Hi John

Thanks for your response.  I fully accept that a (possibly partially-failed) Windows Update might well have caused the problem, except that, as far as I can tell, all Updates are fully installed on a machine that has existed only since about March 23rd - that's when I received this new computer and first installed Windows 10 - and no other program is "suffering" this problem, including VPX5.  There were some Windows Updates installed on April 12th, the day before the disappearing text in the Open Project screen first was seen, but to suggest that they were the cause, to be solved by checking for updates and rebooting, seems to be a little like "clutching at straws" since all updates, according to "Windows Update screen" are installed and numerous reboots had occurred between the problem appearing and me contacting Support.

It's also worth remembering, I think, that a repair install failed to correct the problem.  I had considered there might be something amiss with my graphics card driver (Radeon R7 360) but its own utility tells me the latest version is installed and functioning fully.

I think tomorrow might well be the uninstall/reinstall day!  I wonder whether the NB packages should be deactivated first, assuming I can get to that screen?

Jeff

Hi Jeff

Just reading your reply, I realise I have missed a bit out of my reply  .

The HD4600 drivers I use are the genuine Intel sourced drivers and it was these that got trashed / crippled / corrupted / mismatched or whatever you like to call it - I rarely use expletives however on this occasion  I used a few when I found out what happened.

Reinstalling the Intel sourced drivers fixed the issue.

Cheers

John EB

Hi Jeff

That sure is a weird set of problems. It might be worth having a look at this post: http://www.magix.info/uk/hdr-effect-does-not-work-with-mep2014-2016-or.forum.1161947.html and the experience there in the last 6 posts that refer to a (failed) Windows update and Graphics driver issues. Magix support may not be too far off the mark.

The recent NB effects add ons appear to install in the X64 and X86 folders simultaneously so there should not be an issue there. when I insalled NB Titler in MEP2015 which is 64bit, the installation location showed as 32bit in the installer sequence but were there in 64bit. I actually ran this past Ralf who confirmed.

Interested to hear how that Radeon R7 370 is working out once you sort your problems out. Did you see my questions asked, in your previous topic about VPX?

BTW did you see there is a patch out for VPX365 which is supposed to stop crashing with the Sharpness effect, but doesn't according to the German Members!

Cheers

Peter

Yes.

I just sent off a long email with videos to Magix about the on-going problem of the video editors not working correctly with Xara since version 10 or X10 came out. They have acknowledged the problem several times over the last 2 years, each time "forgetting" that the problem exists before finally telling me that they are aware of the problem and it would be fixed in a future patch. It never gets fixed. Now support employee 2 tells me that that cannot see anything wrong. Obviously they don't know how it is supposed to work.

My recent problems (and the same complaints by several others in this forum) with MusicMaker 2016 Live (Premium) were more or less dismissed with that's too bad, and then a patch comes out and one of the main problems was fixed. Other problems remain.

I complained about and questioned the size allowed for web hosting supplemented by order numbers, etc., was dismissed with "if you purchase..." I already purchased. And the voucher that comes with Xara is for Xara hosting..." Yes, but only for Xara X11, not the previous versions. I gave up.

Now VPX. 

@Peter

I was going to ask here about the keyframe problems on the Sharpness screen but you have just confirmed the problem. Well, it's worse. Tonight I couldn't get any keyframes at all, not even the keyframe window below Effects. There is a double-arrow button at bottom left of the window that closes or displays the kf window part. I had clicked on it in a previous session. Now, since I don't see the kf window, I clicked on the double arrow and everything in the Effects window disappeared. Clicking again brings it back but no kf window. I clicked on the full screen button for the effects and I can see the Effects window, and toggle between with and without the kf window. Of course I have to go out of full screen mode to do anything, thus losing the kf window.

Did anyone else run into this?

I didn't see the patch and VPX didn't mention it automatically. I'll look tomorrow.

Hi Peter and John C.B.

Many thanks for your posts and thoughts.

Peter, yes I did see the question you raised in my other thread re Graphics cards and drivers; I didn't directly contribute because it's still quite early days for this computer and I wanted to see how things would turn out.  (I posted in a different thread why I "needed" a separate graphics card.  I know John EB's experience has been that, with a suitable Intel processor - I have an i7 6700K @ 4 GHz - a dedicated graphics card is not necessary.  However, my experience of not having such a card was less than satisfactory - picture break-up/interference and even complete temporary loss of any picture - hence the purchase of a "relatively" cheap, reasonable quality card.)  To date I have had absolutely no reason to rue that purchase!  Picture is stable, no interference/break-up and, insofar as I have been able to test it with VPX 8, it works very well; it certainly does with VPX 5.  The supplied (with the card) Radeon Utility checks for driver updates quite regularly; there's already been one since I installed the card.  Just to check, last night I rolled the new driver back to the previous version; it made no difference to the problems with VPX, so I reinstalled the latest one.

