Missing File

[Piccolodian Profile Private message]

Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere previously but having searched the PSP pages, none of the queries seem to outline precisely the same issues I am having with PSP 6.0.3410. I also had a quick browse through Paul Schmidt's book, Secrets of Proshow Experts but to no avail.

If I opt to select, say, three images and subsequently click on a slide style with three layers there are instances whereby Missing File is shown. After some initial confusion, I'm presuming these are missing backgrounds; however, I am not then prompted to search for the missing files and if I select Find Missing Files from the drop down list in Tools I'm advised that there are none missing. Is there a means to rectify this issue? I have tried to ascertain whether the anomalies are limited to certain effects packs or not but it seems to be random. I did tidy up the PC some weeks ago so perhaps the issue relates to file paths but why would that affect certain styles within an effects pack and not others?

As an aside, is it possible to alter the order of multiple slides within a slide style? Again, using three photographs as an example within a three layer slide style, no matter the order I select using the up and down arrows on the left hand side, the slides still play in the same order. I'm sure I was able to achieve the change when last I attempted to do so.

Many thanks for your time.

[cherub Profile Private messageWebsite]

I did tidy up the PC some weeks ago so perhaps the issue relates to file paths but why would that affect certain styles within an effects pack and not others?

The fact that you "tidied up" your PC sounds to me like the real reason for this error message.
Without knowing exactly what you did on your computer, it's hard to say what happens with those slides.
Do you have more than one version of Producer installed on your computer ?
Here are some ideas that come to my mind:
Could be that those styles use a file (mask, frame or background) from Media Source that now have changed location
Could be that you have some transitions there, that now have a different path.
Could be that the styles that you are trying to use did not open properly on your computer (the cache is in a different path than before).
I'm just shooting in the dark here, because I cannot really say what's happening.

The most basic troubleshooting method of problems such as this, is to revert the program to its defaults. Close the program, and in Windows, delete these two files located in the installation directory of the program: proshow.cfg and proshow.phd
Reopen the program, and create a new show with an empty slide. Try to apply a style in that slide, and wait for all the styles to cache. Try to change the transitions and wait for all the transitions to cache. Close this show.
Now, try reopening your problematic show, and see what happens.

Now to your second question:

As an aside, is it possible to alter the order of multiple slides within a slide style? Again, using three photographs as an example within a three layer slide style, no matter the order I select using the up and down arrows on the left hand side, the slides still play in the same order. I'm sure I was able to achieve the change when last I attempted to do so.

Changing the order of layers in a slide after the style has been applied, doesn't change the timings of the pictures that appear in the slide. It only affects which picture will be placed on top of the others and which underneath.
The timing of a picture is given by keyframes. If you don't change those, it is as if you haven't done anything.

So, the simplest way for you to change the order, is to revert the slide to basics by applying "No style". Then change the order of the pictures in the layers, and only afterwards reapply the style that you want.
The style named "No style" is the black one that appears at the very top of your list of styles.

Hope this helps.

[Piccolodian Profile Private message]

Cherub, thank you for your detailed reply.

Yes, my tidying up the PC is probably the cause of the issue. I ran Recuva in case I had erroneously deleted files from my computer even though I was essentially removing duplicate files and 100GB of old photographs and video.

In some of the Slide Styles affected by the Missing File notification I have looked at those missing files' names such as overlay_stage-multi-border.png. I then tracked these .png files down on another drive but they had been altered to open with another progam. I then changed them to open with Proshow. Upon re-opening the most recent show I now receive a Find Selected box with a list of missing files from the show - each marked with a red x. I thought I'd solved the problem but when I click Find Selected and add the relevant file, Proshow advises that the file isn't a supported image format. It feels as though I'm close to solving the problem but the answer lies just out of reach.

Any further assistance would be gratefully received.

[cherub Profile Private messageWebsite]

I then tracked these .png files down on another drive but they had been altered to open with another progam. I then changed them to open with Proshow.

I don't quite understand what you mean by this phrase.

Can you see the extension of files on your computer? Can you see if a certain file has the extension png or jpg or psh ?

The reason I'm asking you this, is that a png file, for example, is a graphic file, and can be opened with any of several graphic programs installed on your computer. For instance: Photoshop, or Paintshop Pro, or a graphic viewer, or by Windows itself.
The icon of this file is not important. It's just a matter of file association that dictates which program would be the default for opening such a file.
But, ProShow is NOT among the programs that should open such a file. So, I don't understand what you did. What do you mean that you "changed them to open with ProShow" ?

I've heard of "Recuva", but I never used it. Can it be that it didn't do such a good job after all ? 100 GB is a lot! Can it be that the directories structures have been altered in the process?