Composite 2013 SP1 Installation Crapfest

[Hirazi Blue]

@ActionArt & @TwinSnakes007
Did any of you file this a potential show stopper over at Support (and by that I mean the "anonymous" Support that lives in the “Subscription Center”, not our very own (former) “Head of Support" xsisupport).


This is something they should help you fix, this is lost functionality if you cannot get it installed. Let them sweat a little bit over it. Better yet: do submit this problem both of you, so they can see immediately it’s not a fluke.

Personally I skipped SP1 and installed SP2 side-by-side to the original Composite 2013 and haven’t found a problem yet, apart from that installer overwriting my original Tokix user folder…
;)

[xsisupport]

I can repro this error on my system by setting ADSK_COMPOSITE_LICENSE=3DSMAX:

---------------------------
Composite - Fatal Error
---------------------------
Cannot determine a product license to use.
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------

And, unfortunately, it doesn't look like Composite does any ADLM logging for this error.
Composite does create the standard toxik logs in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Temp\toxik\logs, but that's it.


If you set ADSK_COMPOSITE_LICENSE=SOFTIMAGE, and Composite.exe cannot, for some reason, find setenv.bat, then you would get the "Cannot determine a product license to use" error.

There may be, of course, other weirdness that could cause that error. I'd be curious to see a Process Monitor log for composite.exe.

[TwinSnakes007]

So, then, if I take the following steps at the command line:

Code: Select all

set ADSK_COMPOSITE_LICENSE=SOFTIMAGE
setenv.bat (from SI install dir)
composite.exe

then shouldnt that work? Just as a Proof of Concept.

Actually, if the "txcheck License" doesnt succeed, then there is probably no need to try to run composite.

[xsisupport]

So, then, if I take the following steps at the command line:

Code: Select all

set ADSK_COMPOSITE_LICENSE=SOFTIMAGE
setenv.bat (from SI install dir)
composite.exe

then shouldnt that work? Just as a Proof of Concept.

Actually, if the "txcheck License" doesnt succeed, then there is probably no need to try to run composite.

No, I mean if you deleted setenv.bat, or if the Softimage InstallationPath was wrong in the registry, then Composite would not find setenv.bat, and then you would get the error.

What you typed above should work.

[TwinSnakes007]

I remoted into my desktop at home, from here at work and ran those commands from the command line, and composite at least started for me, obtained a license, started loading plugins and building the GUI.

So I saw the startup screen and some messages during its loading process. It did crash before it could actually display the full default screen, but that's not a license issue.

Will try again this evening and report back.

-TS-

[xsisupport]

I remoted into my desktop at home, from here at work and ran those commands from the command line, and composite at least started for me, obtained a license, started loading plugins and building the GUI.

So I saw the startup screen and some messages during its loading process. It did crash before it could actually display the full default screen, but that's not a license issue.

Will try again this evening and report back.

-TS-

Cool. The crash could be because of the remote session (lower OpenGL level).

[ActionArt]

@ActionArt & @TwinSnakes007
Did any of you file this a potential show stopper over at Support (and by that I mean the "anonymous" Support that lives in the “Subscription Center”, not our very own (former) “Head of Support" xsisupport).

Yes, see previous post. They've finally figured out what Composite is so that's a good sign.

I haven't had a chance to try all the help from Steven yet but will shortly.

[ActionArt]

I'd be curious to see a Process Monitor log for composite.exe.

I have Process Monitor but how do I create this?

[ActionArt]

I tried replacing the PIT file but it had no effect.

The command setenv.bat from above "is not recognized as a command....

AD support sent this http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps ... ID=9241177

Which I have yet to make sense of. It's for Max and a network license, neither of which I have.

[xsisupport]

I tried replacing the PIT file but it had no effect.

The command setenv.bat from above "is not recognized as a command....

AD support sent this http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps ... ID=9241177

Which I have yet to make sense of. It's for Max and a network license, neither of which I have.

Use a text editor to create a toxik.ini file here:

C:\Users\<username>\Documents\toxik\2013

In the toxik.ini file, add these lines:

Code: Select all

toxik::deployment::licenseType                Standalone
toxik::deployment::softimagelocation          C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Softimage 2013

I have a standalone MECSP license, and with that ini file, Composite tried to activate a standalone Softimage license (eg it showed me the Try or Activate screen for Softimage). So it did do something...

[xsisupport]

I'd be curious to see a Process Monitor log for composite.exe.

I have Process Monitor but how do I create this?

http://xsisupport.com/2011/04/19/process-monitor-101/

[Hirazi Blue]

@ActionArt & @TwinSnakes007
Did any of you file this a potential show stopper over at Support (and by that I mean the "anonymous" Support that lives in the “Subscription Center”, not our very own (former) “Head of Support" xsisupport).

Yes, see previous post. They've finally figured out what Composite is so that's a good sign.

I haven't had a chance to try all the help from Steven yet but will shortly.

I didn't claim "they" would be able to solve the problem. Still having access to Stephen Blair is obviously priceless. The only thing I really wanted to highlight was that this is the kind of stuff "they" should be made aware of even if we have access to the "one and only" xsisupport to actually solve it. This is stuff that should not only be figured out and fixed on a per user basis, but on the application level. And yes, I apparently overlooked that "specific" previous post when writing my remarks - so I shouldn't have included your name - sorry! But the gist of what I wanted to point out still stands, regardless, I believe. Ever since xsisupport involuntarily left "their" building, I'm unsure if writing stuff here is enough to actually reach "them" as well.
;)

[ActionArt]

Yes indeed, it really needs to be fixed in the actual install if they're going to include this thing.

Don't worry, they'll be well aware of it if they aren't already ;)

[TwinSnakes007]

Got it! [thanks to Steve]

First thing I did was try writing the toxik.ini file.....nope Composite still crashes.

So, from the command prompt, I know this works:

Code: Select all

set ADSK_COMPOSITE_LICENSE=SOFTIMAGE
C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Softimage 2013 SP1\bin\setenv.bat
composite

So then I tried:

Code: Select all

set ADSK_COMPOSITE_LICENSE=SOFTIMAGE
composite

..and that still crashed...so I knew it wasnt the ASDK_COMPOSITE_LICENSE

So then I figured it was something that the setenv.bat is setting...turns out its SI_HOME.

So now this worked from the command line...

Code: Select all

set SI_HOME=C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Softimage 2013 SP1
composite

So, for a permanent solution, all I ended up doing was adding SI_HOME as an environment variable and I'm back in business. No more crashes and I can run Composite by double-clicking the icon from the desktop.

Hope this helps other out there.

[ActionArt]

Still didn't work for me, made no difference here.

[xsisupport]

Still didn't work for me, made no difference here.

If you can get me a Process Monitor log, I'll take a look and see if there's anything obvious going wrong (well, obvious from a Process Monitor point of view)