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Level 1

86 points

Constant crashing with FCP, even when it starts up

I am experiencing a recurring issue with FCP that has been getting worse and worse with time. I will be working and either I try to do something with the timeline and when I PLAY it will only play a few frames before freezing (audio keeps playing though) or I drag an effect on a clip and it gives me a warning about how it can't be done, no more info is available... even standard built-in Apple effects like Gaussian Blur. I quit FCP because it won't work until I restart it. Sometimes it will crash... just completely disappear. Every time I try to start it it will appear for a second or two and then disappear again. This will happen multiple times a day as I'm editing.

Mac Studio M1 Ultra 64GB o' RAM

Library running on WD_BLACK SN850X 4TB NVMe SSD inside Acasis enclosure via Thunderbolt 4

FCP 11, though this affected 10.8.x as well

Mac OS 15.1.1, though this affected me in Mac OS 14 as well.

Here's what I have tried:

-DELETING PREFERENCES - This works. For a while. Maybe 45 minutes if I'm lucky.

-RESTORING PREFERENCES with PREFERENCE MANAGER - This does not work. I restore them and FCP will still crash right away, even though the preferences that were saved with Preference Manager were super clean after I had just set them up, before I used FCP in any way. If I delete the "settings" by holding OPTION at startup, go through the song and dance of dismissing the iPad FCP thing (why is that there?) and dismissing the plug-ins that don't work (that I have zero clue how to remove), I can then quit FCP, restore the preferences with Preference Manager and it works. Again for about 45 minutes of editing if I'm lucky.

-ETRE CHECK - No major issues found other than a few unsigned things like my Logitech mouse software (reinstalled that anyway). Also I have automatic security updates off and it didn't like that. There was other nonsense like "No time machine backup" which would have zero influence on FCP crashing.

-MALWAREBYTES - Scanned with the latest version. All clean.

-REINSTALLING FCP FROM THE APP STORE - Makes no difference.

-Don't have CHROME.

Obviously it has something to do with the preferences, but something outside of what Preference Manager saves and restores. Only fully deleting the preferences with the built-in method will fix it for a while. I could have some bad plugins maybe. I'd like to go through one by one to remove some of them but again I don't know where they are and I don't have uninstallers for them all. So I guess my first question would be is... what does resetting FCP do besides delete the preferences that Preference Manager backs up? Whatever that is, is my issue.

Mac Studio

Posted on Nov 24, 2024 9:53 PM

Top-ranking reply

joema

Level 3

687 points

Posted on Nov 26, 2024 11:44 AM

Terry, this is a complex area. I worked in software development and escalation support for years and it's still hard. Ideally you want a "block diagram" conceptual overview of FCP and the private frameworks, but there is no documentation for that. I've gradually learned that over the years. Some of the fundamental FCP concepts are covered in US patent US8875025B2, which is available online.

In Redifer's case it might be a plugin but it's not clear. Some internal effects also use the FxPlug interface. The simple answer is search for "FxPlug" in the crash log, but this by itself doesn't mean much.

List FxPlug plugins: pluginkit -m -p FxPlug

List more info about a plugin (for example): pluginkit -mv -p FxPlug | grep "NeatVideo"

Apple info on analyzing a crash log: Analyzing a crash report | Apple Developer Documentation

FxPlug SDK: FxPlug | Apple Developer Documentation

WWDC18: "Understanding Crashes and Crash Logs"

Gathering info via the MacOS log commands: "Mac Logging and the log Command"

WWDC19: "Getting Started with Instruments"

Diagnosing issues using crash reports and device logs | Apple Developer Documentation

Debugging MacOS apps: Debugging | Apple Developer Documentation

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46 replies

Joe Redifer Author

Level 1

86 points

Nov 26, 2024 6:27 PM in response to joema

OK here is a trace file. It was for a different soft freeze, it hung on "Preparing files for export" or some such verbiage and had to be quit via Activity Monitor. I'll keep scanning for the other soft freeze though.

FCP export hang for no reason

joema

Level 3

687 points

Nov 27, 2024 8:50 AM in response to joema

I can see the hangs but it's difficult to backtrack to the root cause. There is an FCP thread showing some odd audio activity. If your system has any external audio or video devices or a second monitor, can you try disconnecting all of that and see if it makes any difference? If you have a single monitor, what type and how is it connected?

Also please look in Activity Monitor's CPU tab under the "kind" column. We want to make sure FCP has not been inadvertently launched under Rosetta. The "kind" should be "Apple", not "Intel".

