@lighthope

When you registered your software you had to open a Magix account on the Magix main website. If you go back there, your program and download links should still be there along with the activation code..

Ray.

Yeah, I have all that. That was how I was able to reinstall. What I am saying is that after reinstalling, my movie is broken.

@lighthope

Hi

. . . . my movie is broken . . . .

Assuming you mean the project file is corrupt this is most likely occurred when the program crashed.

In the same folder as the project file there may be up to 10 auto backup files with the file extension .MV_ eg Project name_BAK0.MV_ to Project name_BAK9.MV_ - you can try loading these in to MEP using File, Load backup project.

Note  worked backwards by date the file was created until you get one to load correctly - backups are recycled after no. 9 is reached, the next is 0 then 1 etc up to 9 again.

HTH

John EB
Forum Moderator

@lighthope

Hi

. . . . my movie is broken . . . .

Assuming you mean the project file is corrupt this is most likely occurred when the program crashed.

In the same folder as the project file there may be up to 10 auto backup files with the file extension .MV_ eg Project name_BAK0.MV_ to Project name_BAK9.MV_ - you can try loading these in to MEP using File, Load backup project.

Note  worked backwards by date the file was created until you get one to load correctly - backups are recycled after no. 9 is reached, the next is 0 then 1 etc up to 9 again.

The movie files aren't corrupt. I went back and pulled all the backups. Recent ones do not work, but older ones do.

This tells me that there was a change as to the way the programme stores data and they didn't grandfather in the old code. So if, for some reason you need to reinstall, you'd better pray you have some backups made with the old file system.

Thankfully, I do have old backups. So I don't think I'll lose anything. Am going to go check more thoroughly in a moment.

@lighthope

Hi

Please don't call them 'movie files', using this term when referring to a project file can lead to confusion over what you are referring to.

. . . . The movie files aren't corrupt. I went back and pulled all the backups. Recent ones do not work, but older ones do. . . .

The fact that the recent project backup files are not working indicates that they are corrupt, which is what you would expect once the project file was corrupted by the crash, the later backups will also be corrupted.

You may have been getting a message, on loading a project, that a backup exists and asks if you want to load it instead of the project file that was selected for loading - ignoring this message and not loading the backup is not recommended.

. . . . This tells me that there was a change as to the way the programme stores data and they didn't grandfather in the old code. . . .

Projects created in older versions (up to a point) of the program can be opened in the current version without loss of functionality - other than any effect or plugin that is not present in the current version.

In the Patch notes that are published here, Magix include this warning:

'Finish ongoing project before updating your software. In single cases, data can be lost.'

This should apply to any project in any program when updates and patches are available.

John EB

@lighthope

. . . . The movie files aren't corrupt. I went back and pulled all the backups. Recent ones do not work, but older ones do. . . .

The fact that the recent project backup files are not working indicates that they are corrupt, which is what you would expect once the project file was corrupted by the crash, the later backups will also be corrupted.

That is impossible. The backup project files are untouched. The only way they could be corrupted is if they were written with bad data, and the file date would either be after the crash or the same date as the crash.

These files are months old, and they suddenly don't work. That can not be because of "corruption".

You may have been getting a message, on loading a project, that a backup exists and asks if you want to load it instead of the project file that was selected for loading - ignoring this message and not loading the backup is not recommended.

No such message appeared.

. . . . This tells me that there was a change as to the way the programme stores data and they didn't grandfather in the old code. . . .

Projects created in older versions (up to a point) of the program can be opened in the current version without loss of functionality - other than any effect or plugin that is not present in the current version.

In the Patch notes that are published here, Magix include this warning:

'Finish ongoing project before updating your software. In single cases, data can be lost.'

This should apply to any project in any program when updates and patches are available.

That is never a good thing, especially when you have to roll back because of a bug in the software. But at least it means if I re-update, the newer files should work.

Not a good business practice, though. When you reinstall, it should at least update itself to the latest paid-for version.

@lighthope

When you reinstall, it should at least update itself to the latest paid-for version.

It does. That is the version that you got on the day you paid. What you got with the Update Service was an advance on a future version that you can upgrade to if it comes out within a year, and that you can keep, so long as you don't have to reinstall. Reinstall without the Update Service active and you fall back to the version that you actually purchased. All of this was properly explained in the text of the Update Service. One should read these things.

