Serious bug in Finale 25.4

[BuonTempi]

If anyone hasn't seen it, there is a fatal bug in 25.4 -- though only within very specific criteria.

http://www.finalemusic.com/blog/problem ... sion-25-4/

[Michel R E]

it's a bug.
is it "fatal"?

since it can easily be avoided by simply not using those symbols in file names, I'd say it's far from "fatal".
being a Windows user, I've grown accustomed to avoiding these extra characters in file names.

[BuonTempi]

Yes, it does require a particular set of circumstances, but if you have them, it's very serious. I'd rather exaggerate it's significance to bring it to people's attention than downplay it.

It's all very well saying "don't use those chars", but if you already have files with them, then that's not easy.

[zuill]

Finale 25 had a serious issue with crashing and more involving plugins. They fixed this in 25.4. They seem to take these things seriously. They gave advice involving the plugin issue (how to avoid the crashing), which helped until the fix came along. They are doing the same with this new bug. It seems they are working on a permanent solution.

Zuill

[michelp]

To those who got "trapped" and cannot open their 25.4 file, they even offer to repair the file (until an updated version fixes the problem).

[Vaughan]

I just tried my best and I couldn't get this bug to appear. I have a number of files with ampersands or quotes in their file names, and I even tried embedding a graphic in one of them, but they all still opened normally. I'm glad this bug hasn't bit me yet but I'm a little puzzled. Maybe there are more criteria required, like a percussion map, which I don't use.

[MikeHalloran]

I just tried my best and I couldn't get this bug to appear. I have a number of files with ampersands or quotes in their file names, and I even tried embedding a graphic in one of them, but they all still opened normally. I'm glad this bug hasn't bit me yet but I'm a little puzzled. Maybe there are more criteria required, like a percussion map, which I don't use.

This doesn't affect Mac users.

I use a CRM database in my job that doesn't behave if I use any of those symbols in file names. One would figure that after all these years, someone would correct this issue that affects many millions of users. But no...

"Doctor, it hurts when I ..."

"Don't do that. Please take care of your bill at the reception desk"

[ttw]

Can one (on windows) go to the DOS Window (or command line as the call it) and use the RENAME command to change file names? I don't have any file names that use these characters, but someone may send them to me. (I suppose one could use the Windows Explorer to do the same thing.) Then maybe the newly name file could be opened by Finale.

[zuill]

I believe it was not caused by the characters in the file name, but in files linked to the document.

Zuill

[Vaughan]

You mean, by 'forbidden' characters in the file names of linked documents? What a weird bug!

[BuonTempi]

You mean, by 'forbidden' characters in the file names of linked documents? What a weird bug!

It's weird that Finale was previously able to handle them, but now can't.

[ewindels]

Per my separate post about this issue: as one of the lucky few (so MM says) to have experienced this little treat, let me clarify that neither of my documents which were affected had any of those characters in their titles, nor any of the internal elements listed that were supposedly causing this. One document was a cello sonata, the other a solo piano piece: neither had MIDI percussion maps defined or involved, nor again any of other elements MM mentions, at least as far as I'm aware.

Three days after first raising the issue, MM sent me what they said was a "fixed" file, which still wouldn't open and showed the same error messages. When I pointed this out, they said they were closing the ticket and I was on my own.

While MM states that this problem is contained to only Windows 7, I would urge any Windows users who upgraded to 25.4 to use extreme caution. I lost three days recreating these documents and am still catching up on the backlog. And yes, to put it mildly, I'm pissed off.

I've taken the precaution of uninstalling 25 altogether, as it hasn't really impressed me anyway, and have had no problems working back with 2014.5.

That's the news from the front line.

[BuonTempi]

I would urge any Windows users who upgraded to 25.4 to use extreme caution. I lost three days recreating these documents

I urge everyone to have a backup.

[zuill]

When I am working on a big project, I save multiple versions, documenting each step of the project. I make sure to save and close Finale periodically, just to avoid these kind of problems. If I had worked for 20 minutes, saved, closed, and reopened, and this bug showed up, I would only lose 20 minutes. I avoid working for hours on end without saving, closing, and reopening.

Zuill

[MikeHalloran]

Three days after first raising the issue, ... .

You "raised the issue" during a 4 day national holiday weekend. MM Support got back to you in less than one business day.

I have no love for how tech support works over there nowadays but they did get back to you as quickly as any company would.

[ewindels]

I didn't say they didnt, Mike. I said that's when they sent me the "fixed" file, which wasnt. I fully apprecite that they had to forfeit their holiday to deal with this issue. So did those of us affected. And the situation remains not only unresolved, but they've refused to communicate with me on it further. Possibly because they have nothing else to offer.

[Jay Emmes]

[…]If I had worked for 20 minutes, saved, closed, and reopened, and this bug showed up, I would only lose 20 minutes.

Zuill

Not necessarily. This is only true when the bug and its consequences show immediately and in all their vigour. If the problem slowly builds and only shows when it has become fatal, ALL your backups will have the build-up incorporated and will prove useless in time. Any backup is only useful when you're 100 percent sure it encapsulates no problem whatsoever. Can you ever be?

[zuill]

Since my 20 years with Finale has never (in my best memory) resulted in a corrupt file, I guess it's hard for me to know how I would be able to evaluate anything other then my advice. What I generally find is that if version X12 is not corrupt, and X13 is, I wouldn't know if the corruption is only in X13, or maybe in all prior versions. I'm not sure anyone would know.

Zuill

[motet]

I have never had any problem, but I usually wait until a new version has been out for a long time (as in months) before upgrading.

[zuill]

As we've seen lately, even after a version has been out for awhile, new bugs are introduced in maintenance updates. So, it's hard to think that waiting is a good MO, as in olden times. Since v25 files are compatible with 2014 and 2014.5, that's another reason not to delay updating, because one can go back to the earlier version without losing any work. The fact that v25 is 64bit was one reason I chose to upgrade fairly soon. I waited, however, until the first price-break special to do so.

Zuill

[motet]

You're right that it seems like there are no longer really maintenance upgrades. One knew that 2011b just fixed problems in 2011, for example, whereas now they're introducing new features with each 25.x, which greatly increases the chance of bugs. I would be very upset if what happened with ewindels happened to me, so I will continue to be cautious.

[BuonTempi]

I'm sure I remember (at least) one of the old a, b, c updates introducing bugs as well as fixing them.

[zuill]

"B" for Bug. That makes sense.

Seriously, that might have been the case. In any event, we might keep hoping that things are getting better. Sometimes, it wasn't a bug in the program itself causing the problem, as much as corruption in the preferences files. Of course, one would expect the program shouldn't be corrupting the preferences files. One would only hope.

When I recreate my preferences with all my settings, I save that file in a backup archive folder, so that I can just replace a corrupt preferences file with the good version of my preferences, preventing me from having to reset my personal settings.

Zuill

[motet]

That's a good idea. I also save [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\MakeMusic\Finale2014.5]
from the registry for when Finale screws up the various toolbar locations. You can just double-click the .reg file to restore them.

[ewindels]

Someone on the Facebook Powergroup page also pointed out that it's best to never incorporate any update right off the bat until it's been out for a while and such issues have been recognized. Which I typically never do, I'm not sure why I did this time. Won't make that mistake again.