Unable to Import Project - Feature Film

I have a Davinci .drp project that contains a full $600,000 feature film I directed and I can't open it.

The colorist sent me the file. I need to deliver an export of the movie to the distributor, Vertical Entertainment. So I need to open the .drp. He colored in Davinci Resolve Studio 18.

When I try to open in Resolve Studio 18, I first get two errors about missing plugins then get the error "Unable to Import Project". I have all the footage and the same drives that he used, so shouldn't be a missing footage issue.

So then I decided to try to open the .drp in the free version of Resolve 18. In the free version of Resolve, I can see the project and a thumbnail, but a message says "You have reached a limitation with Davinci Resolve" and asks me to upgrade to davinci studio to open the project.

Of course, when I upgrade I get the "Unable to Import Project" message.

Can anyone help?

[Peter Chamberlain]

You need to know the exact version number of the colorists system.

You're making a joke, right?

Joe, what's funny? The problem is likely that the colorist is using a later version of Resolve than the OP, so the project file is not compatible with the OP's system. That's what it sounds like, anyway.

Why can't Resolve tell the user that?

It sounds like he created the file in 18.5

Joe, what's funny? The problem is likely that the colorist is using a later version of Resolve than the OP, so the project file is not compatible with the OP's system. That's what it sounds like, anyway.

It’s not so bad if that’s indeed the problem. Though in that case Resolve should pop up a message like

“This file was created by a more recent version of Resolve. Please upgrade to the latest version to open it.”

But Peter said the OP needed the exact version of Resolve with which the file was written. Imagine if one needed to know the exact version Word used to create a DOC file to open it. All hell would break loose.


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Joe, what's funny? The problem is likely that the colorist is using a later version of Resolve than the OP, so the project file is not compatible with the OP's system. That's what it sounds like, anyway.

It’s not so bad if that’s indeed the problem. Though in that case Resolve should pop up a message like

“This file was created by a more recent version of Resolve. Please upgrade to the latest version to open it.”

I agree, I wish the error messages would be more descriptive and actually say, "You'll need to upgrade to Resolve version X in order to open this session."

We also see a lot of people try to use 10-bit H.264 files in "free" Resolve, and I wish they'd get an error message that says, "This source codec requires the latest version of Resolve Studio."

Absolutely.
I think that second one would actually make them money.


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viewtopic.php?f=21&t=183750
Check this post where you can download a Windows utility for identifying drp versions.

You can actually unzip the .drp file to a folder and open the file called "project.xml" in a text editor.

The header of the file looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!--DbAppVer="18.5.0b.0031" DbPrjVer="13"-->
<SM_Project DbId="89383659-6c6a-4911-8041-0a70fde2ec32">

On the second line, DbAppVer, should be the version of Resolve, I believe.

You can actually unzip the .drp file to a folder and open the file called "project.xml" in a text editor.

The header of the file looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!--DbAppVer="18.5.0b.0031" DbPrjVer="13"-->
<SM_Project DbId="89383659-6c6a-4911-8041-0a70fde2ec32">

On the second line, DbAppVer, should be the version of Resolve, I believe.

This is basically what my app does without unzipping the file to disk to read its contents. The file it reads is Gallery.xml.

[Dwaine Maggart]

You can look at either file, as Magnus and Gary mention. But the Gallery.xml file is a small file, and the project.xml can be a very large file. So it's usually easier to open the Gallery.xml file in a text editor to look at the version it was created with.

If you are on Windows, it's even easier to open the .drp with 7-zip, and you can then view the Gallery.xml file directly in 7-zip with the View menu.

I'm getting the same exact error message when my editor sent me a project DRP and a timeline DRT.



I am running the most recent version of Davinci Resolve 18.1.4 on a mac.



I don't think that's the issue, why wouldn't Blackmagic give some sort of error code? Or Right click on the message to get the code (if they want to keep the clean aesthetic)?

[Dwaine Maggart]

That is the error you will get if you try to Import a Resolve 18.5 project into Resolve 18.1.4.

I created a new version of my Windows utility that gets the version number of .drp and .drt files and .dra archive folders. This one does use the "project.xml" file to read the version number from because .drt files do not contain the "Gallery.xml" file.

Check it out here: https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=183750&p=960041#p960041

It's unfortunate that we can't get an error message that says, "This DRP requires a newer compatible version of Resolve" (or a similar phrase). I think "Unable to Import Project" is not enough.

It's unfortunate that we can't get an error message that says, "This DRP requires a newer compatible version of Resolve" (or a similar phrase). I think "Unable to Import Project" is not enough.

Agreed.

It's unfortunate that we can't get an error message that says, "This DRP requires a newer compatible version of Resolve" (or a similar phrase). I think "Unable to Import Project" is not enough.

Agreed.

It took me a couple hours of screwing around until I saw the OP's question and remembered that I did update one of my computers about a month ago, but not the other.

Once I updated the second computer to 18.5.1 Build 6 from 18.1.4 Build 9, it imported without issue.

Honestly, it would have taken quite a bit longer to figure out had I not stumbled upon this forum post, as compatible builds would have been the last thing I would have thought about.

The best message Resolve could give is:
This project was saved with Resolve [Studio] XX.xx. Upgrade to that version or newer to open.


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I have a Davinci .drp project that contains a full $600,000 feature film I directed and I can't open it. The colorist sent me the file. I need to deliver an export of the movie to the distributor, Vertical Entertainment. So I need to open the .drp. He colored in Davinci Resolve Studio 18.

Two mysteries for which we have no explanation yet:

1) why did you not just call the colorist and ask them? Or better still, have them render out the deliverable files? Often in post, simple communications (particularly in writing) helps solve all kinds of workflow issues.

2) if you update to the highest release number of current Resolve (which would be 18.5.1 right now), it should in theory be able to open any version of Resolve from 18 to 17 or even 16.

There's a lot of reasons we're reluctant to send out session DRP files to clients, because there's always a chance we used a proprietary OFX plug-in or DCTL or (god forbid) LUT as part of the process, and that might make rebuilding the session on the client end problematic.

I'm not saying it happened in this case, but we've occasionally gotten contacted by desperate clients telling us we need to take over a Resolve session that's been "abandoned" by their former colorist, and they have all or part of the session files. And you wonder what really happened.