File has been modified (but it hasn't)

[Joe5959]

I am suddenly unable to open my .dwz project files and retain all the customizations I used to create my DVDs. I get a message that says "The file [my original mpg video file] has been modified. Do you want to link it to another file?" Regardless of whether I click yes or no, I get to the main MovieFactory screen, but all my chapters, backgrounds, headings, etc are missing. I didn't modify my video file in any way I can think of, and all my video files now display this message.

The only thing I can think of that I did was to run the NovaBackup program to create backups on an external hard drive. But why would that change the original file?

Has anyone had this happen? How can I get my information back. I can't stand the thought of having to rebuild all my video files, and even if I do, how do I know it won't happen again? Your help appreciated!

[codestorm]

Anyone have any solutions/hacks/knowledge base references/product switch recommendations, or anything?

We've also encountered this problem, and like the original poster I imagine, we wonder about the wisdom in rebuilding all our movie project files if they may just stop working again.

Anyone??

[Joe5959]

I forgot to mention in my original post that I'm using version 3.5. I'm running Windows XP on a Dell PC with plenty of ram and disk space.

[bquerry]

I have had this problem as well. It has to do with the switch to and from daylight savings time. The only way I found to get around it was to set the date of my computer back to approximately the original creation date, open the file, change the date of the computer with the file open, and save with a NEW file name. PIA, but it worked for me. For the longest time, I didn't think of the change date back & re-save step and just kept moving my computer's date back and forth. The re-saved project seems to have its "daylight savings time flag" setup properly for the current time.

BTW, I actually have had to do this a couple of times for some long-time accumulative projects.

[Joe5959]

I can't believe it! Your tip worked! I can open all my project files and everything is there! I can't thank you enough. I was resigned to having to spend multiple weekends rebuilding all those projects.

Just a couple more questions. I take it there's no setting on the application itself to get around this problem? Do I have to do this each time we move into standard time from daylight savings time? If there's a "permanent" fix, let me know.

Thank you again.

[bquerry]

Nothing in Movie Factory I could ever find. I've always thought perhaps about unchecking the option in Windows to auto-correct for daylight savings time, but never got around to doing it. And I have too many projects that I have on either side of the switch over, so I probably would have to trick things out one way or the other anyway.

[Joe5959]

Thanks. BTW, when I open my project file after setting the clock back, I can't seem to get it to work by setting the clock forward and then saving to the new date. I do it this way:

1. Set clock back.
2. Open project file.
3. Set clock to current date (EST).
4. Save to a new name.

Opening the new file with the date set to the current date gives me the same file-changed message. Am I doing this wrong?

In any event, I now know I can simply set the clock back to an EDT date and open it, so it isn't critical to be able to save to the new file.

[bquerry]

Since you seeem to be somewhere you can try something, I just had an idea:

1. Set clock back.
2. Open project file.
2A. Uncheck the "Automatically adjust clock for daylight savings time".
3. Set clock to current date (EST).
4. Save to a new name.

My theory is that the DST adjust is not being handled properly within the MF project file, so by disabling the DST, maybe the project will re-open.

I am not at home so I can't check to see if that is what I ended up doing on my video editing system.

[klaus01]

Having had the same problem, I was happy to find your discussion.

I took your hint of moving the time.
However, I did not move my computer time, but I only moved the time of the original .mpg files:
it worked.

After my computer has changed from summer to winter time (-1h) I had to move forward the file time by one hour (+1h).

By the way: I also tried to move the time of the project file instead of moving each sinlge .mpg file. This didn't work.

Klaus

N.B.: To move the file times, I used a small Java program.
The source code follows:
(If you are unfamiliar with compiling/executing Java, please let me know)

Code: Select all

import java.io.File;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Date;

/**
 * Tiny application to move file modification dates.
 * See printInfo().
 * Call without arguments to get info text.
 */
public class MoveFileDate {
    
    public static void printInfo(String comment){
        System.out.println("MoveFileDate, moves the 'lastModifiedDate'of any file back or forward");
        System.out.println("Usage: ");
        System.out.println("  MoveFileDate -file=<filePath> [-offset=<seconds>]");
        System.out.println("  -file    Path to the file whose date is to move");
        System.out.println("  -offset  Optional defaults to 3600 (1h)");
        System.out.println("           > 0 Move forward the file date by this amount of seconds.");
        System.out.println("           < 0 Move back the file date by this amount of seconds.");
        System.out.println("Examples:");
        System.out.println("   java -cp . MoveFileDate -file=c:/temp/temp.txt ");
        System.out.println("        moves forward the date of temp.txt by 1 hour.");
        System.out.println("   java -cp . MoveFileDate -file=c:/temp/temp.txt -offset=-3600");
        System.out.println("        moves back the date of temp.txt by 1 hour.");
        if (comment != null){
            System.out.println();
            System.out.println(comment);
        }
    }
    
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        try {
            //-------------- handle arguments -----------------------
            File file = null;
            long offsetInSec = 3600; //1h
            if (args != null) {
                for (int i = 0; i < args.length; i++) {
                    String argName = null;
                    String argVal = null;
                    int idx = args[i].indexOf("=");
                    if (idx != -1) {
                        argName = args[i].substring(0, idx);
                        if (idx + 1 < args[i].length()) { //at least one char after '='
                            argVal = args[i].substring(idx + 1);
                        }
                    }
                    else {
                        argName = args[i];
                        argVal="";
                    }
                    if (argName.equals("-file")) {
                        file = new File(argVal);
                        if (!file.exists()){
                            printInfo("File does not exist: \"" + argVal+ "\"");
                            return;
                        }
                    }
                    else if (argName.equals("-offset")) {
                        try {
                            offsetInSec = Long.parseLong(argVal);
                        }
                        catch (NumberFormatException ex){
                            printInfo("Wrong number format in " + args[i]);
                            return;
                        }
                    } else {
                        printInfo("Unknown argument " + argName);
                        return;
                    }
                }
            }

            //---------------- move the file date --------------------
            if (file == null){
                printInfo("missing argument -file");
            }
            else {
                long newTime = file.lastModified() + offsetInSec * 1000;

                System.out.print("Moving fileDate of " + file.getPath() + " by " +
                                   (offsetInSec > 0 ? "+" : "") +
                                   (offsetInSec) + " seconds. ");
                if (newTime >=0){
                    SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("dd.MM.yyyy HH:mm:ss");
                    Date from = new Date(file.lastModified());
                    Date to = new Date(newTime);
                    System.out.println(" From " + sdf.format(from) + " to " + sdf.format(to));

                    boolean success = file.setLastModified(newTime);
                    if (!success){
                        System.out.println("!!!! Failed !!!!");
                    }
                }
                else {
                    System.out.println();
                    System.out.println("!!!! Offset is too large !!!!");
                }
            }
        }
        catch (Exception ex){
            ex.printStackTrace();
        }
    }    
}