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SpiceFX Technical Support FAQs
Solutions to problems you may encounter when using SpiceFX for Movie Maker.
[XP only] After installing SpiceFX, Movie Maker crashes. Some users who have InterVideo programs installed (such as DVDCreator or WinDVD) may experience this problem. It is actually a Movie Maker issue (as documented here -- see the qedit.dll section), not a SpiceFX problem, due to the way Intervideo registers so many effects in Microsoft's DirectShow, which Movie Maker also uses. The solution is to uninstall ALL InterVideo programs on your computer. (On XP, go into Start > Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs. OR you can follow a more complicated file re-naming procedure described in the above link. Free or low-cost DVD-burning tools to use instead of Intervideo are here. Movie Maker freezes when I try to apply or preview SpiceFX in a particular clip. It is not a SpiceFX problem. Movie Maker sometimes has problems with the codecs used to compress certain video clips. Also, sometimes insufficient RAM can stop Movie Maker from accepting lots of effects (built-in or ours) especially in a long project. For more info, please visit Movie Maker help sites shown at the bottom of this page. As a general tip, it is a good idea to save a long project often in Movie Maker, to minimize lost work if a crash occurs. Also, consider breaking up long projects into a couple of smaller projects (perhaps at a few cut points between clips), then save/publish each piece and recombine later using any number of freeware movie utilities available at sites such as http://www.download.com My transitions or effects (built-in or SpiceFX) no longer play in the preview window of Movie Maker. It is not a SpiceFX problem. It is a DirectX issue. A spyware removal program sometimes affects DirectX, for example. A common solution is to reinstall the latest version of DirectX. For more info about this, please visit http://www.papajohn.org
[Vista/Windows 7/Windows 8 only] When I use Windows DVD Maker to burn a DVD directly from Movie Maker, I get a "Cannot create the DVD, no such interface supported" message. This is a Microsoft DVD Maker issue that happens with many extra effects, not just ours. They'll preview OK in DVD Maker, but you'll get the error message if you try to burn a DVD. Fortunately, there is an easy workaround with these steps: 1. Save your movie creation to the hard drive on your computer, by choosing the File > Publish Movie command and then selecting the "This computer" option and highest quality settings. 2. Open a new Movie Maker project. Import the saved movie into your project, then drag and drop the movie into your Movie Maker timeline. 3. Now choose the File > Publish Movie command again, but this time select the "DVD" option. Now all will proceed fine in burning the DVD.
• Is SpiceFX compatible with Windows Live Movie Maker in Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10? Windows Live Movie Maker was a complete re-write of the Movie Maker program by Microsoft. Windows Live Movie Maker needs more development work by Microsoft before it will become a very useful video editing tool -- or to match many of the key capabilities of prior Movie Maker versions. Windows Live Movie Maker lacks a timeline and also does not accept any add-ons or plugins currently (other than for social networking) which greatly limits its potential editing power. Fortunately, Windows Movie Maker 2.6 (or 6.0) from Vista is still available, is more powerful than Windows Live Movie Maker, and can be manually installed into the later Windows versions easily. SpiceFX 6 add-ons will then install and work great. Click here for step-by-step details.
Movie Maker's preview does not play smoothly. A complex transition or effect can sometimes cause the Movie Maker preview to 'stutter' -- especially on slower computers. This is because Movie Maker's preview processes each frame "on the fly" during playback. If there is too much pixel data to process so quickly (such as during a complex transition), some frames may be skipped during the preview's playback as Movie Maker tries to catch up. This issue is true in most video editing programs, not just Movie Maker. Now for the good news: the problem is only with the MM preview. Your FINAL output (the saved/published movie) from Movie Maker with our effects should play silky smooth (unless you have chosen a final output quality too high – see below). Movie Maker's final output plays choppy during transitions. In Movie Maker, try a lower quality save/publish setting for your final movie. For example, instead of choosing in Movie Maker's Save Movie Wizard dialog the "best quality for playback on your computer" option, try "other settings" and then "Video for local playback (1.5 Mbps)" or if necessary "Video for broadband (512 Kbps)" to see if that improves the final playback's smoothness.
 Exported custom Wizard transitions/effects do not appear in Movie Maker. Click the Click here to export, then re-start Movie Maker button in the Wizard you were using to make custom transitions or effects. Then re-start Movie Maker. That’s all! No geeky XML code to edit or separate files to manually import into Movie Maker! The exported items will have the Wizards icon (shown at right) at the top of in the Effects (or Video Transitions) list within Movie Maker.Note you must run Windows as an 'administrator' account for Wizards to export into Movie Maker. Most Windows PCs already do this. But if you instead run Windows as a more restricted 'user' account, visit the User Accounts control panel in Windows to switch to 'administrator' -- before clicking the Click here to export... button mentioned above. You can always switch back later to a ' user' account, if desired.Packs from SpiceFX do not appear in Movie Maker. SpiceFX transitions Packs sit in the Transitions section of Movie Maker; SpiceFX effects Packs appear in the Effects section. Packs integrate entirely into Movie Maker -- there is no separate program to run or files to import. If the Packs do not appear after installation, which is a very rare, please contact us.
