File won't save or print

I’m running into an offending file. When I attempt to Save, Save As, or Print it, Dorico freezes every time.

It’s an XML import. I’ve tried deleting the time signature, explicit clefs, etc, to no avail. Once I open the file, it’s guaranteed that Dorico will hang.

File and diagnostics are attached, thanks.
Dorico Diagnostics.zip (417 KB)
WMS.zip (373 KB)

The file saves without incident for me, Dan. It looks from the application log as if it’s running into a problem trying to write some of the data into the temporary folder in which the contents of each project file bundle is kept while it’s open in the program. Try quitting Dorico, and going to %APPDATA%\Temp in Explorer. You should see a folder called “Dorico 2” in there. Try deleting that and then running Dorico again.

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I found and deleted that folder. I was then able to successfully export the file to PDF (which hadn’t worked before), but when I then tried to save it, Dorico froze again.

I had to force-quit, and also force-quit the VST audio engine.

Are there meant to be any graphics files in this project, e.g. any logos or graphics of other kinds?

No, nothing out of the ordinary.

I also can’t copy-paste that material to a blank project either. When I select all and copy, Dorico freezes.

I’m inclined to think the file is corrupt in some way, though I wonder then why you were able to save it. My other files continue to function normally.

UPDATE: Two users on the Dorico FB page copied and saved the project to a new file for me, but it gave me the same result. Dorico still freezes when I try to save those files, or copy and paste the material.

I’m at a loss. I’m going to move on in regards to this file, and simply re-enter it from scratch. But it is concerning to me, since I have no idea why this is happening.

The only reason why I’m taking so much time to post about this is that I want to help identify problems that may affect other users.

Have you done any edits to the Dorico “default” .xml or .json files? Just a wild guess.

I can’t imagine why user-defined preferences would stop a file saving, but it might be worth looking at the paths in there to see if anything doesn’t match your current file system. For example it’s trying to delete an autosaved copy of the project but it can’t access your autosave directory - just another guess but that’s the sort of thing I’m wondering about.

Can you export it as MIDI or MusicXML? That might give a clue if it really is corrupt.

Then again, it would be very weird if Daniel and the rest of the developers DIDN’T have an app to check the integrity of .dorico files anyway, for their own debugging use…

Dan - one thing to try is to clear the Dorico cache directory. If you open an explorer window and type %temp% then it should open a directory that’ll be something like c:\users<name>\AppData\Local\Temp. In there there’s a Dorico 2 directory. Ensure that Dorico isn’t running then delete the directory and start it again.

Thanks Paul. Daniel suggested that in an earlier comment, which I did. Unless that’s a different folder?

Update: A user shared a rough copy-paste file that I AM able to open and close successfully. But when I open it up, Dorico tried to give me a “tour” in each mode. What…? It’s like Dorico started over, thinking I’m a new user. And all my default settings are reset, apparently because I deleted the %appdata% folder. :frowning:

Did you empty your Recycle Bin? If not, you can always try moving your appdata folder back, a file at a time…

Brilliant. Any reason why it needs to be one file at a time? Can’t I just grab them all, and let Windows overwrite them?

Well you could do that too, I guess.

Alternatively, bear in mind that each project stores its own Engraving/Layout/Notation Options (and a few others). If it’s something in your appdata folder that’s causing the problem, why not open a file you were working on last week that uses your “defaults”, go through each of those dialogs and hit “Save as Default”?

This relates to the question on horizontal beams currently: does “Reset” affect only that page/menu (Beams or Chord Symbols, etc), or all Engraving Options at once?

I’m pretty sure it does the lot in one fell swoop.

It is a different folder. Sounds like you’ve deleted the one in %appdata%\Steinberg\Dorico 2, rather than the one in %TEMP%\Dorico 2. The one you deleted has your preferences, ‘save as default’ options and the file that records which pages you’ve already seen the Quick Tour for, which is why you’re seeing it again.

AGGHHH!!! It’s doing it again today. I deleted the %temp% folder, to no avail. All Dorico files open fine, except for this new problem file (different one than previously). Same behavior: if I try to save, or copy, Dorico hangs.

Thankfully I can edit and export as PDF, so I can distribute to orchestra tonight. I just can’t play, copy, or save, so all my changes are lost.

I don’t know if it’s pertinent, but in the case of this file, as well as the one before that was giving me problems, they were done by someone else and sent to me (a different person each time, though).

Also, when I set the Playback template to NotePerformer, it doesn’t actually load NP. At least, I’m not getting the spash screen for NP.

Any thoughts? Thanks team!
Before the Throne of God Above - Brass only - Eb.zip (877 KB)

Sorry to hear you’re having problems, Dan. I’ve tried opening that file in a Dorico debug build and it opens fine for me with no warnings. I can print to pdf (haven’t tried to a printer) and I can save it. If I switch to NotePerformer then it plays back quite happily with it. So I’m assuming there’s either some other problem on your system, or something specific in this file that’s conflicting with something unique to your machine.

If you’re getting a hang, rather than a crash, then it would be helpful to see a minidump. You can create one quite easily if you install MS Process Explorer (see Ulf’s steps here: Dorico 2 doesn't respond at launch - #39 by belkina - Dorico - Steinberg Forums ). Note that you need to create a minidump rather than a full dump (otherwise it creates massive files), and you can post to me p dot walmsley (a) steinberg dot de

When I opened it, the playback configuration seemed to be completely screwed. I got TWO copies of the Halion Symphonic Orchestra player, nether with any instruments loaded.

Loading the Halion SSE template, and NotePerformer, both worked.

Since it seemed to be trying to use Halion Symphonic Orchestra, I wonder whether your other user has Dorico Elements. That shouldn’t matter, but there is obviously something going wrong…

Thanks Paul, I will be sure to replicate that tonight and send it to you.

@Rob, I noted that as well. But he is using Pro and NP.