Cakewalk Won't Launch Again After Opening a Specific Project

[Stephen Power]

CbB has stopped launching from my desktop with a particular project. It opens once, then, when that project is open and closed, it won't launch again.

It is the latest version of CbB and fully activated.

1. I have to go into Task Manager (win 11) and end task, before it will open again.

2. If closed down before opening the project, it will launch again from the desktop.

3. As far as I can tell it's only happening with one project.

Thanks for any advice (again).

[OutrageProductions]

You likely have a plugin instance in the project that probably has a checksum error and won't release memory. Try loading the project in safe mode, bypassing the plugins by a process of elimination. 

To invoke safe mode, hold down the SHIFT key while opening the project.

You could also initiate a mini-dump at the hang (before ending the process in Task Manager) and examine it post-facto for an indication of which plug is at fault. 

I had a session fault four times yesterday when freezing tracks in a 62 track scoring project. Using & examining the dump file pinned it to SCALER 2. Removed that plug, problem disappeared. 

Info on how to do all this is covered in detail in  this forum by Noel & others.

Edited October 22, 2023 by OutrageProductions

[Stephen Power]

1 hour ago, OutrageProductions said:

You likely have a plugin instance in the project that probably has a checksum error and won't release memory. Try loading the project in safe mode, bypassing the plugins by a process of elimination. 

To invoke safe mode, hold down the SHIFT key while opening the project.

You could also initiate a mini-dump at the hang (before ending the process in Task Manager) and examine it post-facto for an indication of which plug is at fault. 

I had a session fault four times yesterday when freezing tracks in a 62 track scoring project. Using & examining the dump file pinned it to SCALER 2. Removed that plug, problem disappeared. 

Info on how to do all this is covered in detail in  this forum by Noel & others.

Very instructive thank you. I did manage to find the dump file in Task Manager, but didn't know what to make of it!

[OutrageProductions]

The CW mini-dump files are usually located in C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Cakewalk\Cakewalk Core\MiniDumps.
Windows has a built in reader application. Use the taskbar search for "WinDBG".
Here is a starting instruction for how to use it. Most of the output is verbose, but it is NOT for the faint hearted. After running the analysis section, there should be mention of which plugin (if any) had a memory fault. 
Remove that plugin and save the project. Then find a workaround for the faulty plug.

I've found that Breverb, and some of the CW[LP/PX/TL/TS/VS-64] (channel strip, multiband compressor, et al) can be culprits for some odd reason, and it sometimes is interactive with other loaded VST/VST3 plugs (as was my issue with Scaler yesterday... it didn't want to play nicely with NI Noire). 

I don't expect any of these anomalies to ever get solved in CbB, but I've been using workarounds for so much stuff over the last 40 years that it doesn't even bother me anymore. I make a healthy living in music, so as they say... "The show must go on". I also have a tendency to hit CTRL-S after nearly every edit.

BTW; very cool profile pic... looks like a Selmer saxaphone.
 

Edited October 22, 2023 by OutrageProductions

[Promidi]

Sometimes when a certain project using certain plugins is closed, the Cakewalk process remains. 

Then when I attempt to relaunch Cakewalk, it won’t.

When that happens, I use a script I have written that forcibly ends the Cakewalk process.

This active line in the script that does this is the following.

wmic process where name="Cakewalk.exe" call terminate

Yes, I could use the taskkill command, but I have found that sometimes that does not actually kill the Cakewalk process.