My system crashed and I need to re-install SpiceFX. To re-install a prior SpiceFX purchase, use your download email from us, following all of its steps and entering the same serial number. If you no longer have that email, contact us. Re-downloads of a prior purchase are always FREE. Be sure to freshly download to get our latest build of SpiceFX, instead of installing with your old downloaded file. The SpiceFX download page is 'not found' by my browser. Check your browser's address line and delete '2' or any other character that has not appeared after the .htm of the download address. If there is still a problem, contact us. While running the installer, it says "Could not initialize installation, File size expected [number], size returned [smaller number]." That message means you only partially downloaded our installer. Please delete the installer file, re-start your browser (to clear its cache), then click our download link to download again. Our download page shows the approximate file size you should end up with. The SpiceFX installer says my serial number is 'invalid.' Please make sure a blank space has not been inserted before or after the serial number, which can happen sometimes even if you copy and paste it from our download email sent to you after you purchase SpiceFX. [Vista/Windows 7-10 only] I switched from XP to Vista. My old SpiceFX download does not work. SpiceFX is compatible with all flavors of Vista. But manually transferring our files from an old to new computer will not work. You need to freshly download and install SpiceFX on your new computer. (If you have Windows 7, 8, or 10, see the Windows Issues section above for installation instructions.) If you previously saved some Favorite effects or transitions in a Wizard, after installing SpiceFX in your new machine, transfer the Favorites files only by moving the My Favorites subfolder from your old computer's ../Program Files/Pixelan/SpiceFX/Wizards folder. I see an X over my SpiceFX effects/transitions. The X appears in the DEMO version of SpiceFX. The X will disappear in any Pack(s) and/or Wizards that you buy. [XP only] PageFX and DepthFX Packs (Pack T6 and T7) are not appearing in Movie Maker. As noted on several pages, those two Packs require the Vista version of Movie Maker (6.0 or later). On XP systems, those two Packs will be skipped by the installer. I am a user of SpiceFX (earlier version). I've tried the SpiceFX demo, and now want to remove the demo portion without losing what I bought earlier. How do I do that? Look in your Windows Start > Program Files > Pixelan > SpiceFX for Movie Maker folder and select Uninstall SpiceFX. Uninstalling SpiceFX does not work. This can happen on some computers. To manually uninstall, please do the following steps: 1) Go into the Program Files folder and manually delete the entire Pixelan > SpiceFX folder. 2) Go into your Program Files/Movie Maker/Shared/AddOnTFX folder and delete all "Pixelan..." named files. Can I install on more than one computer of mine? Please read our license in the Start > Program Files > Pixelan > SpiceFX for Movie Maker folder. It allows use in two different computers of the same user (such as a laptop "for the road" and a desktop at home) IF the two computers are not used AT THE SAME TIME to edit in Movie Maker. If you do need two licenses to edit in two computers simultaneously, such as for a video production business, the second license is available for HALF-price on our order form. To purchase MORE THAN TWO licenses, such as for a school lab, please contact us for quantity discounts. Does SpiceFX work in any program other than Movie Maker? No. But we offer other cool plugins here. Do SpiceFX have special hardware requirements? Any XP or Vista computer with Movie Maker 2.0 or later is fine, EXCEPT XP 64-bit systems. (For Windows 7 or Windows 8, see that section above.) That means virtually ALL Windows PCs over the past several years. Note: PageFX and DepthFX Transitions (Packs T6 and T7) will be installed only in Movie Maker 6.0. (Not sure which Vista Movie Maker version you have? See the Help > About Windows Movie Maker menu in Movie Maker. A few lines down in the dialog is the answer... either 6.0xxx or 2.6xxx.)
[Vista/Windows 7/Windows 8 only] Every time I open Wizards for Movie Maker, I see an annoying User Account Control (UAC) permission message. How can I stop it? To turn those off while still maintaining the full protection of Vista's UAC, download the free TweakUAC utility from WinAbility Software Corporation. After downloading it, double-click it and choose the "Switch UAC to the quiet mode" option. Done! Where can I find good Movie Maker help/tips if my problem has nothing to do with Pixelan? Please see the best Movie Maker help sites, which are http://www.papajohn.org and http://www.desilucy.com and the user forums at http://www.windowsmoviemakers.net and Neo's Movie Maker Portal.
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