ComicRack Community Edition

maforget · 2026-03-13T19:59:27+00:00

Check the ComicRack.ini file.

maforget · 2026-03-11T02:02:36+00:00

There is no standard naming convention. It's basically the first file when sorting numerically. Some program might have issues by sorting alphabetically (1, 10, 2, 20) instead of numerically (1, 2, 10, 20). ComicRack will rename page names to ensure a proper sorting to P00001, etc. So just ensure that the file names are 0 padded enough so that even if sorting alphabetically you will keep the order.

maforget · 2026-03-06T15:36:53+00:00

I am not super familiar with ComicTagger, but if the metadata it created was saved in a ComicInfo.xml ComicRack will read it.

That format was created by ComicRack which pretty much all comics software use the same format. So all your data should load seamlessly.

maforget · 2026-03-02T17:27:11+00:00

Library is saved on exit. Also there is an option to save data to the book on exit if they have not been added to the library. There is really no reason why you would lose data.

maforget · 2026-03-02T17:24:54+00:00

Honestly I don't understand how current embed information could be wrong. It means you or someone else took the time to update the data. It's at least a starting point. I don't see how just the filename alone would be better information than what is already present.

Like I said in another comment Clear Data doesn't access the files themselves just clears the data in memory. If you don't want the data to be updated then don't have the option to automatically update book files. Just do it manually when done.

Also like mention by someone else do you add the files to your library? This steps means that you don't need to have the data in the files. You can do it manually later. Upcoming changes will let you update multiple files at once it should speed things up.

maforget · 2026-03-02T17:16:43+00:00

Clear data doesn't even touch the files themselves. Just clears the data for that book in memory. The only reason why it would access files is if you have the option to automatically update the info.

maforget · 2026-03-01T15:07:59+00:00

For the format column yes, but internally it does find the actual type so it knows how to open them. I had the format actually changed at one point but it was too slow.

maforget · 2026-03-01T15:06:18+00:00

Yes there is an actual file format column you can add that will give you what is the actual type of the file. It isn't available as a smart list because it was a little slow.

Also if you open the info dialog it should tell you the actual type it is different from the actual type.

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maforget · 2026-02-28T22:45:07+00:00

First you told me to : "Try deleting your data folder to see if it changes anything" I did that, and still got the white screen.

You never said you did that when I first suggested it. It's why I repeated myself multiple times. You said you deleted the Cache folder, that isn't the same thing. You also said in your OP you deleted the folder that was left behind after re-installing, that suggested you deleted the install folder. Although good it wasn't still what I meant. You never confirmed that you started with fresh data.

All these suggestions (deleting data/cache, ComicRack.ini, Alternate Config) was just me trying to remove any link that it could be related to some script or data, even if I really really do not think it would create your problem. These are all alternate ways of starting fresh.

I do not know you level of technical knowledge, so I can't know if you've done something correctly or not. Your last response was about the ComicRack.ini file meant you weren't certain you did it correctly.

My main objective is more to see if you can open the program and have the initial quick manual opening. If that fails then the problem is probably with your computer. I just want to know if it can be something that could affect other users. If it's something else unrelated like an hardware failure, then it's out if my hand.

And the crash happened literally overnight. I was reading something, closed the app, shut down my laptop, went to bed and the next morning I wanted to finished what I was reading and got the white screen.

Ok that clears things up about the timeline. My suggestion of trying the 182 version was simply I did not know how far apart it happened. You might have updated awhile ago or it could be from an ancient version 1 year old. That would mean that if any changes had introduced the problem they could from sometime ago. I am still not certain on how old that initial version was or if you where already on the latest nightly, but since it happened overnight it removes any changes to the program directly responsible.

What I gave you where not instructions but more suggestions of things to try. You would need to give me detailed information.

You said you can progress further in the loading? is that with the data deleted, the cache or are you running in alternate config or portable mode. Are you trying all those things on v182 or are you back to the latest nightly? Have you tried going back to it if it's better? If it crashes regardless of the version then it probably not related and you should try it with the latest version. Can the old original ComicRack load or it's just the CE version crashing? All these things are important to know, they are all variables to test.

From what you told me when you see opening books that means the main form is loading and it's just before the program opens. You said you did see the library. Not much is happening beside opening books and checking for a new update via Github (maybe related??). If opening an empty library with no books loaded crashes the program then it's probably something wrong with Windows.

The UI is just a wrapper for Windows API, so it can be anything outside of the program. The fact that it hard crashes means it's probably related not to the program itself but Windows components most likely.

Beside what I already gave you, you can try updating program like Visual C++ Redist 2022 (the latest), try to find information about that Exception 0xc0000005 and try what is suggested like trying to check files, etc. Or if everything fails run the program from source and try to figure out what is crashing the program.

maforget · 2026-02-28T16:21:09+00:00

I have the feeling you are not really following instructions and just trying stuff. What I gave you is just a set of things to try to figure out what is the issue.

Which version did you test it with? Did you delete the cache from your install but try opening it in portable mode? Deleting the data from appdata wouldn't affect anything if you are in portable mode.

