AE CC Render error output module failed

Question

Hi, I tried my best to find this answer on the forums but couldn't find anything current.
I have isolated two issues in AE CC where I can duplicate a failed render with this message:
After Effects error: Rendering error while writing file "xxx". An output module failed. The file may be damaged or corrupted. (-1610153464)
This happens when opening an AE CS6 project and trying to render a simple comp with only one text layer and a moving mask. It also just happened after my first round trip test with Cinema 4D. I could RAM preview the c4d layer but the output to Quicktime h.264 failed.
I have even tried a full reinstall of AE CC. I have the basic FxFactory Pro plugins and MagicBullet Looks installed, but neither are being used since this is a single 1280x720 comp with a single C4D layer. Plus like I said it failed with the same error in past CS6 files.
I don't know how to force disable a plugin to test that, but I can't see how an unused plugin could cause a render to fail like this.
I'm on a new (late 2012) 27" iMac
3.4 GHz Intel Core i7
8GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680MX with 2GB VRAM
OS X 10.8.4
AE CC 12.0.0.404
CUDA driver 5.0.59
Thanks for any suggestions!
Matt

Answer 1

Olaf, did you read my reply where I explained my solution? First you should try the steps outlined in the article Todd references:
http://blogs.adobe.com/aftereffects/2011/02/troubleshooting-quicktime- errors-with-after-effects.html
There seems to be a good way to isolate if it's the same issue I had, though. Let me go into a bit of depth for you.
The trick was to launch the OS X app called Console, located in Applications > Utilities. It is a program that compiles and displays the system logs in real time. It's great to see the little things happening in the system that don't make it into the user interface. When I had my Console up and generated that same error you're having, I noticed this error in the log:
The key here is the Adobe QT32 Server, which is mentioned in the TCP part of the article I linked to above from Todd. In my case at least, what was happening was that a third party app called AirServer was talking to the system's QuickTime over the same TCP ports the QT32 Server engine was trying, and it resulted in Adobe QT32 Server crashing, and that alert being thrown up in AfterEffects.
If you're in the same boat, it means you have some sort of app or system extension that is also talking to QuickTime over TCP. That may not make any sense, but the easy thing to do is quit ALL third party apps, then quit AE, then restart AE.
In my situation if AE gave me the error and then I quit AirServer, the error still happened because Adobe QT32 had already crashed. You have to relaunch AE after closing the offending third party app.
To be sure you've quit all third party apps, open Activity Monitor (Applications > Utilities), chose "My Processes" from the dropdown menu, and scan through the list to make sure. You don't have to recognize all the processes there, but you should be able to recognize any third party ones you put there.
Hope that helps!
Matt