Absolutely freaking out - VP9 crashing repeatedly

kairosmatt wrote on 6/11/2009, 4:56 PM

I hear you dude, it can get really tiresome towards the end of a long project.

This has helped me in the past: open Vegas and not the project. Under view, turn off waveforms and thumbnails. Then open the project and see if that helps. Sometimes it does, sometimes not.

When the render crashes, is the 75% file still there? Meaning could you render out the last 25% and then smart render them together on a new timeline?

What media are you using?

kairosmatt

othersteve wrote on 6/11/2009, 5:01 PM

Hey kairo,

Thanks for the help man. I tried turning thumbs off but to no avail. This time I deleted the sfk files and it has opened. I have no idea what is happening.

For now I have the file open, miraculously. I have made a second copy of it by saving again and am now trying to decide what my next step ought to be: try to edit again or take some sort of additional precautionary measures?

This is strange to say the least. Perhaps it was an issue with one of the SFK files? Is that even possible?

Steve

winrockpost wrote on 6/11/2009, 5:28 PM

I'd save it as an edl and open it in 8,, depending on how complex it is , you could get most of it as edited.

LReavis wrote on 6/11/2009, 5:43 PM

instead of saving as an edl, you might save all the subtle details of your work by opening in V9, selecting all, copy, opening V8, and pasting all into V8.

othersteve wrote on 6/11/2009, 5:46 PM

Great suggestions guys. This is quite a nightmare; it's crashing again.

I think I'll try 8.

Edit: Can't seem to get the copy/paste to 8 thing to work?

Steve

othersteve wrote on 6/11/2009, 6:27 PM

Hey guys,

Among other things, it seems to not like the WMVs all of the sudden. The thumbnails for them all appear red. Any ideas on that?

Ugh....

For what it's worth, attempting to open the project at all in Vegas 32 bit results in:

Extra Information
File: C:\Users\Steve\AppData\Local\Sony\Vegas Pro\9.0\dx_video_grovel_x86.log
File: C:\Users\Steve\AppData\Local\Sony\Vegas Pro\9.0\dx_grovel_x86.log
File: C:\Users\Steve\Videos\DigitalChumps\Output\e3_montage_digitalchumps7.veg

Problem Description
Application Name: Vegas Pro
Application Version: Version 9.0 (Build 563)
Problem: Unmanaged Exception (0xc06d007e)
Fault Module: C:\Windows\syswow64\KERNELBASE.dll
Fault Address: 0x768F98F6
Fault Offset: 0x000098F6

Fault Process Details
Process Path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Sony\Vegas Pro 9.0\vegas90.exe
Process Version: Version 9.0 (Build 563)
Process Description: Vegas Pro
Process Image Date: 2009-04-17 (Fri Apr 17) 13:12:56

Steve

i c e wrote on 6/11/2009, 7:45 PM

Hi Steve,
I just hae to chime in because I have so been down that road. i can't offer much advise, just condolence. Hang in there... there is a solution somewhere, It's just a matter of time and work (and a heck of a lot of getting angry at the computer).
I'm sure that you have thougth of this but is ther any chance that the problem could be with the comp? Like have you tried to do the 'Turn of backround applications' listed in the Sony help (did wonders for me). Maybe do some stuff to clean up the computer?

Also you might be dealing with a codec problem (sounds like it with the red thumbnails, isn't it infuriating how random those are?) this can happen very easily when working with two versions of Vegas on the same Comp. you could try to uninstall reinstall or WCS.... do a clean install....
If you actually could get the file to open you could save it (with all media files) to a EXT HD and try to open it on another computer.

Also make sure that you have not changed the path to any of the files at any time by accident. It's easy to do an can whack out a project...

Keep working at it an keep us posted. I'm sure that you will figure it out.

Best of wishes,

Joshua

othersteve wrote on 6/11/2009, 8:36 PM

Joshua,

Thanks a lot, man... it's cool-headed replies like yours that help people in video editing crises like this one from losing their minds. :)

Anyway, I really think I have (somehow) concluded that this is a memory issue. The thing is, I have no idea how. I am a computer tech and in this machine I run 8 GB of RAM, all tested to be flawless. I've also plenty of HDD space and lots of CPU muscle to back all of this up. It's extremely frustrating because I know my machine can handle it. It's even more puzzling that the problem didn't even rear its head until the first time I had to restart (following the initial crash, which I suspect may have had to do with Vegas trying to release access to the video files when it was taken out of active focus, a feature which I have since turned off, by the way). It doesn't make much sense to me; it seems like something may have changed.

