FXPX does not load large project

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Level 1

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FXPX does not load large project

I have seen some similar cases before but all possible solutions do not work. I have a 2 hour video project in FCPX that does not load.

I have installed Event Manager and moved and deleted render files. With Event Manager i have disabled all projects except this project and

still its trying to load but FCPX is "not responding" after a while. I am getting a bit desperate as this edit took me a week to make.

If i could only open the project i would be able to cut it smaller in several events.

Any solutions or workarounds would be appreciated.

Final Cut Pro X, Mac OS X (10.7.4)

Posted on Nov 14, 2012 4:57 AM

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Answer 1

BenB

Level 6

12,097 points

Nov 14, 2012 9:01 AM in response to Zeno G

What Mac are you on, how much RAM, what graphics card does it have, what drive and type is the project on, OS and software versions?

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Answer 2

Zeno G Author

Level 1

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Nov 14, 2012 9:16 AM in response to BenB

MacPro 5,1 2.8 Ghz Quad-Core Intel Xeon, 12 GB 1066 mhz DDR3, Ati Radeon HD 5770 1024 MB, just upgraden OS to OSX 10.8.2. Files are on a external Western Digital Essential Drive, all events and projects on local HD.

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Answer 3

BenB

Level 6

12,097 points

Nov 14, 2012 9:33 AM in response to Zeno G

Move all Events and Projects a secondary internal drive. Don't put them on your OS drive, will degrade overall system performance. If you "must" put them on an external drive (not best practice for a Mac Pro) be sure it is a 7200rpm FW800 drive. Although to simply load up one Project shouldn't be an issue. You may need to move FCP X to the Trash and reinstall it from the App Store, Purchased tab.

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Answer 4

Zeno G Author

Level 1

0 points

Nov 14, 2012 12:14 PM in response to BenB

Thanks, i did all as described. FCPX starts up, says "reading project" which seems to be reading, then on loading project it seems to be hanging. Looking in the "force applications" viewer it says not responding and the ball keeps spinning. I got another response suggesting to be patient and let it load overnight as this user experienced a loading time of 6 hours and then got it running......OMG.

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Answer 5

James Cude

Level 4

1,585 points

Nov 14, 2012 12:50 PM in response to Zeno G

That was me. Patience is rewarded. FCPX will appear to be hung and Not Responding in Activity Monitor while it's still loading. Do yourself a favor and let it go overnight. How large are your CurrentVersion.fcpproject and CurrentVersion.fcpevent files? (That will determine the load time if they are not totally unreadable.)

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Answer 6

Zeno G Author

Level 1

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Nov 14, 2012 12:59 PM in response to James Cude

Thank you James, Eventfile is 4,2 MB, projectfile 1,31 G

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Answer 7

James Cude

Level 4

1,585 points

Nov 14, 2012 2:47 PM in response to Zeno G

yeah that's huge- what's in there? I'm assuming tons of Compound Clips. And has this project been loaded on 10.0.6? My 6 hour Project loads were ~500MB so you may easily be looking at 10+ hours i.e. overnight. My suggestion would be to wait it out, then start moving in pieces to smaller projects as you can.

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Answer 8

Zeno G Author

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Nov 14, 2012 11:47 PM in response to James Cude

I have let the ball spin for 9 hours now and nothing has happenend. The footage is just one track of HD greenscreen (e-learning) footage and only a chromakey has been applied to the 2 hour edit. No compounds. How is it possible that Final Cut X cannot even handle this? Soon i will be starting on project shot on 4K Red which i am afraid do to on FCPX. How long can i edit in 4K before this happenes again? 10 minutes? Now that the latest FCPX supports Red raw files i thought that was great but now.....

Anyway, i see no other solution than delete the whole project and start from scratch and throw away a weeks hard work and make edits no longer than 10 minutes or so. Apple should have a warning when buying FCPX thats its unusable for volume projects. If anyone knows a way to convert the project files that won't open to XML or something that would save the day.

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Answer 9

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

150,986 points

Nov 15, 2012 12:04 AM in response to Zeno G

Don't these number strick you as odd? Your event, that should contain your media, which it clearly doesn't, is minute, 4.2MB, in comparison to the project. Where is your media exactly?

If you've trashed the render files how can the project be 1.3G? I have a one hour 50 project and the project file is 11.8MB, and it's got a lot of cuts in it.

Western Digital Essential drive, is that FireWire800, connected to the rear port of your computer, not the front port?

Have you trashed your preferences BTW? Do that. Repair permissions. Use Event Manager to hide the project. Does the application open properly?

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Answer 10

Zeno G Author

Level 1

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Nov 15, 2012 12:16 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

My media is on the external Western Digital drive, i have chosen not to import the files when starting this project to save space on the local HD. I will try again to trash the render files, should i delete the folders High quality media, peaks data and thumbnail media or just the content and keep the folders? The external WD drive is infact connected to the front. its USB 3.0 but i have worked on smaller projects that way before without problems.

I have trashed preferences many times and i use Event manager, no permission repair so far, Ik will try that.

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Answer 11

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

150,986 points

Nov 15, 2012 12:25 AM in response to Zeno G

What is the media? Where is the media? You only have aliases in the event folder, right? So where exactly is the media?

should i delete the folders High quality media,

Trash the enter folder called Render Files.

The MacPro does not have USB3 ports. You are running at USB2 speed. You need a FireWire800 drive connected to the rear of the tower. Do not use the front ports for media.

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Answer 12

Nov 15, 2012 12:28 AM in response to Zeno G

The drive may be USB3, but the ports in your Mac Pro are just USB2 - much like you said, ok for *small* projects, not at all recommended for such a large one. I don't know if this is true of the Mac Pro, but also it is the general conception that not all ports are created equal - usually the ones on the front are not for heavy duty, so at least consider using the ones on the back (but keep in mind that they are still USB2, and ).

For a Mac Pro, the best option (if not using a RAID) is to use a second internal drive; a FW800 is a distant second option: the firewire connection becomes the bottleneck; and even much more so for USB2.

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Answer 13

Zeno G Author

Level 1

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Nov 15, 2012 7:48 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Ok, i moved everything to an internal HD (not the main HD) to avoid external disk and speed issues.

The original media is now on that internal disk.

In the Event files in the original media folder files are all aliases. In the project files the current version Project file is 1.31 GB.

I have trashed prefs, deleted render files etc. But again, no luck. After "reading" the project file FCPX starts "loading" it and instantly.....spinning ball and the not responding note in "force quit applications"

I have spent another day in fixing isssues as suggested here but still no luck.

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