Maya gives Mental Ray errors on launch and outputs black renders

Autodesk Support

Nov 23, 2023

Products and versions covered

Issue:

When rendering with Mental Ray in Maya, errors are thrown and only black images are outputted:
 
// Error: line 1: (mental ray) : cannot load C:/ProgramFiles/Autodesk/mentalrayForMaya2016/shaders/mayabase.dll, The specified procedure could not be found. //
 
// Error: line 1: (mental ray) : Unableto load file: mayabase.dll //
 
// Error: line 1: (mental ray) : cannot load C:/ProgramFiles/Autodesk/mentalrayForMaya2016/shaders/mayabase.dll, The specified procedure could not be found. //
 
// Error: line 1: (mental ray) : Unable to load file: mayabase.dll //

Causes:

Rendering an all-black frame could be due to several causes:
  • "Use Default Lighting" is not selected and/or there are no lights in the scene
  • There is a corrupted node causing a problem in the Rendering Module
  • The installed Mental Ray does not match the corresponding Service Pack and/or extension updates

Solution:

Maya 2016 (aka Extension 1) and Maya 2016.5 (aka Extension 2) both have separate Mental Ray plug-ins and Service Packs that are not universally applicable. To install version, navigate to Help > About Maya:
 
User-added image

After confirming the version, use this guide to locate the appropriate Mental Ray plug-in (Add-on): Where to find Updates and Add-ons for Maya

If the problem continues after installing the correct plug-in, the issue may be resolved by one of the following processes:
  1. Clearing out Corrupted Render nodes:
    1. Open the Hypershade (Window > Rendering Editors > Hypershade).
    2. Delete unused nodes (Edit > Delete Unused Nodes).
  2. Reset Maya Preferences by following this guide: Reset Maya to Default
  3. Add lights to the scene and re-render to test if this is the issue.
    • Add lights as needed, or select Lighting > Use Default Lighting in the Viewport
User-added image
 
NOTE: Mental Ray is not bundled with Maya 2017 and later versions. For additional plugin support for these versions, please utilize NVidia's support channel.

 

Products:

Maya; Maya Entertainment Creation Suite;

Versions:

2015; 2016;

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