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# Q100450: Locating a crash Autosave file

Warning: This article contains links to external websites

SUMMARY

When using Katana, issues may occur which cause the application to quit unexpectedly. If this happens, it’s possible to restore the project file from a so-called crashFile that Katana saves automatically to a temporary directory.
This article explains how such an autosaved crash file can be used to reload a Katana project file after one of the following scenarios has occurred:

- Katana closed prematurely and the crash reporter window was displayed (crash)
- Katana closed prematurely, but did not display a crash reporter window (hard crash)
- Katana has frozen and is no longer responding, the Katana process is terminated manually by the user
- The user accidentally closed Katana before saving

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MORE INFORMATION

Katana allows autosaving in progress work from an open project, based on autosave preferences, which can be set under Edit > Preferences > application > crashFile. Additional options are available to choose how often the autosave process runs on the current project.

In the event that Katana quits unexpectedly, the last autosaved file created is considered the crashFile. This allows you to reload the last saved state of your Katana project, before the unexpected event

To restore the Katana project from a crashFile, please follow the steps for one of the options below.

Option 1: Open via Command Line

1. Open a new Command Prompt(cmd) (Windows) or a terminal (Linux)

2. Specify the path to the Katana executable and add the --crash command line option as demonstrated in the commands below, and run it.

Windows launch command:

    “C:\Program Files\[KATANA_VERSION]\bin\katanaBin.exe” --crash

Linux launch command:

    “/opt/Foundry/[KATANA_VERSION]/katana” --crash

Execute the command to open Katana.
Katana should open a “Katana Crash File Selector" window as shown below, before launching the Katana GUI:

NOTE: Any Katana project files found in your temporary directory will be displayed in this window.

3. The latest autosaved file is the crashFile saved when an unexpected exit occurred. Select this latest file and press the Load button to load the project in Katana.

4. Once open, make sure to save the file in the location of the original project before continuing to work. You may want to consider saving this under a different name to the original project, to create a version history of the file.

Option 2: Locate the crash file within your temporary directory

When Katana creates a crashFile, it is saved to the machine’s temporary directory.
The file can be restored manually from there using the following steps:

Windows

1. Open the start menu and enter %TEMP% in the search bar:

2. Locate the most recent Katana crashFile in the temporary directory. The file name should follow a convention similar to the following:
`default_show_default_shot_<projectFileName>_<crashFileId>.<version>.katana`
NOTE: If the crashed project file had not yet been saved, the file name of the resulting autosave will be 'Untitled'.
3. Open the project in Katana and re-save the file elsewhere.

Linux:

1. Navigate to the temporary directory, which should be located at /tmp, using either a terminal or a file browser.

2. Locate the most recent Katana crashFile.

3. Open this in Katana and re-save the project file elsewhere.

FURTHER READING

For more information on the crashFile preferences, please refer to: Katana Online Help - Autosaves

To configure the environment variables related to Katana crash handling, please see the Katana Developer Guide, Crash Handling Environment Variables.

To work with autosaving in a scripting context, for example to force save a project after a certain custom action, please review the Katana Developer Guide, Working with Projects and Autosaving.

FURTHER HELP

If you are seeing any issues with the steps outlined in this article, then please open a Support ticket and let us know the issue you are encountering and the troubleshooting steps you have taken so far.

For more information on how to open a Support ticket, please refer to the Q100064: How to raise a support ticket article.