Repair Windows Movie Maker 2

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Guest

This problem just started happing approximately 2 weeks ago. The problem is
in Windows Movie Maker 2 on XP Service pack 2. When creating ANY text
overlays, whether Start or End credits - the text does not appear in the
video. To be specific, start WMM2 and click "Make Titles and Credits".
Next, select Title at the beginning of movie. Starting typing in any text.
Until about 2 weeks ago, the text would appear after entry into the box. At
this point, none of the text appears - regardless of text color or background
color. Clicking done and playing the movie file also does not display the
text. Finally, saving the movie as either AVI or WMV does not display the
text in Windows Media Player.

Here's what I have done so far to fix
===========================
Ran MS Antispyware, Ad-ware SE, SpywareBlaster and Spybot 1.3
Manually unchecked all Filters in Compatibility Tab, including Nero,
Cyberlink, Moonlight and Elecard.
Removed Windows Winter and Fun Creativity Packs
Removed all of RehandFX's add-on XML\Transitions
Deleted all files in Movie Maker Directory (Windows reinstalls immediately)
Attempted to delete Movie Maker directory - but Windows doesn't allow
Re-installed SP2 in-between steps 5 and 6 above
Manually went through the Registry and deleted every reference to
"moviemk.exe', "Movie Maker" and the MM2 DLLs, then reinstalled SP2
Turned off Hardware Acceleration

None of these actions worked. If I open previously created movies projects
(MSWMM files), text overlays or in video layer are not visible - though you
CAN hear the sound. Is there any way to properly repair a MM2 installation?

My System Setup
==============
NTSC, but on both PAL & NTSC
Occurs on all Video Media I tried - AVI and WMV
ATI Radeon X300 Series
P4 3.2 on Windows XP SP2
 
I can think of two things that aren't on your list, nice job BTW you
eliminated most of the things that would have been suggested, and those are:
1 - Check the font being used, try that font in a text editor and/or try
changing the font in WMM
2 - Do a system restore to before the problem started and see if that does
it
If these don't work post back here for more brain-storming.
 
1 - Check the font being used, try that font in a text editor and/or try
changing the font in WMM
Click to expand...
Don't think that's the problem, since I'm using the default font - MS Sans
Serif - but what the hey. Changed it to Arial, Times, etc. same thing. Also,
I'd like to point out it's not just the 'text' that doesn't appear, the
entire animation (like newspaper) doesn't display. All that displays is a
blank black screen - over the video. So any portion of the video that's
being overlayed by the Text animation is not visible.
2 - Do a system restore to before the problem started and see if that does
it If these don't work post back here for more brain-storming.
Click to expand...

Might give that a try, except I have a lot of working files since then. I
forget, restore only changes Program Files, and Windows directories - not My
Documents or other directories on the C Drive right?

More things I've attempted:
==================
Deleted every object from and all of collections
Reinstalled WMM2 'only' by using the INF file in the Windows\INF directory
Installed WMM2 'only' using rundll command on SP2 installation files.

Still, no dice. I noticed on Papa John's site someting about manually
registering DLLs, but I must have been reading it incorrectly - as it listed
over 40 DLLs in use my WMM2. I was hoping there were 4-5 I could unreg\reg
to verify.
 
do any of these problems inculde no video showing up?
Alex Goss
prodigal-mendicants.com
 
The Setup > MM2.1 has a list of issues that happen when one or more of the
DLLs are not registered... it's in the section about registering the DLLs.

Yes, if wmm2filt.dll isn't registered, you won't see video when previewing
the timeline.
--
PapaJohn

Movie Maker 2 and Photo Story 3 - www.papajohn.org
Photo Story 2 - www.photostory.papajohn.org
..
 
You would limit the DLL registering to the few in the Movie Maker folder...
--
Click to expand...
Okay, just tried with the following results:

All files register successfully except the following: WMM2ERES.dll,
WMM2RES.dll and WMM2RES2.dll with the following error:

"[DLL Name] was loaded, but the DLLRegisterServer entry point could not be
found. The file can not be registered"

Having been a programmer for some time, I know the RES files are just
resources to load strings and bitmaps, so this points to likely being my
problem.

Any suggestions on this?
 
check the files against the list on my page... for size, version... to be
sure you haven't slipped a gear.

--
PapaJohn

Movie Maker 2 and Photo Story 3 - www.papajohn.org
Photo Story 2 - www.photostory.papajohn.org
..
Bill said:
You would limit the DLL registering to the few in the Movie Maker
folder...
--
Click to expand...
Okay, just tried with the following results:

All files register successfully except the following: WMM2ERES.dll,
WMM2RES.dll and WMM2RES2.dll with the following error:

"[DLL Name] was loaded, but the DLLRegisterServer entry point could not be
found. The file can not be registered"

Having been a programmer for some time, I know the RES files are just
resources to load strings and bitmaps, so this points to likely being my
problem.

Any suggestions on this?
Click to expand...
 
check the files against the list on my page... for size, version... to be
sure you haven't slipped a gear.
Click to expand...

Done, however the version info for these files on your site appears slightly
outdated. I did check against the MS DLL database using the link on your
site and I DO have the latest version and file size(s): 2.1.4026.0

BTW, I imported a single image before my previous Reg Hacks\re-installs to
see if that reset the collections database - none of them have. I'd like to
reset this linking if possible - at least to eliminate it as a possible
culprit.

Anyone been successful at that yet?
 
Nope, that didn't work either, however, I was able to find the problem.
Answer forthcoming.
 
Well folks, I FINALLY found the problem. Turns out it had nothing to do with
corrupted files\fonts, unregistered DLLs, viruses, codec problems, or add-on
tools to WMM2. Turns out it was something fairly benign.

While I'm still not sure what I installed (or if I installed anything) the
source of the problem was my Regional Settings - specifically - the number
format. Something happened 2 weeks ago which cause the following:

The original number setting of 123.456.789.00 was changed to 123.456.789,00
(notice the comma instead of a period in the decimal placeholder)
The original currency setting of $123.456.789.00 was changed to
123.456.789.00 $ DM
The original time setting of 3:59:48 PM was changed to the 24 hour clock.
Also, the measurement type was changed from US to Metric.

My guess is, WMM2 started to choke on the invalid number format and possibly
the time and Metric system measurements. After I changed them back to their
original state, the text animations and text display worked perfectly. As a
test, I changed the values back to the bogus values to see if it would cause
the error again - it did.

PapaJohn - you may want to add this to your site for this issue (if found 3
other posts with the same problem) and possibly a source of the missing
Translations\Effects issue.

Thanks to everyone for their assistance.
 
Nice detective work and great feedback Bill!!!.... I'll be sure to add it,
once I scratch my head about it a bit... if it's a clue to the missing
Translations/Effects issues, you're a real hero...

--
PapaJohn

Movie Maker 2 and Photo Story 3 - www.papajohn.org
Photo Story 2 - www.photostory.papajohn.org
..
 
Wow, never would have thought of THAT! :-)
I copied this post to my notes for future use. Nice job Bill!
 
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