The pipeline integration which was introduced in 2022.3 has a small but very very important update in 3dsMax 2023,
%ADSK_3DSMAX_MAJOR_VERSION% and %ADSK_3DSMAX_MINOR_VERSION%
- %ADSK_3DSMAX_MAJOR_VERSION% – represents the major version of the 3ds Max (3dsmax.exe) process. For example “2023” for 3ds Max 2023
- %ADSK_3DSMAX_MINOR_VERSION% – represents the minor version of the 3ds Max (3dsmax.exe) process. For example “1” for 3ds Max 2023 Update1
In a not shell, you can set all pipeline integration folders per 3dsMax version and even for each PUs.
For example, this is my ADSK_3DSMAX_PLUGINS_ADDON_DIR setup.
When 3dsMax launches, it loads plugins from D:\PROJECT\_maxDefault\plugin_2023
One more example?
Setting ADSK_3DSMAX_STARTUPSCRIPT_ADDON_DIR as
\\server\3dsMax\%ADSK_3DSMAX_MAJOR_VERSION%.%ADSK_3DSMAX_MINOR_VERSION%\scripts\startup
will make your startup script path to be
\\server\3dsMax\2023.0\scripts\startup
When 3ds Max 2023 Update 2 is is installed, the path becomes
\\server\3dsMax\2023.2\scripts\startup
With this new edition, the following article need to be updated. You don’t have to use batch file or script anymore.
How to manage tools part 2 – Plugins (featuring new 3dsMax 2022.3 pipeline integration)
ADSK_3DSMAX_USERTOOLS_DIR
ADSK_3DSMAX_USERTOOLS_DIR allow you to set user settings folder,
The default location is C:\Users\[username]\Autodesk\3ds Max 2023\User Tools\
Why it is important? Because this is the folder where MCG goes.
This is the default MCG installation location.
C:\Users\[username]\Autodesk\3ds Max 2023\User Tools\Max Creation Graph\Packages
So, now I can set ADSK_3DSMAX_USERTOOLS_DIR as D:\PROJECT\_maxDefault\MCG and put all my mcg package file in D:\PROJECT\_maxDefault\MCG\Max Creation Graph\Packages.
After I set this up one time, I will not need to set MCG folder forever and ever. Update? re-install? new version? PR? I don’t need to do anything to get my MCG back.
And more…
ADSK_3DSMAX_AUTOBACKUP_DIR – Defines the path used by Autobackup to save files.
ADSK_3DSMAX_ROOT – An environment variable defined by the 3ds Max process that contains the directory from which the current 3dsmax.exe program is running, regardless of where 3ds Max is installed. Only defined when auto-tokenization is enabled.
ADSK_3DSMAX_ENVVAR_TOKEN_SUPPORT – Enables auto-tokenization of 3ds Max installation files, similar to the -envartoken command line switch.