Hi, I just installed the houdini-8.0.383-win32.exe package on my PC. So far I can't even get the licence administrator to run. It sort-of displays it's window (without the frame) and then after a while the “Houdini Console” window pops up with the “NT_GeneratorThreadqueueEvent event queue full. Event dropped” message over and over. I have to kill it with task manager as it's using 100% CPU and not really doing anything.

I'm running WindowsXP SP2. My video card is an ATi FireGL 8800. The driver is version 6.14.10.6483 dated 29/09/2004. That seems pretty old but I can't find anything newer on ATi's support site for that card. Catalysts won't install with this card.

Try downloading the latest build? I have no idea.

You may find out if this is a display issue if you set

setenv HOUDINI_OGL_SOFTWARE = 1


(or set it in your Windows settings > environment - whereever that is on XP)

OK, so setting that env variable worked. Why it isn't set by the installer if it's so vital is anyone's guess.

Now I have the licence administrator running I have another program which is that it says it can't contact the sidefx website - it should be able to since it's not firewalled in any way. So I followed the instructions to get the license keys and enter them manually. The two application keys entered fine but it would not accept the server key because it says there is already a server key set up. This is presumably because I installed Houdini 7 on here last year sometime (I uninstalled because that didn't work for some reason either but it must have left the licence data around wherever it's hidden).

Unfortunately the Administrator tool says the server key is invalid (out of date?) so it won't start the applications even though it has valid application keys. Meanwhile it won't accept the new server key.

Let me know if this is solveable somehow. Thanks.

oozer
OK, so setting that env variable worked. Why it isn't set by the installer if it's so vital is anyone's guess.

Well, here you're disabling hardware openGL and so you might get some huge slowdowns with decent size scenes.

Anyway, to eradicate the license keys, I believe you can just delete the C:\WINNT\keys directory. Not too sure there but it may work for you.

Not too much further :twisted: Hope you enjoy!

I really suggest downloading the latest build if you're experiencing licensing problems on Windows.

jason_iversen

oozer
OK, so setting that env variable worked. Why it isn't set by the installer if it's so vital is anyone's guess.

Well, here you're disabling hardware openGL and so you might get some huge slowdowns with decent size scenes.

I see. So the problem is that there's something about Houdini that doesn't like the FireGL drivers. It's a shame because every other OpenGL app I've run on here (including Maya) is fine.

jason_iversen
Anyway, to eradicate the license keys, I believe you can just delete the C:\WINNT\keys directory. Not too sure there but it may work for you.

Not too much further :twisted: Hope you enjoy!

Thanks, I spent ages looking for the file that held the keys before I posted here. They did a good job of hiding it! I deleted the server key, ran the lincece administrator app again and this time it accepted the new key just fine. I'd say it's a bug to not let people add a new server key even when the current one is invalid.

edward
I really suggest downloading the latest build if you're experiencing licensing problems on Windows.

I installed the most recent build marked “stable”. Is it normal for people to be recommended to use non-stable builds? If there are known bugs in the last stable build a new stable build should be QAed and the known bugs mentioned in the README until it's available. If these aren't known bugs then what's the use of installing an non-stable build? It's normally the case that non-stable builds have more bugs, not less. So far, while I appreciate the chance to try out such an expensive software package gratis, I am starting to wonder if I'm the only person to run the Windows port.

Just a note to anyone who runs across this thread trying to solve the “Invalid Server Key” problem. If you delete the C\windows\keys folder, as described here, and then immedialtely try to run Houdini, you will still fail to get into Houdini. What I found was that a reboot after killing the keys directory was necessary.

(On this other thread they clearly state that you should shut down the license service after killing the keys directory http//www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_forum&Itemid=172&page=viewtopic&t=2464&highlight=windows+keys
) Rebooting the computer is in effect restarting the license server service….

BTW, Many thanks from me as well.

Hi,

It is not necessary to reboot Windows as you can stop the Houdini License Server & Client services when deleting the keys. However, I agree if you're not sure how to turn off Services or access Services, then a reboot is the best way.

Cheers!
steven