Blocking cache-related bug

[simonsays]

Hello,

I am having an issue with VideoPad for over half a year now and thinking about dropping my subscription.

I eventually lost faith that NCH will ever fix this.

Problem 1.

Apparently overriding cache location does not work, not even in version 8.20.

I have a small SSD (117 GB) and a fairly large HDD (912 GB).

However, despite the fact that I specify cache location on D drive, cache gets still dumped on C drive clogging it as a result.

The files are partially saved to the location on D drive, but majority still goes somewhere to C.

Any chance that NCH is ever fixing this? Reinstalling VideoPad with Revo (complete wipeout) did not fix the issue.

Problem 2.

The cache won't clean automatically when I quit VideoPad and I still have to manually remove it from the default location.

 VideoPad off (after I manually clean the cache)

VideoPad on with a project

My settings

[Nationalsolo]

Hi

".....

Problem 1.

Apparently overriding cache location does not work, not even in version 8.20....."

I often use a USB hard drive to store the cache files for a big project (Drive E) This has worked with no problem. Under the Options tab click the Disk tab and then down to the Cache Folder box. Browse to your selected drive  and designated folder on that drive. Click OK and all loaded clips/files will go to the folder VP generated folder VideoPadCache  in the folder you created on the drive you chose to use.

"...Problem 2.

The cache won't clean automatically when I quit VideoPad...."

AFAIK emptying the cache is a user task and is not done automatically when you quit the program. If this were the case you would have to wait each time for it to load the clips again if you load your project from a vpj file. When using my E drive the cache clears with no problem . The Cache Folder box remains pointing to the correct drive and does not revert to the C drive even though the original VideoPadCache folder is still there.

Does the Cache Folder box on the Options/Disk page actually point to your correct location? Obviously if I use a different USB slot the address will not be the E drive.

Nat

[borate]

Here, too, cache acts as expected.  Pointed it to D:\VP_cache and deleted the default C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Temp\ on drive C:.

Restarted VP and caching went to D:\VP_cache.  The default location was not recreated.  However, there is a VP Audio cache on the C drive that apparently cannot be changed.

When Clear Unused Cache Files was used after restarting the program, and before anything was loaded, all files vanished.

[simonsays]

2 hours ago, Nationalsolo said:

I often use a USB hard drive to store the cache files for a big project (Drive E) This has worked with no problem. Under the Options tab click the Disk tab and then down to the Cache Folder box. Browse to your selected drive  and designated folder on that drive. Click OK and all loaded clips/files will go to the folder VP generated folder VideoPadCache  in the folder you created on the drive you chose to use.

Thanks for the reply, but I assume you did not check the screens that I have attached. That IS the problem. My cache location is specified (I pick the folder using "Browse..." button, drive D which has a lot of free space) but even after 100 restarts cache files still go to the default location (drive C which is short on diskspace).

[Nationalsolo]

Hi

That seems very odd.

When you open VP and go to Options/Disk  what is entered in the Cache Folder box? 

Nat

[simonsays]

2 hours ago, Nationalsolo said:

Hi

That seems very odd.

When you open VP and go to Options/Disk  what is entered in the Cache Folder box? 

Nat

ATM it is the value in the 3rd screenshot.

But the cache still goes to the default location at C:\Users\(Myusername)\AppData\Local\Temp

VideoPadSoundCache folder keeps reappearing at that location after every launch.

Screenshot

[borate]

Rechecked this, and it does not happen in this version here.

After deleting the default folder on the C drive, assigning cache to D:\VP_cache restarting VP writes those files to that folder.  The default folder is not recreated.

When starting VP and immediately Clearing Unused Cache Files prior to loading any clips, the D:\ drive folder is emptied.

[Nationalsolo]

Hi

Something not right. This is what I do..

