Heres a big problem that I think Discreet does not know what they are talking about.

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well guys, its me again and well, we have run into a big problem with discreet. We called their licensing department and asked how security was established for version 4.2 and well, they say that we are not allowed to load it on multiple computers. I think personally that we were talking to somebody that didnt know anything about the robotics team and was just giving a guess at it. i need a for sure answer on this so please do not post a reply if you are taking a guess. if you have noticed…there is no hardware lock on this version so there is some other way of letting it know that it is on other computers. i know that 3ds max has been loaded on multiple computers back in the day but discreet does not know why that was allowed in the first place. so guys, i need a huge favor and i need you to see if you can find out some way to get a hold of the right people to talk to from discreet so this matter can be resolved immediately. please reply with the name and phone number of the party we need to contact and if you have already contacted this person then what was their answer to this twisted mind question. Thanks guys!
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I’m not real sure I understand your question exactly, but the new version of 3ds max has changed from a hardware lock to a software C-Dilla lock. I believe it’s similare to what Mircosoft is doing with Windows XP. You send in your cd-key along with a computer dependent registration number and they’ll give you the authorization number back. This is all detailed in the installation booklet.

Discreet says that you should only have the version that they sent us on 1 computer and thats all. do not load on multiple computers they say! We dont believe this so thats why we are trying to get a hold of the right people to talk to so we can make sure its ok to load on multiple computers.

I’m pretty sure what we’re given is only a single-license.

That means it’s only supposed to be loaded on to one machine. Multiple user licenses are more expensive, usually, but you can sometimes get each additional license for less than the cost of the software alone.

But, what do I know? Maybe it’s a single-user license, and you can put it on as many machines as you want, as long as the same person is using it? :slight_smile:

Personally, I’m of the opinion that if you pay for a product (in this case, I know we didn’t) you should be able to do with it as you please.

Back in the day as I am told by the teacher sponsors; autodesk allowed it to be used by multiple users and systems only for robotics though. that is straight from autodesk. well, i hope it can be on more than one computer.:slight_smile:

I know with the older versions, it did allow you to install 3DSMAX on multiple machines for the purposes of network rendering, which does NOT require a hardware lock. With the older, hardware-locked versions of 3dsmax, you needed a hardware lock for each machine where you were actually going to be using the software for designing the animation, but could install on as many as you wanted when it came time to split up the rendering work. So, in a nutshell…

Installed 3dsmax + hardware lock = full version
Installed 3dsmax + no hardware lock = net render workhorse only

I think i can help aim me at mnkysp63530

The 4.2 they shipped this year only gives you one install per license. I don’t know if it applies to render farming, but that’s the way the software lock works. They’re letting us buy extra keys at $500 a pop. I guess they wanted to give the one man team guys a bit of an advantage this time around :slight_smile:

First of all Discreet is technically right C-Dilla does prevent you from running it on multiple computers. When you use the authorization thingy that launches when 3DS first launches you copy is registered with the Discreet servers. C-Dilla also detects hardware things such as MAC address and other things that have no way of being the same on 2 computers. Everytime 3DS is launched this information is checked with the computer. If it does not match it will ask you to reauthorize which will succesfully disable it from the other computer. There are ways to get around this C-Dilla protection but I will not disclose that information. As far as network rendering I belive you do not need another license for each node.

In short
-you are allowed to load 3ds on one computer per-license(seat)
-running 3ds on more computer than you have licenses for is copyright violation
-the hardware lock was replaced with the eaiser to support C-Dilla

If you need further help contact me on AIM (GX NaiLZ)

double post accient.