A solution in this case, locate the folder and select the last automatic save, see the date and time.
See the image location on your PC

The standard Autosave folder is in HD, C:\Users\"PC_NAME"\AppData\Roaming\CyberLink\PowerDirector\10.0\AutoSave\

Archive project "name". PDS

Sorry, I don't think I understand. If you are saying to go into PD settings, and choose autosave, I can't open
PD; it crashes during startup. (I have 'automatically load last project upon startup' selected.)

If, however, you are saying to locate my .PDS file, and launch it from there, I tried that, and it still crashes upon startup.

Jim PowerDirector 365, AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 8-core processor 4.05 GHz, 32GB RAM, Windows 10 64-bit OS, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER

Sorry, I don't think I understand. If you are saying to go into PD settings, and choose autosave, I can't open

If you can not open the PD usually like to do a new project.
First restart the PC, if not, you may need to reinstall the PD.

PD; it crashes during startup. (I have 'automatically load last project upon startup' selected.)
If, however, you are saying to locate my .PDS file, and launch it from there, I tried that, and it still crashes upon startup.

Open the project's ausave is still the error, will regress to earlier.
Also make sure that all materials used in the project is in its place in HD, or other device.

Good luck

Playsound is correct, but you cannot open PD to find your automatically saved super-secret autosave files.
Somewhere on PROBABLY your C: drive, there is a folder which keeps saving project files in case of a corruption. Find that folder (may be hidden), and you'll find copies of your PDS project files. Find the one that works to open your project. Get back to us, please. HP Envy Phoenix/4thGen i7-4770(4@3.4GHz~turbo>3.9)
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I'd suggest to
- rename the Project.PDS (the one PD is trying to open) to - e.g. Project_x.PDS
- start PD (it should start ok)
- eventually de-activate the re-open option
- load your PDS
if it works, hooray!, if not, try to find one of the latest backups PD made, as already mentioned.

Michael.

Michael,

Thank you. I took your suggestion, and learned the following.

PD will now launch without trying to open the most recent project. PD will still attempt to launch, but will then crash if I double-click a project file (while PD is not running). However, if PD is running with no open project, I can double click the project file, and it will open.

So rather than a corrupt file, it seems to be too much to ask of PD to launch and open a project file (at least my project) in the same step. Considering my fairly robust hardware, I'm surprised this is an issue. Could it be addressed in future updates?

Jim


PowerDirector 365, AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 8-core processor 4.05 GHz, 32GB RAM, Windows 10 64-bit OS, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER

Jim,
Have you tried to open your PDS via the way it works and save it under another name?
I've encountered (sweat-bathed!) similar situations, but could rescue the situation and the project by letting PD re-write the whole file under a new name.
Maybe PD will open then as you desire.
Just an attempt....

Michael.