You are here

[Fixed] Rebuilding Font Cache problem in new VLC

25 posts / 0 new
Last post
truthseeker
truthseeker's picture
Offline
Last seen: 11 years 9 months ago
Joined: 2008-07-30 20:32
[Fixed] Rebuilding Font Cache problem in new VLC

Just installed the very latest VLC.

However, every single time I load it, it says it needs to rebuild Font Cache, which is annoying and time delaying.

Did something go wrong with the new installer to cause this to happen?

NathanJ79
NathanJ79's picture
Offline
Last seen: 4 years 1 month ago
Joined: 2007-07-31 15:07
Temp solution, or stick with 1.0.5

spchtrI found a way to keep it from doing the font cache rebuild every time you start it up. There's a .cache-2 file that it puts in %appdata%/Roaming/vlc, which if you copy to another folder before closing VLCPortable, close VLC Portable, then open VLCPortable again, copy the file back, and then open another file, it doesn't do the font cache rebuild. I'm thinking it may be this file is destroyed by vlc iteself, as it closes out, so I'm not sure how vlcportable would grab it to put it back. But if the file is there after vlcportable is open, but before you run your first movie, it doesn't do the font cache rebuild.
[source]

Not a very good solution for me (I can't even find the bleedin' %AppData folder in Win7, they hid it real good this time) but there it is.

If it makes anyone feel better, Josh's 1.1.0 has the same problem (needs to rebuild the font cache). Sure makes me feel better. Guess I'll just go back to 1.0.5 until 1.1.0 gets fixed.

spchtr
Offline
Last seen: 5 years 7 months ago
Joined: 2006-08-10 20:26
I checked with VLC Forums.

I checked with VLC Forums. This is buy design apparently, it's supposed to rebuild the font cache when you try to play your first movie, and as long as you don't close the program it won't do it again, but if you close the program it removes that font cache file, and it'll have to do it all over again when you open it again. There is no command line switch to disable the cacheing of the fonts for VLC itself.

spchtr
Offline
Last seen: 5 years 7 months ago
Joined: 2006-08-10 20:26
still checking with vlcforums

I'm finding that vlcportable may be what is deleting the cache-2 file. I suspended vlcportable.exe, and closed vlc. The file remained. I resumed vlcportable.exe and the file disappeared. but starting up vlcportable.exe is not putting this file back the way it should.

Is there some way to recompile the launcher so that it copies *.cache-2 from %appdata/vlc/ to the settings directory, then puts it back in place when I run the launcher again?

NathanJ79
NathanJ79's picture
Offline
Last seen: 4 years 1 month ago
Joined: 2007-07-31 15:07
Lock down the file

Then the launcher needs to cache that file somewhere, and place it where it needs to be before actually launching vlc.exe. Or, since VLC is actually open source, someone familiar with the language VLC is coded in, could fork it to be more portable friendly (another change, default the screenshots to jpeg (better for photos) and default the dir to \documents\pictures.). That's a lot of work but VLC doesn't pump updates like, say, Firefox...

spchtr
Offline
Last seen: 5 years 7 months ago
Joined: 2006-08-10 20:26
Possible Solution

See Forum Post:

https://portableapps.com/node/24035

I recompiled it after adding two lines to VLCPortable.nsi

It copys the *.cache-2 file to the Data/settings directory on exit. First run it builds the cache file when opening the first file, subsequent runs it uses the file it copied back in place, so it doesn't need to rebuild it.

I haven't had time to test this on separate computers yet. But it seems to be working just fine on my Vista 32 machine.

truthseeker
truthseeker's picture
Offline
Last seen: 11 years 9 months ago
Joined: 2008-07-30 20:32
So what can we do?

So what can we do?

And what is an alternative I can use until this gets fixed?

NathanJ79
NathanJ79's picture
Offline
Last seen: 4 years 1 month ago
Joined: 2007-07-31 15:07
Go back to 1.0.5

Simple, you go back to 1.0.5. I keep all releases from any software vendor archived on another hard disk (as in, not C) and I only remove them once the next version is archived, installed, and has proven itself. 1.1.0 has not proven itself, nor has it offered functionality I want and can't get in 1.0.5. So, I deleted the 1.1.0 installer, and reinstalled 1.0.5. Problem solved.

Or you can install 1.1.0 from VLC, since the problem is actually in the portable launcher, not VLC itself. Ironically, Josh's launcher has the exact same problem, and he had VLC Portable 1.1.0 out before John did, so it's not like he got the faulty launcher and swapped out the branding for his own. And I haven't checked any other portable packages. I like PAF, so I just went back to the "old" version.

