Hi guys,

Struggling with this one, I am running 13 apprentice without a problem but somehow H14 doesn't want to show the shelves.

This is the error I am getting on the terminal:

Could not initialize the help server:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “<stdin>”, line 1, in <module>
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.13/houdini/python2.7libs\houdinihelp\__init__.py”, line 3, in <module>
import cgi
File “C:\PYTHON26\LIB\cgi.py”, line 40, in <module>
import urllib
File “C:\PYTHON26\LIB\urllib.py”, line 26, in <module>
import socket
File “C:\PYTHON26\LIB\socket.py”, line 46, in <module>
import _socket
ImportError: DLL load failed: The specified module could not be found.

Error finding shelf files:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “<stdin>”, line 1, in <module>
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.13/houdini/python2.7libs\shelfutils.py”, line 13, in <module>
import assetdownload
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.13/houdini/python2.7libs\assetdownload.py”, line 5, in <module>
import urllib
File “C:\PYTHON26\LIB\urllib.py”, line 26, in <module>
import socket
File “C:\PYTHON26\LIB\socket.py”, line 46, in <module>
import _socket
ImportError: DLL load failed: The specified module could not be found.

Error finding shelf files:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “<stdin>”, line 1, in <module>
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.13/houdini/python2.7libs\shelfutils.py”, line 13, in <module>
import assetdownload
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.13/houdini/python2.7libs\assetdownload.py”, line 5, in <module>
import urllib
File “C:\PYTHON26\LIB\urllib.py”, line 26, in <module>
import socket
File “C:\PYTHON26\LIB\socket.py”, line 46, in <module>
import _socket
ImportError: DLL load failed: The specified module could not be found.

Error finding shelf files:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “<stdin>”, line 1, in <module>
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.13/houdini/python2.7libs\shelfutils.py”, line 13, in <module>
import assetdownload
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.13/houdini/python2.7libs\assetdownload.py”, line 5, in <module>
import urllib
File “C:\PYTHON26\LIB\urllib.py”, line 26, in <module>
import socket
File “C:\PYTHON26\LIB\socket.py”, line 46, in <module>
import _socket
ImportError: DLL load failed: The specified module could not be found.

Error finding shelf files:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “<stdin>”, line 1, in <module>
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.13/houdini/python2.7libs\shelfutils.py”, line 13, in <module>
import assetdownload
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.13/houdini/python2.7libs\assetdownload.py”, line 5, in <module>
import urllib
File “C:\PYTHON26\LIB\urllib.py”, line 26, in <module>
import socket
File “C:\PYTHON26\LIB\socket.py”, line 46, in <module>
import _socket
ImportError: DLL load failed: The specified module could not be found.

Error finding shelf files:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “<stdin>”, line 1, in <module>
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.13/houdini/python2.7libs\shelfutils.py”, line 13, in <module>
import assetdownload
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.13/houdini/python2.7libs\assetdownload.py”, line 5, in <module>
import urllib
File “C:\PYTHON26\LIB\urllib.py”, line 26, in <module>
import socket
File “C:\PYTHON26\LIB\socket.py”, line 46, in <module>
import _socket
ImportError: DLL load failed: The specified module could not be found.

Error while populating shelf with shelf tool assets.
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “<stdin>”, line 1, in <module>
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.13/houdini/python2.7libs\shelfutils.py”, line 13, in <module>
import assetdownload
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.13/houdini/python2.7libs\assetdownload.py”, line 5, in <module>
import urllib
File “C:\PYTHON26\LIB\urllib.py”, line 26, in <module>
import socket
File “C:\PYTHON26\LIB\socket.py”, line 46, in <module>
import _socket
ImportError: DLL load failed: The specified module could not be found.

Error while updating shelf with shelf tool assets.
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “<stdin>”, line 1, in <module>
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.13/houdini/python2.7libs\sas\localassets.py”, line 9, in <module>
import urllib
File “C:\PYTHON26\LIB\urllib.py”, line 26, in <module>
import socket
File “C:\PYTHON26\LIB\socket.py”, line 46, in <module>
import _socket
ImportError: DLL load failed: The specified module could not be found.

Error while checking for updates
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “<stdin>”, line 1, in <module>
File “CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.13/houdini/python2.7libs\sas\localassets.py”, line 9, in <module>
import urllib
File “C:\PYTHON26\LIB\urllib.py”, line 26, in <module>
import socket
File “C:\PYTHON26\LIB\socket.py”, line 46, in <module>
import _socket
ImportError: DLL load failed: The specified module could not be found.

any ideas on how to solve this?

Thanks,
Cris

It looks like Houdini is loading the python 2.6 distro that you've separately installed on your system. This probably happened to work ok in H13 because it also defaulted to python 2.6. However, H14 now defaults to using python 2.7 and so now you're getting a bunch of conflicts.

Take a look at how Python finds modules here:
https://docs.python.org/2/using/windows.html#finding-modules [docs.python.org]

I'm guessing that one of those items are set on your system globally to always using python 2.6:
- PYTHONPATH environment variable, and/or
- One of the those listed registry keys

Hi edward,

Thanks for your reply, that should explain the problem since I did fiddle with the Python Path at some point.

Will let you know how it goes and thanks again

UPDATE: The problem was in the PythonPath as you suggested, all is fixed now.

Thanks again!

Hi Cgcris!
What is your OS?
Can you please say what do you putt in PYTHONPATH variable? Trying to fix same problem.

Don't set it.