Backburner issues: Launcher timed out executing command...

[tricky]

Having a headache trying to submit an animation job to our farm. We are running Max2012 and the latest backburner patch. The problem happens on our 3 newest machines which are i7 2600k with 16GB ram. All our other machines, with similar or slower configurations seem to be ok - its just these 3 identical machines with the issue. The jobs even start rendering (I can see the VFB when I remote desktop into them), but after a while, they just come up with this error and quit out. They then receive another frame and try again, but with the same effect.

I am running backburner manually at the moment on each render node (i.e. not as a service) to see if that helps, but it doesn't. Any ideas what to try? They are all running Windows XP64. I am really running out of things to try. I just tried putting Max2012 Update 9 on them, but no change. These should be our quickest machines (on the same job, they run vray DR flawlessly).

Puzzling...

[tricky]

Here's a snippet from the backburner log:-

2012/08/18 13:27:13 INF Job 'acamo002 base' received and ready
2012/08/18 13:27:13 INF Launching 'Autodesk 3ds Max 2012 (64-bit)'
2012/08/18 13:27:36 INF 3dsmax adapter : Executing command line : C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 2012\3dsmax.exe "-_pipe:412315781" -server "C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.BLINKIMAGE\Local Settings\Application Data\backburner\ServerJob\acamo002 base.max".
2012/08/18 13:27:36 INF [ServerMessage]ProcessStarted processId=3376
2012/08/18 13:27:36 INF 3dsmax adapter : [V-Ray] ================================================== ==========
2012/08/18 13:27:36 INF 3dsmax adapter : [V-Ray] Console created, V-Ray Adv 2.20.03 for x64 from Dec 22 2011, 20:16:52
2012/08/18 13:27:36 INF 3dsmax adapter : [V-Ray] ================================================== ==========
2012/08/18 13:27:36 INF 3dsmax adapter : [V-Ray] Compiled with Intel C++ compiler, version 12
2012/08/18 13:27:36 INF 3dsmax adapter : [V-Ray] Host is 3dsmax, version 14
2012/08/18 13:27:36 INF 3dsmax adapter : [V-Ray] V-Ray DLL version is 2.00.01
2012/08/18 13:27:36 INF 3dsmax adapter : Autodesk 3dsMax 14.9 is Ready.
2012/08/18 13:27:36 INF New task assigned: 1
2012/08/18 13:40:04 ERR Task error: Launcher: Timed out executing command:"C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 2012\maxadapter.adp.exe" "-o" "PingTask" "-l" "Info" "-j" "C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.BLINKIMAGE\Local Settings\Application Data\backburner\ServerJob\acamo002 base.xml.details" "-e" "670295" "-s" "1" "-n" "1"
2012/08/18 13:40:04 ERR Launcher: Timed out executing command:"C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 2012\maxadapter.adp.exe" "-o" "PingTask" "-l" "Info" "-j" "C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.BLINKIMAGE\Local Settings\Application Data\backburner\ServerJob\aca
2012/08/18 13:40:14 INF Application is down
2012/08/18 13:40:41 ERR Launcher: Timed out executing command:"C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 2012\maxadapter.adp.exe" "-o" "ShutDown" "-l" "Info"

[tricky]

Very strange this. Still getting the same kind of problem on these three machines. I've updated the BIOS to the latest version and monitored the temperatures of the CPU cores. They never seem to go above around 60-64 degrees C, so that seems OK to me. When I RDP into the machines, the responsiveness of the system is awful when they are rendering (compared to my other render machines that function quite normally when I log in, even when rendering at 99-100%). Its as though the render job is asking too much of the CPU and it cannot cope with anything else. When I run task manager on the machines, I notice that it regularly tries to start the maxadapter.adp.exe service. Could it be that the machine isn't leaving enough processing power to run this extra service, and that is causing the 'time out' as backburner indicates?

Running with this theory, if I set the backburner 3dsmax service to use only 7 of the available 8 cores whilst rendering, I don't seem to get these time out errors.

Anyone else had anything similar?

[Morne]

Hi Tricky

I've had similar issues with Backburner that ships with 2012 and any updates to 2012. I eventually uninstalled that and reverted to Backburner 2008. That sorted all problems. Looking back however, some1 posted a link to a Microsoft site that shows how to disable all IPv6. I was about to try that, when they posted an update to Backburner for 2013. I can confirm that the update to Backburner 2013 works fine where the one that ships with max 2013 doesn't (for me anyways)

So for your current issue I would suggest to go the Backburner 2008 route. I think it's the simplest solution if you have a current tight deadline and no time to mess around too much.

[tricky]

Hi Tricky

I've had similar issues with Backburner that ships with 2012 and any updates to 2012. I eventually uninstalled that and reverted to Backburner 2008. That sorted all problems. Looking back however, some1 posted a link to a Microsoft site that shows how to disable all IPv6. I was about to try that, when they posted an update to Backburner for 2013. I can confirm that the update to Backburner 2013 works fine where the one that ships with max 2013 doesn't (for me anyways)

So for your current issue I would suggest to go the Backburner 2008 route. I think it's the simplest solution if you have a current tight deadline and no time to mess around too much.

Thanks Morne

Now, how do I find a setup for Backburner 2008? Which version of Max did that come with?

[Morne]

anything pre 2012
so max 2011 and older till max 2008 ( I may be mistaken about 2011 - could be 2010 to 2008 )

on the DVD it should be under a folder in "x86" (not 64bit) then if I recall correctly "content" then "backburner"
otherwise just search "backburner" on the DVD

[PIXELBOX_SRO]

i get this error too with our newest machine....works well with DR buck as a backburner server it fails :-/
its the exactly same spec as our previous machine which works nicely so i really have no clue where the problem could be

[camilo.vargas]

Hi Tricky,

we are having the same issues (" Launcher: Timed out executing command....") with backburner 2013. We were using BB 2008.1 which is the only one without issues. Unfortunately BB 2008 doesn't work with max 2013. We have been working with autodesk support to figure out the issue with no success. They blame ipv6, but we already tried disabling all ipv6 connections. We are getting the error in all machines (workstations and servers) at different times and some of them even render a whole frame. We end up going back to max 2012 and BB 2008 while we figure out the problem. I even get the error on a single test machine running the manager and server at the same time. I would like to know if you manage to solve the problem.

Regards,

Camilo

[Roest]

So this is problem never sorted out??
I got this error also... Only when using DR through backburner..
One Image rendererd by one machine, through backburner goes well,
One image renderd by 4 machines with DR from the workstation works well,

One image renderd with 4 machines with DR through Backburner = Failure

Hope someone can help

[Morne]

Try this:
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet...linkID=9241178
Follow their instructions

[cheerioboy]

Anyone figure out these timeout errors? I'm running max 2012 and have started to see more and more of these timeout errors on a couple jobs. I have all the latest service packs, hotfixes, and backburner updated for max 212.

Looks like I might need to dig up the 2008 backburner to resolve... hmm.

Update: Just ran the same scene twice, one with a noise threshold of .1 vs another scene with a threshold of .01 - the .1 scene finished but the .01 scene Timed out executing command... seems to be around an hour at which point it quits the job. I have timeouts disabled but maybe if they're enabled with a high number...

Update2: Realized no matter what my renders were cutting off after 60 minutes, with time limited both turned on or off. Installed backburner 2008.1 and now everything is solid.