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        General >> Melody Assistant / Harmony Assistant >>  My own Myr files won't open on my PC
        
(Message started by: HoppyMuzicMon on May 14th, 2022, 10:38pm)
Title: My own Myr files won't open on my PC
Post by HoppyMuzicMon on May 14th, 2022, 10:38pm
Hello,
I've suddenly encountered a problem with my own HA (.myr) files causing the programme to freeze almost every time I try to open them.
I can however use the computer for other tasks during this time.

I did manage to open one of my (.myr) files but it won't play; the programme tells me the music has too many bars... it won't resolve.
Strangely though, the HA demo files play normally!!

I checked some of my .myr files on another computer with HA Version 9.9.5c installed and they play normally. This leads me to think that there is no inherent problem with the .myr files.
Would the problem be with my PC, I wonder? But then why this sudden HA failure?

I first tried to uninstal HA using the uninstall.exe programme but this aborted, since “uninstal.cmd was not found”. I then uninstalled HA using regedit, and reinstalled.
Same problem.
What might be the cause here?

I'm attaching one of my .myr files for comparison (although it     does work correctly on my other computer)
Many thanks for your help.

HA Version 9.9.5c
PC 16 GB Ram; 100's of GB disk space..
Title: Re: My own Myr files won't open on my PC
Post by bubu42 on May 15th, 2022, 12:05am
There's probably some sort of trouble with the WACAM folder. If the uninstallation process aborted, some files/folders may still be present on the hard drive.
How about taking a look at c:\windows\Program Files (or is it Program Files (x64) ? If the folder Harmony Assistant is still there, trash it to the bin and re-install Harmony Assistant.
Of course, backup your music files in a safe place beforehand !
Title: Re: My own Myr files won't open on my PC
Post by HoppyMuzicMon on May 15th, 2022, 4:47am
Hello Bubu42 and thanks for  your input.
Yes, I did actually locate HA folder on the relevant hard drive and manually deleted all files.
As I mentioned, I uninstalled via regedit. And reinstalled from scratch.
Yes, all my music files are elsewhere!!
Grateful for any other pointers!
I don't know anything about the "Wacam" point you raise: I'll look it up!
Title: Re: Too many bars
Post by Tony Deff on May 15th, 2022, 9:23am
Bizarre - in Scroll/Ribbon mode, I have never seen so many "ghost" bars after the end of the printable score.

With so many views, that is a data-intensive score!
I presume that the large print-size is intentional (1-2 bars per page) ?

Although the end-of-music occurs after bar #34, here is a screenshot of "ghost" bars from #321 (difficult to see in light blue).

The bar numbers in brackets, such as 141(476) indicate that somewhere earlier a bar has been marked as "Do not take into account"  
It is as though the file is lacking a correct "end-of-file" marker


Does the computer on which your files run successfully have a different "Undo" setting (Global configuration)?  
Title: Re: My own Myr files won't open on my PC
Post by Lagaffe on May 15th, 2022, 9:33am
No problem of this kind for me

HA 995d1, Mac OS Mojave
Title: Re: My own Myr files won't open on my PC
Post by Sylvain Machefert on May 15th, 2022, 10:45am
No problem opening and playing your file here on my PC.

I just had 2 warnings about a font not present on my computer > OK
and about print setup, "do you want to keep original size" ? (or something like that) > I clicked no. The score looks normal, not 1-2 bars per page.

It has a lot of ghost bars as already pointed, but that doesn't seem to be the origin of the problem, HA can manage 9999 bars.

