After Effects crashes when I try to open specific projects

[Agnieszka5FBB]

Hi all,

I'm running After Effects 23.3 on macOS Ventura. I've been working on a project for a few days, but now I am completely unable to open it. Whenever I try, After Effects crashes immediately with a pop-up:

Initially I though that the file was corrupted but it opens just fine on my colleague's computer (also After Effects 23.3, macOS Ventura).

What I tried so far:

• importing the project to a new project in After Effects
• uninstalling and re-installing AE
• installing older versions of AE
• making a copy & renaming the file
• deleting all 3rd party plugins from the AE folder
• trying to open the file with caps lock on

I would be grateful for any help from you!

[JohnColombo]

Hi @Agnieszka5FBB,

Thank you for reporting this issue, sorry to see you're experiencing these crashes. Do the files contain any use of Roto Brush? There is currently a known issue on macOS Ventura that can cause crashes like you're describing.

Have you submitted the crash report (from the dialog in the image) with your email? If not, please do that, as it would be very helpful for us to be able to see the cause of the crash.

If you haven't already, please update to the latest 23.4 version of AE. It has a new Safe Mode that may also be helpful in diagnosing the cause of the crash, along with other crash fixes.

Thank you for any further info you can provide,

- John, After Effects Engineering Team

[Agnieszka5FBB]

Hi @JohnColombo,

Thanks a lot for a quick reply!

I have updated my After Effects to 23.4 but it didn't help. I tried running the file in the Safe Mode, resetting the preferences and checking for any 3rd party plugins (I have none installed at this point) - still crashing.

As for Roto Brush, I don't think it was used in the file. The animations were primarily vector, made either directly in AE or imported from Illustrator.

Below you can see some screenshots from the crashes. I also submitted the crash reports with my email address.

Do you have any idea what else I could try to solve this issue?

[WCDave]

Try installing 23.1 

I had the same issue..... and downgrading to 23.1 let me work on it back again 

[Agnieszka5FBB]

Still not solved... I tried downgrading to 23.1 but it still crashes. On top of that I noticed that my Premiere started crashing in exactly the same way when I try to open random files.

Do you know of any other solutions I could try?

[WCDave]

import your bad project into a fresh new project.

[nishu_kush]

Could you possibly share the After Effects project file with us so we can run some tests on our end? You can direct message me the download link if that's easier for you.

Also, it would be really beneficial for our investigation if you could submit the crash report along with your email address. This way, we'll be able to delve deeper into the issue.

We're here to help.

Note: Moving this thread from Bugs to Discussions for troubleshooting.

Thanks,

Nishu

[Rick Gerard]

What happens if you turn on Caps Lock and try and open the project? If it will open with Caps Lock on there is a good chance you have a GPU preferences issue.

[nishu_kush]

Hi Agnieszka,

Thank you for sharing the project files through a direct message.

I've tested the files on my end and was able to open them without any issues. If it's not too much trouble, could you please check if there are any third-party plug-ins located at this path: HD/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Common/Plugins/7.0/MediaCore?

If you do find any files or folders there (except dummy.txt), try moving them out of that folder temporarily to see if that changes anything.

Additionally, I'd like to ask where your project files are stored. Are they on a network drive, external storage device, or in a folder that's synced with the cloud? If so, could you try copying them to your desktop and then attempt to open them?

Please let us know how it goes. We're here to help!

Thanks,

Nishu

[Agnieszka5FBB]

Hi Nishu,

Thanks for testing my files!

I checked for the third-party plug-ins: there was only the AEXD plugin, which I removed, but the crashes continue.

The files are stored on Google Drive. I copied one of them to my desktop and tried to open it that way - immediate crash.

I also tried temporarily renaming the folder "MediaCore" to "MediaCore-old" as I saw in some other thread, but it didn't help.

At this point I'm completely puzzled and a bit worried, especially that soon I will have to start working on another motion project...

Please let me know if there is anything else I could try. At this point I will try literally anything to make it work.

