Mayabatch error:vray.dll is missing

[patrickfmirage]

Hello. I have a server and a few machines as workstation/render nodes. I have been rendering for a long time without issue until I installed PFD on both my server and 1 x workstation. Sometimes, I'll run a sim on the server or workstation. That all works. The renders I am doing are unrelated to PFD. They are simply Maya/Arnold scenes that are rendering as part of a project.

However, since installing PFD, my server has a mayabatch error ( while running render jobs ) that pops up and will hang without continuing the render unless I click 'ok' on the message. I can however, disable the auto load plugin for PFD in Maya and that works as a temp solution. I'm recently back on subscription and I think this was an old issue that was resolved through a nightly build. I don't use V-ray.

Thanks in advance for any info regarding this.

[georgi.zhekov]

Hey,

Can you tell us which version of Phoenix you have installed? You can do this by checking the About info window.

Maya > Top Maya Phoenix FD Menu > About Phoenix FD.

How do you run mayabatch? What command do you use?

Thanks!

[patrickfmirage]

Hi Georgi. Thank you for the prompt reply. I am using the latest build 4.2.00 Build 20200616. I use Smedge as the render distributor. Thank you

[georgi.zhekov]

Thanks - we'll try to install Smedge and reproduce it in here. Will let you know when we have something.

Cheers!

[patrickfmirage]

Thanks Georgi.

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Hey, one more question - how do you install Phoenix on the machines? This error sounds like a bad install. You are installing the full version, right?

[patrickfmirage]

I have actually reinstalled it 2 times thinking that may be the case. It's just the version you have on your site and I install as Administrator. I should mention it is on a Server running Windows Server 2012 R2 but the previous subscription was from a nightly build as I am not using V-ray and it worked
Cheers

[georgi.zhekov]

Ah, Svetlin meant if you chose the Workstation (full) installation of Phoenix. You have two choices as shown in this link here - Workstation and V-Ray Standalone Render Slave - https://docs.chaosgroup.com/display/...ionofPhoenixFD

I couldn't reproduce the issue in here. May be I'm missing something?

What I tried was to make an Arnold scene with a sphere and a light and submit that - no Phoenix involved and no errors showed up.
Tried the same setup with V-Ray scene and it worked as well.

Cheers!

[patrickfmirage]

Hi Georgi. Sorry, I meant to say that I use the Workstation( full) installation on both machines. Clearly, I can only use one at a time if I am setting up Phoenix scenes. I'll try a full uninstall on the server and reinstall again.

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

One more test that comes to mind and might shed some light on the issue - can you check if you log into one of the machines and start a render via the Maya user interface? Do any errors appear in the Maya log in that case?

[patrickfmirage]

Hi Svetlin. I actually did do an interactive render in Maya and also copied the command line that Smedge submits to the farm and both worked. So both of those tests were independent of Smedge. It was only if I submitted via Smedge and the error only happens on the Server. I am yet to do a full uninstall of Phoenix and re install. I'll report back with results asap. Cheers

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Huh, then it might indeed be related to Smedge. Maybe it sets an incorrect working directory for mayabatch or something more compy happens...