Hi there. I'd hoped to have my first post on here be something happy or cool, like my music or something. Instead, it's about Kontakt, and how through bad luck and bad planning and a bit of stupidity on my part, everything is now screwed.

SHORT VERSION (The problems):
-I had 33 sample libraries in Kontakt before this all happened, and they all had unique wallpapers and looked great. Now only 13 of them will load, and a lot of them are ones without NICNT files like Albion and Albion II, so I have a sneaking suspicion that something might be wrong with how my Kontakt is reading most NICNT files. I'm not sure.

-When I drag an NKI into Kontakt, for the most part they load and function, so there's just a problem with the libraries actually showing up, and I don't know what that issue is.

--NOTE: I reinstalled the most recent version of the Service Center sometime in through all this, and that is when things started to go horribly wrong. I think.

-One of the libraries that does load in the library browser (Organ Mystique) refuses to let me load any instruments, giving me this error: https://i.gyazo.com/4f37d64654cd9c18bde3f9c4319d9e03.png. I managed to get it working once, but now it's back to failing again, and I don't know why or how to fix it.

-Half of the libraries that DO load in Kontakt are now missing their wallpapers, even though I have PNG wallpapers them right inside the folders.

-Furthermore, most of the Libraries that DO load don't give me much functionality.
For example, clicking on "Open containing folder" does nothing at all for the majority of these loaded libraries.

LONG VERSION: In-Depth account of everything that happened.

Spoiler

First of all, my Kontakt Version info.



I've had Kontakt 5 for three years, more or less. I acquired it about a year after I started composing, and I've steadily been amassing more and more sample libraries as time has gone on. Before everything went to hell, I had about 260 GB of samples, and 33 individual Kontakt libraries, with a lot of them being custom-made to house instruments that didn't come with library functionality. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth to have to write off three quarters of that before I exhaust all my options.

I've been googling and reading and searching all day, and now I'm making this thread.

I'll try to explain exactly what I did, and possibly in the order that I did things.

To start off, Earlier today I had just installed a few new Kontakt Libraries. Several of them didn't come with library functionality, so I went through and added in new libraries for each, making an NICNT file and all that jazz: no big deal. This didn't cause any large problems.

I had been having a HELL of a struggle with ProjectSAM's Organ Mystique Library: for some reason I haven't been able to figure out, I'm getting this error:

Now, I hate to bother other people for help when I can try and solve it myself, and until today I've always been able to find something online which points me in the right direction. Not today: I still have no idea why it's like that, and I spent about 2 hours alone redownloading the files, checking the NICNT file, and copying different files into the Sample folder to try and fix it.

Finally, after all that time, I got the library to load in Kontakt, and it worked like a charm. I really have no idea why it worked, but I THINK it might have had something to do with me finding alternate nkc and nkx files which I then overwrote the ones in the library with. That being said, I really don't know if that had anything to do with it, and now it refuses to load again (because I reinstalled Kontakt 5.5.1.451, but we'll get to that.)


Next, after all that, I went through and organized my Library collection of NICNT files in numerical order, and changed all the SNPIDs to follow the structure of 001, 002, etc, instead of them just being random numbers like they had been for so long. This didn't seem to cause any problems, honestly, it seemed like they all worked.

Here is where it all spiraled horribly out of control: I found that that same Organ Mystique Library refused to stay loaded in Kontakt when I rebooted every time. I had to reload it every time I opened Kontakt, and that wasn't going to work for me. Some more research recommended that I delete NI xml files, reboot my computer, and re-add the library. That didn't work.

Next I found someone who said to go into the Registry Editor and delete the registry files for that particular library. That was also a no-go, didn't do anything. Eventually, I got sick of it. My memory is a little hazy, though, because everything is a blur from today, but I think that's where I moved on. I was just going to deal with it later.


Now, I found a webpage which recommended reinstalling the NI Service Center to see if that fixed anything, so I did just that and downloaded the most recent version. And somehow, when I did that, everything fucking broke.

