Invalid file name length - Vray, 3DS Max and Deadline

[canadel_inc]

Hi,
I'm using a setup with Vray 5.10, 3DS Max 2021 and Deadline 10.
Some of the scripts generated to render are automatically created via a web interface. The systems works very well, however sometimes I have this kind of error.

[V-Ray] [vfbcompat::readPascalString] -3: Corrupted data - invalid file name length (-1074790400)

I'm assuming it is related to a VRay output intrepeted by Deadline, which causes the job to fail if the system reaches a certain number of errors.
The most interesting part is that sometimes the same machine tries to render the same job a second time and sometimes the machine is capable of getting the job done, even if it is the same exact script that failed the first time.
I imagine that it could be related to the filename string in the machine cache that makes the job work the second time, however it is just a guess.

Anyone has any suggestion on how to solve this kind of error? I'm not so sure that is only related to the filename.
I attached two Deadline reports with more details.

Thanks in advance.

[3d-laboratory]

I had the same error with trees from Evermotion. That causes crashes when I tried to put the trees into a ForestPack libary. So I saved the file with "Save as" in MAX2025.2 and after reload the tree the error was gone.

[Joelaff]

Pascal strings generally have a one byte length, and are thus limited to 255 characters.

I believe this is a Windows thing. Modify your file and directory names so that the entire post is less than 255 chars.

For some reason it’s 260 chars in windows, but pascal strings are 255. So it must pad it for the drive letter and such. Anyway, shorten your file and directory names.

[yavor.rubenov]

Hello,

Hi,
[V-Ray] [vfbcompat::readPascalString] -3: Corrupted data - invalid file name length (-1074790400)
Thanks in advance.

Those errors are related to loading saved V-Ray frame buffer data from old 3ds Max files (older than V-Ray 5). Resaving the problematic file with newer V-Ray should fix it.

Best regards,
Yavor