MCSettingsMgr::WriteCoreSettings: failure writing setting group

Well, if you like pictures (and who doesn't?) you're going to love the issue du jour.  Near as I can tell, this error is really a non-issue, but what the hell, let's check out how horribly Avid handles it!

You know how it goes:  You're just sitting at your desk after a long day and you're getting ready to head home.  You close all of your bins (because you're a goddamn responsible adult) and you quit out of the project.  When this bullshit happens:
What the fuck, Avid?  Why do you crash when quitting so much?  Okay, let's click "continue."  Oh, sweet, some more debugger code:

Ugh.  Whatever.  Avid's assertions be failin' left and right, yo.  Okay, continue again...  Oh fuckballs.  It's the first error again.  And so forth.  Forever.  Eventually you'll either force quit Avid (which is probably the thing I should have done), or you'll notice that there's a brief period of time between each debugger message during which the progress bar appears with "filesystem busy" displayed on it.  Be quick (like a bunny) and hit Command-Period to cancel whatever the fuck process is waiting for the busy filesystem.  Ahh, good - a new error that's actually being "handled" by Avid.  Sort of.  We all know how Avid gets about errors:

Okay, so Avid can't save the project settings.  WHO GIVES A SHIT, AVID?  WHAT THE FUCK DO PROJECT SETTINGS EVEN DO?  Seriously, the project settings are those things that you delete when your project says you can't open it because a duplicate file already exists.  All they do is break.  They're like the fucking appendix of Avid, just waiting around in your gut doing fuck all until the day that they decide to burst and kill you.

There is no goddamn way I'm going to click "Try some more" and I'm insulted to find that is the default option here.  We're clicking Raise Error because Fuck You, Avid.

This is a pretty good error.  Thanks.  Let's click More to see what you really mean.

Ahh, the folly of my ways.  Now we're getting the original debug message, except in an Avid style error handling window.  Awesome.  This means that the programmers didn't write the code to catch the thrown error before it broke the program, but instead got their error handling ass backwards to catch it AFTER the code broke.  Fucking hell, Avid, what the shitballs is wrong with you?  Stop hiring engineers and start hiring user interface developers.  Seriously.  Actually, I take that back - start hiring actual fucking professional editors and assistant editors to tell you what your program is actually being used for in the real fucking world.  Jesus.

Anyway, let's click OK and now we can see that this error is meaningless as Avid exits out just fine.  You know, maybe my project settings file didn't save, so like, a bin might open on launch or something.  Man, that was totally worth all this nonsense.  Grrr.  I wish I could tell Avid that no one gives a flying fuck about project settings files and just to goddamn ignore it when write errors happen.  Maybe one message like "Error saving project settings.  Please double check all settings the next time that you open this project."  That's all I need.  I don't need five different errors that all say that you don't know what the hell you're doing.  I already knew that.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to Reset your PRAM and Delete your Site Settings

After two years, it has occurred to me that I have been remiss in my duties.  Up until now I've failed to mention the most basic troubleshooting techniques for dealing with Avid:  Resetting your PRAM and Deleting your Site Settings.  Seriously, what's wrong with my brain? Basically whenever you're getting weird errors, or multiple bus thread error crashes in a row, or "you can't write to drive X" message when pretty fucking clearly you have write permissions, the problem isn't you; it's Avid.  That's a shocker, I know, and wholly unexpected, but the fact of the matter is that Avid is the only program I've ever used that required regular resetting of your Mac's PRAM (Parameter Random Access Memory).  Avid is also one of the rare pieces of software that corrupts it's own fucking settings.  Seriously, how is that even possible, Avid?  you generate  the settings on launch, so can't you do a goddamn checksum to make sure the existing o...
Read more

CM_LABEL_NOT_FOUND: tt:3, lnum:3

Image
Well this was a fucked up error. The actual message was:   Timecode not found for clip, 'CLIPNAME' and when you click MORE, you get  CM_LABEL_NOT_FOUND:  tt:3, lnum:3 , which was supposed to convey some sort of information. The internet was no use, because it apparently only cares about CM_LABEL_NOT_FOUND:  tty:3, lnum: 4 , which is something completely fucking different. Let me back up:  I got this error by trying to multigroup some clips.  The group was properly constructed and everything, all subbed out, all the AuxTCs were in place and correct.  Error. So... what doesn't have timecode?  Well, all the tapes were totally normal.  The iso audio was a bitch to deal with because my sound guy doesn't understand how to make polyphonic .WAV files.. let's start there. Okay, so we imported the sound files using Avid's autodetect polyphonic wave groups feature, and it worked, but all three iso clips that resulted had bas...
Read more

File 'Avid_MediaFiles' not found.

Image
This is a great error.  It's great for a couple of reasons.  Firstly, the problem isn't that "Avid_MediaFiles' can't be found.  That's the folder on your media drive named "Avid Media Files" and it's pretty goddamn easily found by both you and Avid.  No, the real problem is that a file *inside* Avid Media Files can't be found.  Which file?  Good question.  A database file.  What this error message should really say is: File 'msmFMID.pmr' not found. OR File 'msmMMOB.mdb' not found. Or the error message could be actually helpful and say: The File 'msmFMID.pmr' which should be in path 'MediaDriveA/Avid Media Files/MXF/Ingest1' cannot be found. You know, something actually fucking helpful.  But no.  No, this message basically just says that Avid lost something, it isn't sure what, and it sure as shit isn't going to let you save any bins until you fix the problem.  Also, opening the Med...
Read more