diff --git a/eval/chat_benchmarks/HumanEval/eval_instruct.py b/eval/chat_benchmarks/HumanEval/eval_instruct.py
index ad705099..7ddc3470 100644
--- a/eval/chat_benchmarks/HumanEval/eval_instruct.py
+++ b/eval/chat_benchmarks/HumanEval/eval_instruct.py
@@ -112,7 +112,8 @@ def generate_responses(self, model: LM) -> Dict[str, Any]:
                 self.logger.info("Generating responses for Human Eval...")
                 outputs = self.compute(model, all_instances)
 
-                if model.rank != 0:
+                is_main_process = model.accelerator.process_index == 0 if hasattr(model, 'accelerator') else model.world_size <= 1
+                if not is_main_process:
                     continue
 
                 generated_examples = []
diff --git a/eval/chat_benchmarks/IFEval/eval_instruct.py b/eval/chat_benchmarks/IFEval/eval_instruct.py
index 7e500dbe..5c7b1d8e 100644
--- a/eval/chat_benchmarks/IFEval/eval_instruct.py
+++ b/eval/chat_benchmarks/IFEval/eval_instruct.py
@@ -115,7 +115,8 @@ def generate_responses(self, model: LM) -> Dict[str, Any]:
             self.logger.info("Generating responses...")
             outputs = self.compute(model, all_instances)
 
-            if model.rank != 0:
+            is_main_process = model.accelerator.process_index == 0 if hasattr(model, 'accelerator') else model.world_size <= 1
+            if not is_main_process:
                 return None
 
             generated_examples = []
diff --git a/eval/chat_benchmarks/MBPP/eval_instruct.py b/eval/chat_benchmarks/MBPP/eval_instruct.py
index 875c8bac..6d589bf6 100644
--- a/eval/chat_benchmarks/MBPP/eval_instruct.py
+++ b/eval/chat_benchmarks/MBPP/eval_instruct.py
@@ -161,7 +161,8 @@ def generate_responses(self, model: LM) -> Dict[str, Any]:
             outputs = self.compute(model, all_instances)
 
             # Return None early for non-primary ranks
-            if model.rank != 0:
+            is_main_process = model.accelerator.process_index == 0 if hasattr(model, 'accelerator') else model.world_size <= 1
+            if not is_main_process:
                 return None
 
             generated_examples = []
diff --git a/eval/chat_benchmarks/MTBench/eval_instruct.py b/eval/chat_benchmarks/MTBench/eval_instruct.py
index 202662ac..7a61f238 100644
--- a/eval/chat_benchmarks/MTBench/eval_instruct.py
+++ b/eval/chat_benchmarks/MTBench/eval_instruct.py
@@ -151,7 +151,8 @@ def get_model_answers(self, model: LM, model_id: str, questions: List[Dict[str,
                     all_convs[q_idx].append({"role": "assistant", "content": output})
                     all_choices[q_idx]["turns"].append(output)
 
-            if model.rank != 0:
+            is_main_process = model.accelerator.process_index == 0 if hasattr(model, 'accelerator') else model.world_size <= 1
+            if not is_main_process:
                 continue
 
             # Save completed conversations
diff --git a/eval/chat_benchmarks/MTBench/fastchat/modules/xfastertransformer.py b/eval/chat_benchmarks/MTBench/fastchat/modules/xfastertransformer.py
index 8c95d4d7..557ec4c4 100644
--- a/eval/chat_benchmarks/MTBench/fastchat/modules/xfastertransformer.py
+++ b/eval/chat_benchmarks/MTBench/fastchat/modules/xfastertransformer.py
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ def load_xft_model(model_path, xft_config: XftConfig):
     tokenizer = AutoTokenizer.from_pretrained(model_path, use_fast=False, padding_side="left", trust_remote_code=True)
     xft_model = xfastertransformer.AutoModel.from_pretrained(model_path, dtype=data_type)
     model = XftModel(xft_model=xft_model, xft_config=xft_config)
-    if model.model.rank > 0:
+    if model.model.accelerator.process_index > 0:
         while True:
             model.model.generate()
     return model, tokenizer
diff --git a/eval/chat_benchmarks/MixEval/eval_instruct.py b/eval/chat_benchmarks/MixEval/eval_instruct.py
index d92c7e8e..f15f2b52 100644
--- a/eval/chat_benchmarks/MixEval/eval_instruct.py
+++ b/eval/chat_benchmarks/MixEval/eval_instruct.py
@@ -132,10 +132,12 @@ def generate_responses(self, model: LM) -> Dict[str, Any]:
         out_dict = {}
 
         self.logger.info("Generating responses for MixEval...")
+        is_main_process = model.accelerator.process_index == 0 if hasattr(model, 'accelerator') else model.world_size <= 1
+
         for split in splits:
             self.args.split = split
             all_results = self._eval_split(model, split)
-            if model.rank == 0:
+            if is_main_process:
                 response_file = self._get_response_file()
                 with open(response_file, "w") as f:
                     for result in all_results:
@@ -143,7 +145,7 @@ def generate_responses(self, model: LM) -> Dict[str, Any]:
             out_dict[split] = all_results
 
