VS 2021 crashes EVERY time I try to create a DVD

[robing]

Hi Folks
I really at my wits end with this one so any help/suggestions would be appreciated.
I produce a weekly DVD to send out to shut-ins. THis week though VideoStudio ultimate 2021 has been letting me down badly and wasted a whole day. I just cannot find a solution. Until recently it has generally worked great.
Basically it started when having gone right to the end of setting it all up chapters/menus etc it crashed out before I could even save the project. I tried and tried again but it then started crashing out at an earlier stage. I tried re-doing the clip in a lower resolution - no luck. Heres what I have dine (and wasted best part of a day!)
1) I cleared out all the temporary files/proxy files etc.
2) Changed the location of temporary files (I have a Del inspiration laptop 16gb memory 1 TB M-Sata drive and 1 TB mechanical drive. Laptop is just over a year old)
3)re-rendered output file in lower res
4) re-edited and took out transitions from file -(sometimes certain transitions can cause problems in a DVD)
5) Changed proxy proxy settting I could fine setting on and off setting auto manual.
6) Finally in desperation I uninstalled VS completely. Even that was a problem as it hung up near the end!
7) I used a 3rd party uninstaller program to clear out EVERY trace of VideoStudio from the laptop
did a clean re-install
9) tried again Now it crashes almost as soon as I start. i.e. I load the file click next to get to create chapter - crash out. I tried older files which in the recent past worked fine - same result crashes out as soon as I click next.
10) as user forum note suggested disabling hardware render acceleration . Tried that. same result. basically as fresh brad new install of VideoStudio 2021 has now become practically useless.
11) Fortunately an older version (2019) on my 32 bit desktop has managed to do it albeit a lot slower so that has saved the day for now. I tried other DVD editing programs including the Corel MyDVD but they are more fiddly and basic to use compared to the one in VideoStudio
So friends is there are suggestions someone can give. Is it down to a recent update in VideoStudio. Previously versions these were installed manually but now seem to come automatically whether you want them or not.
Any help or suggestions would be really appreciated as I would really like to have it working again by next week
Thank you
I

[robing]

I have just done a thorough check on the hard drives to eliminate that possibility. Both coming out 100%
I have tried putting the working folders on to each of the drives/partition (apart from C) same thing As soon as I load a file click the next button CRASH. Basically now VideoStudio 2021 for all intense and purpose is for me totally unusable. Shame I am beyond the time limit to get my money back.
However one little experiment I just did was to click off the option to create menus. Clicked the next button held my breath but this time it DIDNT crash but of course goes straight to create disk with no menus. This has got me wondering whether the problem lies in a bug in whatever the latest update/version is. Everything now seems to be pointing in that direction.
It was working fine a week or so ago - since then I suspect an update has been applied without me knowing. Then when I did a clean uninstall and re-installed this cured nothing as the download would have brought in the exact bug as before that is causing the crash. The version that is showing up is 24.1.0.299 (no date). I still have version 2020 lurking somewhere. It will be interesting to re-install this and see what happens. 2018 on my desktop (32bit and less memory) worked fine last night - albeit a bit slow -but I was at least able to get the project finally done for this week after wasting over a day fooling. around with this bug in 2021. It does seem there is a serious bug somewhere that has come in with the menu creation part. I have tried every possible solution but absolutely nothing works. I hope that the tech people at Corel/Video studio aka Ulead can lookin into this and sort out a patch OR enable me to get back to the version that actually worked!

[canuck]

If there were a problem with menu creation in VS2021 it would have been reported by other users. From your description the problem is with your menu setup or some setting in your VS or system
Are your source file in HD or 4K? If not then why are you bothering with proxy files?
Using a 3rd party program to unnstall and clear "every trace of Video Studio" may also contribute to your problems since it could have deleted files that are part of the OS.

