task timeout (600 minutes)?

[gilicom]

Hi all
somtimes whaen i send a big render through me backburner I get this error .
Is there anyway to cancel this timeout error?
what does it mean?

[thablanch]

in the network job assignment dialog box
lower left corner, advanced button
new dialog box appears
second item, wait for max to render, default 600, set that up to a higher number

[Dynedain]

What it means is that max was taking too long to render the frame and so backburner marked the machine as "timing out".

[davexl23]

What it means is that max was taking too long to render the frame and so backburner marked the machine as "timing out".

The most brain dead software decision in memory.

Who would have thought a high res still might take a long time to render?

Why this timeout cannot automatically scale with the resolution set...

It is enough of a problem that it makes it into the help file, but not enough that someone could write 3 lines of code to fix it. Sheesh.

This doesn't happen when developers are in touch with their users.

Just MHO

[percydaman]

actually its not crazy. When Im sending an animation to the render farm. Frequently a render will hang. So careful notice of rendertimes allows me to dial down the timeout setting so that all my machines dont eventually just hang on a render all night long. Thank god for timeout settings.

[davexl23]

actually its not crazy. When Im sending an animation to the render farm. Frequently a render will hang. So careful notice of rendertimes allows me to dial down the timeout setting so that all my machines dont eventually just hang on a render all night long. Thank god for timeout settings.

Don't get me wrong - could not agree more for the need for the feature.

But it's brain dead implementation (no mechanism to scale with likely times) and default (should be opt-in, not on by default for single frame netrenders) is what gets me. Given how easy it is to program a few rule of thumb hacks that would prevent 95% of problems.... For starters don't bury it out of site behind an advanced button.

So a feature designed to prevent a lost nights render power due to a hung frame can cause a lost nights render of a huge frame. One step forward, one step back.

We lose enough work to bugs, losing to poorly thought out design features is galling...They need to pay attention to Hippocrates - first do no harm!

Hmmm, I am a lot crankier about poor software these days. I think the little things get me more now than the big things. Don't get me started on MS...

[gilicom]

actualy there is a bug in max , this whole option is optional , there is a small enable button which does nothing ,even when its not marked i still get the timeout error.

[Morbid Angel]

Gilicom, you can do two things to change that:
1 - you can change timeout before submitting it to backburner in the advanced options, or in monitor by rightclicking on your job and in edit settings.
2 - sometimes this doesnt work, and max still times out at 600 min, so what you need to do is go to your manager comp, go into backburner 2/network and edit file called backburner.xml in there it will look like the example below, find the line that says ( <MaxRender>600</MaxRender> ) and change that to whatever time you want.


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes" ?>
<!DOCTYPE SystemConfiguration (View Source for full doctype...)>
- <SystemConfiguration>
- <GeneralCfg>
<ManagerPort>3234</ManagerPort>
<ServerPort>3233</ServerPort>
<MaxBlockSize>128000</MaxBlockSize>
<NetworkMask>255.255.255.0</NetworkMask>
<HttpRedirection>http://www.discreet.com</HttpRedirection>
</GeneralCfg>
- <TimerCfg>
<AckTimeout>20000</AckTimeout>
<AckRetries>6</AckRetries>
<FastTimeout>4000</FastTimeout>
</TimerCfg>
- <LogCfg>
<LogError>1</LogError>
<LogWarning>1</LogWarning>
<LogInfo>0</LogInfo>
<LogDebug>0</LogDebug>
<LogDebugex>0</LogDebugex>
<LogMaxFileSize>10485760</LogMaxFileSize>
</LogCfg>
- <AppDetails>
- <MaxClient>
<ManagerName />
<AutoConnect>1</AutoConnect>
<IncludeMaps>0</IncludeMaps>
<IgnoreScene>0</IgnoreScene>
<UseAllServers>1</UseAllServers>
<ServerTabs>1</ServerTabs>
<UseVfb>1</UseVfb>
<Notifications>0</Notifications>
<NotifyFailure>1</NotifyFailure>
<NotifyProgress>0</NotifyProgress>
<NotifyCompletion>1</NotifyCompletion>
<SendEmails>0</SendEmails>
<IncludeSummary>0</IncludeSummary>
<EmailFrom />
<EmailTo />
<EmailServer />
<ManagerPort>3234</ManagerPort>
<UseTimeouts>No</UseTimeouts>
<MaxLoad>20</MaxLoad>
<MaxUnload>10</MaxUnload>
<MaxRender>600</MaxRender>
<StripCount>10</StripCount>
<StripOverlap>0</StripOverlap>
<DeleteTempImage>Yes</DeleteTempImage>
<Pixels>Yes</Pixels>
<JobHandling>1</JobHandling>
<OverrideGlobal>No</OverrideGlobal>
<UseAltMapPath>No</UseAltMapPath>
<UseAltXrefPath>No</UseAltXrefPath>
<BlockTasks>Yes</BlockTasks>
<EnableServerLimit>No</EnableServerLimit>
<ServerLimitCount>1</ServerLimitCount>
<ArchiveDays>4</ArchiveDays>
<DeleteDays>7</DeleteDays>
</MaxClient>
</AppDetails>
</SystemConfiguration>

[gilicom]

Morbid
Thanks for the reply
the only problem is that i don't see any xml file on my manger comp
Where can it be?

[Morbid Angel]

in the computer that runs manager go to program files/backburner 2/ network it should be in there, this file is essential. If its not there message me I will send you one.

[gilicom]

Morbid thank you and all te others who tried to help
i found it and changed the settings
Cheers
gili

[Morbid Angel]

glad we could help