Yeah, I don't think it's a software problem (per se) either. It sounds like a hardware problem. I had this happen to me years ago while making Blender renders. It turns out that my HD was dying.

I would do the usual MemPlus check for RAM failure too.

If not hardware, then a complete uninstall (with clean up) of MEP and then reinstall sounds like the next diagnostic step. (Although if it's MEP 2018, then I suppose all the updates to the program over the year will be lost.)

It could be a problem with trying to access the Store and update the ShopManager. Version 2018 may be suffering what 2020 had until the last patch.

Thanks, my laptop is an ASUS Rog II (so barely 1-year old & cost £2,000+)....
So I extremely doubt it's a computer issue, as this is literally the ultra highest spec you get in regards to media laptops! *_*

I have un-installed & re-installed, it's improved alot but lags abit on open | But so I am basically certain that this is purely a ploy by Magix, done on purpose to try getting customers to pay upgrade to the 2020 version.

@Apollo89x

Hi

. . . . My laltop is extremely hi-spec . . . .

What is the spec - see this topic for the exact details required. The last indication of any specification details mentioned is in this topic.

John EB
Forum Moderator

This is my laptop: https://www.asus.com/uk/Laptops/ROG-Strix-SCAR-II/
I bought it last year for just under £2,000.

It's obvious that Magix is just purposely lagging old versions to try getting people to pay out for newer version of the editor though | And so my question is answered.

@Apollo89x

What about available C: drive hard space? That can cause freezing of the program when opening as it loads.

When did you last de-fragment your hard drives? Files are more easily read and written to contiguous portions of drive regardless of type and fragmentation can cause stuttering of video playback or slow load times.

Do you keep Windows, drivers and bios up to date?

Still too many variables to my liking to be sure but equally I admit Browj2's explanation could be the reason but from what I remember it didn't freeze loading but just didn't load all content into the templates section every time.

To be fair my C-drive is pretty packed. :/
(Have a 500GB D:drive, but my C:drive has like 60 massive 2-3GB video files on desktop, and so only around 30GB available space left).

Need to shift these files onto D drive

 

@Apollo89x

That could see a marked improvement as MEP has to load all those files into a new workspace. You should aim for at least 50GB of free hard drive space. I never let mine get bellow 350gig of free space.

So to be fair, your machine spec is fine but your housekeeping could do with some improvement. 😉

The C: drive should only really have your operating system on it and the programs you need to run. Nothing else.

@Apollo89x

Hi

. . . . but my C:drive has like 60 massive 2-3GB video files on desktop . . . .

I would add to @CubeAce comment

C: drive should only really have your operating system on it and the programs you need to run. Nothing else when you have 2 or more drives.

Additionally never put any files on your desktop - if Windows updates and modifies the desktop you may lose them, they should be in the Documents folder, which for your system should be on the 2nd drive. This folder is a protected folder and Windows updates will not touch it.

Moving the files to the D: drive will free up valuable space and you should see better performance.

As a guide you should have ~ 25% or more free space on your OS drive. This allows sufficient headroom for page files and other temporary files that are created by programs.

HTH

John EB

Hi

For what it's worth I have the same problem. Initially I had MEP 2019 on my PC with no problems, then I foolishly accepted the free upgrade to MEP 2020. Having discovered problems with TK2 files on this version (a verified bug) I reverted to MEP 2019 and immediately began getting popups asking me to upgrade again (which I obviously rejected) and also checked the box declining further adverts of this nature. As has been noted elsewhere, this latter had no effect and I continued to receive adverts for some time. Then the adverts became more sporadic, but I started experiencing the same delay on startup (frozen screen) noted by Apollo: I suspected at the time that this was Magix strong-arming its customers to upgrade, but didn't worry about it too much as I was about to upgrade my system to Windows 10 and decided to see what happened when I did.

Now, with W10, and MEP installed on a clean SSD, the startup delay remains! Given the circumstances of my case this obviously has nothing to do with my system and still appears to be associated with the popup, whether or not the latter actually appears. I can live with it, but I'm not happy - nor in the circumstances am I inclined go along with this apparent $70 blackmail on the part of Magix.

Richard

@Richard-Curtis

Hi

I have found that once the new/project selection dialog appears the delay ranges from about 3 seconds, the normal time it takes for my PC to about 40 secs over the last few weeks, depending on the time of day that I start MEP.

Nothing has changed on the PC or wih MEP, I have also seen similar delays in 2 other programs that call home regularly, and with some websites, the web browser timing out trying to retrieve a page.

With the testing I have done the delay is variable, testing response times from several sites does show a significant reduction in speed at various times of the day possibly due to the Internet experiencing a higher load then normal due to the ongoing self isolation we are experiencing, .

John EB
Forum Moderator

@Richard-Curtis @johnebaker

I would wholeheartedly concur with everything John EB has written above. The start-up of both MEP and VPX can, occasionally, be longer than one might expect but I see absolutely no evidence this has anything to do with Magix trying to "blackmail" the user to upgrade, especially since, in my case, both apps are fully up to date!

I too have experienced the internet delays that John refers to. e.g. I have just visited the Adobe Community Support forum of the one Adobe product I use regularly, Audition. To post a reply I have to log in; my initial attempt to do this "stalled", highly unusual, and I had to retry and then was able to post.