         # Only return results on rank 0
-        if model.world_size > 1 and model.rank != 0:
+        if not is_main_process:
             return None
         return out_dict
 
@@ -192,7 +194,8 @@ def _eval_split(self, model: LM, split: str) -> List[Dict[str, Any]]:
         for idx in list(range(len(eval_dataset.raw_inputs))):
             eval_dataset.raw_inputs[idx]["response"] = all_responses[idx]
 
-        if model.rank == 0:
+        is_main_process = model.accelerator.process_index == 0 if hasattr(model, 'accelerator') else model.world_size <= 1
+        if is_main_process:
             with open(response_file, "w") as f:
                 for item in eval_dataset.raw_inputs:
                     json_line = json.dumps(item)
@@ -243,7 +246,8 @@ def run_benchmark(self, model: LM) -> Dict[str, Any]:
         generation_results = self.generate_responses(model)
 
         # Only evaluate on rank 0
-        if model.world_size > 1 and model.rank != 0:
+        is_main_process = model.accelerator.process_index == 0 if hasattr(model, 'accelerator') else model.world_size <= 1
+        if not is_main_process:
             return None
 
         evaluation_results = self.evaluate_responses(generation_results)
diff --git a/eval/chat_benchmarks/RepoBench/eval_instruct.py b/eval/chat_benchmarks/RepoBench/eval_instruct.py
index cb207c10..f6760ee6 100644
--- a/eval/chat_benchmarks/RepoBench/eval_instruct.py
+++ b/eval/chat_benchmarks/RepoBench/eval_instruct.py
@@ -59,7 +59,8 @@ def generate_responses(self, model: LM) -> Dict[str, Any]:
         if self.legacy_mode:
             return self._generate_responses_legacy(model)
 
-        if model.rank == 0:
+        is_main_process = model.accelerator.process_index == 0 if hasattr(model, 'accelerator') else model.world_size <= 1
+        if is_main_process:
             temp_dir_obj = tempfile.TemporaryDirectory()
             temp_dir = temp_dir_obj.name
 
@@ -76,8 +77,14 @@ def generate_responses(self, model: LM) -> Dict[str, Any]:
 
                 all_instances = []
                 # Split dataset across ranks for parallel construction
-                # Get subset of dataset for this rank using built-in slice functionality
-                rank_dataset = list(islice(dataset, model.rank, len(dataset), model.world_size))
+                # Get subset of dataset for this rank using the same slicing strategy as the compute function
+                if hasattr(model, 'accelerator'):
+                    chunk_size = len(dataset) // model.world_size
+                    start = model.accelerator.process_index * chunk_size
+                    end = start + chunk_size if model.accelerator.process_index < model.world_size - 1 else len(dataset)
+                    rank_dataset = dataset.select(range(start, end))
+                else:
+                    rank_dataset = list(islice(dataset, model.rank, len(dataset), model.world_size))
 
                 # Process examples for this rank's shard
                 for idx, example in enumerate(rank_dataset):
@@ -100,7 +107,8 @@ def generate_responses(self, model: LM) -> Dict[str, Any]:
                 outputs = self.compute(model, all_instances, do_slice=False)
 
                 # Only rank 0 should save the results
-                if model.rank != 0:
+                is_main_process = model.accelerator.process_index == 0 if hasattr(model, 'accelerator') else model.world_size <= 1
+                if not is_main_process:
                     continue
 
                 generated_examples = []
@@ -118,7 +126,7 @@ def generate_responses(self, model: LM) -> Dict[str, Any]:
                     for ex in generated_examples:
                         fw.write(json.dumps(ex) + "\n")
 
-        if model.rank == 0:
+        if is_main_process:
             return {"temp_dir_obj": temp_dir_obj}
 
     def _generate_responses_legacy(self, model: LM) -> Dict[str, Any]:
@@ -129,6 +137,7 @@ def _generate_responses_legacy(self, model: LM) -> Dict[str, Any]:
         temp_dir_obj = tempfile.TemporaryDirectory()
         temp_dir = temp_dir_obj.name
 
