Houdini plugins load issues

#1 · 6. October 2020, 12:55

hello, since updating prism from 1.3.16 to 1.3.27 we have an issue when launching Houdini :

when launching Houdini directly, everything load correctly, along with Prism integration
when launching Houdini via Prism browser, Houdini launches correctly but some plugins do not load (Redshift)

we are controlling Houdini environment via the HSITE variable, pointing to a network folder containing our configuration files and plugins. All plugins are loaded using packages, including Prism

Does Prism changes/setup some environment variables when launching Houdini? I can't figure why everything loads when launching it directly but not via the Prism browser...

thank you !

ps: amazing work on Prism, love it 🙂

#2 · 6. October 2020, 16:39

nevermind I uninstalled Prism and prefs, reinstalled and it works now

#3 · 6. October 2020, 17:00

Good to hear that you could solve this.

As a general note, when you run the standalone Project Browser as admin or as another Windows user, then Houdini will be launched as the same user. This might cause a different Houdini configuration when you are using any config files from your Windows documents folder, because it's different folder for each Windows user.

#4 · 9. October 2020, 14:12

thank you Richard. quick question : is there a way to have a central prism distribution for all users where we can setup global option like executables, rv path, etc... (while still keeping the users prism prefs locally)

Right now each user has a local install and we sync the prism folder content but being able to have prism on a network partition would be cleaner for us. I have tried to install and launch it via a network folder but it did not work.

thanks !

#5 · 10. October 2020, 16:38

You can place the Prism folder on a network drive/server or cloud folder, which is accessible for everyone in your team. That would make updating the Prism version much easier for you.

However things like executable overrides and the RV path are stored in the user config on each workstation.

After placing Prism in a network location you need to run the "Win_Setup_Integrations.bat" and "Win_Setup_Startmenu.bat" on every workstation to create the shortcuts and DCC integrations for each workstation. The shortcuts in the "Tools" folder might not be working for you if the path to the Prism folder is different on each workstation. In that case you can launch Prism from the windows start menu shortcuts or by adding the shortcuts to your desktop.