Team Render Troubleshooting Guide

Symptom: You launch the Team Render Client or Team Render Server, see the splash screen briefly, but the app never opens. Trying to launch it again seems to do nothing, or the app launches and issues occur immediately on every restart.

What to check:

1. Already running in the background: The app is likely already running. On Windows, open Task Manager and look for Team Render Client.exe or Team Render Server.exe under Processes. On macOS, open Activity Monitor and search for "Team Render". End the process and try launching again.

2. Reset/Delete the preferences. If the process isn't running but the app still won't open (or it launches and issues immediately occur), the preferences could be corrupted, and resetting those preferences is the next best option.

   Open the sub-section below that matches the app you need to reset/delete:

   +How To Reset/Delete Team Render Client preferences

   1. Quit the Team Render Client if it's still running in the background (see step 1 above).

   2. Open the parent Maxon folder:

      • Windows: Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Maxon
      • macOS: Users/USERNAME/Library/Preferences/Maxon

      Shortcut: open Cinema 4D and choose Edit > Preferences > Open Preferences Folder, then go up one level to see all the sibling folders next to each other.

   3. Find and delete the Team Render Client folder. It'll be named something like Maxon Cinema 4D 202*_********_c (the _c suffix identifies it; the asterisks are random characters unique to your installation).
   4. Relaunch the Team Render Client. It will rebuild a fresh preferences folder on the next launch.
   +How To Reset/Delete Team Render Server preferences

   Heads up: deleting the TRS preferences folder also wipes the machines list. If you previously backed up your machines list with Machine > Save Machines..., you'll be able to re-import it after the reset (last step below). If not, you'll need to rebuild the list manually. See the Pro tip: back up your Team Render machines list callout in the pre-flight section above to get into the habit of saving it for next time.

   1. Quit Team Render Server if it's still running (see step 1 above).

   2. Open the parent Maxon folder:

      • Windows: Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Maxon
      • macOS: Users/USERNAME/Library/Preferences/Maxon

      Shortcut: open Cinema 4D and choose Edit > Preferences > Open Preferences Folder, then go up one level to see all the sibling folders next to each other.

   3. Find and delete the Team Render Server folder. It'll be named something like Maxon Cinema 4D 202*_********_s (the _s suffix identifies it; the asterisks are random characters unique to your installation).
   4. Relaunch Team Render Server. It will rebuild a fresh preferences folder on the next launch.

   5. Re-import your machines list (if you have a backup). Once TRS is back up, open Machine > Load Machines... and select the .txt file you saved earlier. If you didn't have a backup, you'll need to rebuild the machines list manually via Machine > Add Machine... for each worker.

      

   Note: don't delete the wrong folder The parent Maxon directory also contains folders for the other apps you have installed, each with its own suffix. Make sure you only delete the one matching the misbehaving app:

   • (no suffix) = main Cinema 4D
   • _c = Team Render Client
   • _s = Team Render Server
   • _w = Cineware
   • _x = Command Line
   • _p = c4dpy

   For broader context, see I'm having issues with Cinema 4D, what can I do?

Related KB article (Team Render Client specific): Team Render Client Console won't open.

Symptom: Cinema 4D on the host refuses to connect to the Team Render Client on the worker. Verification fails, the client never turns green, the connection drops immediately, or it just sits there silent.

Connection problems are one of the biggest categories of Team Render support cases we see. On macOS 15 (Sequoia) and later, the cause is often related to how Local Network authorization behaves on the system. In some cases the permission granted to an app may not persist across restarts, OS updates, or other system state changes, which can interrupt the Team Render connection. Technique 1 below refreshes that permission and is the most immediate fix when this is the cause. On Windows, or if Technique 1 doesn't help, the role-reversal techniques (Techniques 2 and 3) have resolved many of the connection issues that have been reported. These are field-tested workarounds from real support sessions rather than officially documented fixes. Try these before going deeper into firewall, token, or version diagnostics.

Technique 1 (macOS 15 Sequoia and later): Toggle the Local Network permission

On macOS 15 (Sequoia) and later, Local Network authorization granted to an app can sometimes stop being applied after a restart, an OS update, or another system state change. This behavior has been widely reported and discussed in the Apple Community. Team Render needs Local Network access to discover and verify clients, so when the authorization stops applying, the connection breaks. Toggling the permission off and back on refreshes it.

1. On the macOS machine that's failing to connect, open System Settings > Privacy & Security > Local Network.
2. Find the Team Render app you're having issues with: Cinema 4D, Team Render Server, or Team Render Client. Each app that has been granted Local Network access will have a toggle next to it.
3. Toggle the switch off, then back on.
4. Quit and relaunch the Team Render app. The connection should come back.

We've tested this on a customer's machine and confirmed it three times in a row: the connection broke three times, and toggling the switch fixed it every time. For more context on the underlying macOS behavior, there's active discussion in this Apple Community thread.

