Message text:

After Effects can’t continue: Damaged item.

Message interpretation:

An effect returned an invalid value and caused the program to crash.

Possible causes:

This is an internal error that eludes the user’s ability to influence or correct it. It may be caused by plug-ins "that do not behave" because they are either outdated and thus incompatible or still under development (Beta).

Resolution or workaround:

Get the latest version of the plug-ins that are compatible with your version of After Effects from the manufacturer.

Message text:

After Effects can’t continue: Damaged item.

Message interpretation:

An unspecified item appears to be damaged.

Possible causes:

This error more frequently appeared with the availability of intel Nehalem Xeon based Mac Pro systems and seems to be related to using Hyperthreading and multiprocessing. In those cases the file I/O overhead seems to jumble up the data streams.

Resolution or workaround:

You may try to turn off Hyperthreading as explained in this error code listing. Generally, though, it is sufficient to turn of the Render Multiple Frames Simultanously feature in your After Effects preferences. even with the feature enabled, restarting the program should at least temporarily fix the issue.

Message text:

After Effects can’t continue: Unexpected failure during application startup.

Message interpretation:

The program crashed during its startup process.

Possible causes:

Similar to several other errors, this is most likely caused by a damaged install. In particular in CS3 and CS4, damaged or incorrectly installed MediaCore and Dynamic Link components can seriously mess with the program’s functionality. The same would be true for multiprocessing. Often this problem occurs after an update gone wrong. If you are using a suite (Production Premium, Master Collection), this sometimes means that an update of another program like Premiere Pro is responsible, not the After Effects update itself.

Resolution or workaround:

Reinstall the program from the original source media, then download the manual update packages. For a suite, make sure to include all programs currently installed on your system.

Message text:

After Effects error: After Effects can’t continue: Failed to register built-in motion tracker.

Message interpretation:

The motion tracker component could not be registered.

Possible causes:

This is mostly unclear, but it stands to reason that it is simply caused by a broken install. Sometimes this happens due to automatic updates going wrong.

Resolution or workaround:

Reinstall the program from the original source media, then download the manual update packages.

Message text:

After Effects error: Unable to open resource file "ParticleWorld.plugin".

Message interpretation:

The CC Particle World plug-in could not be loaded.

Possible causes:

Similar to this error, this is a resource problem in a plug-in. Specific to CC Particle World, it occurred regularly at the time when new Nehalem MacPros with Hyperthreading became available.

Resolution or workaround:

For After Effects CS4, running the 9.0.2 update fixes the issue. For older versions, a user offered the following solutions on the Adobe user-to-user forums:

Solution a

- do a search for Terminal
- launch the Terminal from the search results
- type hwprefs cpu_ht=false
- hit enter to execute the command
- launch After Effects

Solution b

- do a search for AppleScript Editor
- launch the AppleScript Editor from the search results
- type do shell script “hwprefs cpu_ht=false”
- save the file to a location of your choice
- place the file on your dock
- double-click it to execute the command
- launch After Effects

Note: Executing the script will be required every time you have shut down the system because the setting is not persistent.

Message text:

Fatal error, internal component damaged

Message interpretation:

A critical program component is damaged and After Effects cannot run.

Possible causes:

Even though the message states that something is damaged, this must not be the case at all. It is more likely that a component required for operation is simply incompatible due to a version mismatch. This can for instance happen if you install a mix of legacy Adobe products along with the latest version of a specific program and you do so in the wrong order. Another such situation is present, when after a system update a global library, e.g. a specific runtime DLL, has been replaced and its new internal functions are incompatible or new security policies established during the update prevent its proper use.

Resolution or workaround:

Uninstall all your tools and then reinstall them in a different order. In most cases, installing the newer tools before the older ones should avoid accidental overwrites of critical components because the legacy programs are agnostic of new versions and will always install al components they need. Before you run any system updates, investigate all options carefully and skip the updates, if they cause known issues. A future version of a patch may behave better. also make good use of system restore points so you have a way of going back to a previous state.

Message text:

After Effects can’t continue: Internal structure inconsistency (seq)

Message interpretation:

The program has crashed due to a problem with processing render items in the correct order.

Possible causes:

The error possibly points to a mishap in retrieving the correct sequential frames from a number of footage sources. Most likely this can be triggered by using mixed frame rates in the same project when they are used in a series of deeply nested compositions. This could on occasion prevent After Effects from finding the correct footage frame in one of the sub-comps to use it in the topmost comp and in turn makes the whole render pipeline go out of whack, when you place your current time indicator on such a point in the timeline.

Resolution or workaround:

Force-interpret your footage items with consistent frame rates that are even multiples or fractions of the master frame rate. Simplify your project structure by placing critical items in compositions closer to the top level instead of keeping them deep down in the hierarchy.

Message text:

Runtime error!
Program:…dobe Production Studio\After Effects 7.0\Setup.exe
This application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way. Please contact the application’s support team for more information.

Message interpretation:

Trying to run the installer failed.

Possible causes:

Most such install issues are related to problems with the Microsoft Installer (MSI). It is either not installed in the correct version or a component of it is missing.

Possible causes:

Run a Windows Update or download the current package of the Microsoft Installer manually. Repairing the installer can also be achieved by choosing to Update Internet Explorer. You may also need to install additional system components like the .NET runtime environment.

Message text:

After Effects error: After Effects can’t continue: An input violation has occurred!

Message interpretation:

There’s a serious issue at the core level. The program cannot be recovered and needs to be terminated.

Possible causes:

Not applicable.

Resolution or workaround:

Not applicable.

Message text:

After Effects error: After Effects can’t continue: abnormal condition detected (2).

Message interpretation:

There’s a serious issue at the core level. The program cannot be recovered and needs to be terminated.

Possible causes:

Not applicable.

Resolution or workaround:

Not applicable.