WARNING: MB Looks problem with V8c on Win7 64bit

[Sean Seah]

I couldnt get MB Looks 1.2 to work with win XP 32bit, kept crashing Vegas. It used to work fine till the MOBO was replaced. That was running a Q6600. Next I bought a DELL XPS i7 with 64bit Win 7 Ultimate. Same issue happens and I'm on fully licenced software. Keep s crashing as long as MB Looks 1.2 is applied. All other plugins does not crash it. The funny thing is my copy on a Macbook Pro laptop works fine under 64bit Win Vista Biz.

I hope anyone who has the same problem not waste $ on a new 64bit OS/hardware till the problem is solved if you like to use Vegas. Now my new PC is almost useless and I have to stop using MB looks from now on.

[Perrone Ford]

Interesting. I am using the MB software that came with Vegas 7 just fine on Vegas 8 and Vegas 9. WinXP64 and Win7.

[Ian Stark]

@Perrone, as I recall the free version of Looks that used to be bundled with Vegas is an older, cut down version - Sean's problem is with v1.2 of the 'new' Looks.

@Sean: First the bad news. Red Giant Software: Support - Compatibility - Host Applications If you scroll down to the Windows 7 section you will see that Looks for Vegas is not 64-bit W7 friendly.

However, take a look at this from Red Giant - it's specifically for Vista but may help you with your W7 issue. Magic Bullet Looks: [PS-107] Windows Vista 32-bit & 64-bit installation help

Let us know whether you get this resolved, Sean. I was about to take the plunge and move up to Windows 7 but I'm now reconsidering as I use many of the tools in Looks 1.2.

Sorry to suggest something that might add expense but there are other tools you could consider, like those from NewBlueFX (which actually aren't that expensive). And yes, before anyone jumps on me, I did create the Film Look tutorial for them and I am a big fan of their products but they don't pay me to say so!

[Sean Seah]

Not sure what is wrong but a friend here has a similar setup with a diff GPU (Ati) and it works fine. The good thing is RedGiant is responding and trying to help instead of saying "we dun support 64bit".

I have done what they adviced, disabled virus scan and installed fresh. Even checked the registry. I'll be trying hard as we do not have a return policy in our country

[Sean Seah]

Update:
I reinstalled everything the normal way (no compatibility stuff) and rendered an mpeg2 veg from my Macbook Pro with Vista 64bit + MB Looks1.2 using bootcamp and it crashes.

Then I proceeded to do a stress test by making new veg file from scratch with equal complexity and it works ok! I did it incrementally from 1min to 4min file with a song, 2 video tracks and loads of FX from MB looks 1.2 + inbuilt FX. Rendered to an aac 1280 mp4 in blazing speed (1.5x faster than the MBP)

My problems may be due to cross platform transfer. I wonder what could be the solution if that is the truth. I will rebuilt an identical project and affirm if my guess is correct soon.

[Richard Hunter]

Hi Sean. Just for your info, I'm using MB Looks with 64 bit Windows 7 Home Premium and it seems to be working OK. But I'm using 32-bit Vegas because Edward Troxel pointed out that MB won't work with 64-bit apps.

Richard

[Marcus Martell]

sean did u solve the issue?

[Sean Seah]

Not yet but I stumbled upon a possible solution which I would be trying very soon. Will keep u guys updated but Red Giant gave up! They have no idea what could be the problem. So far, I am beginning to think this is not a Magic bullet issue...

[Sean Seah]

Folks, the problem has been resolved. I used the NTcore explorer and enabled Vegas8c to handle address above 2G. The system now renders 2x faster than the Q6600. It is about 1:1 for non plugin enabled files.

Wtih MB Looks applied, the speed is about 1:1.2 .

So the issue lies with Vegas and not MB Looks. Somehow the laptop I have does not have the problem. Only the i7 desktop do. And the issue only comes when complexed projects are handled. Eg: XDCAM ED + Cineform avi
Take note this is an unofficial fix.. do it at your own risk.

I'm glad 7mths of agony is over!! VEGAS ROCKS now!!!

The method I used from Mr Blink3x who did this for AVCHD issues with V8c. BTW he is banned from SCS now when he is my saviour... I hope I do not get banned for pasting his steps here in case it gets deleted in SCS.

"Most 32 bit exe and dll files have a 2 gig maximum memory cap. I've been playing around with CFF EXPLORER (free download) which is a program that allows you to easily open the exe or dll and click the 2 gig memory switch that allows it to use more than 2 gig.

I reset the memory flags in
vegas80.exe (must do)
m2tsplug.dll (only for HDV m2t/m2ts folks who are having issues)
mcstdh264dec.dll (something to do with H264)
sonymvd2pro_xp.dll (no idea what is this but something with xp it seems)
to "greater than 2gig" and did a render of which I almost always crash on (avchd at 1920 render to m2ts 1920@16Mb/s with AC3 audio)

NT Core Steps
open the program
goto file\open
then find the file... in this case it would be Vegas.exe
On the left side you'll see "NT HEADER".... "DOS HEADER"... etc
Highlight "FILE HEADER" under "NT HEADER"
On the right side you'll see a chart and in the bottom right corner you will see "CLICK HERE"
Click on that and a check box menu system will open.
Scroll down the menu list until you see "app can handle > than 2gig address space" and check that.
Save the file and close.

Open the others and do the same.

MAKE SURE YOU DO A BACKUP COPY OF THE FILE BEFORE CHANGING IT JUST IN CASE YOU GET INTO TROUBLE!!!"

[Marcus Martell]

maybe could be my solution.......I can t wait 2 get back home

[Jim Snow]

Very interesting. How does the 2 GB maximum memory cap get set? Is it set by the application installer when an application is installed or is it a default value that is set by Windows? I wonder if this is an attempt by software developers to be "polite" and not hog too much memory.

[Sean Seah]

According to the author, it is a norm for 32bit applications to have the cap. The NTcore software allowed the flags to be reset to handle the larger mem address. That seems to solve the crashing for me at least.

[Steven Reid]

It's been a long-known hack on the Sony forums. It's probably the first thing I do to Vegas after installation and registration. Works very well.

[Michael Hutson]

Is NT core explorer a part of win7 or a seperate program?

[Roger Shealy]

Michael,

I don't know about NT Core Explorer, but you can use CFF Explorer also with same instructions. Here is a download site:

http://download.cnet.com/CFF-Explore...html?tag=mncol

and here is a Sony support site with a very long string on the subject.

Sony Creative Software - Forums - Vegas Pro - Video Messages

The most important posts are the first 3 posts by "blink3times" and as you will see the issue spans through many months from Vegas 8 to Vegas 9. I just made the changes and 9.0c seems to load up and render faster but I haven't done extensive testing yet. I just opened a file that I've had horrible problems with and it popped right open and now is rendering beautifully and seems much faster than before.

This may be the most useful ice-buster yet in my using Vegas. I was really having problems with HD, especially .mov, but this may be the answer.