Karamba3D Rhino 8: karambafeb.dll load error

Grasshopper Karamba3D
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1

Hi Karamba3D team, I am facing a persistent Karamba loading issue in Rhino 8 Educational on Windows 11. When I start Grasshopper, Karamba either gives the error Could not load 'karambafeb.dll', or after trying the MSI installer, Karamba does not load into Grasshopper at all and no Karamba tab appears.

I have already tried uninstalling Karamba from Package Manager and Windows Apps, deleting the full Karamba package folder from the Rhino packages directory, clearing Recycle Bin, restarting Windows, reinstalling VC++ Redistributable x64, checking that there are no old karamba.dll or libiomp5md.dll files in Windows system folders, disabling SpeckleConnector.gha, testing both Karamba versions 3.1.60309 and 3.1.51222, turning off automatic package updates, and confirming that there are no duplicate Karamba.gha files outside the expected Karamba installation folders.

I also tested karambafeb.dll with DependenciesGui, and it loads successfully there. I tried Rhino in both .NET 8.0.21 and .NET Framework 4.8.9325.0 using SetDotNetRuntime, and also launched Rhino with the Karamba installation folder manually added to PATH, but the issue remained.

Finally, I tried installing the official Karamba3D_RH8_NETFramework_3_1_60309.msi. Grasshopper then reported that it could not load KarambaCommon, Version=3.1.60309, even though KarambaCommon.dll exists in the same installation folder. After launching Rhino with that folder added to PATH, the error disappeared, but Karamba still did not load and no Karamba tab appeared.

Could you please advise what could be causing this and how I can properly repair the Karamba installation for Rhino 8?

2

Hi, sorry for the inconvenience. Did you try uninstalling everything and only using the PackageManager? Using this usually is much better than using the msi installer.

3

Hi Matthew, I tried Package Manager only again with Rhino set to NETCore v8, but I still get Could not load 'karambafeb.dll' on Grasshopper startup. Should I try a specific Karamba version, or is there a log file I can send to diagnose why karambafeb.dll is not loading?

karamba not loading
karamba not loading509×206 86.4 KB

4

Hi @naitik264,

try the following:

  • Ensure that there is no “Karamba”-folder inside “C:\Program Files\Rhino 7\Plug-ins” or “C:\Program Files\Rhino 8\Plug-ins”. If there is uninstall Karamba3D via Settings/InstalledApps and remove the folders then manually if they still exist.
  • Check if karambafeb.dll is present in the Karamba3D package folder %appdata%\Roaming\McNeel\Rhinoceros\packages\8.0\Karamba3D.
  • Make sure that karambafeb.dll is not blocked
  • Look for any Karamba3D related error messages in the Rhino command window when starting Grasshopper.
  • Verify that there is only one instance of karamba.gha and karambaCommon.dll file on your system.

-- Clemens

5

Hi @cp1 ,

Quick update: I was able to resolve the karambafeb.dll loading issue by removing the Monolith plugin from my Grasshopper Libraries folder. After removing Monolith, Karamba loaded correctly again.

I also noticed a separate warning when LunchBox was installed, related to an incompatible EPPlus.dll version. So it seems there were two different conflicts: Monolith was causing the Karamba loading issue, and LunchBox was causing the EPPlus compatibility warning.

Thanks for the help.