"This project is damaged" error after update to 22.3

[Oguz AKALIN]

Hi everyone,

I recently updated from v22.2 to 22.3, (by migrating prefs from 22.2) and immediately experienced issues on the project, which I've been working on for 3 days without having any issues whatsoever.
The project (well, it's a handover so not my creation, but was working pretty fine albeit heavy,) had some links to a network location but it's not the main issue (I guess) as it opens by v22.2 properly without any warning except for a few missing files as was expected. I wasn't connected to the mapped network drive so thought that may be the issue, I unmapped it before I try to open the project again, however, got no success.
As I try to open it tons of AE errors (I think one per each Null & shape layer,) said the project was damaged and replaced all the Nulls as well as shape layers with "Replaced" missing files although most of the files (such as ai, png, mov, wav, etc) were located & worked properly. Missing nulls were shown in the timeline and if I create a null from scratch I was able to replace them by alt-dragging. However, they've been doing sudden jumps in the comp area occasionally, obviously due to some corrupt data. Some nulls have expressions and keyframes on PSR values, so that might be the conflict. There are a lot of intact expressions such as Animation Composer, still working. But again there is no fancy plugin or custom made expression or keyframing, as the project is properly working on my 2nd machine & v22.2.
The annoying thing is that I revert back to v22.2 and the project began to run flawlessly again.

Has anyone had a similar issue, or has an idea what this could be? Currently, I'm not able to upgrade to v22.3 and am stuck to 22.2 as I should continue with the project.
BTW I'm on win11, AMD Ryzen 9, Nvidia RTX 3080, and all drivers are up to date.
Thank you

[RobShultz]

I would finish your project in 22.2 since it is running properly in that version. Upgrading to a newer version while working on a project sometimes causes unexpected problems. It is a good practice to not upgrade until your project is complete. 

Same rule goes for other apps like Premiere.

[Oguz AKALIN]

Yes, that's why I test all updates (well, not on this occasion) on my spare machine in advance, check if all ongoing projects work fine, and then install them on the main laptop. However, it's not always doable as one project starts while another ends, you know.

thanks though:)

[nishu_kush]

That's not ideal, Oguz AKALIN.

We'd love to test your project at our end. If possible, please share a download link to the project file (media is not needed). Feel free to DM me the link.

Looking forward to your response.

Thanks,

Nishu

[Oguz AKALIN]

Hi Nishu, unfortunately, it's not possible because of NDA on the project, so I cannot share it until it's complete. However I made another test on a completely different machine, this time hadn't migrated any settings or prefs from older versions, just updated to the new version. It is still not working on this project and causing nulls, adjustment layers, and layers to get lost, and replaced by "Replaced" empty placeholders. As they're not assets it's impossible to locate them, which is annoying.

Do you have any idea what may be happening, in this new version of AE, is there any significant update on scripting, handling of AE-created assets such as nulls or solid layers, etc? And is there an option to install 22.3 while keeping the old version 22.3?

Thank you

[nishu_kush]

I understand that. If possible, can you build a new project and try to replicate the issue in it and share?

Looking forward to your response.

Thanks,

Nishu