Run Maya with Python 2 Mode

General Python 3 was introduced in 2008. The official Maya Python 3 was introduced in 2021. And this is normal, 3D/VFX DCC usually is late to adapt for a good reason: stability.

Fast forward to 2026, it is now more than ever easy to port your Python 2 scripts to Python 3 with the help of Gemini/ChatGPT. But not all of them, because of dependencies specially plugins. You not only need to modify a script but a whole library.

And in the particular case, it's easy to just use Python 2 at the moment.

Luckily, Maya makes this available. Modify your Shortcut or even open the commandline and execute this.

"C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya2022\bin\maya.exe" -pythonver 2

Apart from the initial console readout, a quick way to verify you are in Python 2 version is when you execute print hello world in the Maya console`. Errors out in Python 3 but not in Python 2.