MENTAL RAY PROBLEMS?! CHECK YOUR Mayatomr.mll file!!!
I've been having issues with Mental Ray on my last machine after I installed 2015 SP6 two weeks ago.
Over the past week I built a completely new machine and installed a pro licensed (legit-Desktop subscription) copy of Maya 2015 SP5 (so was the previous machines version). For some reason I have not been able to get Mental Ray working for days. I have searched through all the forums, multiple web-sites, and been dealing with Tech Support for the last several days and nothing has worked.
Here's what I've done today:
1) Checked out pluginPrefs.mel: C:\Users\kenny_jackson\Documents\maya\2015-x64\prefs\pluginPrefs.mel
2) Checked out the autoLoadPlugin script: C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya2015\scripts\startup\autoLoadPlugin
3) Moved the autoLoadPlugin script to a BACKUP directory.
4) Launch Maya with no plug-ins auto loading (the Script Editor will complain about that).
5)Try to load the Mayatomr plug-ins from the Plug-In Manager. Get error:
// Error: line 1: Unable to dynamically load : C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2015/bin/plug-ins/Mayatomr.mll
The specified procedure could not be found.
//
// Error: line 1: The specified procedure could not be found.
(Mayatomr) //
But the file it's referring to is indeed in the same directory sctructure with the exact same name.
So, I remotely log-in to a machine across the country for the firm I'm working with. This machine has no problems with Mental Ray. I notice that the Mayatomr.mll (26259 KB) on that computer has a different file size than the one on mine (26501 KB), even though they are the same version and service pack. However, that copy of Maya 2015 SP5 had been installed at least two months ago.
6) I copy Mayatomr.mll from the remote machine to my plug-ins directory after backing up the one that was included with a completely fresh, first time Maya install three days ago.
7) Replace autoLoadPlugin back to where it should be.
8) For some reason, Maya cannot use the current Mental Ray shaders directory:
C:\Program Files\Autodesk\mentalrayForMaya2015\shaders\
So I assume there is something in the old Mayatomr.mll that doesn't want to sync up with the new install shaders directory.
9) I copy the shaders directory from the remote machine to the proper location on my new machine after backing up the new shaders directory somewhere else (just inb case).
10) Launch Maya, Open a file I need to render, hit Render.....and it works. No errors, crashes, no "cannot execute", "module not found", "procedure not found", or any descrepancies with how the render should look at all. Lighting, shadows, shaders, Final Gather, and textures. Everything's fine
I believe there is something wrong with the latest version of the Mayatomr.mll file. Even though I was installing an earlier version of Maya than 2015 SP6, that file could have been changed "under the hood" and included in any number of versions, even Maya 2016 potentially.
I don't have a way to view the contents like a regular MEL or Python script as the .mll files are compiled into that format from something, similar to .dll files (from what I've read). The indication that something could have been different was file size.
If you are having issues with new/recent installs having a working Mental Ray plug-in, look to see if you have an old Mayatomr.mll file and shaders\ folder to potentially substitue. Maybe everything will start behaving properly again. I'd love to hear feedback from anyone that this works for, but in the mean-time I'm just happy I can do some work between now and my Monday dead-line
I'll see if I can attach the Mayatomr.mll that's working for me and shaders\ directory as well....
reading thru this. the line ":/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2015/bin/plug-ins/Mayatomr.mll" strikes me as wrong
for Maya 2015 the mental ray plugin is installed separately from Maya, its no longer installed in this location.
I would suspect that you have some mixed configuration, "mod" files in your installation, pointing to the wrong directories.
Mental Ray for Maya 2015 is installed into: C:\Program Files\mentalrayForMaya2015
there should not be a mentalray.mod file for mayatomr in the Maya modules directory any more
its now found in the Common Files
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Autodesk Shared\Modules\Maya\2015\mentalray.mod
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