Premiere Pro 2020 crashing and workflow issues

[adun80]

Is it me, or have the latest updates of PP 2020 been absolutely terrible?! I've NEVER had more crashes, system glitches and just overall bad luck than in the past few days/weeks.

How has the software gotten WORSE instead of better????

I give all the credit in the world to the geniuses that develop this software, because it truly is a great program, but the 2019 version was 1000x better than the "new" version.

I can't even use my amazing GPU... I spent $1700 on a laptop with an RTX 2060 and might as well throw it in the ocean. 

I hope 2021 is better. Rant over.

Moderator note: Your title was changed to reflect the issue and to be searchable for others. Thanks.

[Phillip Harvey]

Sorry that you're having so many issues! We've all been there (I am still largely working with 2019). Anyway, I wanted to throw out a couple of things that would hopefully be helpful if you don't know them already:

• 14.1 has a known issue that has caused some issues for people: https://community.adobe.com/t5/premiere-pro/faq-how-to-solve-low-level-exception-error-after-updatin...
• Some people don't quite understand how their GPU interacts with Premiere. This article can be helpful for understand how your GPU is used (and not used). Generally speaking, your CPU is going to be doing most of the work, and especially with a powerful video card like yours, it may very well be working as intended: https://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/multi/gpu-acceleration-and-hardware-encoding.html As an aside, I do believe future updates will take more advantage of the GPU! So that will be rad.
• And another general comment is just about workflow/media. I don't know your experience level so if you are well aware of all of this, then you can disregard, but I've found that many people struggling with Premiere stability and performance issues are really struggling with workflow issues like working with difficult media. If you're using Long-GOP/Interframe codecs like h264 or h265, especially if higher framerate (60+), and higher resolution (above 1080p), you may want to consider transcoding to an intraframe codec or working with intraframe proxies (ProRes, DNxHD/HR, or Cineform.) Other things to look out for: if your media is from a phone or screen capture, you may also be dealing with Variable Framerate, which especially in combination with the interframe codecs, can further make your editing experience more difficult. If you're curious I can post more info about those topics.

Good luck!

[Media Editor]

Do not Update or Upgrade as soon as they are available.  Check this Forum to see if Users are having any problems.

[Mo Moolla]

CC 2020 had  some teething problems which  were resolved.

PP V14.1 is a little bit buggy due to the introduction of Productions  etc  but  should be super stable on next update.

Hang in there guys. The Adobe engineers are working tirelessly ironing out the bugs

Mo

[GG2000]

I would like to just say that I was using some Motion array effects on a project and somehting went haywire when i upgraded,

I am not sure it was a problem with Premiere Pro 2020 but 

It seems to be Effects on my machine that seem to cause the crashes even  pretty basic ones , like EaseIn or EaseOut on some text  seems to crash it. even media encoder, as soon as I run the plyhead over the ffect it crashes. or as soon as encoder gets to the effects it crashes. i have tested this over and over now wihtthe same results. 

I since realized that reinstaling the effects with the motion array installer fixed the problem.

[Mo Moolla]

If you are crashing only when using effects I would strongly recommend the following:

1. Uninstall Premiere Pro using the Cleaner Tool

2. Reinstall and make sure only plugins shipped with PP are installed ie. try to move out 3rd party plugins ifyou have any (you can move them to a folder somewhere else and put them back later)

3. Reinstall PP  using Creative Cloud Desktop

You can find Adobe Cleaner tool here:

WIndows: AdobeCreativeCloudCleanerTool.exe

Mac: AdobeCreativeCloudCleanerTool.dmg

Let us know if this works

Mo

[GG2000]

Thanks, Mo_Moola ,

I actually managed to get everythign working by simply reinstaling the motion array installer, can't believe it was such a simple solution after a whole day of trying all differnt stuff. 

[R Neil Haugen]

GG2000 et al ...

On my 6-core Win10 rig with a 10860/6GB, it's running smooth and clean. Including everything from ease/in-out on. Clearly, some users are getting odd behaviours though. As Mo noted, quite a few of those were fixed with the 14.1 update. Not all, but most.

If you're having issues, get that info to the engineers! Which is done by filing on their UserVoice system, which goes directly to the engineering team. And yes, I've talked with one of the engineers who reads every post filed. His biggest complaint? Not nearly enough information in most performance/bug filings to be useful. So ... give a complete post of your gear, media, effects and workflow ... what you expect to happen, but what does when you do X.

UserVoice

Now ... the 14.1 update did not like my custom workspaces, so I had to start from scratch and rebuild every flipping one of them by starting with an included workspace, modifying it, and saving as new workspace.

And ... as a solo shop, I do love the new Productions setup. I've been migrating all my work into a single Productions folder, with a separate subfolders for main clients and types of jobs. This way all my standard assets ... the helper project files with complex sequence setups I want to reuse, audio library, many clips I can use for b-roll ... are all accesible easily for any Job I now start.

But it takes learning to think of every different Premiere ... project ... as a Job. Jobs live in a folder that is a subfolder of the main Production folder, and Jobs have subfolders which hold the various numerous project files that make up the Job.

Different mental concept, but totally visible now in the folder structure on disc ... and far simpler to just work in.

Neil

[Kevin-Monahan]

Adun,

Sorry for the frustration. Updating Premiere Pro is easy and pain free if you delete older media cache files before actually updating any projects. Those old files will wreak havoc on any updated project file. I'm sorry if this news is new to you, but you simply must do this.

Sure, you'll need a bit of time to rebuild new cache, but it won't be mixed up with a previous version's cache. Corrupt media cache on updating is probably the #1 problem editors face when updating a project, so please delete all media cache when you reach the Home Screen, then go about updating projects. You will find that projects will behave more smoothly once they are updated. 

Many editors have the two latest versions installed side by side so that older projects can be completed in the program they were created in, the ideal scenario for finishing out a project. If you simply must update it, delete media cache before doing so.

Please also make sure your computer meets system requirments and that your media be placed a separate high speed disk (like a Thunderbolt or USB 3 attached SSD) separate from the boot drive, a crucial hardware piece that many "laptop" editors might not know about - a step that realllllly helps performance.

I hope this helps.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Kevin-Monahan]

Adun,
One last comment: you said you can't use your discrete GPU? Are you also working with H.264 or HEVC files?

That is likely because you have a second "integrated" CPU/GPU that is actually more efficient when handling H.264 or H.265 exports. Your discrete GPU will be used minimally in those cases. Do recheck its performance when you actually use GPU accelerated effects or have any scaling going on. Please also recheck the GPU performance when using footage which is not using either the H.264 or H.265 (HEVC) codecs. For example, a ProRes sequence will utilize your discrete GPU more readily. 

If you are still experience performance issues, please try repairing Adobe folder permissions. Sometimes, an OS update can cause these folders to lose proper permissions. I find it a helpful troubleshooting and "clean up" step after updating the OS or Premiere Pro. Instructions for that are here.

Trashing media cache, resetting preferences, and resetting Adobe R/W folder permissions are set are the three most important preventive measures you can take in making sure a new version of Premiere Pro will operate with the fewest issues.

I hope this info helps.

Thanks,
Kevin