John CB

@lighthope

When you reinstall, it should at least update itself to the latest paid-for version.

It does. That is the version that you got on the day you paid. What you got with the Update Service was an advance on a future version that you can upgrade to if it comes out within a year, and that you can keep, so long as you don't have to reinstall. Reinstall without the Update Service active and you fall back to the version that you actually purchased. All of this was properly explained in the text of the Update Service. One should read these things.

John CB

It shouldn't break your project files. That is bad business.

@lighthope

When you reinstall, it should at least update itself to the latest paid-for version.

It does. That is the version that you got on the day you paid. What you got with the Update Service was an advance on a future version that you can upgrade to if it comes out within a year, and that you can keep, so long as you don't have to reinstall. Reinstall without the Update Service active and you fall back to the version that you actually purchased. All of this was properly explained in the text of the Update Service. One should read these things.

Oh, and can you quote that part of the update service agreement for me? That seems like an odd thing to have in there. If you're paying for the update, you're paying for the version all the way until the update service ends.

@lighthope

The Update Service is no longer available for MEP, VPX and PhotoStory, thus the page is no longer easily available.

Here is what it was. See the text under "Unlimited Use" that says, "If you reinstall the program after one year, you will have access to the basic version." The basic version is the one available on the day that you bought or last paid (new or upgrade) for the program.

This has been discussed many times in this forum.

The Update Service is no more, so if you purchase MEP2022 today and MEP2023 comes out in a month, you won't get it. Under the Update Service period, you would have gotten it and could have kept it unless you had to reinstall outside of the Update Service period. This nice feature is now gone.

As for your problem, MEP does not go a break files. I have not had any of my old files not work with newer versions of MEP/VPX. I have had some project files become corrupt, but never any backups taken before the last use of the project. You can open a project and it can become corrupt during the session and automatic backups can be made of that bad project, but it does not go back and corrupt previous backups. Remember, you only get 10 backups and they can all be replaced during one long editing session.

Also, most of us here regularly create sequential versions of large projects just in case everything goes bad. This involves doing a 'save as' and appending a revision number, like r1, r2... This is prudent practice. MEP will not go back and corrupt the older project files.

John CB

@lighthope @browj2

Hi John.

It is here.

So it would seem that rather than the files being corrupt they can't be read by an older version of the program minus some patches..

Ray.

@lighthope

The Update Service is no longer available for MEP, VPX and PhotoStory, thus the page is no longer easily available.

Oh, they got rid of it? No wonder I couldn't find it when I went looking.

As for your problem, MEP does not go a break files. I have not had any of my old files not work with newer versions of MEP/VPX. I have had some project files become corrupt, but never any backups taken before the last use of the project. You can open a project and it can become corrupt during the session and automatic backups can be made of that bad project, but it does not go back and corrupt previous backups. Remember, you only get 10 backups and they can all be replaced during one long editing session.

Also, most of us here regularly create sequential versions of large projects just in case everything goes bad. This involves doing a 'save as' and appending a revision number, like r1, r2... This is prudent practice. MEP will not go back and corrupt the older project files.

John CB

All I know is that project files up to a certain date don't work, and project files earlier than that date do.

And those dates are all long before the programme crash.

 

So it would seem that rather than the files being corrupt they can't be read by an older version of the program minus some patches..

Ray.

That's what I figured what happened. They changed the file structure and the old version can't read it.

Their policy of not being able to get back all the newer versions you paid for via the update service is not right. But also moot since they don't do that anymore.

@lighthope @browj2

No, that link is from the current website pages.

It is still in force for the permanent licence versions of both MEP, Movie Studio, and VPX as in accord with the EULA. Section 2.3.

It has always been this way for as long as I remember and at first I too thought it was unfair. Technically though one is only a customer at the time of purchase and further access rights would come down to the contract conditions and local consumer rights which for software in general is pretty sketchy IMHO. Some companies T&Cs are better than others. The Magix ones are pretty middle of the road and generally are designed to cover them against major court claims for things that may be beyond their control. This is not that abnormal. Trying to design software to work with an unknown or untested range of components and possible operating system changes can be tricky at best.

Ray.