Project possibly corrupted, looking for opinions...
 

Hello everyone! :)

Let me give you details before I spell out my problem:

I'm running Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5 on a Dell Precision PWS370, Pentium 4 CPU 3.20 GHz, 3.25 GB of RAM. (XP SP2)
With this set-up, I'm editing a 2-hour HDV independent feature heavily enhanced with the Magic Bullet plug-in. Until recently, the computer has been ROCK-SOLID. No crashes or problems- apart from the video section occasionally freezing up, but this is not the issue.

About a week ago, I'm got the "Adobe Premiere has encountered an error and needs to close" message, and I've tried several of the solutions offered on this forum:

- I've imported the project into another new one, but within minutes the project gives me the message and crashes.
- I've tried to open the project, re-name it & save it elsewhere, with the same result.
- Opening up a previous auto-saved project has the same result.
- I've tried to search for corruption with the XML Wrench program, but no results came of it.

I'm not running any other programs during this project, and I even turned off my antivirus software temporarily to check to see if it was the culprit- it wasn't. I also tried a new user account, but that wasn't causing the problem. Also, there are three other shorter HDV projects on the computer and none of them suffer this error message.

The only possible culprit may be an audio plug-in I just installed: Bias' Sound Soap 2.1- as the trouble began some time after this program's installation. I haven't un-installed Sound Soap yet, because if it isn't the cause, I've just un-done more of my work for nothing. (But that doesn't mean I won't if I have to!)

I'm wondering if there are any other solutions out there that might save this project- I desperately don't want to start from scratch, because I don't want this to happen again without knowing why it happened! It seems to be corrupted, but nothing I do can fix it so far.

I'm debating if an upgrade to PPro 2.0 (or even CS3) might help fix this situation. Any other suggestions would be appreciated! :)
(You'd save me from being lynched by my actors!)

Hi Jonathon...........
 

Hmm, seems a tricky one.

1. Have you re - installed the app from scratch? (always worth a try)

2. Are all you drivers up to date? (And I mean ALL!)

3. Are there any download patches for the app that have not been applied? If so, do them after re - installing.

4. I don't know what format this project is held in on your disc drive (s) but it may be worth (if the above doesn't do the necessary) to download a "trial" version of anything that can read that format and see if that falls on it's face.

I'm certain there'll be a lot more options posted so don't despair quite yet.

CS

I don't know if this can help you, but many times when I have an error message from premiere, there is a preview video file corrupted (I am talking about DV video anyway not HDV).
you can try to delete all the preview files (those premiere create after rendering into the preview folder) or move them into another folder, then you can open up premiere again and see what it happen.
of course the negative side of this is you have to render again.
I hope this can help you.
bye
franco

Chris and Franco, thanks for the input- I appreciate it. :)

Taking the steps one at a time, I made sure my drivers are up to date- I also installed an upgrade for Sound Soap. I found the preview files, but haven't moved/deleted them yet- I'm checking each possibility one at a time.

As of this writing, the Sound Soap upgrade hasn't helped-my project still crashes. I will try moving the prv files next.

I'm a bit worried about uninstalling PPro- I have a few other projects that work fine and mustn't be lost. I know I can store the pproj files elsewhere to save them (right?), but wouldn't I lose any plug-ins as well? (I dropped some serious cash for the surround-sound encoder plug-in and I ain't losin' THAT!)

I might just un-install Sound Soap as the next move, after the prv test.

Jonathan,

The only times I have had that problem is when I was mixing different types of footage in the project or when I accidentally opened up a project with the wrong preset for the type of footage I was importing. Just thought you might want to verify you have not done either of these.

Good Luck---Mike

Deleting the preview files won't hurt a thing...dump em all. You'll have to render again...that's it, no other consequences.

If that doesn't work, this plugin you mentioned might be it...BUT, usually plugins will crash the app on launch if they're a conflict. It's very unlikely that this would be the case. On the other hand, obscure plugins aren't something I even attempt anymore...too much productivity at stake.

As far as uninstalling-installing...you won't lose a thing as far as projects go. They're separate files stored elsewhere...hopefully somewhere designed by you so you can keep track of your work. You may have to go find the project files as they won't pop up in the open recent window after a new install, but that doesn't mean that they're lost...PPro just needs to be reminded where they are.

The last point here is just one of those painfully obvious diagnostic questions...
What change did you make just before the crashing started?

Install the Sound Soap plug? (again-plugin may be the cause)

Import some new media? (are those media files corrupt?)

Did the system have a bad crash? (again-could be media file/project file corruption as a result, but importing the project into a new one should've solved it if a corrupt-but-launchable project was the culprit.)

Did you move the files to a different drive that's having trouble keeping up?

Are any other projects a problem?

Are you scrubbing/playing the same spot in the timeline when it crashes? (again-pointing to the media in that spot being corrupt...move it somewhere else where PPro can't find it and make it "offline" when it asks for it on project re-launch and see if it crashes, if not...it's that piece of media most likely)

This is all pretty basic obviously...but 99% of the time, it's one of these obvious things that is the problem.

Got the project back by uninstalling the Sound Soap software. Apparently it must be used sparingly, as the problem didn't occur until the plug-in had been used frequently in the timeline.

Of course, now I'm having problems exporting! (the old "failed to return a video frame" message.) I downloaded the Media Encoder update (which had no effect) and am now trying the Windows XP update to see if that does anything.

(It takes a while to see- the estimated time is close to 35 hours!)

If you can determine what part of the timeline is hanging up, try a few short exports until you find the spot that is the problem (if it's always in the same place)...it may very well be a problem source file.

It's failed in three different areas, surprisingly. The first time was about 30% into the project, the second was about 20% and the last time as of this writing it got as far as 70%.

Were you able to see the frame count when it failed in each of these cases?

Is there a length that you can export?

please tell me there is adequate available space on the target drive and that it is not incredibly fragmented...

Can you open a new project, plop some media on it from this project, and export from there?

(Thanks for sticking with me on this one, Mr. Kolb!) :)

I have been able to see a frame count every time. I've also been able to export the entire 2 hour movie before, and this latest export only has had changes to the sound, and not the picture.

(The drive has been defragmented recently, and has almost 100 GB available for the export- in the past, the end file is usually just under 7 GB.)

Just an update- I was able to export an AVI... sort of. I had forgotten that the Magic Bullet plug-in exceeds resolution for AVI, so I ended up with some nice opening titles, almost two hours of a black screen and the end credits! (lol)

I'm going to try to export again, but I'm going to turn off the plug-in. (Exporting AVIs only takes 8 hours as opposed to the 35 for an MPEG2!)

Once this is done, I may try re-importing the AVI into PPro and export that file as an MPEG2 instead.

Have you uninstalled sound soap yet?

Yes, uninstalling Sound Soap is what enabled me to get the project into the exporting stage. :)

What are your project settings and target file settings?

have you removed the instances of Sound Soap from all the clips?

Settings are:

(General) HDV Playback
1280 x 720
Timebase 29.97 frames/second

Progressive Scan
Square Pixels

Compressor: Cineform HDV

Target file settings are pretty much set for maximum quality (highest bitrate)- I figure Encore will transcode it down to fit, and I've never had an issue with this before...

I will have to check back to see if ALL traces of Sound Soap were removed- currently, I'm trying another AVI export and that will take about 8 hours.