moho 12 constantly crashes

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drumlug13
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Re: moho 12 constantly crashes

Post by drumlug13 »

Just decided to try again. I opened another file. Tried to "Save As" to create a backup ..... and it crashed. It didn't even make it 12 seconds.

To me that would suggest that there is something wrong with my computer, BUT I'm not having problems with anything else. Every other program is working just great.
Adam
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Greenlaw
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Re: moho 12 constantly crashes

Post by Greenlaw »

That makes me think there's something wrong with the install of Moho on your computer. The kind of crash you're describing makes me think there's a corrupted config file somewhere. If a reinstall doesn't work, try removing Moho completely, including any config files that may be lingering.

(Be sure to deactivate your license before doing that and have you license code handy after the re-install.)

FWIW, I've been using Moho 12 at work nearly everyday since it came out. I do experience occasional random crashes, usually during renders with extra heavy images or complex setups, but the rest of time it's been pretty stable here.

Good luck!
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drumlug13
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Re: moho 12 constantly crashes

Post by drumlug13 »

One thing I did notice after I uninstalled. After I re-installed Moho I was not prompted to enter my serial number. Do you think that's a sign of an incomplete uninstall/re-install?

I do seem to remember reading something about a new license manager but I can't remember if that was for Moho or another program. After the re-install was I supposed to be prompted for the serial again?
Adam
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Greenlaw
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Re: moho 12 constantly crashes

Post by Greenlaw »

If all of the files were removed, then, yeah, I think it should have asked. But I'm not exactly sure where that file is located--maybe hidden in the user folder? Not that the file with the activation info is causing the crash but this might indicate there are other files are present that could be causing a problem. (The activation data might actually be in the registry but I'm not completely certain about that.)

Before you do anything drastic, make sure you back up any files, just in case you need to drag them back in. For that matter, you might also wish to do a system backup before poking around.

Be advised, I'm just guessing right now. Hopefully somebody with more certain info will post soon.
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Diana Kennedy
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Re: moho 12 constantly crashes

Post by Diana Kennedy »

I have the same problem.
I was working on a complex animation. I was almost finished...File crashed more and more often - and now I can't opning i tat all : It says:
"Error Details: Failed to Parse JSON Document"

I can't believe it ! after ALL that work - and I was almost done with a brand new animation. Is there something that can be done? (Re-installed the programm of course) If the file can't be open, I loose 2weeks of intense work.
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Greenlaw
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Re: moho 12 constantly crashes

Post by Greenlaw »

Wow, that's very unfortunate. Sorry to hear that.

One thing you might try is to import the file into a new Moho file using General Import or Moho Object Import. It's possible that the importers may recognize just enough of the corrupted file to allow you to select rigged characters and other elements with keyframes and bring them into your new scene file. If you're lucky, you might possibly recover most or all of your scene this way. Good luck!

This next bit won't help recover your file but when I'm working in any graphics or animation program, I save many versions of the file throughout the day. This way, if a file does become corrupted, I may only lose a half-hour or an hour of work at most.

Another option, if you're using Windows, is to enable Previous Versions. This feature will back up a certain number of versions of a file for you. Then, if you need an older version of a file, you open Properties, select Previous Versions, and you'll get a list of copies of the directory holding the file, each with a unique time stamp. At my workplace, Previous Versions saves a copy about every hour I think, and even though I manually save many versions anyway and don't wish to rely on Previous Versions, the feature has on occasion saved me from disaster.
Last edited by Greenlaw on Mon Feb 06, 2017 7:14 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Diana Kennedy
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Re: moho 12 constantly crashes

Post by Diana Kennedy »

Thaks Greenlaw, I tried to do the import Thing, but it ddn't work. "Cannot open file".
Ok, in the futue, I wll save multiple files, but I can't accept that THIS one is lost..I mean, all the work! :cry:
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Diana Kennedy
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Re: moho 12 constantly crashes

Post by Diana Kennedy »

...now I see that the file itself has now 0 bytes/ Zero! HOW is this possible? WHERE has my work gone????
This is not okay. :evil:
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Greenlaw
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Re: moho 12 constantly crashes

Post by Greenlaw »

I'm guessing it crashed while the program was saving the file. (It's why I save many versions, regardless of which program I'm in.)

Do you have Autosave for Crash Recovery enabled in the Moho preferences? If so, the file may still exist elsewhere on your computer. I believe the location is: [C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming\Smith Micro\Moho Pro\12]. You'll need to enable Show Hidden Files in Folder Options to reveal AppData of course. If the feature is enabled, there may be several files here generically named and you'll need to open each until you find what you're looking for. Looking at the timestamp should help you find it.

If you don't have the Autosave feature enabled, the folder will unfortunately be empty.
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Diana Kennedy
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Re: moho 12 constantly crashes

Post by Diana Kennedy »

I have autosave enabled, and yes, the crash was while saving.
ok, thank you, I will start exploring within the path you told me.
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stealingfeathers
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Re: moho 12 constantly crashes

Post by stealingfeathers »

I've been quickly scanning through this thread about Moho 12 crashes and wanted to add that I've had to deal with a lot of crashing. It was very rare to have AS 11 crash on me. I have a very powerful system (won't bother with the specs at the moment).

