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Installing Phoenix for Maya from an unpacked installation provides several advantages over the regular installer:


 

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  • The unpacked installation allows for setting a custom environment when starting each Maya instance. In comparison, running the regular installation multiple times overwrites the Phoenix environment variables.
  • The unpacked installation can be used to run Phoenix for Maya from any location or even a network drive. That way, multiple users can start Maya along with Phoenix using just a script that sets up the environment variables without the need to run local installations.
  • Upgrading an unpacked installation is a lot easier too, as you don't need to run the installer on every user's computer.
  • The unpacked installation allows for quick switching between different Phoenix versions without reinstalling it.
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When using an unpacked 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

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It is highly recommended to only use Phoenix from an unpacked installation or from a regular installation, but never both at the same time. If you plan on using the unpacked installation, make sure to uninstall Phoenix beforehand.

 


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Unpacking the installer file

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Chaos Phoenix additional files: /phoenix_builds/my_version/phoenix

 


Setting up the installation Files using the command line

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Example: 
"D:/Downloads/phoenixFD_adv_50000_maya2023_vray6_x64.exe" -unpackInstall="D:/unpacked_installation"

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macOS:

  1. Download the installer and extract the .app from the .dmg.
  2. In the Terminal navigate inside the .app to /Contents/MacOS/run_installer.
  3. Add the argument -unpackInstall=<directory_to_unpack> (the location of the folder you want your install to be unpacked in).

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Example: 

"/Desktop/phoenixFD_adv_50000_maya2023_vray6_x64.app/Contents/MacOS/run_installer" -unpackInstall=/phoenix_builds/phoenixFD_adv_50000_maya2023_vray6_x64

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Setting up Environment variables

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Before you run Maya, you need to set the following environmental variables on the local machine.

 


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The example directory and version names below are for Phoenix 5 for Maya 2023 for V-Ray 6 on Windows where phoenixFD_adv_50000_maya2023_vray6_x64.exe has been unpacked into D:\phoenix_builds\my_version\.

Here is a list of the environment variables and examples.

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PHX_FOR_MAYANNNN_MAIN

<unpacked_install_location>/maya_phoenix

set PHX_FOR_MAYA2023_MAIN=D:\phoenix_builds\my_version\maya_phoenix
WindowsSet
PHX_FOR_MAYANNNN_BIN

<unpacked_install_location>/phoenix/bin

set PHX_FOR_MAYA2023_BIN=D:\phoenix_builds\my_version\phoenix\bin
WindowsSet
PHX_FOR_MAYANNNN_STNDPLUGS

<unpacked_install_location>/phoenix/bin/plugins

set PHX_FOR_MAYA2023_STNDPLUGS=D:\phoenix_builds\my_version\phoenix\bin\plugins
WindowsExtendMAYA_PLUG_IN_PATH<unpacked_install_location>/maya_phoenix/plug-insset MAYA_PLUG_IN_PATH=D:\phoenix_builds\my_version\maya_phoenix\plug-ins.;%MAYA_PLUG_IN_PATH%
WindowsExtendMAYA_SCRIPT_PATH <unpacked_install_location>/maya_phoenix/scriptsset MAYA_SCRIPT_PATH=D:\phoenix_builds\my_version\maya_phoenix\scripts;%MAYA_SCRIPT_PATH%
WindowsExtendXBMLANGPATH

<unpacked_install_location>/maya_phoenix/icons

set XBMLANGPATH=D:\phoenix_builds\my_version\maya_phoenix\icons;%XBMLANGPATH%
WindowsExtendVRAY_FOR_MAYANNNN_PLUGINS1<unpacked_install_location>/phoenix/vray6pluginsset VRAY_FOR_MAYA2023_PLUGINS=D:\phoenix_builds\my_version\phoenix\vray6plugins;%VRAY_FOR_MAYA2023_PLUGINS%
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The example directory and version names below are for Phoenix 5 for Maya 2023 for V-Ray 6 on Linux where phoenixFD_adv_50000_maya2023_vray6_x64 has been unpacked into /phoenix_builds/my_version/.

Here is a list of the environment variables and examples.