Jeff

Hi John

Thanks, but this phenomenon has been going on with - effectively - two different computers since October 2019 and is certainly not internet-related. I'm quite convinced it's a Magix issue, the only question is whether it's a deliberate ploy or due to simple negligence. Magix's policy of pushing customers to upgrade by means of these intrusive and apparently indestructible popups leads me, sadly, to suspect the former.

Richard

@Richard-Curtis

Please re-read my post directly above yours.

I sometimes experience similar delays in start-up but both MEP and VPX are fully up-to-date.

Jeff

Hi Jeff

The screen-freeze-on-startup problem only showed up when I downgraded to MEP2019 after having used MEP2020 for a brief period. Also, this isn't a "delay on startup" - it's a screen freeze. I didn't experience it with the original MEP2019 installation, nor the subsequent MEP2020 one (while I still had it.) I can't begin to explain why you occasionally have the same problem - unless Magix has only modified its popup m.o. in the past 6 months, the start of which just happened to coincide with my MEP downgrade.

Richard

@Richard-Curtis

Hi

. . . . I'm quite convinced it's a Magix issue, the only question is whether it's a deliberate ploy or due to simple negligence. Magix's policy of pushing customers to upgrade by means of these intrusive and apparently indestructible popups leads me, sadly, to suspect the former. . . . .

As has been said many times before in the forum, Magix are not the only company with advertising popups - 2 others I have are Corel and Winzip - at least with Magix you can easily turn them off, unlike the other 2 mentioned.

To confirm - both my MEP and VPX are also up to date this morning start up at 9.20 am was normal, Internet traffic was flowing freely then and is now 2 hours later.

John EB

I've been using the same version of VPX for the last couple of years without upgrading and have had no slowdown or crashing apart from things I have neglected to do. Saving regularly is important and start up times can vary depending on what else is happening in your system. I have Avast installed that does regular scans and virus checks that sometimes slows down the startup of various programmes. Windows also seems to do software upgrades from time to time. I have occasionally tried to load VPX immediately after computer boot up and had a freeze because of background house keeping functions.

The idea that Magix is deliberately slowing things down is ridiculous and I have never experienced anything that has led me to suspect that over 10 years of using Magix editing software. What I do find frustrating is that people regularly come on to this forum ranting about Magix deliberately creating problems with their software, when it eventually turns out to be down to using the software incorrectly or not observing the hardware or remaining memory requirements. Then of course it is never the fault of the user, but all down to Magix and their unscrupulous methods to gain financially!!

Roger

@RogerGunkel

Hi Roger,

Unfortunately, there is a problem and it seems to have been caused by the recent changes to the Store. The latest versions of MEP and VPX seem to handle it well and populate the Audio and Templates tabs with purchased items and updates the Store and the ShopManager FileCache, but not always. Yesterday, there was nothing under Audio in VPX, today, it was loaded.

As for what was initially the OP's problem, unfortunately older versions, like MEP2018 and 2019 seem to struggle with this and do indeed often take 30 seconds to a minute to get going after opening a project. This happens to me with MEP2019. Magix should be advised to issue patches to fix these since Magix created the problems.

John CB

@RogerGunkel

Hi Roger.

I think when programmers update core parts of software they are taking advantage of advancements in technology and increased internet speeds. It's an upgrade circle rather than a path. Often a new camera or an updated operating system also needs new software to cope and the newer software often needs updated components in the processing chain to achieve responsive results. If not, a slow but inevitable degradation occurs.

As someone who has only fully upgraded his PC about four times since Win3.1 on a 286 PC, I can attest to this.

My second machine using an AMD processor running Win98 up Win 7 where I swapped to an early Intel i5 and now my current i9 for Win 10. Each time getting the best parts I could at the time but eventually each one couldn't cope with newer releases of software.

Ray.

Hi John and Ray,

I have not experienced the symptoms you describe, apart from the occasional delay when loading and definitely not what the OP was descrbing. I completely agree though about advances in camera technology, new codecs, and improved software etc making it necessary to upgrade system specs to cope from time to time. I upgraded my system a couple of years ago when things started to slow down and no doubt will feel the need again in the next 12 months, assuming I have any work 😟

There is though a tendency for some posters to blame Magix for everything that they can't achieve themselves when editing, or ranting about deliberately slowing the software forcing them to spend more money. I do find that quite frustrating as someone who has used Magix editing software for many years to earn my living, with only occasional minor software problems that can be worked around with a bit of thought, or discussion on this forum.

Roger

@RogerGunkel

Hi Roger.

There are few if any systems or programs that are bullet proof. It's the nature of the beast that is using PCs and choice of operating system. I also think anyone purchasing new software should look closely at the specs needed to run a program and not really go with minimum requirement specifications as that tends to mean it will run but probably not well.

We as consumers should do our homework and bear some responsibility which is why forums like this are so important to not only us but to developers. There are too many variables within a complex program like MEP to be certain of user problems without verification from other users as to whether something is a bug, a lack of the correct components, or user error. The programmers wouldn't have the resources to check every variable of users component mixtures or competence with use of the program. That amount of beta testing is almost impossible in the modern world whether it be the cars we drive or the planes we travel in. What chance does a programmer or developer have?

Having said that it can be frustrating to try to use a program and find you can't for whatever reason get the results you want to with it. Even manuals can be unintelligible if you don't understand the programs differences and terminology from other similar programs or experiences.

Having said all that, it is very frustrating trying to help anyone that doesn't understand any of the above.

The only reason I get involved here is it helps me as well and I like a challenge.

Tay.

I agree with all of that 🙂

Have you changed your name to 'TAY' now then?😁

Roger