(disclaimer: I'm a Trend Micro Deep Security trainer)
Yep, I agree the DSM logs are often too generic and do not help to easily find out problems during deploy, and I can confirm a proper DNS configuration is a mandatory requirement to have DS working correctly.
The direct vib deploy is a "last chance" workaround, but works with no problem at all, at refresh DSM sees the driver as installed and let you move to the appliance deployment.
Thanks for sharing the info about the useful logs to be checked.
Luca.