[robing]

Re questions raise. menu setup or setting in VS. The whole purpose of uninstalling and doing clean out was to get back to a pristine install (and it did not remove any OS files) so menu setup 'some setting' it was all the default setting from pristine setup.
proxy VS set this by default (recommended setting) which kicks in for anything above 720x575. OI use proxy as that is what comes as default and yes they do start of in HD (but lower res) the same format was working a week or so ago . So still a but of a mystery.
Fortunately I found the install setup up and sn for VS2020. IN installed this and ran used the exact same files as before and lo and behold it works fine. I can get in and create chapters & menu.
At least for now I have this as a fallback but it would be nice if it would work again in VS2021. Its all a bit of a mystery.
At least I work-around for the time being.

[Davidk]

You haven't indicated what update status of your CVS is - the latest version is 24.1.0.299.
If that was working fine until recently - say, until mid-september, them maybe the issue is a monthly windows update that changes feature of the OS on your machine that CVS uses.
diagnosing your problem statement:
- is the project you are working on a) a vsp, or b) a collection of existing video files (individual project files that have been rendered separately) that you are combining to produce the disk?
- some details of how (the steps you take) you create the disk and menu would help.

[robing]

GOOD NEWS PROBLEM SOLVED!.
I wracked by brains to try to remember what I had done differently from the previous week and I remembered I had saved a custom menu when I had first started the project. But where is this saved? Fortunately I had and earlier version on my desktop and recreated this and it showed it saved as a file with the date plus .ufo. I did a search and found its location. Armed with this clue I came back to the laptop and presto found the file under VS2021. I deleted this and started the DVD project again and this solved the problem. I went through every file I had tried earlier in the week and every one worked with no problem. No crashes, chapter creation fine, menu creation fine. (I didn't yet save a custom menu!) Got right to DVD burn and no problem. Strangely the uninstall, even the 3rd party one didn't remove this file. It was sitting there and for some reason this was causing the whole thing to crash. Quite why is a mystery BUT at least by deleting it, the problem has been solved. Bit of a needle in a haystack but at least the needle was found!
So hopefully this will help anyone who comes across the problem in the future - probably one of these obscure problems that are hard to track donwn but at least now a happy ending!
The location is : c:/users/<user name>documents/Corel videostudiopro/24.0/favourites 16x9/favourites. Delete the .ufo file(s) but not the .ini one
Hope this is helpful
I

[robing]

to Davidk
I do appreciate your helpful reply just in answer (but as you can see above problem now solved) as noted in one of my posts I do have the latest version.
To answer your question I normally create the edited clip then click on output - select DVD the go though to mark chapter point. I then go to menu creation and use a ready made one for the main menu then depending on the no.of chapters select the secondry menu and sometimes customise this. As noted it was when I save the menu for future use that somehow this got corrupted. I think on that occasion I cancelled the burn process as it was going to come up a bit to big so restarted the project to adjust settings - but from then on it crashed every time. It seems the cause was this custom menu which must have got corrupt.
Anyway as noted above mystery solved with a bit of detective work and wracking my brain to remember what had I done differently.

[Davidk]

Clearly it works when you edit the vsp and then go direct to share menu, chapters etc etc. However there are documented cases where this is a problem methodology, particularly when trying to render as part of a disk creation. Issues with render break the disk process and cloud a diagnosis of what is wrong.
The recommended approach is to create and render your project file separately before proceeding to the DVD/menu part. In your case, make several smaller files - that correspond to the parts that you would have to used chapter points for. For example, if 5 chapters, then make/render 5 separate video clips.
That done, start a new project - absolutely nothing in the timeline. This part has been the problem child for others. In Share mode, choose the DVD and disk format you want from the menus, and then when the burn module opens, insert your pre-rendered clips into the timelist: click n drag to sort them into the particular sequence you want, add (or not) your introductory logo clip, adjust your play options and proceed to step 2. In step 2 the menu items are listed in the order you placed them in the step 1 timelist (no need for chapter points in this method: the menu items match the number of individual clips you imported in step 1), and you can edit the labels for titles that suit. Choose a menu theme, add music et al, preview and proceed to create a disk image file in step 3. If that image file plays Ok in VLC, THEN burn that image file to disk.