In this image, I'll show you what I mean: basically half of my libraries refuse to show, and of the ones that do, several of them no longer have a wallpaper.

Spoiler

Only 13 out of 33. I know from trying to re-add the others that Kontakt believes them to all be there, so why are most of them missing? I'm at a total loss.

This is where my stupidity comes in. I'm very, very particular about how things are presented in my workflow when I'm in the middle of organizing things. For example, I saw in the Registry Editor that there were a bunch of excess registry folders from where I renamed a lot of the different libraries. I then had the bright idea to delete EVERY registry folder in HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Native Instruments and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Native Instruments, aside from the "Kontakt" folder and the "Massive" folder (I have Massive as well). I also deleted all of the XML files in the Common Files/Native Instruments/Service Center directory. Then I restarted my computer, and I don't remember why.

I probably just made things worse, but after I deleted all the registries and XML files, I decided to do a clean install of Kontakt 5.5.1. This did nothing at all, and it probably just mucked things up further.

Basically I did everything wrong, and now I'm trying to figure out the least painful way to get back to where I was. I'd rather not have to re-acquire everything I've gotten.

I'm at my wits end. I've basically destroyed 3 years of labor and care, and I have no idea how to get it back.

Here is the current state of my registry, the common-files directory, and the template I've been using to make my NICNT.

HKEY_LOCAL_USER/Native Instruments

Spoiler

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Native Instruments

Spoiler

XML Files

Spoiler

If anyone can help with any part of this, I'll be forever grateful. If anyone want any more information, just ask and I'll be happy to give it.

Thank you in advance.

 

Sounds like a Kontakt horror story.

Any updates or help needed

 

i don't mess with them myself, but does it seem like making all these custom NICNT files etc causes problems? If a library is a locked one that is ONLY available from the Library tab I will add it, otherwise I just use the file browser.... and I have never had a problem.... it seems everyone who DOES is trying to be clever for some reason and have them all showing as libraries etc.... am I wrong? just seems like there is a lot that could go south with that..... introninja obviously knows more, and I am on osx, but I don't mess with that, as I have never heard anyone really come out the other end of that ok...

 

if you haven't deleted anything and on windows platform ! Maybe try System Restore, and keep fingers crossed

 

Hmm that's pretty weird. If you'd like to go real further into this I could recommend you to delete your Kontakt fully and reinstall again. Don't think the service center is generating the trouble here.
I'll just give you some hints to make it short, may help or not but hopefully it could help:

* Reinstall Kontakt (should be the last option).
* Make sure the PNG files says 'wallpaper'.
* Delete the XML files before trying to add a library once again, location usually is: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Native Instruments\Service Center (dunno on Mac).

I often get that 'error' saying the library needs to be added before using it, but only way to solve that is by adding the library, open a patch (just in case) and then you can remove the library. Then next time you wanna use a patch from that library that window won't pop up anymore, I can 100% guarantee that.

 

Hey everyone, thanks for the advice.

I think I isolated the problem: somewhere along the way I think Kontakt stopped reading all of the NICNT file properly, so they stopped appearing. I ended up getting all but two of the sample libraries back to functioning, although those two are some of the most recent additions to my collection and I'm not going to lose any sleep over them (they are both giving me that "your library needs to be added" error, and I don't want to risk screwing that all up again).

I had to find a NICNT file that worked and then manually go through and copy it to each sample library, then rename each one and change the SNPID for each. I doubt it's the most efficient or elegant solution, but it worked for all of the ones that disappeared. Some I ended up just redownloading, and I might end up redowloading a few more, but for now, that's that. The only loss was a few embedded wallpapers no longer show up, but I'm handy with Photoshop, so I'll eventually get around to making my own.

Thanks for the tip, but it didn't end up doing anything: I can't load any patches from the library, so I don't know exactly what you're telling me to do.

With most of this figured out, I was wondering if you might be able to help me figure out the "your library must be added" error. It's really bugging me, and I don't know why it's happening. I'm worried that in the future I'll continue to have that issue for random libraries, and that would suck.

Thanks again, everyone: it's appreciated.