This page provides information on setting up Phoenix so that it can run from a location different from the default.
Overview
Phoenix for 3ds Max can be run from an arbitrary location using only 3ds Max 2022 and newer.
Installing Phoenix for 3ds Max from an arbitrary location provides several advantages over the regular installer:
- The arbitrary location installation allows for setting a custom environment when starting each 3ds Max instance. In comparison, running the regular installation multiple times overwrites the Phoenix environment variables.
- The arbitrary location installation can be used to run Phoenix for 3ds Max from any location or even a network drive. That way, multiple users can start 3ds Max along with Phoenix using just a script that sets up the environment variables without the need to run local installations.
- Upgrading an arbitrary location installation is a lot easier too, as you don't need to run the installer on every user's computer.
When using an arbitrary location installation of Phoenix, the EULA needs to be accepted to start a simulation. A pop-up window appears when the simulation begins.
Required steps to run Phoenix from an arbitrary location
- Run the Phoenix for 3ds Max installer with its default settings.
- Copy the necessary files to custom network location.
- Set up the environment variables needed to run Phoenix for 3ds Max.
- Set up your license. For more information on licensing check this page.
- Run 3ds Max.
Setting up the installation files using the GUI installer
Running Phoenix for 3ds Max from an arbitrary location has two parts to it. First, you must run the installation to extract the necessary files and store them on the network. Next, you must configure your local machine to use these files to run Phoenix for 3ds Max.
Phoenix does not require a V-Ray for 3ds Max installation to load and work correctly inside 3ds Max.
- Run the Phoenix for 3ds Max installation with its default settings.
- Go to C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\Phoenix3dsMax20xx and copy all the files from there and put them on the specific network location you would like to use ( for example C:\Custom_Phoenix_Install ).
The Phoenix installer places some additional files in C:\Program Files\Chaos\Phoenix FD\3ds Max 20xx for x64 used for simulation, preview or conversion of the simulation caches. You can find more about what each one does here - Phoenix Tools.
There are also SDK files - you can find more info about them here - Phoenix API.
And finally, there are files needed by the V-Ray Standalone Renderer in order to render Phoenix Simulators, Particle Shaders and textures.
If you're using Phoenix version older than 5.23 - the additional files are located in C:\Program Files\Chaos Group\Phoenix FD\3ds Max 20xx for x64
3. Copy the files from C:\Program Files\Chaos\Phoenix FD\3ds Max 20xx for x64 and place them in a folder in the network location you would like to use ( for example C:\Custom_Phoenix_Install\Additional_files ).
4. Uninstall Phoenix or delete the files from the default location so that they won't load from there anymore.
Setting up Environment Variables
Before you run 3ds Max, you need to set the following environment variables on the local machine.
| Action | Variable | Location | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Set | ADSK_APPLICATION_PLUGINS | C:\Custom_Phoenix_Install | set ADSK_APPLICATION_PLUGINS=C:\Custom_Phoenix_Install |
| Set | PHX_FOR_3DSMAX20xx_BIN | C:\Custom_Phoenix_Install\Additional_files\bin | set PHX_FOR_3DSMAX2025_BIN =C:\Custom_Phoenix_Install\Additional_files\bin |
| Set | PHX_FOR_3DSMAX2xx_STNDPLUGS | C:\Custom_Phoenix_Install\Additional_files\bin\plugins | set PHX_FOR_3DSMAX2025_STNDPLUGS=C:\Custom_Phoenix_Install\Additional_files\bin |
Additionally, if you are rendering with V-Ray Standalone 7 or newer (meaning you render vrscenes or render using V-Ray GPU), you need to edit or append this environment variable:
| Action | Variable | Location | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Set | VRAY_FOR_3DSMAX20xx_PLUGINS | C:\Custom_Phoenix_Install\Additional_files\vray7plugins | set VRAY_FOR_3DSMAX2025_PLUGINS=C:\Custom_Phoenix_Install\Additional_files\vray7plugins |
Alternatively, you could append this path to the VRAY_PLUGINS environment variable, but please note that this would affect all installed V-Ray Standalone versions.
Finally, another alternative and the official way to do this for V-Ray versions older than V-Ray 6 would be to copy all files from C:\Program Files\Chaos Group\Phoenix FD\3ds Max 20xx for x64\vray5plugins to the folder that the VRAY_FOR_3DSMAX20xx_PLUGINS environment variable points to. This would affect only this specific V-Ray Standalone version.