I have Cubase Pro 11 and Cubase Pro 15 on Windows 10.
PROBLEM:
One or more of my 3rd party plugins is crashing Cubase (I have to force shut down the PC). Crashes always occur when I open the VST Plugin manager. Crashes do not happen if I block 3rd party plugins from loading when I run Cubase. I have some VST2 plugins and I expect it’s one of them.
QUESTIONS:
What’s the best process to resolve the crashing issue? I also want to use this moment as an opportunity to tidy up all the 3rd party plugins on my system (e.g. make sure I’m using VST3 instead of VST2 where available) and knowing where everything is located.
Do I need to uninstall all my 3rd party plugins using their installers? Should I manually delete all the VST2 dll files and if so, how can I find out where all the VST2 dlls are located? Should I then reinstall one at a time to see if each new one crashes the system?
First of all, ensure that the plug-ins are up to date. Also, the licensing engine must be up to date (iLok if it’s in use; KORG was using eLicenser, this might be an issue, etc.)
Attach the *.ips/dmp file. We can find out which plug-in is crashing.
I looked in %userprofile%/Documents/Steinberg/ but there is no Crash Dumps folder. Only these folders: Cubase (with subfolders MIDI Remote, User Presets), FX Chain Presets, Groove Agent Common, Groove Agent SE, Strip Presets
If you have to shut down the PC, Cubase is not crashing. If Cubase crashes because of a plugin, it exits, and the next time you start Cubase, at least with C15 you get the safe mode dialog which usually tells you where it crashed and which plugin is the culprit (if it is a plugin). Like e.g. this:
There would also be a crash dump.
If you have to “force shut down the PC”, I assume that your system has become completely unresponsive so that you cannot do anything (like opening the Task Manager and killing Cubase) anymore? This usually points to a more serious issue, a plugin cannot really do that (well, except maybe with a serious memory leak…). I also find it suspicious that you claim it happens when you just open the plugin manager - just opening the plugin manager doesn’t load the plugins, so they cannot actually do anything.
Definitely weird, and I cannot think how this would be the fault of a plugin (although you wrote that it doesn’t happen when you disable third-party plugins…)
First step I would try is to start in safe mode with preferences disabled:
If that doesn’t work, go to “%APPDATA%\Steinberg” (paste this into explorer address bar), locate folders named like “Cubase XY_64” (XY=Cubase version), and move them e.g. to your Desktop. Then start Cubase (focus on one version), which will force it to rebuild all its settings from defaults. This means that all your personal settings are gone for the moment, but then try to reproduce the crash/freeze.
Martin’s advice to update your plugins to the latest version doesn’t hurt, though, some plugins that ran fine in 12 might have problems in 15. And VST2 should be replaced by its VST3 version anyway, if possible.
In this case, you can right-click on Cubase and generate the *.dmp file. It will be a big one, because it’s a print of the whole memory.
Or, generate a DMP file and share it via Dropbox or a similar service, please.
Use the Microsoft ProcDump utility to generate a DMP file, please.
Please download ProcDump64 from Microsoft (~650kB) and extract the archive to a local folder on your hard disk.
Run Command Prompt (cmd) as administrator (right click and select “run as administrator”)
Navigate (in the Command Prompt) to the folder with the extracted procdump file.
For example:
cd C:\ Users \ \ Downloads \ Procdump
Note: the dmp file will be written into that folder.
Launch Cubase/Nuendo. You can work as usual. At any time, change to the command prompt and start procdump, to monitor Cubase/Nuendo for unexpected behaviour (see next step).
The -h option will write a dmp file in case of an application hang. This might kick in too early sometimes, in case some action takes a little longer. Feel free to skip the “-h” option, if you are only up for fetching crashes.
The option -e will catch exceptions and the option -t terminations of the application.
Prodump is now monitoring the Cubase/Nuendo process and will write a crash log, in case Cubase/Nuendo crashes or hangs. Perform the action that causes Cubase/Nuendo to crash and send us the generated crash dmp.
ZIP and share the DMP file via Dropbox or a similar service, please.
Thanks Martin. I now have two dmp files. I tried to send them to you by message rather than in this forum thread. Let me know if they didn’t reach you.
The crash is almost certainly caused by a faulty or outdated third party plugin, usually VST2.
Best approach is to isolate it. Start Cubase with third party plugins disabled, then re enable them in small batches in Plugin Manager until it crashes. That will identify the culprit without reinstalling everything.
Update all plugins and their license systems first. On Windows, VST2 DLLs are usually in Program Files VSTPlugins or Steinberg VstPlugins. You can temporarily move suspect DLLs out of those folders to test.
Once you find the offender, uninstall or replace it with a VST3 version. No need to wipe and reinstall everything.
One success thanks to your very helpful reply, and one more question.
Firstly thanks very much for analysing the Cubase 15 dmp file. I uninstalled Analog Lab V and after brief testing it seems that Cubase 15 is running fine. Thanks again! At some point I will try reinstalling Analog Lab V to see if it starts working OK.
Cubase 11 is still crashing (and in fact crashing the whole PC). It even crashed while I was running it in Safe Mode. Would you be able to look at the dmp files (generated from the Task Manager) that I sent via Dropbox? No problem if not.
I want to keep Cubase 11 available on my PC to go back to older projects. At this point I’m thinking it might make sense to uninstall and reinstall Cubase 11. I’m just worried that that might mess up Cubase 15. Any advice appreciated.
That’s a good point. I only installed Cubase 15 a few weeks ago and I’m still using 11 for a couple of projects but you’re right, this is a good moment to switch fully to it.