The best version isn't always the latest version. It's the version that works the best for you. And 1.1.0 doesn't do anything 1.0.5 doesn't.

spchtr
Offline
Last seen: 5 years 7 months ago
Joined: 2006-08-10 20:26
I just ended up using the

I just ended up using the source from the portableapps.com version of vlcportable 1.1.0, added the two lines to the vlcportable.nsi to copy the *-i686.cache-2 file back and forth, recompiled and it seems to work like it did in 1.0.5. If you can talk the developer of vlcportable into adding those two lines recompiling and repackaging, it should work like it used to.

getco
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 week ago
Joined: 2008-08-03 05:31
You can go to:
truthseeker
truthseeker's picture
Offline
Last seen: 11 years 9 months ago
Joined: 2008-07-30 20:32
Yes it sure helps... because

Yes it sure helps... because this cache rebuild process is long and tedious...

Are they working on fixing this?

In the meantime I will run the OLDER VLC.

feistyfella
feistyfella's picture
Offline
Last seen: 9 years 1 month ago
Joined: 2008-05-02 09:08
Between the suspicious rozena

Between the suspicious rozena trojans and the annoying font cache hang up, your recommendation of tossing the 1.1.0 and reverting back to 1.0.5 is the most practical. SMPlayer is also another nice alternative option.

John T. Haller
John T. Haller's picture
Offline
Last seen: 4 hours 50 min ago
AdminDeveloperModeratorTranslator
Joined: 2005-11-28 22:21
Fixed in 1.1.0 Rev 2

Fixed in 1.1.0 Rev 2

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

DJRJ_AU
Offline
Last seen: 4 years 8 months ago
Joined: 2009-03-08 07:29
I wish I could say it was

I wish I could say it was fixed in *my* copy of 1.1.2 Rev 2... Sad

TRexian
Offline
Last seen: 4 years 10 hours ago
Joined: 2007-01-02 15:01
Download?

Is there a problem with the download? (Sorry, didn't think this was necessarily worthy of a new thread.) Smile
Indeed - problem fixed itself now. Smile

-------------------
Sic semper tyrannosauro.

John T. Haller
John T. Haller's picture
Offline
Last seen: 4 hours 50 min ago
AdminDeveloperModeratorTranslator
Joined: 2005-11-28 22:21
First Run

As discussed, it will still need to rebuild it on first run of 1.1.2 Rev 2. It will then save it between sessions (unless you pull the drive early or crash or have read-only enabled). If you see otherwise, please post a note in the support forums, not as comments on a news story.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

JohnSkliros
Offline
Last seen: 13 years 6 months ago
Joined: 2010-09-05 10:09
Solution from Videolan ...

Solution:

Open VLC player.

On Menu Bar:

Tools
Preferences

(at bottom - left side)
Show settings -- ALL

Open: Video
Click: Subtitles/OSD (This is now highlited, not opened)
Text rendering module - change this to "Dummy font renderer function"

Save
Exit

Re-open - done.
Progy will no longer look outside self for fonts

http://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?p=266666#p266666

AlbertoSD
Offline
Last seen: 10 years 9 months ago
Joined: 2010-07-15 16:35
Solution from Videolan ...

Thanks for this hint, John!
It seems to be possible to create VLC Live CDs again using this setting (see here)!

Looking forward to VLCP 1.1.4.

Drazick
Offline
Last seen: 1 week 3 days ago
Joined: 2010-09-06 06:36
The problem seems to be back

The problem seems to be back with VLC 1.1.4.

spchtr
Offline
Last seen: 5 years 7 months ago
Joined: 2006-08-10 20:26
It's back but easy to fix

For the folks packaging the app, *.cache-2 file that it needs to keep it from doing the rebuild is now a *.cache-3 file, this changed in vlc 1.1.3, and has carried through to 1.1.4, I've recompiled mine with this simple change and the one I have no longer gives me any problems.

Drazick
Offline
Last seen: 1 week 3 days ago
Joined: 2010-09-06 06:36
I hope we'll get a Rev 2 or

I hope we'll get a Rev 2 or something to fix it.

John T. Haller
John T. Haller's picture
Offline
Last seen: 4 hours 50 min ago
AdminDeveloperModeratorTranslator
Joined: 2005-11-28 22:21
Re-Fixed In 1.1.4 Rev 2

The cache switched to cache-3 and the launcher now accomodates this in 1.1.4 Rev 2

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

Drazick
Offline
Last seen: 1 week 3 days ago
Joined: 2010-09-06 06:36
It works! Thank you.

It works!

Thank you.

Darkbee
Darkbee's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 10 months ago
Joined: 2008-04-14 09:41
What Can We Do?

Is this going to break with every future release of VLC, when they switch to cache-4, cache-5... cache-n etc? Is this an issue that only effects the Portable Apps version so the VLC dev team doesn't worry about it? I wonder if there is anything us PortableAppers can do to facilitate a situation that means VLC won't break with every release.

John T. Haller
John T. Haller's picture
Offline
Last seen: 4 hours 50 min ago
AdminDeveloperModeratorTranslator
Joined: 2005-11-28 22:21
Dunno

But now that we know to look for it, we'll check it before each build and release. Whenever they do change the filename, both local and portable users will need to have the font cache rebuild (and the associated 2+ minute wait) on first launch after upgrade.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

Log in or register to post comments