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Known Participant
October 19, 2021
Question

Slow Project Load - Solutions?

  • October 19, 2021
  • 10 replies
  • 14097 views
I don't have a very large project:
  • Project filesize: 800KB
  • Footage: 85 files / 4k / ProRes HQ / ~250GB / no proxy
  • Storage: Pegasus3 via Thunderbolt
 
Yet when launching the project, Premiere takes about 10 minutes to "load" all the media before I can begin any meaningful work. Doesn't matter if I have no sequences open on load or 10. No bins open. Nothing, yet I can see it reading from my Pegasus3 (at around 350MB/s) along the bottom of the screen as it loads each file. What is it doing that it needs to take so long every time I load the project? Resolve never has this issue. I just boot up and the timeline loads immediately.
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10 replies

Kevin-Monahan
Community Manager
Community Manager
March 12, 2024

Hi @samuraicow,

I'm trying to wrap things up in this thread. Did you ever solve this issue? Others here solved it by adjusting items related to their network drives. Is the same true with you? Please let us know so we can close this thread.

 

Thanks,
Kevin

Kevin Monahan - Sr. Community and Engagement Strategist – Adobe Pro Video and Audio
Inspiring
March 12, 2024
I wanted to wait and see if the adjustments I've made were long lasting.
And I think I can safely say the performance issues I had a while back have not returned.
(Knocking wood as I type this)
 
In summary:
-ensure MacOS finder view options do not calculate file sizes
-ensure MacOS finder view options do not display previews
-remove any and all custom icons
-run a terminal command that prevents the Mac from reading DS_Store files on the NAS
-keep your proxies organized 
-consider stripping out complex folder structures from original camera footage (e.g. Sony Cameras) if your workflow doesn't need them (mine does not)
-and, if necessary and/or for peace of mind, contact Will @ SpaceRex and have him optimize your system settings
 
I hope what i have learned helps other people out there with similar issues.
 
><((º>

 

Participant
March 11, 2024

It worked for me when I checked the disk space and realized I have low space.  I created more space and launched premiere pro again and it worked. 

Inspiring
January 31, 2024

Ok...
I think I figured out a few things.


my proxies were a bit of a mess, organizationally. So I did a major cleanup of those. After which I detached and reattached the proxies so Premiere knew where to find them.
my folder structure for some cameras was a bit convoluted. I was wary of removing MXF media directly from my Sony's preferred camera subfolder arrangement. But some people advised that too many deep subfolders for PP to find something can slow it down.
Couple of people suggested that I remove odd characters in my file/folder naming. While I really only had the occasional ampersand, I still replaced them so Linux on the Synology NAS wouldn't have a hissy fit.
Speaking of Linux, Synology and hissy fits, while on a Zoom chat with Will from SpaceRex he noticed I was using custom icons in my folder sets. He casually mentioned that Linux didn't really like them - but didn't go as far as saying "get rid of them". Now, I love custom icons. Mac finder operations are a lot easier to sort out with visual cues. So I have a standard set of folders with custom icons that I copy over for every new project. I've been doing this for decades. But I was noticing (and frequently disregarding) how much longer the Premiere "tree" would take to list folders with my custom icons when I was impprting, relinking or searching within Premiere's Finder operations. So I experimented and stripped them off.

All these things made an impact in terms of performance.
But none more than stripping the icons.
While Relinking was still happening after the project was open - it was able to relink files a whole lot faster. It still said it would take 21mins, but rather than actually taking 7 or 8, it took a manageable 2mins! I'm not at all sure I know why this would be the case because the relinking background operation wasn't needing to display the icon. But apparently Linux on the Synology NAS just did not like them at all - I guess. Maybe.

It's still very early and I don't want to claim victory quite yet. But this is very encouraging.

Inspiring
January 31, 2024

I adjusted a couple of other things this morning.

In the Mac's Finder view options I turned off "Calculate All Sizes" and "Show Icon Previews".
Don't think my NAS likes that very much.
Probably wouldn't be so bad if it didn't have to redo the preview each time we opened a folder up.

Plus I found a Synology post that says I should use a Terminal command to force the Mac OS to ignore any hidden DS_Finder files.

To speed up SMB file browsing, you can prevent macOS from reading .DS_Store files on SMB shares.
This makes the Finder use only basic information to immediately display each folder's contents in alphanumeric order.
Use this Terminal command:
defaults write com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteNetworkStores -bool TRUE
Then log out of your macOS account and log back in.


