Premiere cs4 crashes when opening premiere 6 file

Question

hi y'all,
I'm trying to open quite a complex premiere 6 project (quite a few video tracks in it) with cs4 and it crashes everytime. i even tried to create a new project and import the p6 project but it still crashed.
the weird thing is that i have another, much simpler p6 project (only 1 video track and hardly any effects) that has no problem opening on cs4, and everything is imported properly over there.
any idea how to solve it? maybe there's an old component that makes importing troubles? I appreciate any help...
thanks,
Asaf

Answer 1

Not a fix, but a reflection on doing similar with great success.
I inherited a Pr 6.5 Project done on a Mac. I needed to get it into PrPro 2.0 on a PC. The Project was about 8 hours on 16 Sequences with thousands of Assets of various formats. After I added the correct file extension to the Mac Project file (.PRJ, or similar - I forget now), I just Opened it in PrPro 2.0. First, I did have to relocate most Assets, as the drive letters had now changed. Fine. Next, just before it Opened, I got a couple of error messages. These all related to Transitions. In two cases, there were Transitions used initially, that did not exist in PrPro 2.0 (on the PC), and the messages gave me the exact Sequence and also the TimeCode location of these two - neat! I made note of these. Next, there were a couple of 3rd party Transitions, that I did not have. Same dialog screen, with the exact spots that these were used. Again, notations made. I went to those spots, added Cross-Dissolves in place of the missing Transitions, and everything was perfect. I was amazed at how well it worked.
Remember, this was a Pr 6.5 (Mac) into PrPro 2.0 (PC), but it was a monster in all respects. You've got Pr 6.0 into CS4, so there are differences. Also, there could be aspects of and elements in the Pr 6.0 Project, that just do not exist in CS4. Instead of PrPro being able to give you that dialog, it might just be choking. Maybe I just got lucky that I only had a half-dozen missing Transitions. Had there been missing Effects, etc., maybe I would have gotten those crashes too.
Now, let's look at what might be getting in the way:
Could be Transitions, or Effects, and those would be unique to this Pr 6.0 Project - possibly the only "fix" would be to Open in Pr 6.0 and make changes. Probably not an easy option.
Could be the size. How does your computer do with Projects of similar sizes? Have you had big ones crash CS4, though they were CS4 Projects? If it's a computer issue, maybe this ARTICLE will give you some useful tips.
Could be something wrong with the Pr 6.0 Project - corruption? If Open is crashing, can you try an Import into a CS4 Project?
Wish that I had experience with your exact parameters, and could offer something concrete, but there are so many variables, between what I have experienced, and what you are faced with.
Good luck, and please let us know what you discover,
Hunt