Thanks a lot,

Agnieszka

[nishu_kush · Accepted solution]

Hi Agnieszka,

Thanks for giving that a try. We talked to our engineers. They suspect that it could be some font that's causing the issue. Would you mind deactivating all the fonts from the Creative Cloud desktop app to see if that helps? To do that, go to the Creative Cloud desktop app > go to the Fonts section and click the button with three dots then select Deactivate all fonts (screenshot). I understand this is a hassle, but your fonts will get activated again as soon as you open the project that uses them.

Also, did you submit the crash report and provided your email-id? If not, please do so and share your email-id via DM. We'll try to find the crash report on our end.

Thanks,

Nishu

[Agnieszka5FBB · Accepted solution]

Hi Nishu,

Good news!

I deactivated all fonts in Creative Cloud, but it didn't help - I had an immediate crash.

But... I deactivated all fonts installed externally on my Mac and I was able to open the files for the first time in 2 weeks!

In case it would help the others: I narrowed down which font was causing the crash - it was Book Antiqua. I took it out of Microsoft Office folder and installed on my Mac's Font Book, to have access to it in apps other than Microsoft Office. Probably shouldn't do it then.

Thank you so much for your help! Without it I think I would just lose my mind!

Agnieszka

[nishu_kush]

Great troubleshooting!

Thanks for sharing the update and steps. I am sure it'll be helpful for others.

Feel free to reach out if there's anything we can do to help.

Best,

Nishu

[precise_problem27092 · Accepted solution]

Fonts! Fonts! Fonts! This is it. 

The suggestion from @nishu_kush to deactivate all fonts from CC app did not helped ... becasue i had no fonts there.

I presumed that the fonts are causing my AE to crash but, which fonts?! I have more that 1000 fonts installed in Windows! I did not have the time to delete and try every each of them.

What worked for me:

1.  make a backup copy of c:\Windows\Fonts 
2.  then delete all fonts from c:\Windows\Fonts. You won't be able to delete some of them because those are used by the system. Let them.
3.  Check if now you can open the AE Project. For me was a YES!
4.  From the BasckUp directory of the "c:\windows\fonts" copy only what you need. You can copy one type of fonts in one try. For instance i copied all True Type Fonts at once. I still had no issue. 

I hope this will help some others with this problem.

I would like to see Adobe comes with a solutions for these type of crashes. At least when the crash occurs, a Pop Up window should describe what exactly caused the crash, for instance here something like "After Effects crashed due an unssuported Font Type" and not just an ambiguous message like in my case "afterFX.exe crashed".

[m_shum]

Also having this issue. Deleting CC fonts didn't fix it and deleting all the user fonts on this machine is not an option. 

[Rick Gerard]

Have you tried opening After Effects, saving the current empty project as a New Project, then activating the Caps Lock key and Importing the problem AEP file?  This will sometimes load the old file into the Project Panel with folders containing the original assets. 

If you get that far, before opening any of the comps, try opening the assets (footage or image files) by double-clicking them in the Project Panel. A corrupted asset can cause AE to crash. If all of the assets will open in the Footage Panel, try releasing the Caps Lock key and previewing the footage in the Project Panel.

If all of that is good, start with any Pre-comps that are in the Main comp. Same routine, Caps Lock on, open the comp. If AE is still running, Release the Caps Lock and try and preview the comp. Repeat until you get everything open. When you find the comp that causes the crash, repeat the procedure, open the comp with Caps Lock on, select all layers and press the "u" key twice to find all modified properties and look for all effects in the comp. Turn them all off one at a time, then start with the bottom layer turning on effects until you get the crash. When you find the problem effect, delete it and try again.

I have been able to fix about 3 instantly crashing AEP files in the last 20 years using this troubleshooting technique, I can't tell you how many render failures I have fixed by digging down through a comp and turning off or resetting effects. 

I hope this helps. 

I would be happy to try and open the AEP file without footage if you can share it.

[Karl24171084n4iz]

I FOUND A SOLUTION

WHAT WORKED FOR ME:

Update Drivers:

in after effects main comp i saw display acceleration disabled so i figured it was driver error so i just installed driver booser.

Try this one if that didnt work:

open after effects in your search bar then drag the file into the timeline and it will show youu the specific preset or plugin that is causing the error. if it didnt display any specific preset, just try every plugin you installed in a solid layer and youll see what is causing the error.

[Trafi law]

THANKS !! 

the second method worked for me.