This page provides information on running V-Ray on a machine that does not have it locally installed. The following instructions apply to 3ds Max 2022 and later. Find instructions for earlier 3ds Max versions at Running V-Ray from an Arbitrary Location.
Overview
Starting with 3ds Max 2022, V-Ray is using a new scheme for packaging Autodesk plugins as described in details here: Autodesk SDK documentation.
The Autodesk application package of V-Ray for 3ds Max is now installed in a single directory, e.g. C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\VRay3dsMax2023. The package directory (e.g. VRay3dsMax2023) along with its full contents must be in either of the locations described in the 'Install Location' section of Autodesk SDK documentation in order for 3ds Max to be able to load the V-Ray files.
For more information about running V-Ray from a custom location, please refer to the 'Custom folder' section of Autodesk SDK documentation.
V-Ray needs its own environment variables setup to run properly e.g.:
VRAY_FOR_3DSMAX2023_MAIN=C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\VRay3dsMax2023\bin VRAY_FOR_3DSMAX2023_PLUGINS=C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\VRay3dsMax2023\bin\plugins VRAY_MDL_PATH_3DSMAX2023=C:\Program Files\Chaos Group\V-Ray\3ds Max 2023\mdl VRAY_OSL_PATH_3DSMAX2023=C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\VRay3dsMax2023\opensl
In this example, the root path C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\VRay3dsMax2023\ is the default installation path and can be changed according to the location chosen to deploy the package, e.g. for Custom folder cases, it should match the ADSK_APPLICATION_PLUGINS path.
Notes
- The VRAY_MDL_PATH_3DSMAX2023 is pointing to files deployed by the V-Ray installer, they could be deployed in the custom location too, but they are MDL shader sample files and are considered auxiliary to the plugin package and thus are not in it by default.
- The plugin.ini file is not to be modified with the Autodesk application package format.