Joe Redifer Author

Level 1

86 points

Nov 27, 2024 2:12 PM in response to joema

Activity Monitor reports "Apple" for kind in regards to FCP, and I'm currently using a single monitor. It's a current gen Apple Studio Display connected via Thunderbolt. I don't have any audio things connected except an analog out cable (RCA 1/8" minijack) that takes the audio to my AVR.

The apps I usually have running concurrently with FCP as I work are:

Firefox

MicroSoft Edge

Mail

Messenger

Messages

Discord

Sometimes I'll open Photoshop

joema

Level 3

687 points

Nov 30, 2024 9:04 AM in response to Joe Redifer

Joe, after further study of your trace, it shows evidence of a "thread explosion," whereby hundreds of threads named CVDisplayLink are generated but do nothing. This happens roughly coincident with your drag/drop operation, but I can't tell if that is the cause. Once it enters that state, FCP is unstable and behaves unpredictably. That likely explains the vague "No other information" error message. That also explains why restarting FCP is required.

I tend to think this isn't a hardware or config issue. It is more likely an FCP bug, maybe triggered by a plugin or other yet-unknown factor.

How often can you reproduce it using the Gaussian Blur drag/drop? Does that particular action seem to trigger it more than others?

I did several tests dragging combinations of Gaussian Blur and Drop Shadow on a partially transparent PNG and never saw any problems.

Nov 30, 2024 10:31 AM in response to joema

joema wrote:

Joe, after further study of your trace, it shows evidence of a "thread explosion," whereby hundreds of threads named CVDisplayLink are generated but do nothing. This happens roughly coincident with your drag/drop operation, but I can't tell if that is the cause. Once it enters that state, FCP is unstable and behaves unpredictably. That likely explains the vague "No other information" error message. That also explains why restarting FCP is required.

I tend to think this isn't a hardware or config issue. It is more likely an FCP bug, maybe triggered by a plugin or other yet-unknown factor.

How often can you reproduce it using the Gaussian Blur drag/drop? Does that particular action seem to trigger it more than others?

I did several tests dragging combinations of Gaussian Blur and Drop Shadow on a partially transparent PNG and never saw any problems.

We know "DisplayLink" as the software that is used with many third party docks to support displays, at times in excess of what some mac models support natively.

This does not seem to be a coincidence...

joema

Level 3

687 points

Dec 1, 2024 1:25 PM in response to Joe Redifer

Please send me a screen shot of Activity Monitor showing that. Also double-click on that process in Activity Monitor, click the "Open Files & Ports" button, do CMD+A to select all, CMD+C to copy that, paste to a text file and send me that.

Joe Redifer Author

Level 1

86 points

Dec 1, 2024 8:33 PM in response to joema

Hmmm I don't see Core Video under the Intel list any more, or even the "Apple" list. Core Audio is under the Intel list though. I'll keep an eye out for it and check if FCP starts acting funny to see if it pops up again.

Joe Redifer Author

Level 1

86 points

Dec 4, 2024 1:05 AM in response to joema

Joema I finally got a trace of FCP doing the "soft freeze" behavior. Also in the attached ZIP file is a screencapture video showing exactly what I mean by this happening. Video plays a few frames, but audio keeps going. FCP seems to work otherwise, but cannot be quit by normal means, it must be force quit. You probably want to ask what I was doing when this happened. Just editing, nothing special. I was selecting clips and adding them to the timeline by pressing Q like normal.

FCP Trace File and Video - 1.1GB

joema

Level 3

687 points

Dec 8, 2024 9:32 AM in response to Joe Redifer

Joe, I've spent lots of time examining your 60-second Instruments trace. I can clearly see the "soft freezes", or UI hangs in FCP. However the onset of the underlying problem happens before those manifest. Even in the first part of the trace, FCP is already malfunctioning. The indicator within the Instruments trace is a "thread explosion" of 100+ CVDisplayLink threads (normally there should just be a few). This evidently happens before the UI hangs start occurring.

I have written a script to detect this CVDisplayLink problem, automatically halt the XCTrace command, then signal you with a beep that it happened. Then you could send me that trace and it would be closer in time to the internal failure process. However I need to first test it. Maybe tonight or tomorrow I'll upload it.

joema

Level 3

687 points

Dec 9, 2024 1:24 PM in response to Joe Redifer

CVDisplayLink is a "class" within the MacOS Core Video framework. It is designed for synchronizing rendering updates with the display's refresh rate. However, I noticed as of MacOS 15, it has been deprecated in favor of the higher-level, more object-oriented alternative CADisplayLink.

joema

Level 3

687 points

Dec 13, 2024 7:12 AM in response to Joe Redifer

Joe: I am still working on this. Just this morning, I might be able to reproduce the "runaway CVDisplayLink" problem on a different project.

