Show Cue System

Hi Mike
I'm currently running the sound for a professional pantomime production at the Theatre Royal Bath, England. We're half way through the run of 64 performances and I'm concerned that I've encountered a 'random' error twice during the show which has caused me to lose cues. I say 'random' as it has happened at around the same point in the cue list. I can't be 100% sure that is exactly at the same point as I haven't been looking at the screen when the message happenens.
Basically, a 'generic' "windows has encountered an error, would you like to send an error report" message box pops up, and on selecting no, it shuts down scs. The first time it happened I couldn't re-open scs and had to reboot the computer. It just happened on todays matinee performance again, but this time I could re open scs. (By the way, during rehearsals I noticed that if I was chopping and changing from the main cue list to the editor to make changes, cues sometimes didn't fire, or the list would jump back several cues. I found that if I closed scs and then reopened it the cues would play fine, and not jump. Don't know if this is related, or a separate issue.)
The system provided is running SCS 9.5.4 build 2009/01/15 scs professional plus.
The computer is running windows xp sp3, intel cpu 6420 @ 2.13 Ghz, 2Gb ram

Any help would be greatly appreciated, as when it goes wrong, it goes wrong!

Nigel Bayliss

I realise that if you're half way through a run of 64 performances then it's not a good time to change versions, but the version you are using is 2 years old and many changes, including bug fixes, have been released since then. You should also find the later versions more adequately handle switching in and out of the Editor.

From your description of the generic error, it seems that most of the performances run perfectly - it's just occasionally you get the error. I suggest you reboot your computer before each performance (well before the performance starts!) and don't run anything unnecessary on the computer after the reboot. Also, make sure any anti-virus software is closed, not just disabled.

Also, if you email me your cue file (the .scs file) I'll have a look through the cues to see if there are any settings that would be better if changed.

hth.