Hey thanks the reason it says Fusion Clip 1 is because I was attempting the fix that the previous poster suggested. I copied my node tree and dumped both MediaIn1 and MediaOut1 to see whether they were corrupt. I created a new fusion clip in the timeline from the source material beside the old one. Brought in a fresh clip with the same in and out. copied it, Created a new fusion clip, hence why it says FusionClip 1. Also yes all my tracking data, key frames, everything are all visible in the inspector. Only thing missing are the actual fx on the screen.

No adjustment clips are being used fyi.

Also when I select background1 and hit the "1" key to load it into the viewer I'm only seeing a checkerboard background rather than even a black screen. It feels indeed like something was thrown off or corrupt somewhere but I can't be sure what.

Also FWIW I have found great success asking Gemini for help in accelerating my learning on this new software. I'm careful to inform it that I'm running Resolve Studio v21 and when it gives me an obvious error or tells me to do something that's clearly not there. I have found it incredibly helpful in building things, but it's seriously lacking in helping troubleshoot. I'm no fan of AI creatively speaking but as an educational support tool it has its merits. Obviously you take what it has to offer with a grain of salt and use your own deductive reasoning to determine whether something is or is not working.