1. Plug in the USB drive. This is Drive E (depending on the actual USB socket used)
2. Create a folder on the E drive called  VP TEMP CACHE FOLDER
3. Open VP and go to Options/Disk
4. Clear all unused cache files.This leaves the C Drive cache empty.
5. Under Cache.....Cache folder (which currently contains  C:\Users\Nat\Desktop/VideoPadCache)
6. Click Browse and navigate to the E drive and then click on the VP TEMP CACHE FOLDER. This opens with nothing in it.
7. Click the Select a folder button. You are in effect just selecting the empty folder in this case)
8. Check the content changes  in the box and then click OK........
9. 
10. This is followed by the message window.
11. 
12. Click OK
13. Close VP
14. Open Video Pad
15. Check the Options/Disk box.  This should  NOT have changed it should still shows the above Drive and folder there.
16. Load a clip to VP and drop it on the timeline.
17. Open Drive E:/VP TEMP CACHE FOLDER This now contains VideoPadCache
18. Open this folder. It should contains three files produced by the project
19. 
20. Note that I have not deleted the original cache file that I had on the C drive. As a check open this. It remains empty. No files were saved here.

As a further check, verify that Options/Disk still shows the E drive cache folder as the destination folder

Until I change the contents of the Cache:Cache Folder  box it will remain pointed to the E drive.

If yours is not doing this then there is a fault.

You might try to ....

Close VP and simply double click your original vpsetup.exe program. This re-installs VP over your existing program. You may not think this would alter anything but it fact it often loads an alternative variant of VP of which 2 or three exist within the exe file. It's pot luck which one might come up but it is possible that one of the A/B/C test variants will allow the changing of the cache location.I can't be sure of this but worth trying.

Nat

[simonsays]

On 3/28/2020 at 11:52 PM, borate said:

Rechecked this, and it does not happen in this version here.

After deleting the default folder on the C drive, assigning cache to D:\VP_cache restarting VP writes those files to that folder.  The default folder is not recreated.

When starting VP and immediately Clearing Unused Cache Files prior to loading any clips, the D:\ drive folder is emptied.

I already have the latest version and reinstalled it from scratch using Revo. And no, the sound cache folder keeps re-appearing at the same location.

Plus when I reloaded the project the sound for some clips would not simply load until I restart the project 2-3 times (guess that's the disk space issue).

It's a shame that something that used to work is so broken now.

Thanks for assistance, I I'll simply cancel my subscription and go with something more reliable.

[borate]

The sound cache will always go to C:\.   That cache should not tax your drive/PC.

A beta release will be out shortly;  worth testing.   https://www.nchsoftware.com/beta/

[simonsays]

33 minutes ago, borate said:

The sound cache will always go to C:\.   That cache should not tax your drive/PC.

A beta release will be out shortly;  worth testing.   https://www.nchsoftware.com/beta/

Okay...

Except it takes about 12 GB of space for my current project

[borate]

Your sound cache shows 12 Gigs?  Here it's 92 MB, after fiddling with several projects.  How long is your project?

[simonsays]

42 minutes ago, borate said:

Your sound cache shows 12 Gigs?  Here it's 92 MB, after fiddling with several projects.  How long is your project?

It uses 14 clips, ~30 mins each

They are turned into trailers, ~7 mins each. So 98 mins in total

[borate]

Hints that the project should be broken up and exported as separate 7 minute trailers.

[NotADevWinkWink]

@simonsays We have changed it so that in the next release, we will use a subfolder within the user-specified cache folder for sound caching.
Until then, the sound cache generates for the full duration of all imported clips; it's caching ~30min x 14 clips = 7 hours of sound, not 98 minutes. If you're able to, you could try exporting the smaller section of each clip you need, close videopad, clear sound cache, then open videopad and import the shorter clips.

Another, advanced workaround would be to change where your system temp folder is. Doing this *shouldn't* break anything, because anything in the temp folder is meant to be temporary. For details on how to do this, google is your friend (I found https://www.howtogeek.com/285710/how-to-move-windows-temporary-folders-to-another-drive/ fairly easily).

[simonsays]

On 4/6/2020 at 6:53 AM, NotADevWinkWink said:

@simonsays We have changed it so that in the next release, we will use a subfolder within the user-specified cache folder for sound caching.
Until then, the sound cache generates for the full duration of all imported clips; it's caching ~30min x 14 clips = 7 hours of sound, not 98 minutes. If you're able to, you could try exporting the smaller section of each clip you need, close videopad, clear sound cache, then open videopad and import the shorter clips.

Another, advanced workaround would be to change where your system temp folder is. Doing this *shouldn't* break anything, because anything in the temp folder is meant to be temporary. For details on how to do this, google is your friend (I found https://www.howtogeek.com/285710/how-to-move-windows-temporary-folders-to-another-drive/ fairly easily).

Looking forward to the next release. Thanks for the reply!