+        is_main_process = model.accelerator.process_index == 0 if hasattr(model, 'accelerator') else model.world_size <= 1
         for lang in self.languages:
             for subset in self.subsets:
                 dataset = load_data(split="test", task="completion", language=lang, length="2k", setting=subset)
@@ -155,8 +164,8 @@ def _generate_responses_legacy(self, model: LM) -> Dict[str, Any]:
                     )
 
                 outputs = self.compute(model, all_instances, do_slice=False)
-
-                if model.rank != 0:
+                
+                if not is_main_process:
                     continue
 
                 generated_examples = []
diff --git a/eval/chat_benchmarks/WildBench/eval_instruct.py b/eval/chat_benchmarks/WildBench/eval_instruct.py
index 100e6d68..2ff69cea 100644
--- a/eval/chat_benchmarks/WildBench/eval_instruct.py
+++ b/eval/chat_benchmarks/WildBench/eval_instruct.py
@@ -196,7 +196,8 @@ def generate_responses(self, model: LM) -> Dict[str, Any]:
             outputs = self.compute(model, all_instances)
 
             # Return None early for non-primary ranks
-            if model.rank != 0:
+            is_main_process = model.accelerator.process_index == 0 if hasattr(model, 'accelerator') else model.world_size <= 1
+            if not is_main_process:
                 return None
 
             outputs = [[output] for output in outputs]
diff --git a/eval/chat_benchmarks/alpaca_eval/eval_instruct.py b/eval/chat_benchmarks/alpaca_eval/eval_instruct.py
index 0a79b1e8..09f86da4 100644
--- a/eval/chat_benchmarks/alpaca_eval/eval_instruct.py
+++ b/eval/chat_benchmarks/alpaca_eval/eval_instruct.py
@@ -117,7 +117,8 @@ def generate_responses(self, model: LM) -> Dict[str, Any]:
                 self.logger.info("Generating responses for Alpaca Eval...")
                 outputs = self.compute(model, all_instances)
 
-            if model.rank != 0:
+            is_main_process = model.accelerator.process_index == 0 if hasattr(model, 'accelerator') else model.world_size <= 1
+            if not is_main_process:
                 return None
 
             model_outputs = []
diff --git a/eval/chat_benchmarks/zeroeval/eval_instruct.py b/eval/chat_benchmarks/zeroeval/eval_instruct.py
index c68a4379..2186b79e 100644
--- a/eval/chat_benchmarks/zeroeval/eval_instruct.py
+++ b/eval/chat_benchmarks/zeroeval/eval_instruct.py
@@ -144,7 +144,8 @@ def generate_responses(self, model: LM) -> Dict[str, Any]:
 
             outputs = self.compute(model, all_instances)
 
-            if model.rank != 0:
+            is_main_process = model.accelerator.process_index == 0 if hasattr(model, 'accelerator') else model.world_size <= 1
+            if not is_main_process:
                 continue
 
             outputs = [[output] for output in outputs]
diff --git a/eval/eval.py b/eval/eval.py
index 5bd177cf..6f5fad43 100644
--- a/eval/eval.py
+++ b/eval/eval.py
@@ -5,9 +5,11 @@
 import sys
 import time
 from typing import Optional, List, Dict, Union
+from pathlib import Path
 
 import concurrent.futures
 import torch.distributed as dist
+from huggingface_hub import snapshot_download
 
 from lm_eval import utils
 from lm_eval import evaluator as pretrain_evaluator
@@ -26,6 +28,103 @@
 from eval.eval_tracker import DCEvaluationTracker
 
