Live link and render animation don't work

[devin]

I have the latest versions of Vray and Vantage installed, I can't get either of these functions to work but I can export the current scene from 3d Studio to Vantage. I'd appreciate some advice on figuring this out.

[npg]

Are there errors in the V-Ray messages window?
Just in case, check if your firewall is blocking either application (doubtful). After starting live link, go to the V-Ray distributed rendering dialog and see if there is a "127.0.0.1" entry with "???" in the address column. If so, try the "resolve servers" button or type it in again by hand. We've noticed an issue there that we still haven't resolved. It seems to happen when there are two LAN cards on the PC.

[devin]

I don't have the "127.0.0.1" entry with "???" error but there are some issues popping up in the VFB log.

[npg]

OK, it was a guess. But still, the IP address column is empty, so it does look like it failed to resolve. Try manually re-typing 127.0.0.1 or localhost as the server name. This is what was suggested by our QA who discovered the issue.

[devin]

Ok so when I hit the resolve button I do get the message "127.0.0.1" entry with "???", I've tried editing the server and putting my computers IP address in but when I try live link after that the server name goes back to 127.0.0.1. Also the Use local host box stays unchecked even if I check it and one of the errors I'm getting in the VFB log says " Error : Local machine is not used for distributed rendering and no servers can join!" This feature does work for other people right?

[npg]

Yes, it works for almost everyone. In fact the problem is that I currently don't have a machine to reproduce the issue with.

Do you happen to have two LAN connections or at least, two adapters? Also, it might be useful to know your exact version of Windows. One way to find it is to open a command prompt and it's on the first line, e.g. "Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19043.1415]"

[devin]

I'm running Windows [Version 10.0.19042.1415], I've attached a rundown of my system's network adaptors.

[npg]

Thanks for the info! There's one more thing I forgot to ask for: the contents of your hosts file. You can open it with this command: notepad c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

While we're debugging the issue, you could try starting live link manually:
- Don't use the toolbar button, instead start Vantage "manually"
- Select V-Ray GPU as the renderer in Max
- Enable distributed rendering and open the servers dialog
- Disable "use local host"
- Disable any servers you may have saved and add a server "127.0.0.1" at port 20701
- Start IPR
If it doesn't work with "127.0.0.1" try "localhost". I'd be interested to know if 127 doesn't work.

[devin]

Here's the hosts file.

[devin]

I gave it a try with the default 127.0.0.1 and I got a ton of texture warnings and one error that said "Local machine is not used for distributed rendering and no servers can join!" but nothing else happened. I changed the IP address to my machines and that did work!

[npg]

Glad at least the workaround worked.

So it doesn't work with "127.0.0.1" but does it work with "localhost"?

Since I still haven't reproduced the issue, could you help me by doing this:
- Use the toolbar live link button, it will fail
- Look for the file C:\Users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Local\Autodesk\3dsMax\ <VERSION e.g. 2022> - 64bit\ENU\en-US\plugcfg\vrayrt_dr.cfg as well as vrayrt_dr.cfg.bak
- Share their contents and whether the file modification time corresponds to when you clicked the button

[devin]

That's correct, it only works after I enter my local machines IP address.

[npg]

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately still nothing unusual in these files

We're trying to collect info from another source as well. I will update the thread when there is some development, hopefully next week.

[devin]

Thanks Nikola, at least I can use it now.

Are there any plans to allow network rendering with Vantage, is there a way to make that work now?

[npg]

Well, you could enter a different IP address when starting "manual" live link and it should render all the same if Vantage is running on that PC. But the rendered result would also only show up there, so it's probably not convenient unless the machines are next to each other.