I understand and accept the point that a Windows Update may well have "screwed" with something in VPX 8; I suppose my basic gripe with MAGIX Support is that, in an ideal world, their Syscheck app ought to be capable of discovering which update and hence how to resolve it.  I know, I want the moon!!

John C.B., glad to hear I'm not alone in thinking that Support has somewhat "gone off the boil" recently, but sorry to hear about the variety of problems you are experiencing with a range of softwares.  Hopefully, if enough users of a range of MAGIX products shout loudly enough the "powers that be" might begin to think seriously of  how they could improve their service to their customers!

Jeff

I probably should have opened a new thread for this.

I updated to patch 15.0.0.83:

* Improved playback performance
* Rare snags during program registration fixed
* Rare crashes during JPEG import fixed
* Fixed crash during HDV recording with activated option "Burn to DVD directly"
* Fixed crash during media switch (USB, DVD, ...)
* Fixed rare crash during switching between folders in the Mediapool
* Fixed partially unresponsive effects dialog in full screen view
* Fixed rare crash when effect dialogs are switched
* Smaller problems in effect dialogs fixed (brightness, cropping, camera movements)
* Added lens correction and 360° panorama to effects list in full screen mode
* Fixed error with effect combination crop + rotation
* Fixed illogical behavior when setting keyframes
* Fixed several crashes of Mercalli plug-ins
* Fixed problems with effect fades
* Fixed title errors
* Fixed OpenFX plug-ins error (saving, effect application)
* Fixed crashes using some collages
* Fixed error with loading some DVD templates
* Fixed rare encoding break-offs during HEVC and DVD export
* Fixed crash after export cancellation of route animation
* Minor revisions to program interface and localization

Didn't resolve my Effects kf window problem, so I killed Video_Pro_X.ini. This worked, but then I had to recreate all of my folder links and redo the folders links in Program settings.

The Effects, Sharpness problem works better, but resetting all effects does not remove the names of all of the effects from the object. In the image below, there are no effects on the object but the names still show up.

@Jeff,

Did this new patch help you at all?

Hi

@ John Cb

. . . . so I killed Video_Pro_X.ini. This worked, but then I had to recreate all of my folder links and redo the folders links in Program settings. . . . .

A tip:  once you have set up the folder links and settings make a backup copy of the 'clean' ini file create a small cmd file to copy the clean ini over a corrupted one - save you a lot of time resetting everything and restoring the extras downloads.

Note: when you add new plugins, templates etc, you do need to create a new copy of the ini file.

One double click on the cmd file and the program is reset - beats using the program reset any day.

HTH

John EB

@Jeff,

Did this new patch help you at all?

Hi John, 

No, it was no help at all when installed on the original installation (of VPX).  But it also didn't help even after I had completely uninstalled that first installation, using Revo Uninstaller Pro AND the MAGIX Uninstaller (it found nothing left over of VPX 8) and then even using my registry checker of choice, Perfect Registry, to ensure all entries connected with VPX 8 were removed; the reinstallation STILL had the blank Open project screen, both with and without the latest patch!!

However, perhaps there is a little light glimmering at the end of the tunnel.  In his latest email to me support employee 2 states "The whole not showing text is a problem with our QT graphics engine not working correctly with something."   I wonder whether Support can remote to my computer and "dig around"?  I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that that sort of level of investigation is what is needed to finally resolve this problem.  I shall suggest it in my reply to support employee 2's email.

Jeff

A tip:  once you have set up the folder links and settings make a backup copy of the 'clean' ini file create a small cmd file to copy the clean ini over a corrupted one - save you a lot of time resetting everything and restoring the extras downloads.

John EB

@John EB,

That was pretty obvious and obviously I didn't do it. I've now got a copy made. Thanks.

There is more. I should start a new thread called "Read the manual." VPX has more features under the top Window menu than MEP. One can save various Windows arrangements and recall them using shortcuts F10 to F12 or the top menu.

