Figuring out where (e.g. event, track) a missing plugin has been used.

bvideo wrote on 2/13/2023, 11:18 AM

Sometimes, opening an older project invokes a Vegas message about a missing plugin. The message says what the name of the plugin is, but not where it is used. After Vegas opens the project with missing plugins, there seems to be no clue about where the plugin used to be.

I'd very much prefer not to have to install older plugins just to locate the events or tracks using these events. It is often easy enough to replace a plugin with something more modern, but I wish Vegas would tell me which tracks or events need fixing.

My latest example was RX6 VST plugins. I had uninstalled RX6 when I updated to RX 9. The very same plugins in RX9 are not identified the same as in RX6. So annoying. But there are other examples where I might have used an old noise reducer or compressor on one or two events. Same goes for plugins that were coded to work only on an old version of Vegas that came with bonus plugins. It takes too long to explore the whole project to guess where I used a missing plugin.

Is this a feature request or how do other people resolve these problems?

Comments

m3lquixd wrote on 2/13/2023, 1:51 PM

Up! This feature would be nice.

jetdv wrote on 2/13/2023, 2:17 PM

A script should be able to find it. You'd need to write down the error message to know what to search for, though. I'll have to look at that...

walter-i. wrote on 2/13/2023, 2:34 PM

I'd very much prefer not to have to install older plugins just to locate the events or tracks using these events. It is often easy enough to replace a plugin with something more modern, but I wish Vegas would tell me which tracks or events need fixing.

+10

bvideo wrote on 2/13/2023, 3:51 PM

A script should be able to find it. You'd need to write down the error message to know what to search for, though. I'll have to look at that...

@jetdv A script won't be able to find them because they are gone. My (thanks to your tutorials) script lists all plugins; the ones in the error message are not there after Vegas is done opening the .veg. If I reinstall the plugins, then yes. If I reinstall the older Vegas that can reference the locked-down plugins (after I install those, too), then yes. (Have I overlooked the possibility of a script referencing a project file without Vegas mangling the plugins?)

What if Vegas could offer a "safe" mode on opening where it could leave placeholders where the missing plugins belong? The "parameters" of the placeholder could be nothing more than the name & ID of the plugin. Even better if it could list some parameter names & values.

jetdv wrote on 2/13/2023, 5:14 PM

@bvideo, you are correct. The effects are not listed at all for a script to see. I went to another machine and created a project that used a couple of effects not on this machine. Interestingly, when I opened the project here. The first effect used was listed twice as missing - the second effect was not listed...

wwaag wrote on 2/14/2023, 1:59 PM

This won't solve your immediate problem, but it may help in the future. I modified a script I wrote sometime ago, Show Fx, that simply showed all Fx used in a project. The new version provides more detailed info enabling you to pinpoint exactly where the Fx are applied.

Here's a screengrab from a test project.

You can then paste it into a text editor such as Notepad.

or add it to Project Notes.

I'll add this version to the HOS Free Tools Library.

jetdv wrote on 2/14/2023, 3:10 PM

@wwaag, the problem is, the "missing" effects won't be in that list...

wwaag wrote on 2/14/2023, 3:12 PM

@jetdv

Agreed. That's the reason I started with "This won't solve your immediate problem, but it may help in the future."

walter-i. wrote on 2/15/2023, 2:08 AM

If I understand @wwaag correctly, it would be a good idea to include this listing in the project notes after a project is completed.
If problems occur in a later Vegas version, you can see in these project notes where which plugins were used.
So: prevention is better than cure.

wwaag wrote on 2/15/2023, 10:28 AM

"So: prevention is better than cure."

Exactly. I've recently done a lot of re-editing of old projects and ran into the same problem. Additionally, if you originally used VST2 plugins (before VST3 support in Vegas) and Vegas now sees the VST3 plug-in, an error will occur, even if the original VST2 plug-in is still there. Here's one thing I learned. If you get that error message that a plug-in is missing, do NOT save the project. If you do, then all references to those plug-ins and their location goes away. They "should" still be there in the backup project, but I haven't verified.