Replicatible--VS Pro X2 loses music, titles [BUG]

[markguitre]

Although I save my projects every few minutes, sometimes (not always)when I reopen the project all the music tracks I added are deleted. This has occasionally happened with my titles as well. Any idea how I can be confident that what I add will stay there?

[Ron P.]

Do you get the re-link prompt? In your Preferences, do you have the Re-link checking box checked? Have the files that disappear been moved, or if on a CD, or DVD, has the disc been removed? Have you designated a different than the default for working folders?

I've never came across this, and I can't recall anyone reporting this sort of behavior.

[markguitre]

Thanks for answering so promptly. I have relinking enabled but no
relink prompt is given. The files are not on removeable media, but on the
hard drive. But.. I usually create my own working folder, not the default.
In this case that folder is on the D drive.
And this particular audio file that has gone AWOL several times is on the C drive.
Might moving everything back the default way then relinking be
the answer?

[Ron P.]

My working folders are always on a separate hard drive, and sometimes on my external hard drive. I've never had any files just disappear from a project. The worst case being VS prompts to relink.

What is this particular audio file? It seems that it is a problem with one specific file. Even if it is MP3, it should not just disappear from the project. MP3s seem to be more problematic, where WAV files are accepted.

Try opening up the folder where you have this audio file on your system, and see if it is in fact there. If I were having this problem, I would start looking at what applications I might have that is doing some cleaning up of folders/files that it is not to be cleaning. For instance if your working folder would happen to be the Windows default Temp, using the Disk clean up utility would delete all the files in the Temp folder.

I have VS versions 8 through 12 currently installed on my desktop. I have project files created some 3 yrs ago in some of those versions. If I open one of them, and the files are no longer where they originally were when the project was created, VS will ask if I want to relink. I then just point VS to where those files are, and since I try to keep all files in a project in the same place, just locating 1, VS relinks all that project. I've ran Disk Cleanup, Defrag and still not had any files "deleted" from a project.

So this has to be from some action you or your system is taking, what that may be is unknown.

[zorza]

Curiouslly enough, it has already happenned to me.

I can't really explain, but what I can say is that I really think it is a very nasty bug.

What happens is that you are just working, and when you notice it, all but the main video timeline has just been blanked. It has always blanked the timeline from the begining to the part you are working on...

It is like if you selected all music, titles and overlays, and just hit DEL!!

More, even if you press UNDO several times, the deleted itens just don't show up anymore. What I have been doing latelly to prevent that HUGE AMOUNT of trouble, is save every 2 or 3 minutes, but using save as like project 1-1 project 1-2 project 1-3 and therefore. If it happens again, I will go get a older one...

Zorza

[Ron P.]

If it were a bug with the program that almost everyone would be experiencing this. When it is just a few, then it points more towards how your systems are configured, or conflicting applications, and even a hardware problem.

I have VS 12 installed on 2 completely different PCs. So far I've not seen this disappearing act. I'm not saying it's not happening, just that it seems to be limited to just a couple.

Please complete your System Information in your profile. Clicking on this button --> will take you to a short tutorial, explaining how to find and complete that information. This way it will always be available, and will save you from retyping it in the future.

What other applications are running when this happens? If you have a couple of other applications open and running, try shutting them down and see if it still does. If not then set up the same enviroment, and again see if the problem occurs. If it does, shut down one of the applications, and again test to see if it happens. Repeat this until it doesn't and you can determine the program that may be conflicting with it.

If you re-install the program do so with your antivirus, anti-spyware, Windows Defender (if Vista), and possibly User Account Control all disabled. This way there should not be anything that could interfere with the installation process.

[GeoffW]

Let me pitch in here and say that I have experienced EXACTLY the same symptoms as Zorza with VS Pro X2. I was working on adding a few narration audio clips towards the end of a 45 minute project and saved the project at the end of my session. I came back to it 2 weeks later and immediately noticed that all of the numerous overlay clips, titles, narration audio and music clips were missing from the project with the exception of some of the few narration audio clips that I had added during the previous editing session. The main video track was entirely intact. Presumably the clips were lost from the project at some point in my previous editing session and I simply didn't notice because I was not working on that part of the timeline.

