Dual installs - Vray 1.047 - 1.5R3

[Adam H. Stewart]

I am trying to set things up so I can use 1.047 and 1.5 R3 on the same machine. The problem is when install 1.047 in a new directory and change the plugin.ini to point to that directory max still boots into 1.5 ( or at least that is what shows up in the render dialogue).
By changing the plugin.ini what I don't understand is how Vray finds that files that are placed in the 3dmax root directory( 9 files) . Surely these are loaded when you start max ?

Any advice on how you can have both versions installed on your machine - other then copying the entire max directory ?

Thanks as always.

[studioDIM]

Make a folder in the max root labeled with the version numbers, eg 47.03, rc2, rc3.
Have the proper copy of the files each vray version installs in the max root (sort by date, they are clearly a set of few) nicely copied into each version's folder.
Do the same for the plugin folder (each version's plugin withing its own folder).

When you need to change vray version, simply change the plugin.ini to point to the correct version (eg. vray=c:\3dsmax\plugins\rc3\), and *copy* the files from the proper version into the max root, to overwrite the old ones (to be sure, delete all the old ones first, and be with peace of mind).

maxroot |
        |47.03
        |rc2
        |plugins
               |47.03
                    |vrayplugins
               |rc2
                    |vrayplugins

Hope it helps.

Lele

[Adam H. Stewart]

Excellent

That's great helps alot.
I knew there was more to it then having a duplicate plugin file somewhere, just wasn't sure how to make it work. Now all I have to do is figure out how to set things up for the render farm so I can switch versions. Hopefully I can simply change shared plugin folder and don't have to worry about the max root stuff.
Nice diagram and description - thanks again for the help.

[DJ-Studd]

What I would like to know is, is there a way to have two vrayspawners setup as services so that we can flick between the two versions?

Cheers.
-- DJ

[Adam H. Stewart]

Success

I got it to work - I can now switch between 1.5 R3 and 1.047, including using the farm - albeit with a bit of copying and restarting - pretty nifty when you get it to work - I'm not as scared of 1.5 now that I can get back to an earlier version fairly easily

[DaForce]

bah, just hold your nose cross your feet and plunge right into the deep end

heheh actually being able to run a few versions at once is pretty neat. I must say.