Currently I have decided my best "solution" (if it even works) is to rename the media folder, open the project, delete 1/3 of it, save it to a temporary project, then restore the folder name, reopen the saved project, and render out the first 1/3 to a high-bitrate MP4 for use with dropping into another bridging project later to piece it all together into a finished piece. Then repeat with the 2/3 part of the file, then finally the 3/3. It's a pain in the butt and I honestly should not have to do it. I really wish I could just figure out what caused Vegas to suddenly wig out the way it did.

I'll keep you all posted.

Steve

Byron K wrote on 6/11/2009, 10:09 PM

I was experiencing constant random crashes when I first installed V9. Just moving an .avi clip on the time line, adjust a fade or playback of a loop would crash it. Per tech support, I ended up removing the all the files and reloading the program and now it's stable. I'm still having issues with choppy playback but at least I can use the application (somewhat).

From Sony Tech:
First, safely disconnect any any external USB or Firewire devices like hard-drives or dongles.

Please go to Start > Control Panel and open the Add/Remove Programs control panel. (In Windows Vista, click Start and then type "Programs and Features" in the Start Search box. In the Programs list, click Programs and Features).

Remove anything with a name containing Sony ACID, Sony Sound Forge, Sony Vegas, Sony DVD Architect, Sony CD Architect or Sony Media Manager, as well as any other Sony Creative Software programs.

Close the Control Panel and go to My Computer. Open the C:\ drive and open the Program Files folder. In this folder, if you see the Sony Setup folder, please delete the entire folder along with any of its contents.

If you have a Sony folder remaining in Program Files, please open this as well. If there are any folders corresponding to a Sony Creative Software or Sony Media Software program, such as ACID, Vegas, DVD Architect, Media Manager, Shared Plug-Ins, or any of our software you may have installed, please remove these folders. If these are the only folders in C:\Program Files\Sony, please remove the enitre Sony Folder.

Disable everything under Services and Startup in the System Configuration Utility. Do this by going to Start > Run, then type MSCONFIG (in Windows Vista, click Start and then type MSCONFIG in the Start Search box). Click the Services tab, checkmark Hide All Microsoft Services. Now click Disable All and Apply. Now click the Startup tab and click Disable All. Click Apply and Close. Choose to restart the computer.

Once again, go to Start > Run and type REGEDIT. This will take you into the Registry Editor.

**Before making changes to your registry, we advise that you save a backup. If you are unfamiliar with this operation you may want to contact your IT personal or take a look at this article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756 - How to back up and restore the registry in Windows XP and Windows Vista**

Locate the following keys and delete them:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Sonic Foundry
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Sony Media Software
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Sony Creative Software

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Sonic Foundry
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Sony Media Software
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Sony Creative Software

Now download the latest update for your software. You can find the latest update for any program at http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/updates
When this has finished downloading, please install the software directly from these downloaded updates and not from any previous updates or discs you may have.

When finished with all reinstallation, please restart your computer. When your computer has restarted, your software will have a complete clean installation. If your software still does not work correctly at this point, it is possible that this problem is related to your system and it might be above our ability to assist. In this situation, we would recommend contacting the computer manufacturer or distributor for further support.

Hope this helps.

i c e wrote on 6/14/2009, 6:55 PM

Hi agian Steve,
I sincerely hope that you get this thing figured out before you head explodes you you thrust your fist through the monitor. LOL (got to keep a good humor about it). In the years I have used any technology I have conclueded one thing: It never works the way that it should. It's just the nature of the beast. Those of us who venture to use it should be ready for anything.

Anyways, the other thing that you could try is to do what I did when things got whacked half way through the movie I was making.
Uncheck every effect that you have.
Clean up any un used media.
Render 1/3rd at a time (like I think you already said). in either AVI (Lossless) or MPEG.
and render the Audio seperate then start a new project (I would start three new and keep everything split into three parts until the final renders).

Or... have you tried. Nesting the poject?

Best of luck your way,

Joshua

othersteve wrote on 6/14/2009, 8:53 PM

Hey Joshua,

I apologize profusely for not following up, but the past few days have been VERY busy for me, heh! I actually *did* get it to work, by doing precisely what I had previously thought might work (and what you just suggested)--I rendered 1/3 at a time, and actually simply *deleted* all the rest of the project and media to get it to work. I had to rename the folder containing the media files first, however, to even get the project to load without crashing to begin with. In the end, it wasn't pretty, but it worked.

