Does anybody know where to get more detailed error messages or progress messages in Houdini. Actually, a ROP output driver that is supposed to be creating a cash stops and I need to know what is happening. Is there anything like the script editor window in Maya that will output what Houdini is doing so it is easier for me to track why things are going wrong? Somehow, I haven't found that yet (apart from middlemousing on nodes).

What ROP type are you talking about specifically? If it's running hscript stuff inside, you can try typing in “commandecho on” an Hscript Textport. This is suppose to echo any hscript commands being run. However, since most tools in Houdini are not script-based, it isn't very useful unless you have such a situation.

If you're talking about a Mantra ROP, you can add -V 4 or something like that to the mantra command to have it output verbose information when rendering.