I have a client that is using a third-party 32-bit plugin successfully with Max9 on XP.  When attempting to use this plugin on Vista 64-bit there are a bunch of errors reported during plugin load, and it refuses to load. 

Using Max2008 and the exact same plugin the errors go away.  This sounds like an issue with Vista/Max, since the plugin works fine with Max2008 on Vista, but I was hoping someone might know if this is a known issue.  They don’t want to spend engineering resources trying to get the plugin working with 9 on Vista only to find out that the problem isn’t the plugin, but Max itself.  They also can’t afford to ask all their subcontractors to upgrade to 2008 (which would be the simplest solution).

the plugin probably doesn’t work on a 64 bit os your going to have see if there is a 64 bit plugin

The plugin DOES work on 64-bit, except it needs Max2008.  So the matrix looks like:

plugin on XP/Max9: works
plugin on Vista64/Max9: fails
plugin on Vista64/Max2008:works

It doesn’t seem to be a problem with Max9, or a problem with the plugin, or a problem with Vista, it looks like a problem with this specific plugin on Max9 on Vista.

what plug-in is it. Are they on SP2 for max 9?
Cheers
Mike K

Core i7 920
Win 7 64 Bit
12 Gigs Ram
ATI 5850
Vray 1.5 SP5

The plugin is an internally developed plugin, not a commercial one.  They are on SP2 for Max 9, and they’ve tried rebuliding with the latest MS VS 2K5 w/ hotfixes (there were some 64-bit issues with non-hotfixed Visual Studio) to no avail.

Seems like you’ve been bitten by the Vista max 9 issue, maybe trying the Autodesk developers area would get you a better answer.

Core i7 920
Win 7 64 Bit
12 Gigs Ram
ATI 5850
Vray 1.5 SP5