Try:
  • In global setup > Undo > Don't save undo
    		•
    Title: Re: My own Myr files won't open on my PC
    Post by Oliveira on May 15th, 2022, 10:56am
    Yo tampoco he tenido problema con el .myr. El único ajuste que hice  fué desplazar un poco el pentagrama hacia abajo y el número de compás hacia arriba. Todo bien. ;)
    Estoy en Windows 10. H.A. 9.9.5c.
    Title: Re: My own Myr files won't open on my PC
    Post by bubu42 on May 15th, 2022, 11:21pm
    I have deleted all the empty bars after the end and saved the file under another name. Original file size : 438.2 Kb, new file size : 192.3 Kb.
    My PC runs with 4 Gb of RAM only and the score loads fine. I guess that with 16 Gb there shoudln't be any overload problems...
    Title: Re: My own Myr files won't open on my PC
    Post by HoppyMuzicMon on May 16th, 2022, 12:06am
    Many thanks to all for your helpful comments.
    Just thinking, I sent that particular file just as an example. I point out again that this file (and many others) seemed to have no problems until very recently.
    As for problems such as the extra bars at the end, for example, I'm inclined to think this is not so important. I just hadn't taken time to “clean up” this sample file since I'd still been working on it...  (I'd usually do this at the end of my writing process) and as I've underlined, all was well until... last week :-(

    So the problem doesn't seem to be linked to that particular file: I have others that just won't load up (HA just freezes), whereas until last week they all loaded with no problem.
    I did uninstall HA again this morning and “uninstall.exe” worked fine (the previously missing “uninstal.cmd” file was installed with yesterday's re-installation).

    Following some of your pointers, particularly regarding previous versions, after uninstalling the current version, I installed a previous version. A little progress, since today, I was able to work on a file (not working before), but I'm still unable to open my other files...
    I'm enclosing another file I've been working on, chosen at random. HA refuses to open it...
    But I say again, all of them worked perfectly until last week!!

    This still remains a mystery. Is something modifying my files? ???

    Might it be linked to a Win 10 issue, I wonder?

    Thanks again...
    Title: Re: My own Myr files won't open on my PC
    Post by Tony Deff on May 16th, 2022, 8:24am
    Have you looked at the possibility of "too much history" ?  (see links below)


    on 05/15/22 at 09:23:29, Tony Deff wrote:
    Does the computer on which your files run successfully have a different "Undo" setting (Global configuration)?  


    on 05/15/22 at 10:45:18, Sylvain Machefert wrote:
    Try: In global setup > Undo > Don't save undo

    If all the changes you have made in the last umpteen weeks have been saved within the file(s), then it/they may be mega-enormous.

    If changes have been saved in a separate file (Help> Open "Myriad Documents" folder > Settings > History)
    then too much memory may be swallowed by loading this data.
    (Your second computer would not have this file, so could explain why the files run)

    Look at the file sizes and delete all unnecessary files within this folder.
    (Configuration>Global setup>Undo>Delete now empties this folder, then "greys-out" this option)

    http://www.myriad-online.com/cgi-bin/bbs/YaBB.pl?board=news;action=display;num=1626256377;start=0

    http://www.myriad-online.com/cgi-bin/bbs/YaBB.pl?board=news;action=display;num=1639052729;start=1
    Title: Re: My own Myr files won't open on my PC
    Post by Sylvain Machefert on May 16th, 2022, 8:54am
    Uninstall / reinstall should have no effect, except if you install different version.

    User data (such as undo history, settings) may have more effect.
    They are in %APPDATA%\ACAMPREF directory (copy/paste in Start > Run, or explorer "address" bar.

    Keep a backup of this directory, better do regular backups.
    For the try, remove it, run Harmony.
    You may be asked to enter your lisence key and setup everything (global config). If it worked, OK, you can continue. Else, close HA and put it back.

    I never had to remove this directory, but during beta-tests I bumped into problem with undo history which are inside this directory. Problems should have been solved, but I kept undo history disabled.
    Title: Re: My own Myr files won't open on my PC
    Post by HoppyMuzicMon on May 16th, 2022, 9:41am
    Thank you Tony Deff and Sylvain Machefert,
    Yes, I had been thinking about memory problems. In relation to the “Undo” / “Save History” factor, certainly seems a plausible, if not probable cause.
    So does your point (Sylvain Machefert) regarding the limitations of simply re-installing versus removal of the APPDATA file/directory.

    I'll follow these pointers.
    And update on progress :-)

    Thank you.

    PS:

    on 05/15/22 at 09:23:29, Tony Deff wrote:
    ...
    I presume that the large print-size is intentional (1-2 bars per page) ?

