Recently, with both 8.5 & 9.2, I have experienced a lot of "program not responding"

crashes when searching for background media. I have a large number of images (~14k)

and motions (~1200) in tree structure of folders, sub-folders, etc. In talking to GoFish,

they indicated that I have too files for SSP to handle, but it seems to me that SSP should

only be handling the current directory regardless of how many sub-folders are attached.

That is, I wouldn't think that SSP has to know anything beyond the immediate directory

and, therefore, it should not matter the total number of files and memory allocation of the

entire tree. This seems to be the case with Win10 searches - it doesn't seem to take any

longer to search a directory with or without sub-directories. When selecting media for

backgrounds using the default SSP window (right-hand panel in the pop-up) can take

30 sec. or longer, whereas using the the "Windows Explorer bar (bottom-left) is almost

instantaneous. Once I select media and insert it into a slide (for example) I often

encounter a "program not responding" error -- however, once I do get the media

selected and applied, the program element (slideshow, song, etc.) will run without

any problem. One last simple question: can I designate where my media will reside

or is there some default search pattern?

Hi Dick,

Your last question first: To clarify - are you talking about where "all" your media is stored or where the search looks first?  Please explain what you mean by "default search pattern".

Generally speaking, when a "program not responding" state occurs it is because the main thread of SSP is idle while waiting on a secondary/child task to complete.  In most cases SSP will recover if allowed to complete the task(s) (user waiting) but some things take longer than others.  If we know that some processes will take a while, a friendly wait or processing message is used but as demonstrated, that may not always be the case.

When you get the "program not responding" message, how long are you waiting before killing SSP?

With regard to the search - As far as I know we do not specifically use the Windows search process for media (I will double check) so that could be the reason for the behavior difference, however SSP does media specific filtering for searches (i.e. you will only get image files in the Images media tab) so if in all of your file stack you have inadvertently placed disparate media types in a folder tree, that might cause an issue.

 I realize that with your extensive collection it might be difficult but you should scrub your media files to ensure that you are not mixing media.

Additionally as a test - you can temporarily pare down your files to see if the volume of files is truly the issue.  If you are able to replicate (or want help replicating) a specific issue, please contact the support team.

Thanks for you quick response, George.

As a starting point let me give you the directory structure I've used for many years and you let

me know if there is any fundamental problem with it. GoFish seemed to think that the location and

use of SSPdata was a problem even though I've used it for over 10 years.

 Directory of C:\Users\Richard\SSPdata   (the <<-- are to show most important for this discussion)
 <DIR>          .
 <DIR>          ..
<DIR>          Audio Files
<DIR>          Baptism videos, motions, images
<DIR>          BLANK IMAGES DIRECTORY, 03-10-18
<DIR>          Images              <<<--
<DIR>          images(1920x1080)   <<--
<DIR>          imagevine free
<DIR>          LLS, 2019
<DIR>          LLS, 2022
<DIR>          Media Files
<DIR>          Media for Backgrounds
<DIR>          Programs            <--
<DIR>          Slide Shows         <--
<DIR>          Songs               <--
<DIR>          SSP displays
<DIR>          State
<DIR>          Updates, license, wishes, etc
<DIR>          User
<DIR>          Video Devices
<DIR>          Videos              <<<--
<DIR>          Videos (1.77)       <<--
<DIR>          Web Pages
               6 File(s)         88,887 bytes
              23 Dir(s)  142,839,943,168 bytes free
The "images" directory contains 240 sub, sub-sub, etc. directories and about 10 Gb of data.

The "videos" directory contains 85 sub, sub-sub, etc. directories and about 40 Gb of data.

The  images(1920x1080) and videos (1.77)  directories were recently added as I have been

separating all 4x3 format media from 16x9 format media (we've just changed screens and

projector).

The "media for backgrounds" folder was tried for holding only recently used media.

Hey Dick,

A few things on this.  Can you clarify your folder structure? If it is really what is represented above then that may be part of your problem.  If all those folder are truly in the root of C:\Users\Richard\SSPdata - that is NOT a supported configuration.

The root of C:\Users\Richard\SSPdata should be:

<DIR>          Audio Files
<DIR>          Images 
<DIR>          Media Files
<DIR>          Programs 
<DIR>          Slide Shows 
<DIR>          Songs 
<DIR>          User
<DIR>          Video Devices
<DIR>          Videos
<DIR>          Web Pages

and the lone SspData.ini file -- That is it -- no more, no less.

Anything you want to show up in SSP should be inside the appropriate folder listed above, preferable via the import is SSP and NOT manually copying in (this may drag unexpected files along for the ride).

Anything that you are "saving" or holding in reserve (for whatever reason) needs to be outside of the \SSPData root tree.

All that said, if you are manually copying ANY files you need to ensure that ONLY supported, like media types are in the respective root directories (ONLY video files in the Video folder, ONLY image files in the Images folder, etc) - AND that they are supported formats.  This is why using the import inside SSP is best - it will not allow either to be done.

Following this process will keep you media locations clean and compatible. 

If you have not done so, please scrub all unsupported media/folder from your SSP location.  Once you believe you have done that, if you are still having issues please contact the support team to review and possibly escalate.

Thanks.