
Here is a link to reveal the steps to HACK a PP project file to allow it to open in earlier versions of PP: XML files are just text files which can be opened in a text editor, like Notepad. In investigating any possible solution, I found a comment in the Adobe Premiere Pro User forum which revealed that the PP project file is a renamed XML gzip file. I calculated it would take months to correct these issues. I tried exporting to XML and opening the export in cc2017, but lost all applied effects, and titles with a few other gotcha’s. The problems incrementally became worst with each update. After reinstalling Windows 10, cc2018, making a new project and copy-pasting all time line objects, still no resolution. In Premiere Pro cc2018 this project would freeze just about every 5-6 changes. Having been burnt from the problems from the cc2015 to cc2017 upgrade I wanted to avoid upgrading until stability issues were resolved, but was forced to upgrade.

I have a project (ProRes) which forced me to upgrade to cc2018 due to the format the project was submitted for VFX, color correcting and audio cleanup.
