Hi there,

I used to be able to run batches of jobs using Render Queue in PoserPro 2010. A few months ago I upgraded my OS to Win7 Ultimate, and now that I need the functionality, I can't seem to get it to run. I am constantly getting the following error:

"FFrender failed to launch"

and the bottom line under the log window reads

"Cmd prot 4418, discovery port 11523..."

The dots at the end of 11523 increase, a new message for "... FFRender failed to launch" shows up on the log, and it starts all over again.

I have contacted SM's tech support and it's a bit like talking to a wall. They keep suggesting "solutions" that have nothing to do with the stated problem (i.e. telling me I should upgrade the Render Nodes to SR1 on the networked machine when I said from the begining that I was running the jobs locally and it all had SR1 already; asking several times for version numbers and OS details that were given when submitting the ticket... you get the idea).

I am running Norton. I have tried running Render Queue without Norton running at all, with the same result. I've tried reintalling Render Queue individually, and the whole application. Poser, FFrender and RenderQueue are fully enabled through norton to communicate with everything. Norton's log does NOT show any communication attempt by any of the involved programs through any port, nor lists any activity as blocked.

I strongly suspect something else is blocking FFrender.exe from talking to RenderQueue, but can't figure out what. Since the exact same setup worked with WinVista+Norton on this exact machine, I suspect it's something specific to Win7. Tech Support should know about any OS-specific issues but they're too busy patting me on the back and telling me to reinstall to actually pay attention.

Does anybody have any ideas that could help sort this out? My eternal gratitude if you do!

UAC by any chance??

Probably not. I'm an administrator and I've tried running things both "normally" and set up specifically to run as an admin without luck, so unless there's something else requiring special permissions that I'm not aware of, it shouldn't be the case.

You can run as admin and still have problems with the UAC in W7 dependant on where you're install is situated..

Where do you ahve it installed??

Where the programs installed by default, in the Program Files folder. Exact same location it was under Win Vista and worked.

I know Win7 (and Vista) have a fit if you want to copy or alter files in there, but have never encountered problems with just running them, and you'd think that being the default installation location, they would have piles of problems listed under support about it. Doesn't seem to be the case.

If it is indeed an UAC problem, there's nothing from Windows itself telling me Firefly is blocked from running, though. Just the little notice on Render Queue.

Meerly running might invoke minor code to be exchanged which might be perceived as security risks to W7.  However, the Program Files folder is only be several choices to place Poser when you ran it's installation.  One is placing content in My Documents for sharing, another is in it's own folder on the core drive.

The alternative locations was for content libraries. This isn't a question of content libraries but of render queue and the Firefly Renderer (FFrender.exe and FFrender64.exe). 

As I said, this setup used to work under Windows Vista; still using SR1 and still using Norton, without any problems whatsoever. And as I said, if there are known issues of running Render Queue from the Program Files folder in Win7, then I am amazed that there's nothing about it under the knowledge base at SM (and of course that the tech support didn't mention this either). 

Quote - Meerly running might invoke minor code to be exchanged which might be perceived as security risks to W7.  However, the Program Files folder is only be several choices to place Poser when you ran it's installation.  One is placing content in My Documents for sharing, another is in it's own folder on the core drive.

I had installed PP2010 in my My Documents folder (under Apps) in order to overcome the whole UAC issue and was told by the ever-helpful John Czarky at SM support that that was why I was encountered the same exact error you are encountering, Arien: he very dismissively directed me to install Poser Pro correctly to its intended location.

Interesting. So, it doesn't appear to have anything to do with install folder location. Might come as a surprise to John.

Robyns, John is the person dealing with me right now and has very dismissively insisted that I somehow "corrupted an installation" by assuming I double-installed the Queue manager, that I should upgrade the nodes I'm trying to run on other machines when I said from the get go that I was trying to run a local job... you get the idea. He is answering promptly, I'll give you that; just not answering my specific problem and instead making a batch of assumptions.

Did you manage to sort it out? if so, how?

Latest test I've run shows that if I put FFrender.exe to "run as administrator" by default, it doesn't run from within Poser, period. So I'd lost all rendering capabilities. Whee!

(also, can you share your OS/setup to see if there are any similarities with mine? Might help nailing down what is causing this, since I get the feeling I won't get much usable help from SM)

Necroposting to let people know that the issue is now SOLVED, and since someone else has it and haven't been able to find explanations on what is going on or how to sort it out.

I was running PoserPro 2010 64 bits version and only had that installed, but for some reason there were some "remains" (including Firefy and Queue Manager) in the x86 folder that were installed there (not by me, I did a full system wipe a couple of months ago when I updated the OS; I suspect they were put there when I installed PP2010; my initial installation did NOT tick the "install also 32-bits version")

I was asked to re-install PoserPro 2010 again, this time making sure the 32bits file were running. I then updated and, since I've had some permission issues with other programs and sorted them this way, made sure that Queue Manager was marked to run as Administrator. That has done the trick, and all is now working.