Technique 2: Quick role swap

1. On the host machine (the one currently running Cinema 4D), quit Cinema 4D and launch the Team Render Client instead.
2. On the worker machine (the one currently running the Team Render Client), quit the client and launch Cinema 4D instead.
3. From Cinema 4D on the worker machine, attempt to verify and connect to the Team Render Client now running on the host machine.
4. Whether the test connection succeeds or fails, quit both applications.
5. Restore the original setup: Cinema 4D on the host, Team Render Client on the worker. Try the connection again. In many cases it now works.

Technique 3: The Team Render Server flip (more involved)

If Technique 2 doesn't do it, this longer ritual has resolved truly stubborn cases. The key difference is that we use Team Render Server (the standalone TRS app) instead of Cinema 4D for the flipped connection. TRS appears to reset a piece of connection state that Cinema 4D alone sometimes cannot.

1. Flip the roles with TRS instead of C4D. On the worker machine, launch Team Render Server. On the host machine, launch the Team Render Client. Verify and connect them together. They should connect in this flipped configuration.
2. Swap back to the correct roles, still using TRS. Quit both apps. On the host machine, launch Team Render Server. On the worker machine, launch the Team Render Client. Verify and connect. They should connect again.
3. Hand the connection back to Cinema 4D. Quit Team Render Server on the host machine and launch Cinema 4D in its place. The Team Render Client on the worker should now show up immediately in Cinema 4D's machines list and connect without further intervention.

Symptom: You open Team Render Machines on the server (or in Cinema 4D under Render > Team Render Machines) and your clients are not listed, even though they are powered on and running the Team Render Client.

What to check:

1. Confirm both machines are on the same physical network or LAN. Wi-Fi to wired is fine as long as they share the same subnet.
2. On every machine (host and clients), open the Team Render preferences and make sure Announce Service via Bonjour and Announce Service to Local Network are both enabled:
   • Team Render Client and Team Render Server: File > Preferences.
   • Cinema 4D: Render > Team Render Machines, then in the Machines list open the Machine menu and choose Preferences.
3. On Windows, confirm Bonjour is installed. If it was uninstalled or never installed, reinstall it (it ships with iTunes or as a standalone Bonjour Print Services package from Apple).
4. Check your firewall settings on both ends. UDP port 5353 (Bonjour) and UDP port 1900 (SSDP) must be open in both directions. Add an explicit allow rule for Cinema 4D and the Team Render Client executables if your firewall asks per-app.
5. If automatic discovery still doesn't work, switch the setup to manual machine entries entirely. See Disable auto-discovery and connect clients manually below for the full step-by-step.

When to try this: Auto-discovery via Bonjour and Announce Service to Local Network is convenient, but it can also be the source of unexpected behavior during rendering or even connecting nodes. If you're chasing connection or rendering issues that don't have an obvious explanation, switching to manual machine entries is worth trying.

Default Team Render port numbers (configurable in each app's Team Render preferences):

• Cinema 4D: 5400
• Team Render Client: 5401
• Team Render Server: 5402

How to switch to manual connections:

1. On every machine (host and clients), disable Announce Service via Bonjour and Announce Service to Local Network:
   • Team Render Client and Team Render Server: File > Preferences, then uncheck both options.
   • Cinema 4D: Render > Team Render Machines, then in the Machines list open the Machine menu, choose Preferences, and uncheck both options.
2. While you're in the same panel, note the Security Token on each client. You'll be prompted for it when adding the client manually on the host.
3. On the host, open the Team Render Machines list. In Cinema 4D this is Render > Team Render Machines; in Team Render Server it's already the main view.
4. Use Add Machine to add the worker in the format IP:PORT or HOSTNAME:PORT. The port depends on what's running on the worker: use 5400 if it's running full Cinema 4D, or 5401 if it's running the dedicated Team Render Client. For example: 192.168.1.12:5401.
   • Cinema 4D: in the Machines list, choose Machine > Add Machine.
   • Team Render Server: Machine > Add Machine, or click the + button just above the view menu tab.
5. When prompted, enter the Security Token from the client's preferences. The entry should turn green once verification succeeds.
6. Repeat for each client.

Symptom: The client shows up in the Team Render Machines list, but the entry is greyed out or marked with a "wrong build ID" warning.

Cause: The client is running a different Cinema 4D build than the server. Team Render requires the build IDs to match exactly.

Fix:

1. On the server, open Help > About in Cinema 4D and note the full build ID.
2. On the client, open the Team Render Client and check the build ID it reports. The Team Render Client console window also prints the build ID at startup, which is the fastest way to confirm the mismatch without leaving the worker machine.
3. If they differ, update the client (or downgrade it) to match the server. The simplest path is to install the same Cinema 4D version on both machines.
4. After updating, restart the Team Render Client and verify it now appears green in the machines list.

Symptom: The client is listed but stays in a "No Answer" or unresponsive state, even though the Team Render Client process is clearly running on the client machine.

