Animate/Flash Troubles

[KingGaming]

Good morning, night, or afternoon Adobe Animate community.

After spending days of trying to self-diagnose the problem, wasting hours on call with Adobe Support running me in circles, and just plain not understanding what could be wrong, I've come to ask some fellow Animate-ers (ha-ha) for some help.

I haven't been using Animate/Flash for a long time, started dabling with it around 3 months ago. At first, everything seemed to be fine, but over time the cracks have started to become more and more visible. It seems anything that has to do with ActionScript Animate will completely nope out on. Actions panel? Crash. Trying to add a code snippet? Crash. The problems extend even beyond that for Animate. Import a video? Crash. Import audio? Crash. Do a seemingly random thing that god forbid isn't drawing on the canvas? Crash. If I don't update from Animate 2019 first, and I install via CC or a direct installer, Animate ceases to function. I can open the program, try to open or make a project, and halfway through loading  into the workspace it will crash. No error message. It'll just close, like every other crash here. Only once was I able to get a proper crash in event manager, and it points to CEPHtmlEngine.exe, something thats present in other creative cloud apps and the works. I've also gotten a number of "APPCRASH" errors, also pointing to CEPHtmlEngine with a "problem signature" All of these things I've included in the attached video and screenshots.
Because of all the problems, I decided to take a shot in the dark and install Flash Pro 2015, since I thought if the problems weren't there, that means it could've been a more present bug and I just had to wait for a fix, but, no! The ActionScript problems mentioned were still present! Ironically though, 2015 is actually less broken then 2021, since it doesn't have any of the other quirks I mentioned.
I've uninstalled and reinstalled more times than I can count, and I've been on with Adobe support twice and they haven't offered much of use. If any other info is needed I'll provide it if I can, and I'm hopeful someone on this planet knows anything about this and how to fix it. Thanks.

[kglad]

assign, at least, one custom keyboard shortcut

reset your preferences, https://helpx.adobe.com/animate/using/set-preferences.html

check that your custom keyboard shortcut no longer works (confirming the reset was successful).

check for any bugs.

[KingGaming]

Hello. Trying to reset my preferences seemingly does nothing, whether it's through the keyboard shortcut on startup or pressing the "Reset to Defaults" button in Edit Preferences. Another thing to note is trying to select "Beginner Preferences" or "Export Preferences" while in Animate will also cause it to crash.

[kglad]

you don't reset preferences via shortcuts.  using kb shortcuts is just to confirm that you successfully reset your preferences

[KingGaming]

No, I mean this, the Control+Alt+Shift hotkey. Neither that or manually clicking Reset to Defaults seemingly does anything, since my custom keyboard shortcut is still present.

[kglad]

it can take some effort to reset preferences and that's why checking for a custom kb shortcut reset is needed.  keep trying or you'll need to do a complete uninstall (including prefereces) to fix the problem.

[KingGaming]

I have tried to uninstall including preferences before, and as mentioned in the post and second comment thread, it'll just crash when I try to load into the workspace once I reinstall.

[kglad]

when reinstalling did you use adobe's cleaner?

[KingGaming]

Yes, yes I did.

[kglad]

using a browser that allows popups and cookies, contact adobe support during pst business hours by clicking here, https://helpx.adobe.com/contact.html

click contact us (= cryptic icon in the lower right)

in the chat field, type AGENT
be patient, it can take quite a while to reach a human

[KingGaming]

I have already contacted Adobe via this method. Twice. They did not provide any helpful support beyond getting me to move around files and uninstall and reinstall the program again.

[kglad]

i can't determine what you're doing when you indicate you follow suggestions, but there's always something in your responses that makes me think something isn't being done correctly.

for example, i'm not confident you reset your preferences.  that's not the same thing as trying to reset preferences.

it's easy to try, but it takes persistence (and sometimes creativity) to reset them.

[KingGaming]

I remember reading somewhere that you can reset prefences by deleting or modifying a file, if thats true it might be the option I'd like to take since it means I can be fully certain that they will have been reset. If not, I'll keep repeating what you recommended in your previous responses. Thanks for your consistant responses despite my clear lack of knowledge on the topic.

[kglad]

it's not so easy because they're spread in several locations.

but you can start with these:

with animate closed, copy everything in

C:\Users\<your user name>\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Animate\2021\

and save to a safe location.

then delete everything in

C:\Users\<your user name>\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Animate\2021\

open animate.

[KingGaming]

Done. Nothing has seemingly changed, though. Still crashes in all the "correct" places.

[kglad]

you should probably backup your production file, reformate your hd, reinstall your os, reinstall programs and start clean.

[KingGaming]

Mmmmm, I was really it wouldn't have to come down to this, but if I'm out of options, I'll look into it. Thank you.

[kglad]

you're welcome 

[Nicktendo28]

maybe try to do a complete removal and and then a reinstall? Make sure you have the latest version. 21.0.9.

[kglad]

that probably won't work unless he removes preferences, too.

[KingGaming]

I've tried to reinstall completely multiple times, and as I mentioned in my main post, trying to reinstall it regularly results in me not even able to open or start a project, as it'll crash while loading into the workspace.

[kglad]

exactly. you need to remove preferences.

that can be automated by using adobe's cleaner, but it's easier to follow my first message.