Old sequence won’t render or export, but project opens fine

[breetbroot]

Hi, so I'm opening a few old projects from months to a year back, and these folders have jumped from a few drives here and there, but I haven't encountered any relinking issues. 

So in opening the project, it works perfectly fine/normally. sometimes I'd have to relink a clip, but since I put them all in the project's folder, it USUALLY doesn't have an issue. 

When I click the 'Export' tab I usually export drafts in 720p or 1080p, so I use that default preset. But after pressing the export button, it'll initiate the process but stay on the "Encoding [sequence name]" at 0%. I can wait an hour and it'll stay on 0%. 

stuff I tried:

- I've tried sending it to media encoder, same issue.

- Tried rendering it beforehand but it'd either go ridiculously slow (hrs) or similarly to the export, stay at 0%.

- I checked to see if it was my adjustment layer, original clips, and audio clips by exporting small parts of them individually, but the issue only happens when I export the sequence.

- I've tried duplicating the sequence and exporting that instead. Then tried exporting half of it with source points and still.

- Checked more recent projects I used on this drive, realized it wasn't an issue w/media encoder nor premiere but rly the sequences

- flattening my multicams

- fully cleared cache

- removed all markers

all didn't work.

I suspect that moving the project folders (includes footage, graphics, exports, project, audio folders) to different drives without zipping them is the issue, and that there could be some small corruptions or something, but had anyone had this issue and can confirm or tell me what they did to fix it?

At the moment, I'm creating new projects because I hated my old projects' organization anyways, but some the sequences are too long to complex to restart entirely. So I ideally want to get the cuts for those... Please help!

[Ann Bens · Accepted solution]

Have you tried making a new project and import the old project instead of just opening them.

[Rach McIntire]

Hi @breetbroot, 

I echo Ann's suggestion. If that doesn't work, we'll need a bit more info. Can you tell me what version of Premiere these projects were in and which version you're using now?  

Please see: How do I report a Problem?   I hope we can help you soon.

[breetbroot]

Hi Rach, these projects were made in 2024, and I'm currently using 25.3 and I did have to convert/make a new project in order to open them. So I'm guessing them jumping through different drives + updating versions introduced the issue. But Ann's suggestion worked well. 

Thank you both for your help!

[breetbroot]

This took a little longer but it worked! It would stay stuck/take longer on 0% in premiere but when I did this and exported solely through media encoder, it worked out. Thank you!