I have been using VideoPad for 2 years now. I experienced all the annoying crashes you all have when I went to 3.12 and some prior versions. I even experienced LOCKUPS when trying to render/export. This happened way to many times. I now see that it's not all the software's fault.
As much as I wanted to throw my entire computer out the window and do horrible things to my fellow man after all that crashing, I decided to stay with NCH. it is the best software for my purposes. I learned some tricks along the way to resolve crashing and locking up.
1) If you have not yet read info on their site about driver updates:
http://www.nch.com.au/kb/10265.html
2) V3.14 is definitely more stable with Windows7. When I upgraded, I had crashes for a day then it stopped once I paid attention to driver specs and stuff I wrote here.
But again, make sure you have the most updated drivers for your video card.
3) make sure you don't download more than one copy under one license- more than one and it begins to get buggy. that's NCH's way of making money. 2nd copy under the same reg number and your videos WILL NOT PUBLISH.
4) Check your files. Especially photos- make sure they're not too big. I don't know what the right specs are but this software does not like 300dpi images. Especially transparency at 300dpi- BAD. So reduce it to half (150) and try again.
3) Yes, clear your cache files what are not being used. Most often, we upload more files than what we are using to publish.
4) Stay away from TOO MANY LAYERS. Keep it around 3-4 to be sane. I go as far as 10-12 but I keep the running time of the project short and un-complicated.
5) Stay away from TOO MANY EFFECTS AT THE SAME TIME- ESPECIALLY MOTION+ROTATE. I love making transparency graphics rotate and spin for logos--- but this eats up sooo many resources (a clear indication that resources are important).
Here's a sample of complex layering.
I must have crashed this file about 2000 times before I decided to rebuild it from scratch. That's when I realized- something in that file is doing it. And each time it asks you to LOAD the old file that crashed, what you're doing is keeping that bug alive.
6) VP does not like LONG files. Keep any complex clips under 2 minutes (I know this is dumb- but if you keep it at 1080 then reassemble them all at 1 or 2 tracks, you should be ok)
7) Beware mixing too many file types. AVI + MOV + MP4 etc... sometimes, VP hates that.
8) Also try to keep all your frame rate (FPS) the same. Combining clips w/ different FPS confuses VP.
9) I learned over time to SAVE AS DIFFERENT NAME each time I work on it. The work files are small so no worries about size. By saving to a different name, somehow, it keeps caches fresh (and not hold on to anything corrupt)
10) Try to keep all files (audio and video source files) from the same folder. Querying them from all over your PC is going to CONFUSE VP. Moreover, try not to query from an external Hard drive. Keep all source files local.
11) I also learned to use C-CLEANER to remove all unwanted CRAP from windows. Also FIX any REGISTRY errors. That's huge. Keep in mind, VP demands a lot from your PC, your OS, your Vid card etc. and errors are bound to happen each time you crash. keeping those errors is like keeping a pothole on the road unrepaired. It only gets bigger.
11a) I also read somewhere to run MalwareBytes... I heard there are malwares that hook themselves into this NC software (like CONDUIT virus). It can happen when you purchase. I found it myself on my NCH folder. That Malware crashes your shit so when you reboot, it digs its way deeper into your cache.
11b) After you do C-Cleaner and MalwareBytes, reboot your machine.
12) Get the most memory and ram that you can- (quad-core, 8-core etc) VP like any other video editor sucks up lots of resources. Also, shut down ALL other softwares when running this for best results (at least while you are troubleshooting)
13) if all else fails, try rebuilding the project one source file at a time.
When you begin to crash, it's may likely because of the last source file you uploaded.
I do not work for NCH. In fact, I have a love-hate-hate-hate-love relationship with this company and the software. But I promise you- stick with this software and try my solutions. It's tricky but it's worth it.
