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1. Run the regular V-Ray installer, but prefix the Program Files folder with some temporary directory for all four paths. This gives you a folder that contains everything that V-Ray puts in both the 3ds Max folders and its own Program Files folders.
2. Copy that temporary folder to some network location (preferably one that also indicates the V-Ray version and/or build number and the 3ds Max version).
3. Uninstall V-Ray and remove any files that remain after the uninstallation.

4. In the temporary folder, create a plugin.ini file with the absolute paths to the V-Ray plugins:

   Code Block
   title plugin.ini
   [Directories] VRay=\\server\share\vray_adv_max2021_x64.25566\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 2021\plugins\ vrayplugins=\\server\share\vray_adv_max2021_x64.25566\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 2021\plugins\vrayplugins\

5. In the temporary folder, create a .bat file that contains environment variables that are needed by V-Ray and runs 3ds Max with the custom plugin.ini file:

   Code Block
   title run_max.bat
   SET PATH=%~dp0Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 2021;%~dp0Program Files\Chaos Group\V-Ray\3ds Max 2021\bin;%PATH% SET VRAY_FOR_3DSMAX2021_MAIN=%~dp0Program Files\Chaos Group\V-Ray\3ds Max 2021\bin SET VRAY_FOR_3DSMAX2021_PLUGINS=%~dp0Program Files\Chaos Group\V-Ray\3ds Max 2021\bin\plugins SET VRAY_MDL_PATH_3DSMAX2021=%~dp0Program Files\Chaos Group\V-Ray\3ds Max 2021\mdl SET VRAY_OSL_PATH_3DSMAX2021=%~dp0Program Files\Chaos Group\V-Ray\3ds Max 2021\opensl "C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 2021\3dsmax.exe" -p %~dp0\plugin.ini

6. In the temporary folder, create a .bat file that contains environment variables that are needed by V-Ray and runs V-Ray spawner with the custom plugin.ini file:

   Code Block
   title run_vrayspawner.bat
   SET PATH=%~dp0Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 2021;%~dp0Program Files\Chaos Group\V-Ray\3ds Max 2021\bin;%PATH% SET VRAY_FOR_3DSMAX2021_MAIN=%~dp0Program Files\Chaos Group\V-Ray\3ds Max 2021\bin SET VRAY_FOR_3DSMAX2021_PLUGINS=%~dp0Program Files\Chaos Group\V-Ray\3ds Max 2021\bin\plugins SET VRAY_MDL_PATH_3DSMAX2021=%~dp0Program Files\Chaos Group\V-Ray\3ds Max 2021\mdl SET VRAY_OSL_PATH_3DSMAX2021=%~dp0Program Files\Chaos Group\V-Ray\3ds Max 2021\opensl vrayspawner2021.exe -AppName="C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 2021\3dsmax.exe" -cmdparams="-p %~dp0\plugin.ini"

7. Use the specified .bat files to run 3ds Max or V-Ray spawner with the specific V-Ray version.
   
   

   UI Text Box
   type warning
   The preceding commands work with V-Ray 6 for 3ds Max. If using V-Ray 5, use the following commands: SET VRAY5_FOR_3DSMAX2021_MAIN=%~dp0Program Files\Chaos Group\V-Ray\3ds Max 2021\bin SET VRAY5_FOR_3DSMAX2021_PLUGINS=%~dp0Program Files\Chaos Group\V-Ray\3ds Max 2021\bin\plugins

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1. UI Text Box
   type warning
   Starting with V-Ray 6, update 1, the VRAY_OSL_PATH_3DSMAX20## environment variable no longer needs to be set. ## stands for the number of 3ds Max version.

Limitations

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This approach works well for render servers where V-Ray is used only for rendering. However, it has a few limitations when 3ds Max is used in interactive mode because some 3ds Max paths cannot be controlled; these limitations can be avoided by expanding the .bat file above to copy some additional files from the network location to the local 3ds Max user folder:

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