So, in summary, I think the problem is "real". Whether it's something that just "happens" occasionally or whether it is precipitated by some particular editing action, I can't say, and unfortunately as I don't know the precise point at which the problem occurred in my editing session and, given the 2 week hiatus between my editing session and noticing the problem, I can't recall my exact set of steps in order to try to reproduce the problem.

[Ron P.]

I don't doubt that this is a real problem, however finding out what may be causing it and why, or if, this is more common than just a few, is unknown so far.
Your project file (VSP) stores all the info what files are being used, and where they can be found on your system. Is this disappearing act just occurring on XP, or both XP and Vista? VS also creates temp files, that are stored in a TEMP folder, generally in the Documents or My Documents folder, called AudioTMP. Is VS overwriting these, or just failing to write these files? Is the Auto Save every... being used?

The only similarity I've noticed on my system (Vista) is that an older VSP project, VS forgot where a couple of the files were located, even though they had not been moved. It did prompt for relinking, and once I located those files, they were relinked.

Loosing the clips while working on a project, appears as if the auto-save may be malfunctioning. When it does this auto-save it does not find the clips on your system, thus does not link to them in the save process. I'm just guessing, using a logical thought process here...

There's so many variables it's very difficult to find the cause...

[zorza]

Well, to try and find it, I have to say it has only happend on 2 machines I have running Vista Home edition.
On another machine, I am running XP pro, and I have never experienced it.

Zorza

[sjj1805]

Seems a strange one.
Can I suggest a slight alteration to your method of saving the project.
Rather than simply saving the project - save it with a different name so that you have different copies and if one of the projects mysteriously vanishes you will have other alternative copies to fall back on.

This will take up very little space on your computers hard drive because the project file is simply a text file of instructions - it does not contain the videos, audio etc.

The best way to do this is to have a project - lets say "Test"
You save it as follows:
Test01
then
Test02
then
Test03
etc.

You probably only need to keep about 5 copies. The extra advantage to this is that you can also use it as an "Undo" method if you later decide to reverse a few things you did whilst editing.

[markguitre]

Saving the same project under a different name was one of the things I already tried, and so far the only one that has fixed the problem. But how would a new name alone make a project behave correctly?
I cast a suspicious eye on "Smart Project," which I used in the disappearing files project but not in new-named one. Aside from the name change and Smart Project, no other differences (that I know of)
exist. This nice-sounding feature may be malfunctioning.

[GeoffW]

By "Smart Project", do you mean "Smart Proxy"? The one time that I have seen this problem I did not have Smart Proxy enabled.

To respond to zorza: My one occurance of this problem was on a machine running XP Pro.

To respond to Vidoman, I do have AutoSave enabled and set at 10 minutes.

[markguitre]

Sorry. I meant to say "Smart Package" may be the cause of the problem.

[sjj1805]

Smart Package is fairly new to VideoStudio and was contained in MediaStudio.
This gathers all of your files, sounds, pictures etc. together into one common place plus creates a new project file. This way you can save or transfer an entire project much easier without losing anything.

Changing the project name doesn't "fix" anything but what it does do is provide you with snapshots at various stages of development so that you are able to turn the clock back in times of disaster.

If you only have the project saved under the one name and it gets corrupted then you have lost the lot. Having a second earlier copy, and a third etc. allows you to step back in time to an earlier point.

Think of it as you would "Windows System Restore."

Just to make sure we haven't overlooked the obvious can you take a look at this link What is a project file?

[pietro]

Although I save my projects every few minutes, sometimes (not always)when I reopen the project all the music tracks I added are deleted. This has occasionally happened with my titles as well. Any idea how I can be confident that what I add will stay there?

Answer to Markguitre and Zorza,
I think that the problem is caused by a bug of Video Studio Pro X2, because with previous versions all worked perfectly.

I¡¦ve found out the moment when the problem happens:
adding a new transition effect using Storyboard view and Ripple Editing enabled, all tracks locked (overlay, title, audio) before the transition disappear. (nobody notices immediately that tracks have disappeared using Storyboard view)

Solution: the tracks will not disappear
1- using Storyboard view with Ripple Editing not enabled or with the tracks unlocked, but synchronization will be lost
2- or better using Timeline view (even with Ripple Editing enabled)