I haven't used the Project Temp Folder (not available in MEP) very much and I just read through that part of the manual. Very useful! More to learn. I'm going through old VHS and DV imports and breaking them up into scenes by subject, location, dates, etc., as each import is long and contains all video as one long sequence. I was just looking to see which VHS and DV sequences I had already imported, and there was the list staring me in the face. The Project Temp Folder with virtual folders should help for setting up future projects from all of this material.

Here is what it does in case you've never seen it:

The project temp folder is a point for collecting all the files needed for the project as well as all movies contained in the project. This makes it an essential tool fororganizational tasks.

• Material storage: Files from the Media Pool can be combined in the project tempfolder before loading them from there into the project.

• Organization: The contained objects can be freely renamed and a descriptioncan be added to each object. A virtual folder makes it possible to easily sort objects according to your criteria.

• Search: A certain character string can be searched using the search box. This takes entries under "Name" and "Description" into account.

• Edit: You can trim different sections from longer videos directly from the project temp folder and then use them as separate objects in a movie or save them as new entries in the project temp folder.

• Replace: Finished objects can be dragged from the project window to the project temp folder. The project temp folder can be saved so it can be used in other projects.

You can

• add additional manual entries,

• remove unnecessary entries,

• rename existing entries,

• add metadata to existing entries,

• create a virtual folder.

I need to finally update and, in effect, "close" this thread with an apology to John EB (and support employee 2) who, quite correctly, surmised the problem of the disappearing text was caused by a Windows Update!

Since this problem first began, nearly 4 weeks ago, I had been experiencing an apparently-unrelated one; namely, that I was seeing numerous Windows Error Reports each day, most generated by "W_S_Auto_Update".  When I pursued this further, I discovered, greatly to my surprise, that it was caused by the Windows Firewall Service NOT being able to start.  Since I have Bullguard Internet Security installed, and the normal advice is that one should not run two firewalls, it seems likely that I had chosen to turn off the Windows one.

BUT, Windows Updates needs it to be running in order to properly download and install any updates, apparently.  And, once turned off "manually", it seems impossible to restart it.  Three lengthy chat sessions with the Microsoft Chat Desk completely failed to find a solution/workaround and the closing remark from the support technician at the end of the third session was that the only solution she could see was a complete, "clean" installation of Win10.  I nearly cried, having spent approximately 5 weeks building this system and installing the apps I really need, I did not relish at all the prospect of starting again from scratch!

So, more googling!  And, eventually, I found the solution - it involves deleting very specific folders and their contents from the registry, so not to be undertaken lightly - and the Windows Firewall will now start and run, updates can be downloaded and successfully installed and, best news of all, to me at least, VPX (8) now displays ALL its text boxes!!

So, should anyone else encounter the problem of a non-functioning/non-starting Windows Firewall, with its seemingly unconnected problems with Windows Update, I'll be happy to post much fuller details of how to resolve this if requested.

Thanks to all who offered advice etc. in this thread.

Jeff

Hi Jeff

No apology needed - pleased you are up and running.

Windows 10 updates do have some peculiar habits - I wonder if the EU regulators will make Microsoft  un-integrate (disintegrate   ?)  the firewall as they did a few years ago with Internet Explorer.

Cheers

John EB

Hi Jeff,

Well said. Given your problems, users using other products, like Samplitude Pro X, may have done something similar. We know that MS has been messing up things for quite a while. About a year ago, they changed something to do with burning DVD's, I believe and the software makers like Magix were having a hard time getting everything to work again.

I just opened another ticket and the message that I received from support employee 2 was to run syscheck, again, third time this year. I fail to see how my system could get some German text on the screen and also save the video from TRA as 25fps rather than my project speed of 29.97fps, especially when there is no option to set the frame rate in TRA. I tried both VPX and MEP2016 Premium and the frame rates were the same. And can my system be at fault for shortcut errors in the pdf file?

Here is the issue and I would appreciate if you could check the TRA wizard to see if you get the same German text:

VPX(8) 15.0.0.83 - here are a couple of minor problems:

1. Wizard - Travel Route Animation
- On the first screen, Options is in German as Optionen. Selecting it brings up
the Options screen but it is all in German. See below.
- The animation is created as 25fps whereas my movie is at 29.97fps. Is there any
way to have the animation generated at frame rate of the movie?

2. The Shortcuts pdf file
Under Project window view
- Zooms should be Alt, not Ctrl
- There is no Ctrl + 6 and Alt + 6 is already taken by Preview audio objects - I
suggest that you simply drop it.
- Entire movie - Ctrl + 8 does not work, it should be F

3. This was happening before installing VPX and is on-going - Speed BurnR appears
in German. How can I get it back to English?