 
+class ModelInitializer:
+    """Handles model initialization for distributed evaluations."""
+    
+    def __init__(self, cache_dir: Optional[str] = None):
+        self.cache_dir = cache_dir or os.getenv('HF_HOME', 
+            os.path.join(os.path.expanduser("~"), ".cache", "huggingface"))
+        self._ensure_directory(self.cache_dir)
+            
+    def _ensure_directory(self, path: str) -> None:
+        """Safely create directory if it doesn't exist."""
+        Path(path).mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+        
+    def download_model(self, model_id: str) -> None:
+        """Download model files with proper error handling."""
+        try:
+            snapshot_download(
+                repo_id=model_id,
+                cache_dir=self.cache_dir,
+                local_files_only=False,
+                resume_download=True
+            )
+        except Exception as e:
+            raise RuntimeError(f"Failed to download model {model_id}: {str(e)}")
+
+
+def initialize_model_for_eval(
+    model: Union[str, LM],
+    model_args: Optional[str] = None,
+    batch_size: int = None,
+    max_batch_size: Optional[int] = None,
+    device: Optional[str] = None,
+    cache_dir: Optional[str] = None
+) -> LM:
+    """
+    Initialize model for distributed evaluation where each node runs independent evaluations.
+    
+    Args:
+        model (Union[str, LM]):
+            Either a string identifier for the model to load from registry,
+            or an already instantiated LM object.
+        model_args (Optional[str], optional):
+            Additional arguments for model initialization as a string.
+            Only used if model is provided as a string. Defaults to None.
+        batch_size (Optional[int], optional):
+            Batch size for model inference. Defaults to None.
+        max_batch_size (Optional[int], optional):
+            Maximum allowed batch size. Defaults to None.
+        device (Optional[str], optional):
+            Device to load the model on (e.g., 'cuda', 'cpu'). Defaults to None.
+
+    Returns:
+        LM:
+            Initialized language model instance with configured parameters
+            and a sanitized model identifier.
+    """
+    local_rank = int(os.getenv('LOCAL_RANK', '0'))
+    
+    if isinstance(model, str):
+        initializer = ModelInitializer(cache_dir)
+        
+        try:
+            initializer.download_model(model)
+        except Exception as e:
+            print(f"Rank {local_rank} failed to initialize model: {str(e)}")
+            if dist.is_initialized():
+                dist.barrier()  # Ensure all ranks fail together
+            raise e
+            
+        if dist.is_initialized():
+            dist.barrier()
+
+        if model_args is None:
+            model_args = ""
+
+        config = {
+            "batch_size": batch_size,
+            "max_batch_size": max_batch_size,
+            "device": device,
+        }
+
+        try:
+            lm = lm_eval.api.registry.get_model(model).create_from_arg_string(
+                model_args,
+                config,
+            )
+        except Exception as e:
+            print(f"Rank {local_rank} failed to create model: {str(e)}")
+            if dist.is_initialized():
+                dist.barrier()
+            raise e
+    else:
+        lm = model
+
+    lm.model_identifier = sanitize_model_name(f"model_{model}_model_args_{model_args}")
+    return lm
+
+
 def setup_custom_parser():
     """
     Create a custom argument parser that extends lm-eval-harness parser.
@@ -148,7 +247,7 @@ def evaluate(
         cpu_count = os.cpu_count()
 
         max_workers = min(len(valid_tasks), cpu_count * 2)
-        if lm.world_size <= 1 or lm.rank == 0:
+        if (hasattr(lm, 'accelerator') and lm.accelerator.process_index == 0) or lm.world_size <= 1 or :
             with concurrent.futures.ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=max_workers) as executor:
                 evaluate_results = list(
                     executor.map(
@@ -302,7 +401,8 @@ def cli_evaluate(args: Optional[argparse.Namespace] = None) -> None:
     )
 
     # Add metadata to results
-    if lm.rank == 0:
+    is_main_process = lm.accelerator.process_index == 0 if hasattr(lm, 'accelerator') else lm.world_size <= 1
+    if is_main_process:
         add_results_metadata(results, args, lm)
         handle_evaluation_output(results, args, evaluation_tracker, wandb_logger)
 
diff --git a/eval/task.py b/eval/task.py
index aec96eca..337dd6d4 100644
--- a/eval/task.py
+++ b/eval/task.py
@@ -20,23 +20,23 @@ def __init__(self, logger: Optional[logging.Logger] = None):
 
     def compute(self, model: LM, inputs: List[Instance], do_slice: bool = True) -> List[str]:
         if model.world_size > 1 and do_slice:
-            prompts = list(islice(inputs, model.rank, len(inputs), model.world_size))
+            chunk_size = len(inputs) // model.world_size
+            start = model.accelerator.process_index * chunk_size
+            end = start + chunk_size if model.accelerator.process_index < model.world_size - 1 else len(inputs)
+            prompts = inputs[start:end]
         else:
             prompts = inputs
 
         results = model.generate_until(prompts)
         if model.world_size > 1:
             all_results = [None for _ in range(model.world_size)]
-
             dist.all_gather_object(all_results, results)
 
-            # Merge results from all ranks
-            length = sum(len(res) for res in all_results if res is not None)
-            merged = [None] * length
-            for rank, sub_results in enumerate(all_results):
+            # Simply concatenate results in rank order
+            merged = []
+            for sub_results in all_results:
                 if sub_results is not None:
-                    for i, item in enumerate(sub_results):
-                        merged[i * model.world_size + rank] = item
+                    merged.extend(sub_results)
             return merged
         else:
             return results