Can't seem to load my default template on startup

[Steve Patrick]

I'm having a devil of a time trying to get Cake to load up my default template (which has my starting line up of instruments & libraries).  I've recently revamped it and even though I've saved it as Default, Basic & Normal in both C:\Cakewalk Content\Cakewalk Core\Project Templates AND D:\Bandlab Templates and have tried pointing Cake to each of those folders in the Folder locations section and instructed Cake to load default template on startup in the "Advanced" dialog in preferences all that happens is a generic "blank" project screen on startup and not my template.  I don't recall this being a problem as I've changed out my startup template many times over the years and have never had  this problem.

So...what am I doing wrong and how do I get my template to load on startup??

Thanks.

Edited November 4, 2022 by Steve Patrick

[bitflipper]

Could there be something in the template itself causing loading it to abort? Just spitballin'. Can you make a different template work? IOW, have you determined that it's one template that can't be used as default, vs. no templates work.

You might try setting/adding the ExceptionHandlingSeverity variable to 7 (Preferences -> File -> Initialization File), which causes Cakewalk to report every piddling error it encounters, even some that normally wouldn't warrant a visible complaint. That could potentially drop a clue into the debug log (%appdata%\cakewalk\logs\cakewalk.log).

Also verify that Cakewalk knows which template should be the default. That's stored in the registry (search "Default Template" under the Cakewalk\Core key). Normally, it's default.cwt. If that file doesn't exist, I think you get a blank project.

[Steve Patrick]

Will do Bit...but the weird thing is I've done this scads of times in the past as I've added or subtracted instruments from my template and never had any trouble with it. The only change on this one is that it has EZDrummer 3 instead of Superior 3 and I've also added my newly acquired Kontakt 7  over Kontakt 6.  And, again, it's saved as Default.cwt, Normal.cwt and Basic.cwt in three different folders and I've tried setting each location in preferences but no love.  Sheesh.

[bitflipper]

While you're looking at the registry, check \core\userpaths\TplFolder. That should contain the path you specified in Preferences as the template folder. Sounds silly, but that's where I'd start: combine the TplFolder path with the filename in Default Template, paste them into a DOS window and see if notepad can open it.