Installing 3ds Max 2016 as a render node?

[richard_rosenman]

Hey gang;

The Autodesk site it utterly useless for this info. Does anyone know how to install 3ds Max 2016 on a render farm, as a render node?

More specifically, when prompted to enter the product information, should I enter my serial number? Other searches said to install it as a trial. Others said to use "000 00000000" as a serial (but that doesn't work).

If I enter my serial, I am concerned it will activate those as I only have a limited number of licenses and I have about 20 render nodes...

Any help is appreciated!

Thanks,
-Richard

[Donald2B]

I create a deployment image for all my render node machines and I setup them up as trial license. Since I will never open up the actual program, it works just fine. I've been doing this for the past 10 years without issue.

[richard_rosenman]

I create a deployment image for all my render node machines and I setup them up as trial license. Since I will never open up the actual program, it works just fine. I've been doing this for the past 10 years without issue.

Hi Troy - thank you for this info. So I will install the product as a trial: "I want to try this product for 30 days" and you're 100% certain I won't have any issues after those 30 days are up? It will never be launched manually - it's only a render node on a farm.

Why I cannot find this basic info on the Autodesk site is beyond me...

-Rich

[Alex_M]

On the render nodes I have installed Max as a trial and they're running fine for years now. Don't worry about them expiring, this doesn't really matter. I don't see the point of wasting your licenses just to use them on machines that will act as render nodes. If any of them is also used as a workstation - then yes, it needs an activated license of Max.

[richard_rosenman]

Thanks Alex & Troy - I got more help from you guys in 15 minutes than I did waiting an hour for an Autodesk agent to chat... and one that never appeared.

-Rich

[Donald2B]

Hi Troy - thank you for this info. So I will install the product as a trial: "I want to try this product for 30 days" and you're 100% certain I won't have any issues after those 30 days are up? It will never be launched manually - it's only a render node on a farm.

Why I cannot find this basic info on the Autodesk site is beyond me...

-Rich

Yep! As long as you don't actually open the MAX UI you should have absolutely zero issues.

[Syclone1]

Yep! As long as you don't actually open the MAX UI you should have absolutely zero issues.

Yup, I have 3 farms with 2016 installed and same here, install as trial and then as Troy mentioned as long as you don't try to start up the 3dsmax UI then you are fine. Even if you do and go into the 30 day trial, when the trial is over it doesn't affect you for using it as a render slave as it only applies to running max in the user GUI working mode.

[richard_rosenman]

I am having a host of other issues and perhaps you guys can help.

Apparently Backbburner doesn't like IPv6 (according to Autodesk). If I have it on, I get the error from Backburner server on launch: "Error sending on UDP 192.168.x.x..."

If I disable IPV6 in the network adapter, it finds the Manager and registers itself properly. And it also renders properly on the render farm as it should. Yeah!

The problem is that I need IPv6 to use Remote Desktop and log in to each of the render nodes and manage them, see the renders going, etc. If I disable IPv6, the Remote Desktop no longer works.

I've spent all day trying to fix this.

Autodesk recommends installing a Microsoft update that "Prefers IPv4 over IPv6" but unfortunately, this does not resolve the problem. (https://knowledge.autodesk.com/suppo...ed-0x273f.html)

They also recommend disabling a "6T04 adaptor" but that's not in my list of adaptors. (https://knowledge.autodesk.com/suppo...ed-0x273f.html)

I would really appreciate any help on this. I have posted on the Autodesk forum before but it takes days for a reply and I don't have that luxury at the moment. Have any of you experienced similar problems? I'm on Windows 7.

Thanks,
-Rich

[vlado]

Remote Desktop should work fine with IPv4, so not sure what may be wrong. Perhaps you can try another solution like VNC, logmein, Google remote desktop?

Best regards,
Vlado

[Donald2B]

I am having a host of other issues and perhaps you guys can help.

Apparently Backbburner doesn't like IPv6 (according to Autodesk). If I have it on, I get the error from Backburner server on launch: "Error sending on UDP 192.168.x.x..."

If I disable IPV6 in the network adapter, it finds the Manager and registers itself properly. And it also renders properly on the render farm as it should. Yeah!

The problem is that I need IPv6 to use Remote Desktop and log in to each of the render nodes and manage them, see the renders going, etc. If I disable IPv6, the Remote Desktop no longer works.

I've spent all day trying to fix this.