    I obviously can't open the file to check this point (!), but I have frome time to time prepared large print set-ups for visually deficient musicians .
    That might explain the unusual layout...
    Title: Re: My own Myr files won't open on my PC
    Post by HoppyMuzicMon on May 16th, 2022, 11:15am
    Good News!

    Your combined advice got me on the right track: the Undo settings tweak seems to have done the trick!


    on 05/15/22 at 10:45:18, Sylvain Machefert wrote:
    Try:
  • In global setup > Undo > Don't save undo


    • I did this, closed and restarted HA, then successfully opened and played a few files, including the first one I uploaded for your perusal!

    Thus, apparently no need to delve into the  APPDATA file/directory.

    So all seems well. Should there be any develpments I'll keep you posted.

    In any case, many thanks: I can get back to doing music now :-)

    Hoppy  :D
    Title: Re: My own Myr files won't open on my PC
    Post by Sylvain Machefert on May 16th, 2022, 1:27pm
    The undo history was introduced recently, and those, on this forum, who insist on staying on older versions of HA can be wrong, since the problem was solved in last HA version.
    Then, after a quick check that "OK, it seems to work", I diesabled the undo history as I've lived 20+ years without it, and do frequent backups.
    It can be risky in case of future version introducing a bug in reading very old history, and then probably corrupt the file. But good programming practice can avoid this. I'm not in the secret on how .myr files are built.

    The undo saved inside the .myr files is, I think, more efficient, but produce larger and larger files.
    The undo history inside %APPDATA%/ACAMPREF is good to get lightweight .myr files, but is more touchy in case of .myr having same name in differents folders.
    It can cause confusion or crash in recent but not latest version. But it can work well after cleaning the history directory :)

    So, if one day I want to enable this feature, I'll choose the history storage in %APPDATA%, safer for files, and knowing how to clean in case of crash.
    Title: Re: deleting history
    Post by Tony Deff on May 16th, 2022, 3:07pm
    I can see how "Don't save undo" can prevent future problems, but it does not delete any history files, so I am not sure how it solved Hoppy's problem.

    Maybe the flag "Don't save undo" also stops H.A. from checking the history?

    It is worthwhile checking the size of the history files; you may be surprised :o    
    (Help>Open "Myriad Documents" folder>Settings>History)
    Title: Re: My own Myr files won't open on my PC
    Post by HoppyMuzicMon on May 16th, 2022, 9:53pm
    Interesting comments, all.

    Thank you for your insight.
    As I said, “so far, so good”, but you never know how things might develop over time; indeed, who know what the Future holds in store for we mere mortals :-[

    And again, although I am “at home” in a simple programming environment, I do aim to concentrate on music, and so endeavour to stay away from anything which might conceal “a maze beset with brutal pitfalls”*.  ???

    Thus I heed advice from a Greater Authority:

    on 05/16/22 at 13:27:33, Sylvain Machefert wrote:
    The undo history inside %APPDATA%/ACAMPREF is good to get lightweight .myr files, but is more touchy in case of .myr having same name in differents folders.

    So who needs “touchy” myr files, anyway?


    Quote:
    It can cause confusion or crash...

    Sounds like “brutal pitfalls” to me!! :o

    On a less philosophical note, when I selected the “Don't save undo” option in General Settings, the option to save in a seperate file was already unchecked. Which leads me to infer that although I have just reinstalled this version, the Undo History is saved in the dedicated file and not in the current myr file. I have never knowingly changed this option, and so hopefully am not condemned to facing “mega-enormous” (Tony Deff) file sizes and related indigestion! :-/

    In conclusion, I do admit to being lured by the call to investigate %APPDATA%/ACAMPREF. A call not unlike that of the mermaid to an unwary mariner: hypnotic and deadly! :-[

    Again, I shall provide updates, wherever appropriate.

    Many thanks, I repeat  :D

    Hoppy


    *“a maze beset with brutal pitfalls”: a quote from "Bullets over Broadway" (Woody Allen)!     ;)


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