I'm with MrVid on this . . however it is this one thing you say:

I applied brightness and contrast to a timeline I was editing and saved my work and shutdown the computer for the day.

That has to mean you saw the results of what you were doing; you had made sure the links in the FX chain were "active"; your process was absolutely correct and the s/w was doing as it should. And when you closed your project it should still have been working.

MrV's 2] would suggest that you have clicked ON the FX bypass when you EITHER reopened the Project, OR you had clicked on the bypass when you closed the Project. Vegas saves the bypass setting for your next session/reopening - and your:

The next day I came back and opened the video/timeline and all the brightness and contrast changes I had applied were gone.

Suggests this too and confirms that this would be the case, OR you've bypassed the FXs AFTER you've opened VP.

The FX bypass is located within the Split-Screen Icon button (click on it) up there on the Preview Screen Bar.

The other thing that I want to ask, do you have ANY FXs now applied? I don't just mean the effect of them on your video, but do you have actual FX Links on a chain? Are you also saying you CAN'T actually ADD FXs at all? If so then that is something odd going on.

What version/build of Vegas do you have? - While you are at it, please enter your System Information here on your System Information Page for us to make a note of your gear for any future questions you will have - it WILL help us all to help you - yeah?

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Grazie