trouble exporting vrscene from houdini on my farm

[pixeldrone]

hello, I am trying to setup my farm to export vrscene files but I am getting an error that I have not been able to resolve. I am on windows using Deadline 10.1 and Houdini 18.39.

I have setup my script to load all of the env vars as stated in the docs and I paid attention to forward slashes vs backslashes (I am on windows)
but I am still getting this same error. It would seem that the identifier called VFH_UI_LIGHT_TEX is not being found or defined somewhere.

2020-10-01 15:24:43: 0: STDOUT: Can't open dophints.cmd
2020-10-01 15:24:46: 0: STDOUT: cpp error: "//vfxisilon/ifs/sfx_server/code/_HouScripts/pkgs/vray_adv_43003_houdini18.0.391/ui/plugins/light/SunLight.ds":1 Unable to include "//vfxisilon/ifs/sfx_server/code/_HouScripts/pkgs/vray_adv_43003_houdini18.0.391/ui/vfh_macros.ds"
2020-10-01 15:24:46: 0: STDOUT: cpp error: "//vfxisilon/ifs/sfx_server/code/_HouScripts/pkgs/vray_adv_43003_houdini18.0.391/ui/plugins/light/SunLight.ds":5 Unable to include "//vfxisilon/ifs/sfx_server/code/_HouScripts/pkgs/vray_adv_43003_houdini18.0.391/ui/common/vfh_gpu_common.ds"
2020-10-01 15:24:46: 0: STDOUT: cpp error: "//vfxisilon/ifs/sfx_server/code/_HouScripts/pkgs/vray_adv_43003_houdini18.0.391/ui/plugins/light/MayaLightDirect.ds":1 Unable to include "//vfxisilon/ifs/sfx_server/code/_HouScripts/pkgs/vray_adv_43003_houdini18.0.391/ui/vfh_macros.ds"
2020-10-01 15:24:46: 0: STDOUT: cpp error: "//vfxisilon/ifs/sfx_server/code/_HouScripts/pkgs/vray_adv_43003_houdini18.0.391/ui/plugins/light/MayaLightDirect.ds":5 Unable to include "//vfxisilon/ifs/sfx_server/code/_HouScripts/pkgs/vray_adv_43003_houdini18.0.391/ui/common/vfh_gpu_common.ds"
2020-10-01 15:24:46: 0: STDOUT: cpp error: "//vfxisilon/ifs/sfx_server/code/_HouScripts/pkgs/vray_adv_43003_houdini18.0.391/ui/plugins/light/LightAmbient.ds":1 Unable to include "//vfxisilon/ifs/sfx_server/code/_HouScripts/pkgs/vray_adv_43003_houdini18.0.391/ui/vfh_macros.ds"
2020-10-01 15:24:46: 0: STDOUT: cpp error: "//vfxisilon/ifs/sfx_server/code/_HouScripts/pkgs/vray_adv_43003_houdini18.0.391/ui/plugins/light/LightAmbient.ds":5 Unable to include "//vfxisilon/ifs/sfx_server/code/_HouScripts/pkgs/vray_adv_43003_houdini18.0.391/ui/common/vfh_gpu_common.ds"
2020-10-01 15:24:46: 0: STDOUT: cpp error: "//vfxisilon/ifs/sfx_server/code/_HouScripts/pkgs/vray_adv_43003_houdini18.0.391/ui/plugins/light/LightOmni.ds":1 Unable to include "//vfxisilon/ifs/sfx_server/code/_HouScripts/pkgs/vray_adv_43003_houdini18.0.391/ui/vfh_macros.ds"
2020-10-01 15:24:46: 0: STDOUT: cpp error: "//vfxisilon/ifs/sfx_server/code/_HouScripts/pkgs/vray_adv_43003_houdini18.0.391/ui/plugins/light/LightOmni.ds":5 Unable to include "//vfxisilon/ifs/sfx_server/code/_HouScripts/pkgs/vray_adv_43003_houdini18.0.391/ui/common/vfh_gpu_common.ds"
2020-10-01 15:24:46: 0: STDOUT: cpp error: "//vfxisilon/ifs/sfx_server/code/_HouScripts/pkgs/vray_adv_43003_houdini18.0.391/ui/plugins/light/LightSphere.ds":1 Unable to include "//vfxisilon/ifs/sfx_server/code/_HouScripts/pkgs/vray_adv_43003_houdini18.0.391/ui/vfh_macros.ds"
2020-10-01 15:24:46: 0: STDOUT: cpp error: "//vfxisilon/ifs/sfx_server/code/_HouScripts/pkgs/vray_adv_43003_houdini18.0.391/ui/plugins/light/LightSphere.ds":5 Unable to include "//vfxisilon/ifs/sfx_server/code/_HouScripts/pkgs/vray_adv_43003_houdini18.0.391/ui/common/vfh_gpu_common.ds"
2020-10-01 15:24:46: 0: STDOUT: cpp error: "//vfxisilon/ifs/sfx_server/code/_HouScripts/pkgs/vray_adv_43003_houdini18.0.391/ui/plugins/light/LightSpot.ds":1 Unable to include "//vfxisilon/ifs/sfx_server/code/_HouScripts/pkgs/vray_adv_43003_houdini18.0.391/ui/vfh_macros.ds"
2020-10-01 15:24:46: 0: STDOUT: cpp error: "//vfxisilon/ifs/sfx_server/code/_HouScripts/pkgs/vray_adv_43003_houdini18.0.391/ui/plugins/light/LightSpot.ds":5 Unable to include "//vfxisilon/ifs/sfx_server/code/_HouScripts/pkgs/vray_adv_43003_houdini18.0.391/ui/common/vfh_gpu_common.ds"
2020-10-01 15:24:46: 0: STDOUT: cpp error: "//vfxisilon/ifs/sfx_server/code/_HouScripts/pkgs/vray_adv_43003_houdini18.0.391/ui/plugins/light/LightRectangle.ds":1 Unable to include "//vfxisilon/ifs/sfx_server/code/_HouScripts/pkgs/vray_adv_43003_houdini18.0.391/ui/vfh_macros.ds"
2020-10-01 15:24:46: 0: STDOUT: cpp error: "//vfxisilon/ifs/sfx_server/code/_HouScripts/pkgs/vray_adv_43003_houdini18.0.391/ui/plugins/light/LightRectangle.ds":5 Unable to include "//vfxisilon/ifs/sfx_server/code/_HouScripts/pkgs/vray_adv_43003_houdini18.0.391/ui/common/vfh_gpu_common.ds"
2020-10-01 15:24:46: 0: STDOUT: //vfxisilon/ifs/sfx_server/code/_HouScripts/pkgs/vray_adv_43003_houdini18.0.391/ui/plugins/light/LightRectangle.ds Error(236): script unknown identifier VFH_UI_LIGHT_TEX(rect,

