VP 16 Crash: "Please put the FM7 Installation CD-ROM into the drive."

HungrySeal wrote on 3/13/2022, 6:45 PM

So I've upgraded my PC a month ago, and therefore had to reinstall Sony Vegas Pro 16 (Build 424). I've been using this software for quite some time as I had bought it from a MAGIX software humble bundle last year. Upon fresh installing the software from the humble bundle website, entering my license key, and waiting for the program to start up, I've discovered that the loading screen always halts at "FM7.dll" and "FM7fx.dll". Each time this occurs, under "Native Instruments FM7" it gives me the pop up window "Please put the FM7 Installation CD-ROM into the drive." If I hit OK it just pops up again, and if I hit Cancel or X out of the window, the loading continues for a bit before it crashes; "VEGAS Pro has stopped working".

I don't own any CD of FM7 nor know how to obtain it. I don't even have a DVD/CD drive connected. I've already deleted the previous OS so I don't have any hope of recovering what might be missing. In my defense I didn't know a clean installation of a program could still be missing important functioning files. I've tried the guides on here for resetting the software to defaults and it didn't fix a thing. I haven't been able to find one mention of FM7 in relation to Vegas Pro on the internet, so I'm perplexed as to why it's being asked of me. My installation of Movie Studio 16 works just fine, but I'm way more in tune with the layout and tools of Pro Edit. I'm currently running on a Windows 10 Pro License with a i9-12900k processor and a GTX 980 ti graphics card. Thanks.

Comments

Dexcon wrote on 3/13/2022, 7:55 PM

I can't recall hearing of that specific install problem before. Just FYI, FM7 is: https://www.vintagesynth.com/misc/fm7.php which I can't recall it ever being a bonus extra with Vegas Pro as sold by MAGIX.

Even though you bought Vegas Pro 16 from Humble Bundle, you still would have needed to register and activate it on your MAGIX My Account when you first installed it on your old computer. So the best approach at this stage is to go My Products on your MAGIX My Account and download the Vegas Pro 16 installer from the Vegas Pro 16 entry there.

BTW, the last Sony branded Vegas Pro version was Vegas Pro 13. All following Vegas Pro versions are from its new owner, MAGIX and do not include the brand name of Vegas Pro's former owner.

HungrySeal wrote on 3/13/2022, 10:13 PM

I've installed the software from the My Account MAGIX page and the issue persists.

Noted, way back I used to own Sony Vegas Pro 13 so that should explain my confusion.

Dexcon wrote on 3/13/2022, 11:14 PM

The webpage above has turned out not to be Native Instruments webpage, which is https://www.native-instruments.com/en/catalog/komplete/free/ - and it does not have a product called FM7. YouTube has a few videos on an FM7 VST synthesizer which is named as a Native Instruments product, but using Native Instrument's webpage search field there were no results on doing a VST synthesizer search. It's all very strange. But it does seem to be a genuine product because Sound on Sound - a reliable audio website - did an extensive review of it 20 years ago: https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/native-instruments-fm7

There's got to be something on your computer causing the installation problem. As I mentioned before, I can't recall anybody on the forum ever striking a Vegas Pro installation caused by a lack of an FM7 .dll.

Have you installed any audio editors, DAWs, other NLEs (other than MAGIX NLEs), VST plugins, codec packages, etc prior to attempting to install Vegas Pro? If yes, something in one of those programs/plugins might be causing Vegas Pro some grief.

... waiting for the program to start up, I've discovered that the loading screen always halts at "FM7.dll" and "FM7fx.dll

If by this you mean that Vegas Pro's splash screen appears and the progress bar works to a certain point then stalls, it could be stalling when its trying to load plugins. Typically, Vegas Pro wants to install any plugins that it finds in certain folders on the computer, and it stalls if any plugin isn't compatible with Vegas Pro. Unfortunately, there's no ignore option to bypass a problem plugin. The option is either to move the problem plugin to another folder or to uninstall it.

Also, did your new computer come from one of the mass computer manufacturers like Dell, HP and so on? Or was it custom built for you by a local computer shop? If the latter, it's possible that something got installed that shouldn't have been installed. That happened many years ago to my brother with a custom built computer from a local computer shop.

Phil_P wrote on 3/13/2022, 11:33 PM

Just an fyi: FM7 was superseded by FM8 a long time ago. (tbh FM8 is rarely used these days either). FM7 was never built in a 64 Bit version. So tbh you will only get it working with some kind of 64>32 bit bridging (like jBridge etc.) which will most likely cause instability.

Have a look in: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steinberg\VSTPlugins
And: C:\Program Files (x86)\VSTPlugins

And see if there are any remnants of it just in case.

HungrySeal wrote on 3/14/2022, 12:04 AM

In response to Dexcon, my computer was built by myself so neither of those answers are the case. However, I've installed Cakewalk by Bandlab which I suspected might have been conflicting.

So I went into the VST plugin directories of both the ones Phil_P just listed, as well as in my Cakewalk plugins folder directly, and lo and behold, FM7.dll and FM7fx.dll were there. I removed these files from the folder which has allowed me to complete the startup. Right on! I'm puzzled as to why VEGAS decided to use this directory for its video plugins and how I can change that moving forward.

Nevertheless, I'm grateful to have found the solution. Thank you very much!