Auto "safe mode" deletes recent projects on 10.5

Cubase
#1

Sometimes Cubase becomes unresponsive after I try to quit the program. That means I have to “end task” on task manager. On the 10.5 update, it automatically goes to safe mode next time it restarts. Even if I select to start with current settings, it deletes some of my preferences. All my “recent” projects are gone (VERY annoying) I have to select ASIO device again and who knows what else I haven’t discovered yet.

Can’t believe I paid to updgrade to 10.5 from 10.0 just to have this stupid “feature” deleting my preferences everytime I need to force quit cubase.

I don’t want this, I am never going to use it, at least give us the option to disable it until you fix it.

#2

Hi,

The preferences are stored while (proper) Quit Cubase. If you End the Task (kill Cubase), the preferences has not been stored. Therefore the are not available when you start Cubase bedtime.

The same is true for the Resent Projects list.

It has nothing to do with the Safe Start Mode dialog. It’s like this since ever. The improvement is, the dialog appears automatically after Cubase crashed, so you can work on a solution, if Cubase crashes too often.

#3

Cubase was crashing when exiting very often for me for 1 year when I was using 10.0. So I have been doing the “end task” very often and not once it deleted my preferences. Right now on 10.5, just for testing, even when its running normally (no crash) and I do “end task”, the recents are gone. I am pretty sure that safe mode dialog is related because it comes up everytime I do “end task” crash or not. If its not the feature, its the 10.5 update itself.

#4

I did further investigation on this: It seems that when you “end task” Cubase, it creates a new “defaults.xml” file in “AppData\Roaming\Steinberg\Cubase 10.5_64” and renames your own to “Defaults_old.xml” Thats where recents and some preferences are saved.

When the safe mode dialog appears, it doesn’t matter what you select, it just uses the new xml file it created.

If it already kept the “old” xml file so why not use it? That’s what the safe mode dialogue is actually asking you! Do you want to use your current preferences, or reset it? This is a stupid “feature” or maybe a bug. Next time you run Cubase the “defaults_old” file simply gets deleted.

#5

Hi,

Sorry, I stay with my statements…

Cubase is storing all the preferences (Recent Projects are part of it) while (proper) quit. If Cubase doesn’t quit properly (End Task is not a proper quit), the preferences (Recent Projects) are not stored. Nothing to do with the dialog.

If the dialog comes every time, it means Cubase doesn’t quit properly at all. Maybe there is a silent crash when Cubase quits (when you don’t End the Task manually).

Could you provide some of the DMP file(s), please? I would recommend to investigate why is Cubase crashing and solve this issue. Then Cubase will quit properly, will store the preferences and the Recent Projects.

#6

Hi,

No, the dialog is asking you, if you want to use the current Defaults.xml (and other preferences files) or if these files should be backed up and deleted and you would use a new factory Defaults.xml (and other preferences files).

The Defaults_OLD.xml file is not used, because Cubase expects something got wrong (maybe in the Defaults.xml file).

#7

Yeah I know that it deletes the previous file and basically resets, that’s my whole issue. Expecting that something went wrong, is different than assuming that something ALWAYS went wrong, even if it didn’t. If I rename the defalts_old file to defaults, everything works fine with my previous settings.

This is obviously a bug of a poorly implemented feature. When you select to “keep my settings” on the safe mode dialog it should just use the Defaults_old file. If you CHOOSE to reset settings (not forced to everytime), then the new defaults.xml file should be used instead.

Steinberg support is silent for days (I emailed them at the same time I opened this topic). Maybe they ignored my request because i am not in the US, but not having support outside US for a premium well known DAW is just pathetic and I am pretty sure its illegal too.

#8

Hi,

Obviously it doesn’t work fine, if Cubase crashes while quit. Sorry…

#9

No one cares if a program crashes on quit. I wanted to quit it anyway… Deleting preferences without needing to, is a big issue though. At this point i am pretty sure you are trying to troll by “supporting” cubase when it has an obvious and serious bug. That’s not how bugs are fixed, so i will ignore you from now on.

If anyone else has any helpful suggestions/solutions or any way to contact Steinberg to report this issue, without being ignored outside US, i would appreciate it.

#10

Hi,

From my point of you the only way is to find out, why is Cubase crashing and fix the crash. Not to search for a workaround to keep Cubase crashing but hide the consequences.

If you are not on the same page, I cannot help more, I’m sorry.

#11

This design flaw has been a problem for a long time, not just 10.5. There is no reason why you should lose any settings or preferences if the quit fails.

Sorry, I don’t have any advice on how to contact support to report this bug, but I would suggest posting this in the issues forum. There’s a chance somebody from Steinberg might see it there.

#12

Cubase writes preferences when closing, if it crashes during that process, the preferences might get corrupted. I think many us have experienced that one time or another.
Corrupted preferences leeds to even more problems, making diagnosting very difficult. A fresh set of preferences is a good thing eliminating other causes.
It is usually a faulty plugin or driver that does not release in time.