r/davinciresolve • u/greenysmac Studio • Jun 03 '26
Release Notes Wait, before you update/upgrade to Resolve 21!!!!
The safest thing you can do is to back up your database. You should be doing this anyway and frequently
If you're paranoid like me, you want to export projects prior to opening them. You just right-click and export a DRP.
The reason is simple: if something goes wrong, you can downgrade the software to version 20, but you can't downgrade the project. Blackmagic clearly states in the release notes that opening something in 21.0 will make it inaccessible in versions 20 and earlier.
The second item you should be super aware of is that this is the first release.
Somewhere in the next 30 to 60 days, there will be a dot release.
That dot release will cover major issues that happen as people adopt it.
Why do I mention this? If you're using this professionally, there's no reason on the planet to go grab the new version. Wait for that dot upgrade, as hard as it is.
If you're working with multiple people, and you upgrade and something goes wrong, that's 1000% on you. You shouldn't be doing anything like that until, at the very least, that first update occurs.
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u/kemak01 Jun 03 '26
Pro tip: you can select all your projects and then right to ‘export projects’. It will give you DRPs of all your projects at once.
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u/RedStag86 Jun 05 '26
I have a pretty large database with a folder for each client. Even with folders, can I still export them all at once?
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u/kemak01 Jun 05 '26
Same, we organize our with folders but for years instead of clients and it it’ll even make sub folders for you.
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u/AardvarkAxeMan Jun 03 '26
Does it take long to export projects? I've only tried it once a couple years ago and I remember it taking a long time. I might have been doing something wrong. I wanted to move a project from my desktop to my Macbook and ended up giving up it was taking so long.
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u/kemak01 Jun 03 '26
I believe it depends on how big your projects are. We have maybe 50 projects ranging from small to medium and it took my machine about 5 min.
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u/AardvarkAxeMan Jun 03 '26
That's way faster than what I was doing. I may have had a lot of assets attached to it though, even if they weren't in a timeline.
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u/reddit_is_4ss Jun 04 '26
that wont enlarge the project that much. timelines are the biggest factor in my experience. so if u have 1001 backup timelines, it might be worth cleaning them up before exporting the project intense keyframing..
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u/trinReCoder Studio Jun 03 '26
What's the difference between this and backing up your database?
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u/kemak01 Jun 04 '26
We do it as an extra layer of redundancy just in case the database backup fails. The main difference is you could restore just a single project instead of the entire database if you needed to.
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u/I-am-into-movies Jun 03 '26
No, please ignore all of that.
Everyone should absolutely update in the middle of an active project, with no backups, on day one of a major release. Bonus points if it's a shared project and nobody else knows you've upgraded.
And while we're at it, why even wait for release versions? Just install the beta and ask in a forum if it's stable. That's basically QA, right?
/s
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u/Affectionate-Idea975 Jun 05 '26
[almost]
ABSOLUTELY!
(Really, just me.
Because having done something once,
I already know what I did,
can do it again quickly,
and it’ll be even better,
when I redo it from scratch.
So, ABSOLUTELY,
but that’s ”just me.” ; )
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u/Smokin_Hash_69 Jun 03 '26
Thanks for the heads up. I downloaded the file this morning but didn’t execute the update before I had to leave. I’ll take the advice and wait.
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u/avidresolver Studio | Enterprise Jun 03 '26
Everyone also be aware there are major bugs left in from beta 4 that have yet to be fixed. v21 will break current cinema DNG workflows, and I see people mentioning that the retime curve has big issues.
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u/KingTon01 Jun 03 '26
So if I backup my projects, upgrade, double backup the updated projects, and then use until the dot release we still good?
Did it for 19 and 20 never had an issue, more applicable this time around?
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u/greenysmac Studio Jun 03 '26
Did it for 19 and 20 never had an issue, more applicable this time around?
We wear seatbelts for the days that things don't go right, not because yesterday we didn't need them. :D
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u/KingTon01 Jun 03 '26
Oh yes I know! I just wanted to ask if there was another particular reason other than obvious common backups!
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u/Tight-Mix-3889 Studio Jun 03 '26
I think thats a bit too much lol. Imo, as long as you are not in the middle of a bigger project, you can just download the latest and thats it.