Getting the audio to sync in the end was the biggest hurdle I faced, as there were blank frames in-between the 1/3 render pieces I had to deal with (ugh). I wasn't even aware you could nest projects; how the heck does that work?

Anyway, yeah, there's some sort of massive memory management issue still at play here, and it seems it kicks in on my PC after around 10GB of media is loaded (8? That would match my available RAM if so). I certainly hope it is fixed in the future so that I don't run into this again.

You might be wondering, after all of this, what precisely it was that I was working on to make the program crash. Well, in case you're curious, here it is:

http://www.digitalchumps.com/video-gallery.html?task=videodirectlink&id=306

The finished video, in streaming HD on our web site! I apologize if the server is a little sluggish today; we are still recovering from a link to our site on the front page of Engadget from earlier... heh.

Thanks again for all the help, immensely, and I am simply glad to have made it work. Here's keeping our fingers crossed for a solution from SCS very soon.

Steve

vectorskink wrote on 6/15/2009, 2:46 AM

My copy of V9 has just started playing up as well. Worked well since the V9 release, but since about a week and a half ago, it's started to do weird things.

1. When I start Vegas after turning the PC on, it ALWAYS crashes and I get some problem reporting window come up. Start it back up straight away and it runs fine...

2. If I select a different window while vegas is running ie. word, web browser etc and then go back to vegas, vegas freezes for about 10seconds before it's responsive again.

3. Sat night I tried to render out my usual weekly project, but kept crashing at a certain section of the timeline near the end. I ended up trimming the ending a little and it rendered fine. This is a piece of footage that I've used heaps of times before.
OS is Vista 64

I'm getting a little bit sick of the niggles, and will be using V8 until the 'a' release comes out.

farss wrote on 6/15/2009, 3:32 AM

I fear I'm seeing much the same here.
I got three projects out the door with V9. Next one I've had V9 bomb out using the trimmer once and twice playing back the T/L. It's only a 4 min project and I'm wondering what lies ahead when I try to render it.
With V8 when things got sticky I kind of knew what was going on. With V9 there's no logic to what goes wrong, hard to get a feel for what it doesn't like and therefore avoid. Wierd thing is I can throw lots of FXs and composites at it and it hangs in there and then do something simple and it freaks out.

Bob.

othersteve wrote on 6/15/2009, 5:20 AM

>>2. If I select a different window while vegas is running ie. word, web browser etc and then go back to vegas, vegas freezes for about 10seconds before it's responsive again.

That's actually preventable... it's because of the "Close media files when not the active application" option in the Preferences dialog. I've since turned mine off and it seems to help stability and speed slightly.

Steve

vectorskink wrote on 6/15/2009, 5:26 AM

>>That's actually preventable... it's because of the "Close media files when not the active application" option in the Preferences dialog. I've since turned mine off and it seems to help stability and speed slightly.

Hey, it was on! It's one of the first things I do when I set up vegas - turn it off.
I don't know how it came to be on again.....

Thanks heaps for that!

i c e wrote on 6/15/2009, 3:00 PM

wow sounds like Sony release another product that does function quite right. What a suprise. I a so happy that I finally got 8c working smooth on my 64bit system.
I don't know if there is anything more frusterating than weird, fluky, hapazerd problems.
good luck to all of you.
Steve, glad you could finally get the thing done and out. Looks good. I cant's watch it smoothly for what ever reason but seems nice. (personally, not that you asked, but I thought the music could have been better). :) But no, good piece.

peace out,

Josh

othersteve wrote on 6/15/2009, 3:12 PM

Josh,

Thanks, glad you enjoyed the video. :) Yeah, we have extremely processor-intensive H.264 streaming video on our site; we're ahead of the curve there, but our target demographic mostly all have PCs which can handle playback, and it grants us the luxury of streaming HD, something almost no other site has.

As for the music, well, it's from videogames, so the choice was partially based on that. :-D The song you hear near the end is a cover of a Super Mario Galaxy song which many gamers love dearly, so it made a lot of people happy!

And I'm happy too--happy that the video is finished, heh!

Steve

i c e wrote on 6/15/2009, 4:04 PM

Oh, that explains it, I hate video game music. It seems so repetative.

But for the video it fit real well.

peace

othersteve wrote on 6/15/2009, 5:30 PM

That's the song.

Yeah, it's VGM, but man, if it isn't one of the most beautiful soundtrack items I've heard in some time. The chord progression is lively and fantastic and I simply love the rhythm guitar/orchestra combo.

:D

Anyway, enough of the nerd in me. Thanks again for the help/support.

Steve