xgen error

xgen error

Anonymous
Not applicable
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Message 1 of 5

xgen error

Anonymous
Not applicable

dear all,
whenever i try to open xgen window it says
Error: line 1: Cannot find procedure "XgCreateDescriptionEditor".
and when startup it says:
# Error: file: C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2016/plug-ins/xgen/scripts/xgen.mel line 115: UnicodeEncodeError: file C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya2016\plug-ins\xgen\scripts\xgenm\xgGlobal.py line 177: ascii #
// Error: Unable to execute xgen.mel. //
i am using a student licenced maya 2016, but this happens on 2015 as well.
plugins are activated, op system is up to date windows 8.1
i seek advice

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Message 2 of 5

pshwayka
Advisor
Advisor

This is a duplicate post from the Maya General section.  Also, it would be nice if you would post the solutions you came up with instead of just saying that you solved your issues.

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Message 3 of 5

Anonymous
Not applicable

Sincerely, but as I did not notice that anyone has met the problem or heard about it, regarding no updates, I felt it unnecessary.
Also, sure it is duplicated as I believed I wrote it to the inappropriate group hence not getting an answer.

It was due to a collision between the code of python (ascii) and my windows (unicode) as Windows was "wise" enough to put unicode characters in my user's name (using the student version it is generated from my university ID) and I did not tend to it to get changed for no apparent reason.

When Maya uses the function XgCreateDescriptionEditor, it basically searches for a script it believes is installed. It asks for the location using the MAYA_APP_DIR environment variable, which is set upon install. Now as I wrote before, the variable is coded in unicode, done by the Windows, but the function is written in ascii. It just does not understand the other thus throwing an exception that it did not find the script.

To overcome it, one has two options that I know of: either change the profile name and the user's name that is nasty and can lead to malfunction in other applications, or tweak the environmental variable to show Maya a location that even ascii code understands.
So one may copy the Documents/maya folder to the C: drive, or actually it can be tossed anywhere as long as the location does not contain unicode characters.
Then go to system/advanced system settings/environmental variables/system variables, where creating a new one named MAYA_APP_DIR is needed thats location is set to the new location of the maya folder.
After hitting OK that should do the trick, or at least it did for me.

Message 4 of 5

Steve_Curley
Mentor
Mentor
Duplicate posts, whatever the reason, are not permitted (as per the rules). If you want a thread moved simply reply to it and ask, it will be moved as soon as one of us reads the request.

Max 2016 (SP1/EXT1)
Win7Pro x64 (SP1). i5-3570K @ 4.4GHz, 8Gb Ram, DX11.
nVidia GTX760 (2GB) (Driver 430.86).

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Message 5 of 5

Anonymous
Not applicable

understood, my apologies for the inconvenience.

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