2025 Python - No Plugin UI, can't find the reason

derudo

Hello folx,
I recently started working on a procedural muscle plugin together with a co-worker. Sadly I lack in python knowledge, but together we were able to cobble something together, that somewhat worked.

However, since recently, the plugin's UI, the tab that should contain all the settings, no longer appears. I double checked my folder structure, rebuild it - nothing. We didn't even change anything in the .res or .h, I'm lost and close to loosing my mind, since I can't find why the heck the UI does not show up anymore. They don't know what could've caused it either and sorta gave up on it. "Must be some cinema4d fuckery"

This is my current folder structure - has anything similiar ever happened to one of you or do you know, what might've caused this?

Ty

i_mazlov

Hi @derudo,

Welcome to the Maxon developers forum and its community, it is great to have you with us!

Getting Started

Before creating your next postings, we would recommend making yourself accustomed with our forum and support procedures. You did not do anything wrong, we point all new users to these rules.

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It is strongly recommended to read the first two topics carefully, especially the section Support Procedures: Asking Questions.

About your First Question

There's no single known "thing" we're aware of that could lead to such behavior. In other words, it can be lots of different "things" that caused the symptoms you're describing. Hence, without any further details everything I'm pointing out here is highly speculative.

I also don't think answering the question "What could have happened?" is by any means productive, so let's switch the point of view to "How one could diagnose it?".

Since you haven't posted any console output in your question, I assume you haven't checked that. This would actually be the first thing to check. Please refer to our Python Console Manual and searching on the forum.

Next, try to figure out if it's only UI that stopped appearing or your plugin isn't registered at all anymore. You can do this by checking (e.g. with some temporary print statements) if you plugin is actually functional.

On the screenshot you've posted the structure is kind of strange, but we're not sure if it's just a visualization matter of your software. Namely, the plugin.pyp file is expected to reside in the root of the plugin folder. Essentially, the following hierarchy level is not supposed to be there:

Please refer to the article Plugin Structure Manual: Directory Structure and double check your plugin in this regard.

If the points above don't lead to any result, try debugging it step-by-step. Namely, strip out everything except the essentials (like plugin registration) and continue adding things piece-by-piece until it starts failing. By the way, one can easily achieve this by using any version control system (e.g. git), as they typically provide a lossless way to manage your code (i.e. remove and add parts of code, without being worried to lose any of them). This approach could also have prevented your scenario in first place, when something stopped working and there're no clues about the change that has lead to it.

If this still doesn't help, you can share your plugin here (or send us via contact form, when confidential information is involved). However, I must warn you that our Support Procedures still fully apply, namely:

We cannot debug your code for you and instead provide answers to specific problems.

Cheers,
Ilia