Deadline render nodes do not render if Phoenix installed in 3ds Max 2026

Phoenix Phoenix :: Issues
1

I have installed latest versions of Max and plugins - 3ds Max 2026.3, VRay 7.20.08, Phoenix 5.24.02 on workstation and render nodes (Deadline 10.4.2.2). When I try to render simple geometry test file on render farm I get error with unexpected exception on render nodes. My workstation working as render node works fine, but all other render nodes fail to render. I have figured out that if I uninstall Phoenix from render nodes then they render fine. What could be a problem with Phoenix in this case? I use 3ds Max 2024 with same latest versions of VRay and Phoenix and everything works fine. It could be Deadline related issue but I don’t know where to start digging it.

And there is an error message about loading phoenixfd.dlr in Deadline log:

ERR: [48484] [44184] DLL <c:\programdata\autodesk\applicationplugins\phoe ni x3dsmax2026\plugins\phoenixfd.dlr> failed to initialize properly - not loading.
INF: [48484] [44184] Successfully loaded plugin package - Name: Phoenix for 3ds Max - Company: Chaos Software EOOD - Version: 5.24.00 - Location: c:\programdata\autodesk\applicationplugins\phoenix 3dsmax2026\
​…
An unexpected exception has occurred in the network renderer and it is terminating.
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2

Try the following: uninstall both V-Ray and Phoenix from the render nodes and afterward install V-Ray first and then Phoenix.

3

That was the order I installed plugins - Vray, then Phoenix. Anyway, I had uninstalled Vray and Phoenix on one of the render nodes and reinstalled Vray and Phoenix again. I tested to render same file again on this render node and render was successful. I decided to try other render nodes again without reinstalling and they also were successful. I assume something happened after I restarted render nodes since yesterday. Maybe new Windows environment variables took effect after restart. Everything seems working fine now. Thanks.

4

@Vipera I was wondering if you ever work out what the cause was? Just we are having the simlar issue as you. When rendering on render node mode on the farm very simple file seem to crash. Locally they are fine. So our workstation that create and open the files won’t render them in render node mode.

@hermit.crab Can you confirm if there is any issue with the version we are using? Just as a note we do install Vray first then pheonix.

We have installed Deadline Client Version: 10.4.2.3, Max 2026.3, Vray 7, update 2 hotfix 2 (7.20.04), Phoenix 5.24.00.

5

No issues on my end using those versions. I am sending and rendering Deadline jobs with Phoenix sims as expected. Do you get pop-up errors about missing .dlls when opening 3ds Max? Try a clean reinstall of Phoenix on the machines by removing all leftover files and environment variables. Also, ensure that you are installing Phoenix for V-Ray 7.

6

In the end it was an issue with windows Enviroment Variables.“VRAY_FOR_3DSMAX2026_PLUGINS”
There was an issue with the order. so was pheonix location was first then vray after. I’m guessing as we have been testing different version of vray and pheonix the issue happened.

Incase anyone else has this issue.

The “VRAY_FOR_3DSMAX2026_PLUGINS” values/address should look like this.
C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\VRay3ds Max2026/bin/plugins;C:\Program Files\Chaos\Phoenix FD\3ds Max 2026 for x64/vray7plugins;