DR rendering problem

This isn’t a V-Ray problem this is a “I don’t have any clue what I’m doing” problem. I’ve networked my computers but I can’t get the DR working.

One of my computers is a laptop running Vista Business 32 and the other is a desktop running Windows 64. (This has caused some problems with backburner alone)

When I add the computers name or IP address it sees it but then when I render I don’t have any extra buckets. There aren’t any errors that come up and the spawner.log just says starting new session.

Please keep in mind I don’t know much about networking so I don’t know if I’m supplying enough information for anyone to help me.

Thanks.

HI

So how have you set up the network? have you turned off windows firewalls ?

No I still have the firewall on, but I tried disabling it to see if that was the case. It still didn’t make a difference.
When I click on “resolve servers” it will fill in the Ip address but when I open in back up it’s gone again. Would this have anything to do with the problem?

Thanks

edit: I’m not sure what information would be helpful for how I set up the network.

Hi

try to disable all firewalls on all machines

This is normal behaviour. Don’t worry about that :wink: it’s similar to a PING command to test connectivity on a very basic (network) level. It’s a one time deal while the window is open.

And since your computers IP addresses are being resolved it seems your network is set up properly. So no need to look into that any further at this point.

Like Natty said, disable the firewall on ALL computers. Since if you didn’t add the applications for Max and VRay and the correct port numbers specifically to the firewalls on ALL of your computers, they are going to block communication for sure.

When you start spawner it should start a minimized session of MAX and open a file called vraydummy90.max and then stay open. Is this the case?

Ok I’ve disabled the firewalls on both computers but it’s still not working. I only need the spawner running on the 2nd CPU right? (With the first one being my working computer).

The worst part is that I paid BestBuy to come and re-set up my networks because they told me that they would be able to do all the networking for Max & Backburner - they lied, they guy kept asking me how to do it. Ouch.

Edit:
Nevermind

HI

Ouch indeed, you should get your money back mate! …
So Dr .. is the network set up as a basic MSHOME network ? no domains just local? when you go to my network places can you see your other machine in there?
Did you map you drives properly on the slave machine?
Are you sharing the drives on your master machine?
Does your slave have permissions to go into those drives?

Setting up a small network is quite simple if you follow the correct steps, i cant see it being a huge problem, something somewhere is stopping you and really it can only be one of the above..

Do you have a network Hub you are connecting into? or are you using crossover cables? are you going through a Router? if so is that firewalled ?

Check all ..

Natty

Natty, thanks for the help. I’m sure something here will work.

My network is a basic MSHOME just with a different name. No domains.
Yes when I go to network places I can see the other machines there.
I believe that all my drive are properly connected.

Here is my setup: I work off my laptop & wireless connect to a desktop (through a router). The desktop has an external hard drive connected to it, which isn’t network-able so I’ve mapped it as a drive and have access to it from both the desktop and laptop. I have shared my drives so that from either computer I can see and change the others files - excluding program files.

It kinda sounds like my router might be causing the problem to me. Do you think this is correct?

I’ve attached an image of it’s settings. I’m assuming it’s something here that I would have to change but I don’t know what any of the options means.

Hi

Personally i have never tried a shared network wirelesly, i would buy a small netgear hub, a couple of inexpensive cables and connect that way, simple is always best, Im sure it will work after that..

hmmm do you know offhand if you get 1000 netgear switch/router or they all still 10/100?

I have something called a patch panel. Is that the same?

Oh! I think I figured out what it is. I have the V-Ray messages turned off by default so I never noticed this in the log file.

Server 192.168.0.***: Scene loaded; starting render.
Server 192.168.0.***: Missing maps found; aborting render.

Now I need to know how to fix it. I’ve tried rendering a scene where there are no maps involved but it still won’t work. What is it that I need to change?

You can turn off the “Check for missing files” option in the V-Ray system panel and see if it works.

Best regards,
Vlado

Sounds like you havent got your drives mapped properly..

if the Hdrive on your main machine is mapped as say (F), then on the slave you must map it the same,(F)..
Have you done this ?

No the missing maps files option isn’t making a difference.

My laptop (working computer) has 2 drives mapped:
     “Boxx D (S:)” - this is my desktops’ D drive, I don’t have any 3d related stuff there
     “Mass Storage (T:)” - this is an external HD connected directly to the desktop. It’s not network-able so I have it also mapped to the desktop as "Mass Storage (T:). This might be the problem because every time I restart the desktop I have to re-share this drive.

Thanks for all the help you guys have been so far.

Uh… those aren’t supposed to be smiley faces.

When I try it in reverse - sending the job from the desktop and having the laptop as a DR I get "could not connect to host 192.***.0.***: No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it.

Firewalls are still off. I’m beyond clueless now.

Do you see the V-Ray spawner icon and an open 3ds Max window in the Taskbar on the render slave?

Best regards,
Vlado