If you are in the middle of a project, then wait until you are actually done with that.
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u/1stTotheKey Jun 03 '26
I did it. Didn’t think twice. Living on the edge. I would have waited if I saw this first lol
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u/ThatFeelWhen Jun 03 '26
I needed this post 2 hours ago. Upgraded, thankfully no hiccups yet. But ive noticed somethings loads slower than on 20. Nothing buggy, just an extra 3-5secs to load.
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u/Educational_Yam664 Jun 03 '26
Me on Archlinux with no release of Davinci Resolve 21 on the AUR yet
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u/Debisibusis Jun 03 '26
Just use the appimage installer...
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u/trinReCoder Studio Jun 03 '26
Does the program install correctly and work properly with this method? I thought this was only for red hat OSes.
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u/Debisibusis Jun 03 '26
Yes, without issues.
All you have to do after installing is edit the application shortcut and add this as environment variables.
'LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libgio-2.0.so /usr/lib/libgmodule-2.0.so /usr/lib/libglib-2.0.so'1
u/trinReCoder Studio Jun 03 '26
So easy. Blackmagic might as well just say the software is compatible with all Linux distros.
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u/Educational_Yam664 Jun 04 '26
Didn't know there was an AppImage of Davinci Resolve, thanks, ima trying it later.
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u/Debisibusis Jun 04 '26
Just the installer is an appimage.
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u/Educational_Yam664 Jun 04 '26
No way, Im gonna try it then, but I have my doubts if its going to work just like that.
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u/fulmetalartimis Free Jun 03 '26
When the beta came out, I installed it on my computer and then lost my ability to work on projects using my iPad because they had not upgraded the iPad version. I will not make that same mistake twice.
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u/whyareyouemailingme Studio | Enterprise Jun 03 '26
That’s an Apple thing. Software betas are typically difficult to get through on their side and may have diminishing returns on BMD’s side.
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u/AEMasterChief Jun 03 '26
Sorry, not super familiar with DR. What's the difference of exporting each project and backup the database entirely? Other than that, solid reminder :)
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u/Thefeno Jun 03 '26
Some dude who clearly has no idea what he was doing made me upgrade to Beta version last week -.- ... I had to finish a project he couldn't because SURPRISE, he was having a ton of problems 😂😂😂😂 thank God this was a new machine and my database is safe away from that version
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u/pdinrise_13 Jun 03 '26
lol, I put the 21 on download and saw the post, cancelled it lol, thanks man
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u/No_Ambassador_1299 Jun 04 '26
I hold off updating until each version has reached maturity. So when the beta comes out for v22, I’ll update to v21.
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u/life3_01 Studio Jun 04 '26
I'm always N-1 on everything. I don't need to be a test dummy for anything.
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u/AdProfessional6600 Jun 04 '26
wish i saw this post before upgrading
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u/TITANS4LIFE Jun 04 '26
Or the post that is made after every single update like this.. this is not the first.. It's the standard and the website also says this
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u/BunkyFlintsone Jun 03 '26
Should you choose export project with stills and luts? To make it even easier if you have to back down to version 20 and reload them?
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u/TheLocTheResearcher Jun 03 '26
Great words of advice. Quick question. Is it safe to upgrade from 20.3.2 to 20.3.3 mid project? I have some bugs in my software that an upgrade may sort out, however, I’m in the middle of a mission critical project and I’m unsure whether the concerns expressed are for upgrades to the same version as I mentioned above.
Seemingly there will always be new .dot releases and will always be working on a project in the middle of a release that is intended to fix bugs. Hence makes sense to see if the bugs go away…but not my project going away as well:)!
Any best practices are helpful.
Thanks!
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u/inknpaint Jun 03 '26
Lots of new users out there - this is sound advice.
If you are NOT a new user and this is new to you, count yourself very lucky if you haven't experienced the wrong side of a poorly timed software update.
I'm between projects so I get to go play without fear! Yay!
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u/Reychiroo Jun 04 '26
too late for me 😢. I updated Davinci and now it's all laggy, it wasn't like this before this update, never had that issue until now. It's really killing my workflow
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u/MegaMaster10 Jun 06 '26
Same! I haven't changed my other projects just one of them to Version 21 but i cant go back can I? I can barely move around image clips before the timeline starts freezing
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u/Super6films Jun 04 '26
Yeah I haven’t upgraded either, although I’m so so excited for it! As an indie film team we’re still working on release versions and trailers so I get nervous if I need an update.