What to check:

1. The Team Render Client console: Open the console window on the affected worker and look at the most recent log entries. Refused verifications, token mismatches, blocked connections, and rejected handshakes are all logged here with the actual error message. The Team Render Server web interface also surfaces these on the server side. Start here before changing any settings.
2. Firewall: The client's firewall is blocking outgoing connections, or the server's firewall is blocking incoming connections. Open both and confirm Cinema 4D and the Team Render Client are allowed.
3. Security Token mismatch: Open the Team Render preferences on every machine and verify the Security Token matches across the host and all clients. (See Disable auto-discovery and connect clients manually above for the exact menu paths in each app.) If you changed one and not the other, re-verify the client from the host (right-click the client in the machines list and choose Verify).
4. Dynamic IP changed: If the client was added manually by IP and the network handed it a new address via DHCP, the entry will go stale. Double-click the client entry in the machines list and enter the current IP address, or switch to hostname-based entries.
5. Self-connection on the server: If the "local machine" client on the server itself is unresponsive, the firewall is likely blocking access to localhost (127.0.0.1). Check the firewall's localhost rules.

Symptom: You have several Team Render Clients installed on different machines, but the server only ever sees one of them in the machines list.

Cause: This almost always happens when the clients were created by cloning a disk image or partition after Cinema 4D was already installed. Each client carries the same internal client ID, so Team Render treats them as the same machine and only shows one.

Fix: Reset/Delete the Team Render Client preferences folder on each cloned client so it generates a new unique client ID on the next launch. Then re-verify the client from the server.

Once the cloned client is back up with a fresh preferences folder, go back to the server and re-verify the client. It should now appear as a separate entry alongside the others.

For long-term avoidance, delete the Team Render Client preferences folder (the _c folder described above) before cloning the image, so the master image has no client ID to begin with. Each cloned machine will then generate its own on first launch.

Full walkthrough: Multiple clients are installed, but the server just sees one of them.

Symptom: A client that worked yesterday suddenly shows "Unknown Error" or vanishes from the list, only to come back later under a different identity.

Cause: The client is on DHCP and the network handed it a new IP address. If you added it to the server by IP, the original entry is now pointing at nothing.

Fix:

1. Double-click the stale client entry in the machines list and enter the current IP address.
2. For a more durable fix, either give the client a DHCP reservation on your router so its IP stays consistent, or re-add the client using its hostname instead of IP.

Symptom: Team Render Server was working, then after renaming or moving the Cinema 4D / Team Render Server install folder, no clients verify anymore. Re-running verify fails on all of them.

Cause: The server identity is tied to its install path. Once that path changes, every previously verified client has a stale reference.

Fix:

1. Delete the existing client entries from the Team Render Server's machine list.
2. On the clients, reset the connection (you may need to delete and reinstall the Team Render Client if revalidation keeps failing).
3. Re-add and re-verify each client against the server at its new path.

Symptom: All clients show as green and verified in the machines list, but when you submit a job, no frames actually start rendering on the clients. The job stays queued or only the local machine renders.

What to check:

1. The console logs first. Open the Team Render Client console on each worker that isn't rendering and look at the most recent entries. Plugin load failures, missing assets, license errors, and unsupported renderer fallbacks are all logged explicitly here with the actual error message. The Team Render Server web interface shows the same per-job and per-client log on the server side. Most of the time the cause is right there, and you don't need to guess.
2. Plugin parity: Confirm every plugin used in the scene is installed on every client at the same version. Missing or mismatched plugins are the most common cause and will surface in the console log above as a plugin load error. Redshift in particular must match the host Cinema 4D's version on every machine.
3. License coverage: Confirm that the number of clients you're trying to use is covered by your Cinema 4D license. If you're using more clients than your subscription allows, the surplus clients will not participate in the render.
4. Asset accessibility: Make sure the project file and all linked assets (textures, simulation caches, IES profiles, alembic files) are either embedded in the project or stored on a network path the clients can read. Use File > Save Project with Assets before submitting to bundle everything. The console will log a missing-asset error if a client can't reach a file.
5. Bake heavy simulations: Dynamics, particles, cloth, and other simulations that aren't deterministic across machines can produce inconsistent or non-rendering frames. Bake them before submitting.
6. Sync hiccup: In rare cases the machines list shows stale state. Even if the dashboard says "not rendering," the client may actually be working. The Team Render Server web interface per-client log will tell you definitively.
7. Try manual connections. If the console doesn't surface anything obvious and the clients still won't render, switch the setup to manual connections as described in Disable auto-discovery and connect clients manually above. Auto-discovery has been known to cause unexpected rendering behavior even when the connection itself looks healthy.

Symptom: Frames returned from Team Render Server look washed out, oversaturated, or just plain different in color compared to a local render of the same scene.

Cause: This is a known interaction between Cinema 4D's newer OCIO color management workflow and Team Render Server. The workaround is to switch the project to the Legacy (sRGB linear) color space so that Redshift's own color management drives the output instead, which Team Render Server respects correctly.

Full step-by-step fix: Why am I getting Incorrect Colors when using Team Render Server.

Symptom: The lighting in the Team Render output is noticeably different from your local Cinema 4D render. Bright areas might be darker, or indirect light contribution looks inconsistent between frames or between machines.

Cause: Global Illumination is recalculated per machine by default, and different hardware can produce slightly different GI samples. The fix is to bake the GI cache once on a single machine and let all clients read from the same cache.

Full step-by-step fix: Why does Redshift's lighting look different between my editing machine and Team Render.