For point 3, I had installed the trial version of VPX7 in German and afterwards I noticed Speed BurnR was in German. Removing the German trial version and replacing it with the English version of VPX7 did not affect the now German Speed BurnR, and installing MEP2016 Premium and VPX(8) since then had no effect on the language.

If you notice anywhere in TRA where you can set the output frame, please let me know.

Do you see the German parts?

Can you confirm the shortcuts?

After doing a travel route and saving the video, upon return to the arranger, I get the message below:

As for my on-going annoying (maybe I'm annoying) problem of MEP and VPX not working properly with Xara since version X9, my video finally got them to see how the movie was supposed to advance in Xara animation, and that an animation is supposed to be returned to the video program, not a static image. The problem and my video have now theoretically been sent to the developers of Magix and Xara. I'm still hopeful for a resolution to this,.but it was frustrating trying to convince Magix that feature was not working correctly, in several tickets over the last 2 years.

Hi John CB

. . . . On the first screen, Options is in German as Optionen. Selecting it brings up
the Options screen but it is all in German. . . .

I suspect the GeoModule config file - GeoModule.dll.config - may be set for the wrong language as a result of the installation of VPX in German.

The file for MEP 2016 is located in

C:\Program Files\MAGIX\Movie Edit Pro 2016 Premium\GeoModule

So the VPX one should be in a similar location and the contents (for UK English) are:

. . . . save the video from TRA as 25fps rather than my project speed of 29.97fps . . . .

You need to replace the StandardPreset.pru in the same folder as the above config file with a new one with the required framerate - AFAICS resolution is irrelevant

To do this in VPX - assuming the menus are the same as MEP 2016

Select File, Export movie, Windows Media Export

1. Change Resolution to 1920 x 1080 and Framerate to 29.97 or 30 fps if necessary - - AFAICS resolution is actually ignored by TRA
    
2. Save the preset by clicking the disc icon in the top right of export dialog giving it the name StandardPreset
    
3. This will create the .pru file.
    
4. Close VPX.
    
5. Using Windows Explorer backup or rename the existing StandardPreset.pru in the Geomodule folder and then copy the one you just created to the folder.

HTH

John EB

@John EB,

Thanks for your input. In the first case, I doubt that config is the problem. The German is one word on an English screen plus the mouseover hint, that is, everything else is in English, and then the options screen is all in German. I noticed that VPX7 does not have the Options feature, only MEP2016 and VPX. MEP2016 is ok, no German, but I think that someone messed up in VPX. This cannot be my system!

The config file gives the following results. Here is the XML:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

-<configuration>

-<appSettings>

<add value="geomodule" key="path_geomodule"/>

<add value="geomodule/languages" key="path_languages"/>

<add value="en-US" key="lang_en-II"/>

<add value="es-ES" key="lang_es-US"/>

<add value="en-GB" key="lang_en-NO"/>

<add value="en-GB" key="lang_en-DK"/>

<add value="en-GB" key="lang_en-SE"/>

<add value="en-GB" key="lang_en-FI"/>

<add value="en-GB" key="lang_en-UK"/>

</appSettings>

</configuration>

Strange. Here is the Notepad version which looks like yours:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
  <appSettings>
    <add key="path_geomodule" value="geomodule"/>
<add key="path_languages" value="geomodule/languages"/>
<add key="lang_en-II" value="en-US"/>
<add key="lang_es-US" value="es-ES"/>
<add key="lang_en-NO" value="en-GB"/>
<add key="lang_en-DK" value="en-GB"/>
<add key="lang_en-SE" value="en-GB"/>
<add key="lang_en-FI" value="en-GB"/>
<add key="lang_en-UK" value="en-GB"/>
  </appSettings>
</configuration>

Go figure. Thus I will leave it as is.

In the second case, there was no pru file under GeoModule for VXP, so I did as you indicated and added the new one. The result was that the video created was now 30fps instead of 29.97 or 25, which is at least an improvement. Still, I believe that there is a problem with the program that Magix should fix. Again, this cannot be my system! 

This was VPX8 and this had nothing to do with me installing the German version of VPX7 and then uninstalling it and installing the English VPX7 a year ago.

I will forward the results to support employee 2.

Thanks again, John.

Any suggestions for Speed BurnR? Note that it is definitely installed in German. The help file, .chm, is in German as well and there is only one chm file under folder. Again, it cannot be my system as the executable is in German! I would uninstall and reinstall the correct version if I knew what to look for.