Autodesk recommends installing a Microsoft update that "Prefers IPv4 over IPv6" but unfortunately, this does not resolve the problem. (https://knowledge.autodesk.com/suppo...ed-0x273f.html)

They also recommend disabling a "6T04 adaptor" but that's not in my list of adaptors. (https://knowledge.autodesk.com/suppo...ed-0x273f.html)

I would really appreciate any help on this. I have posted on the Autodesk forum before but it takes days for a reply and I don't have that luxury at the moment. Have any of you experienced similar problems? I'm on Windows 7.

Thanks,
-Rich

Just a quick reply to this, I will need to dig through my documentation at the office to verify the solution.

I'm using both IPv4 and IPv6 at the office without issue. 3DS Max versions 2012 - 2018. I know that in the earlier versions of Backburner that IPv6 could be problematic, but the later versions of backburner don't have these issues. I know at one point I had to force the Manager to use IPv4 only, but I don't remember how I had to set that up, as it's been quite a few years since I ran into that problem.

IMHO, I would just get the latest version of Backburner from Autodesk (2018 version) and just use that as it doesn't have those issues. Or at least I have not run into those problems.

As for RDP, I use this without problem over both IPv4 and IPv6 on my network as well as when I VPN into the office. So I'm not sure what issue you are having there.

I would probably look into the network settings to make sure your network adapters are getting both an IPv6 and IPv4 address.

I will looking into the BB thing more once I get into the office. My apologies, my memory sucks when it comes to many of this little fixes I've had to make over the years. Everything is kind of blurring together!

[Syclone1]

How are you setting up the manager and servers to see each other? like Troy I use both IPv4 and 6 and both can be temperamental in how you set them up. I never really got the auto find to work but on one of my farms using the direct IP addresses works best and on the other using the actual computer names works best, if I try the opposite on either then I run in to problems. I would recommend trying both ways to see if one works for you.

[richard_rosenman]

Just a quick reply to this, I will need to dig through my documentation at the office to verify the solution.

I'm using both IPv4 and IPv6 at the office without issue. 3DS Max versions 2012 - 2018. I know that in the earlier versions of Backburner that IPv6 could be problematic, but the later versions of backburner don't have these issues. I know at one point I had to force the Manager to use IPv4 only, but I don't remember how I had to set that up, as it's been quite a few years since I ran into that problem.

IMHO, I would just get the latest version of Backburner from Autodesk (2018 version) and just use that as it doesn't have those issues. Or at least I have not run into those problems.

As for RDP, I use this without problem over both IPv4 and IPv6 on my network as well as when I VPN into the office. So I'm not sure what issue you are having there.

I would probably look into the network settings to make sure your network adapters are getting both an IPv6 and IPv4 address.

I will looking into the BB thing more once I get into the office. My apologies, my memory sucks when it comes to many of this little fixes I've had to make over the years. Everything is kind of blurring together!

Hi Troy;

I never considered using the latest Backburner with 3ds Max 2016 - I guess that should work. I will wait to see if you recall any specific solutions before trying out this solution though.

-Rich

[richard_rosenman]

How are you setting up the manager and servers to see each other? like Troy I use both IPv4 and 6 and both can be temperamental in how you set them up. I never really got the auto find to work but on one of my farms using the direct IP addresses works best and on the other using the actual computer names works best, if I try the opposite on either then I run in to problems. I would recommend trying both ways to see if one works for you.

Hi Dave - yup, that I'm familiar with. The auto find never worked so I use the computer name. That has always worked. Sometimes I force it to use an IP address which also helps. However, none of these seem to make much of a difference unless I completely disable the IPv6.

-Rich

[Donald2B]

Okay, I've done some digging and here's what I have currently setup on my farm.

All four (4) of my file servers are set to only IPv4 due to some software compatibility problems (NOT Backburner relates).
One of those servers is also my license server, Backburner Manager as well as a few other roles.
Backburner Manager is setup to run as a service so if the server crashes, it will reboot and automatically bring up the manager.

All of the rendernodes / workstations are setup with both IPv6 and IPv4. They all connect using the Server name for locating the Backburner Manager.

The notes that i have regarding BB configuration issues was for 3DS Max 2014. I didn't have any notes regarding 2015-2016 which means that I didn't need to do anything special for them to work correctly. (I'm pretty strict about keeping notes when setting up these kinds of things, since I won't remember a few month later what I had done.)

So maybe the reason I'm not experiencing problems is due to my server running the manger is only using IPv4.

[richard_rosenman]

So maybe the reason I'm not experiencing problems is due to my server running the manger is only using IPv4.

Thanks for this, Troy. Ok, I will try this first - setting my Backburner Manager computer to use only IPv4. I assume I simply disable the IPv6 adapter on it. Will post the results.

-Rich