Missing slides in a new show created in Producer 6

[min Profile Private message]

I can't seem to sort out why this is happening. Yesterday I finally upgraded to Producer 6 previously was using Producer 4.5. Everything went perfectly, even though I was worried, all of my slide styles loaded and at the finish it stated my show was loaded successfully. So I had a little play around, made a new show added some styles only about 5 - saved the new show where I keep all the shows I make and closed down for the night. Today went into the file, producer opened the show with the title of my new show but the 5 slides made had vanished out of the slide list, it was completely blank. I tried deleting this show, created another and the same thing. I have now made a new folder for Producer 6 new shows and again made 3 slides into a style and saved. Opened the new show in Producer, which opened with the title I had created and again no sign of any slides!!! When I open my file I created at the beginning I have my Image file, My video file and my Audio. Also in that folder now is 2 Proshow files. One is Type: Proshow Slideshow the other file is Type XC File - that being the one I double clicked to open my show.
Can anyone give me the reason why this is happening, I even read the manual - I have created loads of shows, in the past, and this has never happened. Could I have pressed some button accidently, or not clicking a button I need to - and it is stopping my show being saved, even though it tells me to save it (which I thought I was). I would appreciate any help you can give me. I now have a lovely program and can't create a show.
Shirley

[cherub Profile Private messageWebsite]

Hi Shirley,

I don't know why this is happening on your computer. Normally it shouldn't.
I'm not entirely sure what you mean by empty show. Do you mean that the slides are black in the timeline, or that the slides are empty of layers? (have you checked the layers at all?)

I'm also not sure what you mean by:

I have now made a new folder for Producer 6 new shows and again made 3 slides into a style and saved. Opened the new show in Producer, which opened with the title I had created and again no sign of any slides!!!

A style is usually a single slide that is made into one single style. Not three slides. Perhaps you mean that you made a show out of 3 slides.

When you open a show, it should be the file with the extension psh and not anything else - or to use your terminology, the file named ProShow Slideshow. This file always has the blue icon of ProShow. The other file, with the extension pxc is not meant to be clicked, nor opened. It's the show cache.

In any case, here are some general troubleshooting methods that might help you out:

(1) After a fresh install, the program needs to go through the process of loading the transitions that are installed on your computer. I don't think that you did that.
So, try to do this now: Open a new show, and insert a blank slide. Click on the A/B transition that you see, as if you want to change it. Wait till the program loads all the transitions. If you have lots of transitions, this can take quite a while, and you must wait patiently until the program finishes. Attempting to open a show when the transitions are not fully loaded, can cause problems.

(2) Close the program, and in Windows, delete the files proshow.cfg and proshow.phd. These files are found in the installation directory of the program: usually C:\Program Files (x86)\Photodex\ProShow Producer
When you next open the program, ProShow will to revert to its defaults, and also it will refresh its memory of the folders on your computer.

(3) As a last resort, you may wish to reinstall the program.
Photodex recommend to install ProShow (any version) while your security programs are disabled - both the anti virus and the firewall.
If you didn't install the program in this way, I recommend that you uninstall it, and then reinstall it, using this method.

Let us know if any of these things helped you.

[min Profile Private message]

Thank you so much Mona for your prompt reply and suggestions. Must admit when I looked at how to overcome the problem, I thought -OH!!! however as usual you always come up with the solution which I am very grateful for - the whole problem is ME - operator error . Guess with Producer 6 the icons you click have changed colour and stupidly I thought I was clicking (the largest icon) which was incorrect. All the shows I have tried unsuccessfully to create, now work. Sorry for such a stupid mistake, fingers crossed I don't make too many more of them. I am a little concerned trying to find my way around the new Producer 6, coming from 4.5, but know if I need help someone will be able to assist me.
Once again Mona many many thanks
Shirley

[cherub Profile Private messageWebsite]

Great!
I'm so happy that the problem was so easy to solve.

Yes, upgrading from ver. 4.5 to ver. 5 or ver. 6 needs a bit of getting used to. Everything looks very different. But, I'm sure that eventually, you'll enjoy the new additions.

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

One of the issues here is being "helped" by windows It assumes it knows what type a file is and sticks an icon on it if it thinks it recognizes the file. This confuses lots of people. One of the first things I do when I install windows on any of my machines is change the options so the "hide extensions of known file types" is NOT checked (the problem comes from windows idea of "known"). That allows you to see the extensions on all the files on your system. Not quite as neat, but a lot more helpful when you are looking for something. The main proshow files is a .psh file the .pxc file is indeed a cache file (proshow uses it to keep partially rendered stuff that it is using in the preview etc and is of no use to us although, if it gets scrambled, deleting it can certainly help - proshow will simply re-create it if it isn't there). One that has caused considerable confusion is the template file - .pst - unfortunately, that is also the extension for Microsoft Outlook (email) so when windows sees one of those, it wants to tell you it is an Outlook file. NOT helpful. It makes life easier in the long run if you change your preferences in windows to show the file extensions

mikey

[min Profile Private message]

Thanks Mikey for your explanation also. Guess windows find it easy to confuse people like me, who struggle trying to keep on top of things.

Once again many thanks Mona and Mikey - hopefully now I won't have another problem for a few weeks!!!

Regards
Shirley

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

"Guess windows find it easy to confuse people like me"

The problem isn't people like you, it is what Windows is doing - it is trying to simplify driving a car into "stop" and "go" and then it puts steering etc. under one of those labels leaving people confused. That is why I turn off the option to hide "known file types" - I can figure out for myself if I want to go + left or go + right for example.

mikey