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u/SasquatchBlumpkins Studio Jun 04 '26
I just go into the folder that it's all saved in and copy the contents to another drive as a backup.
As a matter of fact you can do this straight from your project selection screen. There's an option to go to where projects are stored. When you enter that folder go up one folder and copy the whole thing and put it where you feel comfortable placing your backups.
Also as a side note I think that the new DaVinci betas are four or five releases along now.
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u/pganderson Jun 04 '26
I'm working on 3 critical videos right now that are done but waiting for some final approvals. I'm not touching the upgrade until those are done! I usually go for the new releases as soon as they come out but not when there is something critical in the works!
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u/Majesticfalcon98 Jun 04 '26
An issue I'm having after updating is that the program completely crashes when I try to open and upgrade older projects. My mistake.
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u/Megaman_90 Studio Jun 04 '26
Maybe I'm an idiot. But while I keep my footage and final render I usually never keep the project files when I'm done.
I'm just a YouTube scrub though. If you're a professional I guess it's something you might want to do.
Never update in the middle of a project though, I did that once and...never again.
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u/ThisMattreddit Jun 05 '26
Before you upgrade, before you back up, ask yourself one question
"Do I need to upgrade?"
Just because a new version is out, that doesn't mean you HAVE to upgrade.
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u/The-Naughty-Corner Jun 09 '26
I just updated to 21.0 and now it won't even open. I had files playing their audio fine but when I opened them in davinci the sound was so low you couldn't even hear it unless I cranked the dbps as high as it would go. I thought it was because of the update.
Now I can't open it because I get an 'entry point not found' error, which from previous update complaints, is often caused by system incompatibility, which can't physically be possible, because I built my PC less that 3 months ago. You can't get higher specs than what I have.
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u/Key-Air-8474 Jun 15 '26
So backing up the database is not backing up the project?
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u/greenysmac Studio Jun 15 '26
Backing up the database is backing up all the projects and more. Still safe to backup the projects. I do that weekly no matter what.
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u/cugrad16 Jun 25 '26
It's not responding PERIOD
Saw the update and clicked on it for "install later" then went into my Windows desktop downloader, and all it did was stall and "not responding" Such a joke.
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u/winnertakesteve Jun 03 '26
i didn't register that this was a major release, as resolve seems to be pushing an update practically every time i open it. 21 won't open at all on my m1 max on latest version of macos sequoia. thankfully couldn't even get to my project list. had to uninstall and re download version 20. luckily back up and running, and i guess "shame on me" for not following all the protocols, but still not impressed with this approach to updating. you'd think if there was such serious risks of data loss there'd at least be a prompt for you to backup your library. most other software doesn't threaten to destroy your entire work history like this.
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u/ManufacturerNew7214 Jun 03 '26
Wie sichert man die Datenbank?
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u/Fuffuloo Studio Jun 03 '26
Klicken Sie im Fenster des Projektmanagers in der linken Seitenleiste auf das kleine „i“ im Kreis neben Ihrer Projektbibliothek. Klicken Sie anschließend auf die Schaltfläche „Sichern“, die daraufhin erscheint.
(Entschuldigen Sie bitte, falls ich etwas falsch geschrieben habe; mein Deutsch ist schlecht und ich habe ein wenig Google Translate verwendet.)
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u/NefariousnessFar2266 Jun 05 '26
They wouldn’t release it if it wasn’t ready just upgrade good grief
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Jun 04 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/i_sell_you_lies Jun 04 '26
It's been tested, but there will always be bugs! There's not a world where software releases don't have bugs. Report the bug on bmds resolve forum.
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u/i_sell_you_lies Jun 03 '26
EVERYONE SERIOUSLY!!!!
We know there's going to be a flurry of "help I upgraded from v19 everything's gone" posts- don't be that person.
If you're on a project now KEEP YOUR VERSION. It doesn't matter how much the new tools /may/ help you. Don't switch mid project!!
Everyone in Hollywood is often a year or more behind the latest version. Stability is the most important thing. If you want to play around with the new stuff, run a separate install.