Slaves not rendering

I have installed Deadline SP1 on all machines but for some reason the slaves don’t seem to render. I recently edited my plugin paths to be hosted on the network so I am hoping I didn’t miss something that would be causing this. Here is the logfile from one of the slaves; notice the bold text… I think this is where it’s erroring out:

Log Message
0: Task timeout is disabled.
0: Loaded job: tester (000_090_000_39641528)
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: 2009
0: INFO: Build of 3dsmax to force: 32bit
0: INFO: Rendering with executable: C:\Program Files (x86)\Autodesk\3ds Max 2009\3dsmax.exe
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: 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 2009 at C:\Program Files (x86)\Autodesk\3ds Max 2009
0: INFO: Version of core.dll: 11.0.0.57
0: INFO: Ensuring 3dsmax install is valid
0: INFO: Running 3dsmaxcmd workaround
0: INFO: 3dsmaxcmd.exe returned: P1/8/2009 13:55:55 PM; Error opening scene file: “C:\Program Files (x86)\Autodesk\3ds Max 2009”
0: INFO: 3dsmax start up file: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Frantic Films\Deadline\slave\plugins\deadlineStartupMax2009.max
0: INFO: Using user profiles: 1
0: INFO: Using 3dsmax ini file: C:\Documents and Settings\Johl\Local Settings\Application Data\Autodesk\3dsmax\2009 - 32bit\enu\3dsmax.ini
0: INFO: Network log file: C:\Documents and Settings\Johl\Local Settings\Application Data\Autodesk\3dsmax\2009 - 32bit\enu\Network\Max.log
0: INFO: Plugin ini file: C:\Program Files (x86)\Autodesk\3ds Max 2009\plugin.ini
0: INFO: Including user profile plugin ini: C:\Documents and Settings\Johl\Local Settings\Application Data\Autodesk\3dsmax\2009 - 32bit\enu\plugin.ini
0: INFO: Lightning connection plugin: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Frantic Films\Deadline\slave\plugins\lightningMax2009.dlx
0: INFO: 3dsmax socket connection port: 2057
0: INFO: Creating startup script: C:\Documents and Settings\Johl\Local Settings\Temp\lightning_startup.ms
0: INFO: Copying C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Frantic Films\Deadline\slave\plugins\lightningMax2009.dlx to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Frantic Films\Deadline\temp\lightning\lightning.dlx
0: INFO: Starting monitored managed process 3dsmaxProcess
0: INFO: Ignoring popup windows with titles matching regex “.Brazil Console.
0: INFO: Ignoring popup windows with titles matching regex “.MSP Acceleration.
0: INFO: Ignoring popup windows with titles matching regex “.FumeFX:.
0: INFO: Ignoring popup windows with titles matching regex “.FumeFX Dynamics:.
0: INFO: Ignoring popup windows with titles matching regex “.Maxwell Translation Window.
0: INFO: Handling popup windows with titles matching regex “.VRay authorization.” by pressing “Cancel”
0: INFO: Handling popup windows with titles matching regex “.V-Ray warning.” by pressing “OK”
0: INFO: Handling popup windows with titles matching regex “.File Load: Units Mismatch.” by pressing “Adopt the File’s Unit Scale?;OK”
0: INFO: Handling popup windows with titles matching regex “.Frame Rate Change.” by pressing “OK”
0: INFO: Handling popup windows with titles matching regex “.MAXScript Auto-load Script Error.” by pressing “OK”
0: INFO: Handling popup windows with titles matching regex “.Render history settings.” by pressing “OK;No”
0: INFO: Handling popup windows with titles matching regex “.Warning - the software has encountered a problem.” by pressing “Don’t show me this error again;Continue”
0: INFO: Handling popup windows with titles matching regex “.Frantic Films FPS Watchdog.” 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 (x86)\Autodesk\3ds Max 2009\3dsmax.exe”
0: INFO: Render Argument: “-p “C:\DOCUME~1\Johl\LOCALS~1\Temp\dl.ini” -q -s “C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Frantic Films\Deadline\slave\plugins\deadlineStartupMax2009.max””
0: INFO: Startup Directory: “C:\Program Files (x86)\Autodesk\3ds Max 2009”
0: INFO: Process Priority: BelowNormal
0: INFO: Process is now running
0: INFO: Waiting for connection from 3dsmax
0: WARNING: Monitored managed process 3dsmaxProcess is no longer running

Any ideas why this might be happening?

Many thanks in advance.

Check this file on the machine to see if any errors are being printed out:
C:\Documents and Settings\Johl\Local Settings\Application Data\Autodesk\3dsmax\2009 - 32bit\enu\Network\Max.log

This error you’re getting indicates that max has crashed, and usually the reason why is printed out in this log (in the next release, we’ll be appending messages from this log to the error message reported by Deadline). Max can crash for any number of reasons, but the most common cases are that it’s running out of memory, or that it’s touching memory that it shouldn’t be. Is this a relatively heavy scene you’re rendering? Can you scale anything back to see if that helps?

I should also note that the text you bolded is completely normal output from the render.

Cheers,

  • Ryan