ZBrushCentral

Unable to connect to license server DLL

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hi everyone, I’m part of a small studio and am investigating if ZBrush will be any good for our workflow. We all use Vista64 machines and on each one we are unable to use the trial version. We have an old XP machine hanging about and are able to run the 3.1 trial on that, but all the worksration machines present the error “Unable to connect to license Server DLL, please contact Pixologic”

Well we’ve tried contacting Pixologic, as well as scouring this forum and the web for a solution, to no avail.

We’ve tried running as Administrator, changed permissions for the EXE and DLL’s, uninstalled, re-installed… etc etc. Half of our “artists” are all ready to dump the idea of using ZBrush… but I and one or two others are desperate to get a copy on our machines.

There’s currently a queue at the XP machine and 30 days are gonna go by very quickly… can someone please help us before a fight breaks out? I’m going to rejoin the back of the queue and pray someone has the solution,

So far the boss aint happy with Pixologic’s support. Can anyone confirm this is unlike them? They’ll be losing out on fifteen possible licenses if it’s not sorted soon.

PC specs (vary from machine to machine, but my machine’s a )

Vista 64bit Ultimate edition
AMD 4800+ x2 64
4GB Ram
Loadsa HDD Space
Geforce 7800GTX (Some chaps are using Quaddros, but I don’t qualify yet)
Any other specs can be given but seem superfluous.

And it’s the ZBrush 3.1 trial we’re using (or trying to)

*****************:slight_smile:

Cheers

Marcus

edit*

ps. A few chaps noticed the EXE is firing up in 32 bit mode. And there is no seperate 64 bit exe file. Does the trial version come with 64 bit support?

#2

Try just disabling UAC… google it. I’m running it in Vista x64 with no issues. I did have to set it to Run as Administrator but that was about it. I have installed it on many x64 instances over time and never experienced any issues after running as administrator.

p.s. It’s not a native x64 application so it runs in 32 bit mode (it does use all of the ram though). Once you get it up and running, take a look at the 4GB USB Readyboost thumbdrive trick… pretty sweet.

Also, I have not experienced any support issues regarding licensing. Give them a call tomorrow during office hours if you don’t hear back…

#3

Thanks for the reply Kosher and so soon…

I tried disabling UAC. Uninstalled ZBrush, deleted folder remnants, reinstalled it… and I still get that “Unable to cnnect to license server DLL” error. I’m re-enabling UAC now. (Just in case)

Thanks for trying… I’ll give Pixoligic one more day before I go picking the phone up.

And as for being 32bit only, is it just ZBrush2 that has 64bit support then? The advertising seems to suggest that 3.0 and 3.1 are 64bit too.
2 chaps here have 16GB machines and like to keep their machines free of 32 software if possible. (Don’t aske me why LOL)

So, still seeking answers.

Cheers

Marcus

#4

It’s 64bit compatible but not native 64 bit… It seems odd that you’re facing this problem as I haven’t had the issue on any instances of Vista x64. Good luck!

#5

I just checked on your support case and found that you sent it on Saturday – which was the middle of our holiday weekend. The holiday also resulted in a pretty large backlog of support cases, which is why yours wasn’t gotten to today. I’m sure you’ll get a response tomorrow.

What you are experiencing is a very unusual situation. Have you tried running ZBrush in compatibility mode for XP, Service Pack 2? This is done by right-clicking on the ZBrush3 executable and choosing Properties. Then on the Compatibility Tab you’ll find a pull-down with the XP:SP 2 option. And also make sure that the “Run as Administrator” checkbox is checked.

Also, ZBrush should be installed while logged in as an administrator, but then launched for the first time while logged in as a regular user.

#6

Hi Aurick… thanks for replying. I took over the case of troubleshooting this problem at the weekend because Dave our other chap was getting nowhere after a few weeks. I realise my request was just four days ago. And probably too soon to be moaning. :slight_smile:

Yes I’ve tried enabling compatibility for XP.SP2 and all the other OS choices… it still comes up with that error. My usual Vista account is an administrator’s account and I have already tried creating a new standard user and running ZBrush from that account. Still no joy.

I haven’t tried yet on one of the other PC’s, just my system. I’ll see if I can borrow one of the other workstation’s to try your suggestions again,

Cheers

Marcus

#7

I have Vista 32bit and have the exact same problem. All other specs are irrelevent. I have tried every damn thing that has been suggested in this entire forum and haven’t had a single shred of luck. This is very frustrating and feel a little cheated because I was told that Zbrush would work on Vista. It hasn’t. I want to know why. I need a real solution and installing this software has been the single hardest thing I have ever dealt with on this OS. Why do the Vista security features mess everythig up so badly? What about Zbrush does Vista feel is so insecure? I’m sick and tired of this and I think it’s about time Pixologic made a much much bigger effort towards solving this problem. The cost is too high for this type of unprofessional and unfullfilling support. If my computer isn’t letting me install your software when you said it would, you should be able to tell me why. Seems pretty logical. How about PixoLOGIC actually living up to their name for once?

#8

This is an issue that has affected a vanishingly small percentage of our users. I point this out because the fewer people who are affected by a problem, the harder it becomes to find the reason for that problem. When there are a bunch of people, the common factor between them becomes easy to spot and then deal with. But that’s not the case here with this issue.