Not sure if it has made an effect ...yet.

Legend
January 31, 2024

great couple of posts...    Thanks for the detailed explanation of what you've been doing to try and solve the problem.   Had no idea custom icons could be a problem, although I've never customized an icon...    Keep up the good work.  

Inspiring
January 30, 2024

Further updates: while removing 3rd party extensions has greatl sped up performance, it is still  taking an incredibly long time to relink my media. Jusg\t now I opened a project and my relink process says it will take 21 mins. I have no idea why APP needs so much time to figure out where the media is given it has not changed at all from the last time I opened it. Is this a NAS thing?

Legend
January 30, 2024

Yeah. Editing with media over a network could be causing problems. Try
connecting drive directly to see if things are speedier

Michael Grenadier

Inspiring
January 30, 2024

Yeah.. That's a non-starter. We're a shared media pool here in the office. We got the NAS system specifically to do that. To be clear; once the media is relinked it's working fine. I just don't fundementally understand why "relinking" needs to happen at all. I mean, if anything is missing it lets me know. But it never says anything is missing. It opens the project and then I get the progress bar notifying me relinking is happening in the background and it can take quite a long time. But...why? If it knows where everything is...then what exactly is it doing?

Peru Bob
Community Expert
Community Expert
January 16, 2024

What are the complete computer specs, including hard drives (how many, what kind, what is on each, what capacity, and how full)?

Inspiring
January 16, 2024

Thanks for the quick reply. MacPro 2019 3.2Ghz, 96gigs of RAM, 4 SSD internal for OS and apps, Synology NAS 1821+ for shared media and projects (entire NAS has been raided and it's settings optimized for 4K video editing)

Inspiring
January 15, 2024

I experience this all the time. I plan on opening a project and timeline and then getting a coffee. I have 96gigs of RAM in a 3.2Ghz Mac Tower. Honestly, I think Premiere is just not designed to handle complicated projects with lots of media and sequences. And I don't see why clearing a cache should or would make things relink faster. You'd think a cache is there specifically to help speed things up, no? In addition, assuming Premiere hasn't lost anything, I fully expect the project to know where things were when I last opened them. I mean, like, snap of a finger. In 2024 with my processing power (and working with proxies) I'm sorry but I just expect better. 🤷‍♂

R Neil Haugen
Legend
January 16, 2024

Premiere is used for a lot of massive long-form and episodic projects. So ... it can handle it, though clearly some users aren't getting great performance.

 

I know on the Facebook pro editors PrPro group, several Mac users noted that they had to change a number of security/permisssions issues recently and suddenly, Premiere was flying. Others changed the default audio input to none, and that fixed playback issues. So ... "it" can be variuos things. A joy to puzzle out ... not.

Everyone's mileage always varies ...
Inspiring
January 16, 2024

Thanks for the quick reply. I don't see any security permission issues. I have adjust my audio settings. No chnage in terms of speediness. 

Scoothare
Participant
March 25, 2022

Clearing Cache and doing this:

 

"Under Preferences » Media I've always de-selected XMP options precisely because of what you mentioned. Don't like the idea of my raw media getting modified! These are the options I've de-selected:

  • Write XMP ID to files on import
  • Write clip markers to XMP
  • Enable clip and XMP metadata linking

Wondering if these settings affect the loading my my media upon opening the project?"

 

Worked for me!!

/Harald :D
Known Participant
October 20, 2021

@RobShultz - Clearing the Media Cache didn't resolve the issue, unfortunately.

 

@Michael Grenadier - Under Preferences » Media I've always de-selected XMP options precisely because of what you mentioned. Don't like the idea of my raw media getting modified! These are the options I've de-selected:

  • Write XMP ID to files on import
  • Write clip markers to XMP
  • Enable clip and XMP metadata linking

Wondering if these settings affect the loading my my media upon opening the project?

Legend
October 20, 2021

I'm wondering if there's some issue with metadata associated with the media.  I know there's something buried in the preferences where if I remember correctly xmp data is written to the media file.  I found this out cause I was using carbon copy cloner to update a clone of my media drive and it was updating media files that were already on the clone....  Just a guess but worth some investibating...

Community Expert
October 20, 2021

I'd try clearing your media and disk cache.

On Windows go to edit/preferences/media and disk cache and use the tools to clean and empty your cache.

Same procedure for mac but go to Premiere Pro/preferences/media and disk cache.