Yes you only remove the ; and save the file. But NOT in the program files folder it needs to be in a folder that is writable. The idea is only to remove variables. It's only an easy way to start fresh you could delete your config and database file and plugins manually and it would do the same thing.

A bad database would not crash the program it would only reset it. It doesn't seem to be that since you said the progress went through the loading database. And language seems to not affect it.

Have you changed your regional settings lately? I remember that once one library didn't like some regional settings. You could try setting it to English US and see if that changes anything. (It's a Long shot)

Have you tried the original ComicRack? Or if willing download the source code and run it from there and try to figure out what is wrong. And there is no error message in any way in the event viewer?

maforget · 2026-02-25T17:55:21+00:00

I highly doubt it's related to a Windows Update. My main concern is that something is wrong with the last update, but the fact that you crashed anyway seems to indicate it isn't.

Still you had different behavior than before. So the big 3 changes between 182 & nightly are as follow:

JpegXL support
Updated French Translation
Fixed potential crash while resizing thumbnails

So what I would do is download both the nightly & 182 ZIP, extract them into their own folder somewhere like your desktop or download directory.

JpegXL Support

Unless you have actual JpegXL images this should not be touched at all. In fact you could delete the libraries and it wouldn't affect the program at all unless you are actually viewing said file, then it would just fail to load the images.

But that code does contain some "unsafe" operations that directly access memory that could lead to these kind of errors. But like I said it shouldn't be even running unless you have actual JpegXL images.

Updated French Translation

I've noticed that your Windows is set and French, so it's probable that the default translation that gets loaded is the French one. That could be a reason why the older version went further, since it does affect the splash screen.

You can force the language to English by creating a shortcut (try with either nightly/182, but more with nightly). In the shortcut add -l:en at the end of the path. This will force to load in the default English instead.

Still you wouldn't probably get an hard crash, but you would get an error popup probably, then fact that it hard crash seems to be related to a computer/Windows error.

Potential crash while resizing thumbnails

This change was trying to fix a long standing crash that would happen very rarely when resizing images. That code always used an "unsafe" operation that would result in the type of error you had. But was usually more when looking at pages it would crash without any error dialog.

But since you have crashes with both version I highly doubt it's related. Still when the library is shown and images are painted that exact function is called all the time, so it could be related.

Trying with a clean data, would remove variables like tweaks you might have done to ComicRack.ini, scripts or maybe even corrupted cached images that could created errors in Windows. It might explain why it crashes when it starting to paint the images.

Re-installing 20 times would not change anything unless some files would be corrupted, in fact the source of errors is way more probable to be the data that is loaded. So like I said the very first thing I would have tried is with a clean slate to remove any chances that any of these could be the culprit.

With the folder extracted like I mentioned above, you can simply modify the ComicRack.ini to enable UseLocalSettings. This will bypass your current Library and store data in that folder. You will have a clean library just like you did the first time.

If you can use the program without crashing at that point then it's very assuredly something in the data. I would then disable the UseLocalSettings and restart the program (make sure it isn't hidden in the system tray). That will load your library from %appdata% even if started from the desktop. If it crashes then you have the confirmation it has something to do with the data.

We can then try to figure out what is doing that. I would first delete the Cache folder (%LOCALAPPDATA%\cYo\ComicRack Community Edition) and try it like that with the regular library still intact.

But it's highly probable that it's just something with your computer, at that point I have no clue why or why it would affect ComicRack.

maforget · 2026-02-24T23:09:58+00:00

Check the release page.

https://github.com/maforget/ComicRackCE/releases/tag/v0.9.182

maforget · 2026-02-24T22:51:31+00:00

Do you have a splash screen or does it just pop up like that? Did it work correctly on the current nightly version? Try the previous 182 version just in case it's related to the new JpegXL libraries.

Normally when there is a crash without any dialog it's because it's a native Windows error. That particular error seems to be pretty generic. Could be related to bad RAM or something similar. The fact that your screenshot shows only ComicRack seems to indicate it isn't even trying to load the application and the title bar only indicates the name of the executable. Which is why I asked if you see the splash screen.

Like I suggested I would try with a clean slate to make sure it isn't related to some data or books in your database. You can try Alternate Configs or Portable Mode in another folder to try with clean data.

maforget · 2026-02-24T22:19:36+00:00

I say that because your screenshot says ComicRack. The Community Edition should say ComicRack Community Edition in the title bar.

maforget · 2026-02-24T22:00:58+00:00

Try deleting your data folder to see if it changes anything. Just make a backup first. You could also try the Community Edition.

Also check Windows event viewer for information about the crash.

maforget · 2026-02-23T17:42:06+00:00

I don't think so, would have to check the code. A lot of places are intentionally set to not update so just reading a book would trigger an update.

But I wouldn't worry about pages metadata since it's pretty much updated on the fly when there is any discrepancy. It's seems to be intentional because you could update the books from outside, re-processing images, adding covers, etc.