I have the most recent patch for M 12. Just the other day I was working on a file with particles (not a lot of them) and couldn't get anywhere without crashing. I switched to 32-bit just to see what would happen and this cut the crashing from 100% chance to 10-15% chance.

I am frustrated and would like to know if there is a collection of troubleshooting tips for tracking down a possible problem that *I* can resolve on my end. My graphics card and system RAM far exceed the min requirements for M 12.

Thanks!
RR
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Greenlaw
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Re: moho 12 constantly crashes

Post by Greenlaw »

When is Moho crashing for you? Launching? Animation? Drawing, Rendering? Saving? A little more info could help point out where the problem is. Generally speaking, I can only suggest the usual things like keeping graphics card drivers up to date, making sure you have enough space on a drive with adequate optimization, etc.,.. But for specific problems, we'll need more info.

For me, Moho 12 has been pretty stable compared to ASP 11. For example, the old Batch Render window in ASP 11 used to crash on me all the time but the new Moho Exporter has been very stable. For animation, Moho 12 has been pretty solid too.

A couple of weeks ago, I did run into slow performance and some crashing with a specific scene setup but that was probably because I had many 8k images in the scene and a lot of bones and mesh warps deforming the images. I must have been close to hitting a limit because after I reduced the size of the images and recreated some elements with vector layers, the scene's performance became faster and more stable.

For mostly vector based scenes, or reasonably sized bitmap scenes, Moho been pretty stable though. I may get a crash once or twice a week at most, and I've been pushing it pretty hard lately.

Sorry, I know that's not very helpful but just saying it normally shouldn't be crashing so much. My guess is that there is something going on with your scenes that Moho doesn't like.

Are the crashes repeatable? If so, try hiding or removing elements until you get a scene that's not crashing when you do the action that crashes it. (Naturally, you should be doing this with a copy of your scene.)

If the crash is completely random, that's harder to track down but it might more likely indicate a memory issue. Check the size of the images, or if you have a very complex setup (lots of complicated mesh warps, etc,) try optimizing the scene and see if that helps.

If you're using images, maybe there's something about the file format you're using that Moho doesn't like. Try another format or try saving the same format from another program. (I generally use PNG from Photoshop. On rare occasions, I've had PNG files from other sources crash Moho but when I re-save the files, they work fine.)

Hope this info helps.
Last edited by Greenlaw on Wed Feb 08, 2017 6:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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drumlug13
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Re: moho 12 constantly crashes

Post by drumlug13 »

I've been holding back on updating my crash situation because I wanted to log some more time with Moho to see if my situation has been fixed. I uninstalled again. Then I used that Search Everything app to see if I could track down some rogue files that were left behindl. I did find about a half dozen or so in various locations. I deleted those and re-installed Moho. This time I was prompted to re-enter my serial number (which it hadn't done before) so I think this re-install was cleaner than the previous ones.

I was able to work for about a half hour without a crash so hopefully my problem is fixed. I'll update later when I get some more time logged in.

Just FYI... A lot, not all, but a whole lotta crashes came when I was Control Z/Undoing various things. That was by far the most common prompt for crash. It happened on several files of various sizes.
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Diana Kennedy
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Re: moho 12 constantly crashes

Post by Diana Kennedy »

Thank yoou very much for your intrnse post.

Well, it crashed mostly when saving or when addinga keyframe that includes sublayers, too.

MY PC is a powerful machine with lots of free space and a huge processor, so that isn't the isssue. The said file however contained complex assets, PNGs, Vectors, bones and a 3D modell, which may be (perhaps) ta source of the problem. Ther fore now that I am curently redoing the whole thing; I will animate the 3D modell only as the last task.

Best
Diana
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stealingfeathers
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Re: moho 12 constantly crashes

Post by stealingfeathers »

Greenlaw wrote:When is Moho crashing for you? Launching? Animation? Drawing, Rendering? Saving? A little more info could help point out where the problem is. Generally speaking, I can only suggest the usual things like keeping graphics card drivers up to date, making sure you have enough space on a drive with adequate optimization, etc.,.. But for specific problems, we'll need more info.
I envy you. I feel like you are so lucky compared to the issues I've faced with M12.

I am going to check on graphics driver updates right now. I did try to repeat the trouble on this recent project, but when I opened it today I couldn't get it to crash - so far. I even opened in my usual 64-bit mode. I rarely use the 32-bit but it sure helped a lot the other day when the file wouldn't stop crashing the program.

From what I remember, it crashed when I tried to move a particle layer over a bit from center. It also crashed when I pushed the play button to preview the animation. As I recall, I even restarted the computer but the file refused to cooperate until I switched to 32-bit mode.
Keep in mind that this project had almost nothing in it:
- One small png file in the particle folder.
- Two particle folders. (each: Particle count 10, particle preview 10.)
- A few vector layers for background and other environmental objects.
- No other bitmaps (other than the png in the particle folder).
- No videos or 3D objects. No other effects of any kind on layers (object blur, etc.).

Thanks for your response. I'll start with checking on graphics card updates, but I'm pretty sure that was one of the first things I did after I installed Moho a few months ago.

RR
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