Hi,
The issue we are running into at the moment is due to windows user rights on the rendernodes means they can't access the distribution maps in the program files. That is what is so frustrating.
I see. But this is a very specific configuration, which is not normal in standard installations.
By default, Program Files is available to all Windows Users in read-only mode. That should be enough for a safer environment.
If you absolutely need to remove all permissions to Program Files (including read access), i would suggest to copy distribution maps to any texture folder, which is accessible to the render nodes.
I assume your render nodes have other texture folders configured, which may be used for this purpose. Remember that texture folders can be configured for render nodes in 3dsmax.ini,
as described here.
We have not modified these files since a long time ago, and i doubt we need to modify them in the future.
- Windows user must have permissions to write in the network path. = Users have this, nodes don't. Would nodes need this when they are only reading library data?
- Assets may be overwritten, if Update Manager (the tool which downloads our assets) is executed by several users. = We don't edit FP assets / libery, we make our own in a separate folder to keep it clean and unified.
- Problems with missing paths, or different mapped drives between nodes (UNC format is a must). = This is all uniform, ironically our issue is that the non networked / baked in FP/RC stuff causes issues. Everything else is clean and organised on the network with fixed protocols to add files / maps.
- Slow asset loading, if network is not properly configured. = Agree with this, however a decent sized landscape file has this issue anyway so a couple more seconds for the, in our case, limited original FP stuff when called upon isn't a noticable issue.
Well, with these points i just was describing potential issues which may happen to non-experienced users, if we allow to install the library assets in any folder.
For this reason, we try to keep the installation process as simple as possible.
For customers with more experience in network installations (as your case), i guess the best workflow would be this:
a) Run a default installation in a local workstation, including the download of library assets by Update Manager.
b) Once installed, make a copy of the assets to the network path of your election, and add this path to the Library Browser (in the same way you handle your custom or third-party libraries).
c) In render nodes, just install the plugin... but don't run Update Manager. It's not necessary to install the library asssets locally, because you are already using them from your own network path.
Please note that all above only affects to the library assets included with Forest.
But we assume that most of customers already have many other libraries, which requires a similar procedure (copy to a network path, configure texture folders, etc.).