What kind of system specs does the computer have and how old is the machine? When outputting print jobs are you using a separate large format RIP application or are you trying to print directly from Illustrator?
The current version of Illustrator has somewhat higher performance requirements than the immediate past versions due to some of the new 3D features. I use the current version of Illustrator to do all sorts of large format work, such as designing vehicle wraps, billboard ads, etc. The computers I use at work and at home are just a couple years old and have pretty stout hardware.
On my own setup I have no problem with the current version of Illustrator allowing the creation of custom spot colors to apply to objects for contour cutting. The only thing that has changed in Illustrator related to spot color is the removal of Pantone spot color books (I saved backups and added those back into appropriate color books folders).
If contour cutting isn't working from files created in your copy of Illustrator then there could be something wrong with the contour cut spot color settings. Usually a "CutContour" custom spot color swatch has to be re-created in an upgraded install of Illustrator (unless the swatch was saved and baked up). It's either that or you might be trying to use contour cutting on a print/cut job that won't allow it. For example we have a new Latex printer that can print white ink. Unfortunately Onyx Thrive won't allow contour cutting on any jobs with white ink. We discovered that quirk very quickly.
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