Thanks,

@browj2.

Sorry I can't respond to any of your questions about TRA; perhaps you intended to direct them to Terry?

However, I may have a possible solution to offer on the SpeedBurn problem.  From within MAGIX VPX I can see no method to uninstall only the burn program.  However "Revo UIninstaller", at least in its PRO version, does list SpeedBurn as being uninstallable "independently" of other MAGIX programs.

Is it worth the risk (of it disrupting other parts of VPX) to install and run Revo and see what it can do, obviously having created a System Restore point first, though actually Revo (Pro) does that step automatically?

Clearly, you would then need to try a Repair Install of VPX.

It MIGHT work!

Jeff

Hi John CB

. . . . need to try a Repair Install of VPX. . . . .

I agree with Jeff - at least for the TRA issue -  I suspect you may be missing a file - see below.

I can make MEP 2016 TRA behave the same as your VPX.

Check how many files you have in the GeoModule >  Languages > en-GB folder.

I have 2 files - GeoModule.pdf and GeoModule.resources.dll - if I remove the dll file the TRA Options button behaves the same as yours.

With the English version dll in place the Options items and button are correct however the indicated shortcut is in German

 this is an error in the dll file, however you cannot change this as it alters the entry points of the dll stopping it being used.

. . . . I can see no method to uninstall only the burn program . . . .

SpeedBurn has its own uninstaller in Control Panel, Programs and Features.

HTH

John EB

Thanks John and Jeff.

I tried replacing the dll with the one from MEP2016, no change, still have Optionen on the screen.

I have Revo and I can uninstall Speed BurnR. I presume that I will also have to uninstall/reinstall VPX to get the correct Speed BurnR as there is no separate install file as far as i can tell. I'll see what support employee 2 has to say first.

Hi everyone,

just a heads-up from our end. Unfortunately we need to delete the names of our support employees in this thread. Please be aware of community rule 12: "It is prohibited to mention or publish MAGIX employees names in posts."

We appreciate your understanding.

We constantly want to improve our products and support. Therefore your constructive criticism is appreciated and will be adressed internally.

Best regards,

magix.info team

OK, my apologies for starting the problem of naming individuals.

But why does the rule (which I wasn't aware of) exist?

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

They are right, we should not name Magix employees. They shall now be called "Nameless Magix Employee" or "NME."

As for support, the previous NME has given up on me and I have new one, who also did not read my message. I opened a ticket with 3 problems and then added one:

1. TRA - Option button shows up in German as Optionen and clicking on it brings up the options all in German. Bug in the program.
2. Speed BurnR is installed in German. I think that this happened when I installed the German trial of VPX7, but uninstalling VPX7 and installing the English version did not help, nor did installing the English version of VPX. What do I need do to get the English version?
3. There are some errors in the Shortcut pdf file under Project window view. The shortcuts for Zooming 1 frame/5 frames etc., are Alt+1, Alt+2, not Ctrl+1, Ctrl+2, and for Zoom 10min is Ctrl+Alt+6, not Ctrl+6, and for the Entire movie is F, not Ctrl+8. I suggest that you have these corrected in the next version.
4. Magix support site, under support, Customer area, under both Downloads and Registered products, there are no patches indicated for VPX or ACL Premium, yet I have installed a patch for each of the programs by using Help, Update online. Something is wrong with your Support site as it has not updated with the patches showing.

 The first reply was, run syscheck. Done and sent and followed up with an email.

Second reply from the new NME today was, "Please download and install the latest patch for Video Pro X and see which problems you are still having afterwards." There is no new patch.

I replied that there is no new patch (the patch revision was in my first message), that a patch won't help fix the German version of Speed BurnR or the Support site problems, and suggested that NME re-read my messages.

So, I still feel that support is not up to par.

BTW, the new NME was the one that replied to me that they now understood the bug with the Xara interface and were taking care of it. I have my doubts.

Hi John CB

I think you have installed the "Latest" Patch, further down this thread. They didn't say "New" but I guess the syscheck should have showed them the patch version installed....?

Peter

@ Peter and John CB, I hope the recent acquistion of Sony softwares is not going to make this rather poor showing from MAGIX Support even worse.  I know that some of the technical staff from Sony have been taken on by MAGIX, but...?

BTW John, I love the acronym NME for support staff!  In the UK those initials are synonymouns with New Musical Express, a rather influential publication on the pop music scene.  I wonder if MAGIX NME are going to be equally influential!!?