If anyone has experience on setting up deadline for this I would appreciate any advice or suggestions on what's going on here.

Thanks.

Best, Christian

[Gosho.Genchev]

Hey pixeldrone ,

We have a dedicated V-Ray Deadline ROP - using that would save you a lot of headache. Could you please try giving it a shot ?

Best regards!

[pixeldrone]

Thanks for the fast reply! However, I am using that ROP in my submission. I am setting the env vars in a jobpreload.py file with deadline. The above error is the Deadline output error log.

best, Christian

[bdancer]

We are using native Houdini's libraries to load .ds files. If they can't include other .ds files from UNC paths we can't do anything about it.
You could try mounting your network location to a local drive.

[pixeldrone]

ok, I see. Maybe the question I should be asking then is what is the normal workflow if one wants to export vrscene files on the network over deadline from Houdini? Or is this normally done locally? I guess I could also put a local copy of vray standalone on each machine I need to do exports on.

I guess I didn't realize I was trying to do something out of the ordinary here but I would appreciate any suggestions, thank you.

best, Christian

[glacierise]

We are doing that on the farm, using the Deadline ROP that comes with Deadline. Vrscene is exported using a Houdini engine license and then rendered using vray standalone. Each deadline submit creates two jobs, for export and for render.

[pixeldrone]

awesome, do you have to set any environment settings on your farm in order to do exports? I assume you are running windows? do you link your environment over UNC or mapped paths? On my farm right now the export gives me the above error but the vray standalone is rendering just fine.

[glacierise]

Windows and mapped drives. We install vray houdini and vray standalone in the farm, VFH using package.