We continue to work with the company that provides the licensing system to search for a solution, but have been unsuccessful so far. Each case that has been reported regarding this issue remains open in our tracking system, and as soon as a solution is found we will be notifying those users.

#9

Have you guys checked the Windows event logs? Check in the Application, Security, and System event logs under Start>Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Event Viewer.

I am sure if it’s Vista’s fault, it’s dumping out some sort of message before ZBrush kicks back the error. If you see any error or warning messages in there, post them back here.

I don’t know if this would help but you might try adding ZBrush to the Data Execution Prevention exceptions in the System>System Protection>Advanced>Performance Options>Data Execution Prevention.

One other thing that might give you a hint is if you run http://live.sysinternals.com/Procmon.exe. Let it capture while you launch ZBrush and filter and search the results for anything ZBrush, with a “Result” of failure or something odd like that.

That might help you track it down. Let us know! =)

UPDATE:
I’ve included a copy of my ProcMon event log file, which you can open in the ProcMon.exe program to see what my normal activated instance of ZBrush looks like when it starts up. To filter your view with ZBrush only results, just right click one of the ZBrush.exe rows and select “Include”. Compare my events with yours and see if there’s anything odd.

Good luck!

#10

Cheers Kosher… I’ve been looking into your suggestions and here’s what I’m coming up with.

Firstly, the Event viewer wasn’t showing upa anywthing ZBrush related, all events in the viewer seemed to show stuff happening up to 7 minutes before attempting to run ZBrush and nothing after. I’m not very used to using troubleshooting software like this, so I may have been looking in the wrong “chapter”.

Excluding the ZBrush EXE from the Data Execution Prevention thingy had no affect. (I still tried to run as admministrator)

And lastly… Procman. It captured a host of information and I’ve saved the filtered log file so that it contains any information regarding ZBrush that did not end in “SUCCESS” I had to exclude the Successes because even zipped, the file was over 500kb and the forum would not let me upload it. If that information is needed, let me know… with an email address so I can send it that way?

Sorry I don’t have the technical knowledge to interpret the information. Perhaps it might help you tech support chaps out. (Finger’s crossed)

Cheers

Marcus

Attachments

zbrush_procman_report.zip (229 KB)

#11

Im having the same problem under windows vista 64 Home Premium =/.

Anyone knows of a solution yet?

#12

Try Making sure:
\documents and settings\xxx\application data
\documents and settings\xxx\local settings\application data
\documents and settings\xxx\application data\microsoft\installer
and, if it exists, \documents and settings\xxx\local settings\application data\microsoft\installer

All have sufficient permissions. If you’re unsure, try giving “everyone” full permissions. If you feel there are security issues, you should try this to determine if it’s a permissions problem, then remove “everyone” and narrow down from there. You could also just add “everyone” to the entire documents and settings folder, just in case.

Try uninstalling (make sure you delete the pixologic folder in program files), changing the permissions of the folders listed above, then reinstalling.

#13

Thanks for trying Mcgen, but Vista doesn’t have a documents and settings folder. I’ve gone through the corresponding folders in the Users folder and each one (that’s there) has full permissions for my standard and administrator accounts.

#14

could some please help. Zbrush looks a great app and i would love to use it. I’ve tried all the tips above and none of them worked.:cry:

#15

jakmak, we can’t even try to help without a lot more information. System specs and so forth. You didn’t tell which version of Windows you’re running or anything else.

#16

basical i runnng the same system as the others .window vista

#17

Augh … I’m having the same prob. with my Vista :frowning: I’m running ZBrush 3.1

#18

UNABLE TO CONNECT TO LICENSE SERVER
ZBrush 3.1
Tried Running as Adminstrator; compatibility XP SP2; UAC OFF; Security set to EVERYONE for all ZBrush files; ZBrush3.exe set as an exception in Windows Firewall; no other firewalls or virus programs running.

Intel Core 2 Quad Processor 64 bit (Q6600); 4 GB physical memory; nVidia raid (SATA); nVidia 8800 GTX video card; Vista Ultimate 64 bit OS with SP1 and all updates.

Can not find any entries in event logs for any application or other failures near the times I have tried ZBrush.

Workaround is using ZBrush3 on a single cpu XP SP2 machine. Later applied XP SP3 - no problems with ZBrush 3.1.
Both machines are on the same LAN, behind the same router.

Able to install, activate, and run 3DS Max 2008 (32 & 64 bit), Maya 8.5 (64 bit), VUE 6 XStream (64 bit), Poser Pro and Vegas 7.0 without any issues.

Willy

#19

Hello? Any point in holding out hope for this issue?

#20

I have the same problem here. I’ve included a Process monitor dump. I’m hoping someone at Pixologic can shed some light. I didn’t see anything “obvious” in the dump. I only captured up till the error dialog popped up as after that is probably useless. This is a Vista 64 Home Pro laptop, 4GB ram, 80GB free on C:, AMD Turion X2 2.1GHz, Nvidia 7150M video.

Attachments

ZBrushFail.zip (46.5 KB)