You previously said sometimes FCP would just crash and disappear. Can you send me any of the FCP crash logs? They usually have an .ips file extension and are in the below locations. However I'm interested in any files which contain "FCP" or "Final Cut" in the filename. Upload them to a file-sharing service I can access.

/Users/YourUserName/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/

/Users/YourUserName/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Retired

Joe Redifer Author

Level 1

86 points

Dec 13, 2024 3:20 PM in response to joema

Sure. Oddly I only had one crash report in the DiagnosticReports folder and nothing in the Retired folder. I wonder if I cleared them out for some reason, I don't have a specific memory of doing that. Anyway here it is:

Final Cut Pro Crash Log

joema

Level 3

687 points

Dec 13, 2024 4:37 PM in response to Joe Redifer

The crash log was in .ips format so I had to write a Python script to interpret it. The stack trace of the crashing FCP thread is below. This implies the crash was caused by a color-related FxPlug plugin, and happened when handling On Screen Controls.

Does that ring any bells?

Crash Report

========================================

Date/Time: 2024-12-06 21:12:00.00 -0700

Application: Final Cut Pro

Version: 11.0

Build: 430149

Bundle ID: com.apple.FinalCut

OS Version: macOS 15.1.1 (24B91)

Process Information

----------------------------------------

Process Name: Final Cut Pro

Process Path: /Applications/Final Cut Pro.app/Contents/MacOS/Final Cut Pro

Process ID: 12464

Launch Time: 2024-12-06 00:16:06.6933 -0700

CPU Type: ARM-64

Exception Information

----------------------------------------

Exception Type: EXC_CRASH

Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000

Termination Code: 6

Termination Reason: SIGNAL

Terminated By: Final Cut Pro (12464)

Thread Information

----------------------------------------

Crashed Thread Stack Trace:

38400: __pthread_kill + 8

28528: pthread_kill + 288

497928: abort + 128

14909916: FFApplicationHandleExceptionThatShouldNotBeIgnored.cold.1 + 156

10332984: FFApplicationHandleExceptionThatShouldNotBeIgnored + 196

1669388: __handleUncaughtException + 816

152536: _objc_terminate() + 144

75536: std::__terminate(void (*)()) + 16

89996: __cxa_rethrow + 204

262676: objc_exception_rethrow + 44

81392: -[FFFxPlugEffect(CustomParameterAction) currentFxTime:] + 220

878128: -[PAEColorSelectionOSC _readOSCParameter:time:] + 80

878404: -[PAEColorSelectionOSC drawOSC:height:activePart:atFxTime:] + 208

60992: -[FFFxPlugOSC drawRect:toContext:drawProperties:] + 724

2289392: -[FFPlayerVideoModule drawOSCsAtTime:inRect:drawDestination:drawProperties:isDisplaying:] + 1864

2246980: -[FFPlayerVideoModule didDrawVideoAtTime:drawDestination:drawProperties:isDisplaying:] + 80

97548: -[FFMetalVideoPainter newOSCDrawTextureAtTime:viewSize:delegate:drawProperties:destIsDrawing:filmToViewTransform:backingScale:] + 380

11089056: -[FFDestVideoDisplay newOnScreenControlsTextureForFrame:atTime:drawProperties:isDisplaying:] + 484

5131852: -[FFPlayerScheduledData generateOverlayInfo:currentTimecodeType:] + 744

551524: -[FFPlayer _generateOverlayTextures:rate:] + 372

586360: -[FFPlayer _renderVideo] + 6324

592036: -[FFPlayer idle] + 148

516720: -[FFPlayer playerRenderThreadMain:] + 920

345908: __NSThread__start__ + 724

29412: _pthread_start + 136

8444: thread_start + 8

Joe Redifer Author

Level 1

86 points

Dec 13, 2024 6:58 PM in response to joema

The effect I use most are stuff like Gaussian Blur, Drop Shadow, Hawaiki Keyer, and a retro video effect I designed myself in Motion which certainly isn't an FXPlug.

The only FXPlug stuff I have on my system seem to be:

FCPX Artist Brush

BCCFxPlugx_x64

Neither of which I use, nor can they be found in my Final Cut Pro.

terryb

Level 4

2,814 points

Dec 14, 2024 6:30 AM in response to Joe Redifer

I defer to Joema's deep experience in this, but if FCPX Artist Brush is the Pixel Film Studios FCPX Brush, I would suspect it since PFS doesn't have a great developer reputation. I'd completely uninstall both and see if things improve.

Constant crashing with FCP, even when it starts up