the “Don’t notify me about this version automatically” button on popup “RealFlow Plug-in Update Notification”

The Plug-In notification remains onscreen while it renders. The same thing happens if I remove “Don’t notify me about this version automatically;”, except it’s only the “Pressed the “Close” button” line repeating in the Job Information window if I do that. I’m going through our render nodes and updating the plug-in, so maybe it’ll work better next time, but I wanted to let you know of the anomaly.

Thanks!

5

There is a *.reg key entry which allows you to disable the RealFlow plugin checkbox, which I believe we are doing for our artist workstations.
One of my team found it last week. I’ll see if I can post it tomorrow.
Strange, that the pop-up keeps wanting to be clicked…At least, the rendering executes ok :slight_smile:
Is it possible that the checkbox is not getting ticked correctly by Deadline and hence the constant loop?
M

6

I believe there was a bug in 3.0 where the checkboxes/buttons would get double-clicked instead of being clicked once. That worked fine for buttons, but of course not for checkboxes. :slight_smile:

This has been fixed in 3.1, so if you can upgrade to that version, the popup handler should work properly. If you can’t update at this time, hopefully the registry entry that Mike mentioned will workaround the problem for now.

Cheers,

  • Ryan
7

Hi,
These are the pop-ups you need for Next Limit’s latest auto-updating plugins:

Handle Maxwell Plug-in Update Notification dialog

self.AddPopupHandler( “.Maxwell Plug-in Update Notification.”, “Don’t notify me about this version automatically;Close” )

Handle RealFlow Plug-in Update Notification dialog

self.AddPopupHandler( “.RealFlow Plug-in Update Notification.”, “Close” )

And here’s the registry hack for Max2009 to disable the checkbox on a machine for the currently logged on user only…(you could copy the reg file to the startup folder to automate whichever user is logged on)…
Copy the following code into a notepad file and then save it as “RealFlow_Registry.reg” file. Double-click to execute.
Backup your registry BEFORE you execute this code!!!

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Next Limit Technologies\RealFlow\MaxIntegration\11.0]
“LastIgnoredVersion”=“4.1.20”
“AutoUpdate”=dword:00000000

Mike