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PHX_FOR_MAYANNNN_MAIN

<unpacked_install_location>/maya_phoenix

export PHX_FOR_MAYA2023_MAIN=/phoenix_builds/my_version/maya_phoenix
LinuxSet
PHX_FOR_MAYANNNN_BIN

<unpacked_install_location>/phoenix/bin

export PHX_FOR_MAYA2023_BIN=/phoenix_builds/my_version/phoenix/bin
LinuxSet
PHX_FOR_MAYANNNN_STNDPLUGS

<unpacked_install_location>/phoenix/bin/plugins

export PHX_FOR_MAYA2023_STNDPLUGS=/phoenix_builds/my_version/phoenix/bin/plugins
LinuxExtendMAYA_PLUG_IN_PATH<unpacked_install_location>/maya_phoenix/plug-insexport MAYA_PLUG_IN_PATH=/phoenix_builds/my_version/maya_phoenix/plug-ins":$MAYA_PLUG_IN_PATH
LinuxExtendMAYA_SCRIPT_PATH <unpacked_install_location>/maya_phoenix/scriptsexport MAYA_SCRIPT_PATH=/phoenix_builds/my_version/maya_phoenix/scripts":$MAYA_SCRIPT_PATH
LinuxExtendXBMLANGPATH

<unpacked_install_location>/maya_phoenix/icons

export XBMLANGPATH=/phoenix_builds/my_version/maya_phoenix/icons/%B:$XBMLANGPATH
LinuxExtendVRAY_FOR_MAYANNNN_PLUGINS1<unpacked_install_location>/phoenix/vray6pluginsexport VRAY_FOR_MAYA2023_PLUGINS=/phoenix_builds/my_version/phoenix/vray6plugins":$VRAY_FOR_MAYA2023_PLUGINS
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The example directory and version names below are for Phoenix 5 for Maya 2023 for V-Ray 6 on macOS where phoenixFD_adv_50000_maya2023_vray6_x64 has been unpacked into /phoenix_builds/my_version/.

Here is a list of the environment variables and examples.

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PHX_FOR_MAYANNNN_MAIN

<unpacked_install_location>/maya_phoenix

export PHX_FOR_MAYA2023_MAIN=/phoenix_builds/my_version/maya_phoenix
macOSSet
PHX_FOR_MAYANNNN_BIN

<unpacked_install_location>/ChaosPhoenix.app/Contents/MacOS

export PHX_FOR_MAYA2023_BIN=/phoenix_builds/my_version/ChaosPhoenix.app/Contents/MacOS
macOSSet
PHX_FOR_MAYANNNN_STNDPLUGS

<unpacked_install_location>ChaosPhoenix.app/Contents/MacOS/plugins

export PHX_FOR_MAYA2023_STNDPLUGS=/phoenix_builds/my_version/ChaosPhoenix.app/Contents/MacOS/plugins
macOSExtendMAYA_PLUG_IN_PATH<unpacked_install_location>/maya_phoenix/plug-insexport MAYA_PLUG_IN_PATH=/phoenix_builds/my_version/maya_phoenix/plug-ins:$MAYA_PLUG_IN_PATH
macOSExtendMAYA_SCRIPT_PATH <unpacked_install_location>/maya_phoenix/scriptsexport MAYA_SCRIPT_PATH=/phoenix_builds/my_version/maya_phoenix/scripts:$MAYA_SCRIPT_PATH
macOSExtendXBMLANGPATH

<unpacked_install_location>/maya_phoenix/icons

export XBMLANGPATH=/phoenix_builds/my_version/maya_phoenix/icons:$XBMLANGPATH
macOSExtendVRAY_FOR_MAYANNNN_PLUGINS1<unpacked_install_location>/phoenix/vray6pluginsexport VRAY_FOR_MAYA2023_PLUGINS=/phoenix_builds/my_version/ChaosPhoenix.app/Contents/MacOS/vray6plugins:$VRAY_FOR_MAYA2023_PLUGINS

Notes:

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1 - Alternatively if you are rendering with V-Ray Standalone 6 or newer (meaning you render vrscenes or render using V-Ray GPU), you can copy all files inside the /phoenix_builds/my_version/phoenix/vray6plugins folder to the folder that the VRAY_FOR_MAYANNNN_PLUGINS environment variable points to (specified during the V-Ray for Maya installation). This would affect only this specific V-Ray Standalone version

or

append the /phoenix_builds/my_version/phoenix/vray6plugins path to the VRAY_PLUGINS environment variable. Note that this would affect all installed V-Ray versions. 


For V-Ray versions older than V-Ray 6 copy all files from /phoenix_builds/my_version/phoenix/vray5plugins folder to the folder that the VRAY_FOR_MAYANNNN_PLUGINS environment variable points to (specified during the V-Ray for Maya installation). This would affect only this specific V-Ray Standalone version

or

append the /phoenix_builds/my_version/phoenix/vray5plugins path to the VRAY_PLUGINS environment variable. Note that this would affect all installed V-Ray versions.

 

 



Updating the installation to a newer version of Phoenix

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You need an unpacked installation of Phoenix which you would extract directly into the network shared folder. E.g. if your network path is named /phoenix_builds/my_version, you should extract the Phoenix unpacked install in that folder and allow it to overwrite all files. This is all that is needed to update the Phoenix network shared installation.