So I reorganized some libraries in Live using shortcuts to VSTs (courtesy of Mechanix). Everything works fine except my most recent project, which crashes every time I try to open it. I saved three different versions as fallback points in case I make a change I decide I didn't like, but none of them work. Every other project I've opened is fine. Is there any way to salvage this?

I'm on Windows 7, used to run Live 9.13 because until recently it was super stable for me. I tried reinstalling; when that did work I tried installing 9.17, then 9.2 beta, tried changing to different versions of Max... No dice. I did open this problem project when I was experimenting with different plugin folder arrangements, but I didn't save any changes.

When I try to load the project, it waits a couple seconds and then Live just disappears. No notification that the program stopped responding, I don't even get as far as the Max For Live splash screen. How/where do I find and read the log that tells me what happened?

 

I've had similar problems with older projects, that worked fine when I saved them and quit Live. But would then crash Live on startup. In my case(s) M4L was causing the problems, so I'd suggest disabling Max temporarily and check if that lets you load the project without crashing. Just rename the Max folder (It should be somewhere around "C:\Program Files\Cycling '74" so Live can't find it.
I haven't experienced this problem with recent M4L and Live versions though.

 

move all vsts out of the vst folder and try again. if it works then, add them again one after another until you homed in on the corpus delicti.

 

If it's just one project and you have paid live license, easiest thing to do is contact Ableton support. I had a similar issue once. I sent support the project+crash logs , they figured out the plugin causing the crash, disabled it, then sent back the working project.

Where do I find Ableton Crash Logs?

 

Yep any Daw will do that when you have a Corrupted file or plug ! like other said move your vst folder out open project should load, then put vst folder back in place and search for the culprit

 

@ pimpdrop. Unfortunately I don't have a paid license (not a suite one anyway, and I'm using Suite.)

Floond & Fraifikmushi: A very hearty thanks to both of you.

Floond: I was having problems with M4L since installing an R2R version of Max 7. I switched my M4L folder back to Max 6 but I guess the R2R release was still causing problems. Often Live would crash if I opened a project containing a Max device without first opening a Max Device in the new set on Live's initialization. I uninstalled Max 7 and that problem has resolved.

Fraifikmushi: Your idea solved my problem. I moved plugins out of my VST folder one subfolder at a time until the project loaded. Reinstalled the offending plugin and everything appears to be fine. Much love. I'm pretty new to producing so things take me a while to make. Losing a project isn't exactly insignificant to me.



(edited for typos. Wrote "Live" in various places where I meant to say "Max")

 

I had a problem like that with an older project. Turned out that RP Predator was causing the problem. So live eventually offered me a chance to open with all plug ins disabled which gave me a chance to figure out which plug in was causing the crash. I disabled it n "saved as" That solved my problem.

 

I feel you brother. Even after some producing it's still too much adrenalin for me when this happens