3ds max 8 won't launch on Opteron/WinXP64 render nodes

[ShaunDon]

Hey guys --

I just finished writing up an email to our Autodesk reseller about a problem we're having with our new 64-bit render servers. I wanted to post it here in case anyone knows the answer already, and if not so I can post Autodesk's response once they fix whatever the issue is. Here's what I wrote to them:

We are trying to set up 3ds max 8 on our four (4) new Opteron render nodes, and thus far we have not been able to get max to successfully load. Here are the specs for the nodes, they were all manufactured together and are identical:

- Dual AMD Opteron 275 HE processors
- 4GB of RAM
- Tyan Thunder K8SD Pro S2882-D motherboard
- Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Service Pack 1

The error first occurred after we installed the V-Ray Renderer from Chaos and tested its distributive-rendering spawner application, which launches 3ds max with an empty dummy max file and awaits a network connection with a workstation. As soon as the spawner attempted to load max, we got the following error message:

“This application has failed to start because d3dx9_26.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem.”

After pressing “OK,” max crashes out causing the spawner to immediately re-launch max, thus causing the same error message. At this point we had set up two of the four render servers and both were exhibiting the same error.

To confirm that it was not V-Ray’s fault, I installed max without V-Ray on a third node, launched the backburner server on the node, and then submitted an empty scene to backburner to see if it could successfully launch 3ds max. It did not, and the server posted the following error:

INF Launching ‘Autodesk 3ds Max 8.0’
ERR Unknown error loading application

We have since confirmed that all four servers fail to launch max and post the same error about missing a DLL file. Our max installs have been fully patched to SP3, including the update to Backburner 3.0.2. Running Windows Update confirms that our operating systems are also up to date and have no additional patches / service packs to install.

Thanks guys. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a speedy resolution, these new machines are gonna smoke everything else we have in the office!

Shaun

[ShaunDon]

Update :: Autodesk does not officially support 64-bit operating systems and as such we're pretty much on our own to figure this out. Anyone out there with a lifeline? I'll keep digging on this end...

[manta]

It seems that is a DX9 file, here is a thread on that file, and a download on the second post, you might want to try, it might be your problem, I'de post the file here but its over 1 mb, so I can't...

http://community.codemasters.com/for...d.php?p=805713

let us know if it works...

[DavidR]

That's weird -we've been using Server2003-64 (XP-64 is built on Server2003-64) on dual Opteron 275/4GB with Max7 with no problems, and DR with Spawner works fine. We're trying to get IT to update the farm to Max8 (by which time Max9 will be out, with 64-bit support, I hope), so it won't be updated in time to confirm or compare with your experience, but I felt it might give you some hope to know that it should work.

[tecton3d]

I wish I could help but to get your question out to a larger audience, try here... the CGsociety>3dsmax forum ~ you could even try the plugin and add-ons forum.

http://forums.cgsociety.org/forumdisplay.php?f=6

16 Opteron HE cores = delicious : )

[manta]

Are you able to network render using the host computer only (as a server and manager) I was able to just now, using Win x64 service pack 1 and Max 8 (no service packs), I am unable to try it using my other computer as a server because its running XP-32, so that wouldn't do us much good as far as a test goes...

[ShaunDon]

Hey guys, I did get an "unofficial" response from AD. Installing the latest DirectX runtime from MS did fix the problem. Here's the link they sent me:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

I was just a little surprised that when I googled and searched the forums no one listed this error message anywhere... kinda crazy. Oh well. I'm breathing a whole bunch easier now. Thanks for the help!

Shaun

[AISO GROUP]

If I Buy 4 Cpu Opteron Dual Core On Windows Server 2003 64 Bit, Would I Be Able To Render Max 8 Vray 8 Buckets?.....

[manta]

If I Buy 4 Cpu Opteron Dual Core On Windows Server 2003 64 Bit, Would I Be Able To Render Max 8 Vray 8 Buckets?.....

Yes