Installing MayaUSD 0.29.0 for Maya 2024.2 Breaks LookdevX 1.2 in Wndows 11

[markainslie]

Description
Installing MayaUSD 0.29.0 prevents LookdevXMaya.mll from loading in Windows Maya 2024.2.

Steps to reproduce

1. Run Maya 2024.2 with MayaUSD 0.28.0
2. Load LookdevXMaya.mll in the Plug-in Manager - the plugin loads.
3. Quit Maya and install MayaUSD 0.29.0.
4. Run Maya and try to load LookdevXMaya.mll in the Plug-in Manager again. It fails to load.
5. Error below:
   // Error: file: C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2024/scripts/others/pluginWin.mel line 316: Unable to dynamically load : C:/Program Files/Autodesk/LookdevX/Maya/2024/1.2.0/plug-ins/lookdevx/plug-ins/LookdevXMaya.mll // The specified module could not be found. // Error: file: C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2024/scripts/others/pluginWin.mel line 316: The specified module could not be found. // (LookdevXMaya)
6. Reinstall MayaUSD 0.28.0 and everything works as expected.

Expected behavior
LookdevXMaya.mll needs to load.

Specs:

• Windows 11
• Maya 2024.2
• MayaISD 0.29.0
• LookdevX 1.2

[wallworm]

Thank you for reporting this.

Unfortunately, when we released the initial version of LookdevX in Maya 2024, it had some dependencies that made it prone to breaking with changes in Maya USD. We don't have a current path for updating LookdevX in Maya 2024; at this time the only solution is to stay on Maya USD 0.28 if you need LookdevX in Maya 2024. If you need the features in Maya USD in 0.29 or later, we strongly urge that you look into using Maya 2025+ that includes many enhancements to LookdevX.

I know it's not an ideal answer, but it's where we are today. We've taken steps to remove the root causes of this in later versions of LookdevX.

[santosg87]

closing this issue for now, as we don't plan on fixing current versions of lookdevX+MayaUSD builds.