by MikeGahrns » Mon Oct 16, 2023 5:28 pm
As I mentioned in my original post, I couldn't run the debug version. I would start dbgview and then mm5 debug, and then my system would freeze. So, sorry I couldn't get any logs....
Were there recent changes to the MM5 db structure? The reason I ask, is that my MM4 installation is now hosed, and when I try add/rescan files none are added and I get a message along the lines of the db format not supported.
I was running MM5 with an .ini with the [Options] ForceMM4Compatability=1. This was nice as it allowed me to run my "production" MM5 installation and still use/try MM5 while I waited for MM5 to get all of my needed MM4 features.
I am not mad. I did this at my own risk, and there were ample warnings about using this flag. I totally get how having more than one db structure causes a ton of complexity, edge cases and maintenance issues.
Long story short... I got rid of running MM5 with the ForceMM4Compatibility flag and rebuilt new MM4 and MM5 databases. I no longer get the MM5 error on start. So I think the problem was either running with ForceMM4Compatibility flag or some sort of db corruption crept in.
Given the amount of effort need to clean things up, I will refrain from using the flag in the future. But that means that it will be difficult for me to run MM5 in parallel with MM4. There are still a lot of MM4 tools/add-ons I rely on to manage my large music collection.
My biggest pain point in running MM5 in parallel with MM4 is that MM5 loses access to my extensive playlist collection and the continuous updating of playlists that I do in MM4. I realize on MM5 first run MM5 will build playlists off of what I had in MM4. But if I continue to run MM4, all playlist changes I make in MM4 are no longer reflected in MM5 which makes running MM5 in parallel with MM4 very difficult for me.
MM5 does have a way to import .M3U playlists. This is not an adequate solution for me, as I have a lot of hierarchy in my playlist structure. When I import, all that hierarchy is lost and I get a big long flat list of playlists in the wrong order.
Zev's playlist export tool will allow preservation of hierarchy, but it does not work with MM5.
Suggestion: in MM5 when importing .M3U playlists, for each disk directory from where you are scanning create an empty Playlist node with the directory's name. For .M3U files with .mp3's listed within it, continue doing what you are doing. That is, create a playlist with the name of the .M3U file and then each song in the .M3U file is a song in the playlist.
e.g. In MM5, when you did a File->Add Rescan files and specified a directory of c:\Playlists to Import\Drive Mixes\Drive001.M3U, in the MM5 playlist nodes it would create an empty playlist "Playlists to Import" and then beneath it in the MM5 playlist hierarchy would be another empty playlist called "Drive Mixes" and then finally under that would be the "Drive001" playlist with all of the songs from the .M3U file listed.
As I mentioned in my original post, I couldn't run the debug version. I would start dbgview and then mm5 debug, and then my system would freeze. So, sorry I couldn't get any logs....
Were there recent changes to the MM5 db structure? The reason I ask, is that my MM4 installation is now hosed, and when I try add/rescan files none are added and I get a message along the lines of the db format not supported.
I was running MM5 with an .ini with the [Options] ForceMM4Compatability=1. This was nice as it allowed me to run my "production" MM5 installation and still use/try MM5 while I waited for MM5 to get all of my needed MM4 features.
I am not mad. I did this at my own risk, and there were ample warnings about using this flag. I totally get how having more than one db structure causes a ton of complexity, edge cases and maintenance issues.
Long story short... I got rid of running MM5 with the ForceMM4Compatibility flag and rebuilt new MM4 and MM5 databases. I no longer get the MM5 error on start. So I think the problem was either running with ForceMM4Compatibility flag or some sort of db corruption crept in.
Given the amount of effort need to clean things up, I will refrain from using the flag in the future. But that means that it will be difficult for me to run MM5 in parallel with MM4. There are still a lot of MM4 tools/add-ons I rely on to manage my large music collection.
My biggest pain point in running MM5 in parallel with MM4 is that MM5 loses access to my extensive playlist collection and the continuous updating of playlists that I do in MM4. I realize on MM5 first run MM5 will build playlists off of what I had in MM4. But if I continue to run MM4, all playlist changes I make in MM4 are no longer reflected in MM5 which makes running MM5 in parallel with MM4 very difficult for me.
MM5 does have a way to import .M3U playlists. This is not an adequate solution for me, as I have a lot of hierarchy in my playlist structure. When I import, all that hierarchy is lost and I get a big long flat list of playlists in the wrong order.
Zev's playlist export tool will allow preservation of hierarchy, but it does not work with MM5.
Suggestion: in MM5 when importing .M3U playlists, for each disk directory from where you are scanning create an empty Playlist node with the directory's name. For .M3U files with .mp3's listed within it, continue doing what you are doing. That is, create a playlist with the name of the .M3U file and then each song in the .M3U file is a song in the playlist.
e.g. In MM5, when you did a File->Add Rescan files and specified a directory of c:\Playlists to Import\Drive Mixes\Drive001.M3U, in the MM5 playlist nodes it would create an empty playlist "Playlists to Import" and then beneath it in the MM5 playlist hierarchy would be another empty playlist called "Drive Mixes" and then finally under that would be the "Drive001" playlist with all of the songs from the .M3U file listed.