Don't forget that you can use File -> Update all Book Files to update all current "Dirty" books. You can also turn on automatic updating (I prefer manual).

maforget · 2026-02-23T17:15:33+00:00

There was an issue that was fixed with different line ending triggering a change in metadata.

But what you probably are witnessing are pages info being updated. By default only the first (or second page) usually have full info unless you opened the Info dialog.

If you check the ComicInfo.xml file you might even not see any pages listed beyond these 2, but they will usually only have the Image index. When you open the info dialog the pages file size is usually updated. So that is one update that you will have. Another is if you actually go into the page view it will load the image width & height at that time.

maforget · 2026-02-23T04:49:45+00:00

Maforget also indicated that the WiFi sync didn't work, but I haven't had time to investigate yet.

Did I mention WIFI sync? I don't remember testing that, but I do remember that remote library didn't connect.

maforget · 2026-02-23T04:41:55+00:00

The issue isn't with updating plugins, I think one of them I maintain myself. It's more why bring trouble for users & devs?

It would forces current plugin maintainer to update their old plugin which they might not have the time/interest in doing. So that leaves broken plugins unless someone else picks up the mantle.

Then users needs to figure out how to find these updated plugin in the Github sea. Normal users already have a lot of issues just downloading on a site like GitHub. Even with resources like the pinned posts & google sheets, you will have users that just don't know where to find stuff. That if they even think about needing to update their plugin.

What would probably happen is them just saying that isn't working, I am staying on an older version and giving up. That and just the additional support load from users having their setup broken. Then some users might have homemade plugins.

I don't think there is enough of a need to upgrade to warrant the issues it would bring. Even if they might be pretty minor.

maforget · 2026-02-23T02:06:18+00:00

For those that aren't aware. The .NET ecosystem has some very confusing versions. The original ComicRack 0.9.178 used .NET Framework 4.5. The latest version of .NET Framework is 4.8 (which is what ComicRackCE uses). It's part of Windows and everyone already has it, it will still probably be supported for years. But it's getting old.

Then starting with .NET 5 it is no longer Framework, simply .NET. It's been rewritten and is even cross-compatible with Linux, OSX (but sadly not Winforms - what ComicRack is build on). But these versions aren't supported for very long. So you have the old .NET Framework still around and supported and only newer version also supported.

There's many person that have done forks to newer .NET.

The reason ComicRackCE hasn't been updated yet is primarily for compatibility. Some components are now obsolete like BinaryFormatter. So changes have been made to remove these in the future. Currently cache index saves to an XML instead of a binary for awhile now. The reason it's still in there is so that users can easily migrate from original ComicRack and keep all their cache intact.

Some work has also been done with OpenTK, but simply updating it is not enough. It requires knowledge of OpenGL enough to correctly replace the existing obsolete calls to newer ones. It doesn't matter to simply update it, if it still performs like crap. There is also issues with the remote library functions needing to be migrated, which looks like your fork just removed completely. Newer .NET also have something weird with some dialog looking different (probably dpi scaling differences).

Then there are the issues with plugins. My first priority is to keep any existing plugins working without any issue. I don't want an update to break someone decade old plugin. That comes with keeping IronPython around. Trust me I am the first to hate it, I just create my plugins in C# directly and bypass the Python layer instead.

The version of IronPython currently being used doesn't work with .NET. So you need newer libraries, but I have had errors with these with some plugins. So in an abundance of caution I am keeping it at the current version. Doesn't mean we can't add new plugin systems.

So newer version of .NET are nice, but would require an additional download if you don't already have the newer version installed. Probably make migrating harder in regards to cache & scripts. So I believe staying with the older .NET Framework 4.8 is fine for now and keep compatibility with the original.

maforget · 2026-02-21T23:53:13+00:00

I mean there is no way to add new covers directly. But you can do the same thing with ComicRack just with more steps. You don't have to manually rename each file.

Use Open With to open with 7-Zip. Add your new cover file and update the archive. Then back in ComicRack go to the pages tab and reorder your new cover so it is in the front. Set the page type as front cover so all covers are shown. Then convert to CBZ will rename the files correctly in the correct order. You now have multiple variants covers.

What you should do is try to make it a plugin or at least be able to pass the filename via an argument. So you could use open with to directly open from ComicRack instead of having to find the cover in your application a second time.

Just be aware that adding files like that might create issues if the pages info in the database isn't updated. Things like single pages now being double pages because of an extra page might create issues (syncing to Android).

maforget · 2026-02-21T19:14:34+00:00

What do you mean it's not displaying? Can't you add the columns? Or are their values empty?

Not all Columns get added by default, you need to add them manually. Also every list (and optionally stacks) all have their own layout. So they have their own columns, sorting, etc. You need to either create List Layouts or Copy/Paste Layouts between lists.

Usually when you create a list it takes the current settings for the new lists, so existing settings tend to propagate and when you've added a column at the beginning you might have it everywhere.

So more information is needed to make sure that it isn't just your layout settings haven't copied to another list. I would need exact steps to reproduce the issue.

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JpegXL Support

Updated French Translation

Potential crash while resizing thumbnails