Actually, the easiest (fastest) fix is to update the Dimension Pro serial in these registry keys, which is what mage_et_lent suggested:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Cakewalk Music Software/dp/
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Cakewalk Music Software/Wow6432Node/Cakewalk Music Software/Dimension Pro
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Cakewalk Music Software/Wow6432Node/Cakewalk Music Software/dp

I tried it and it works.

Too late for me - already nuked old installation with dxi and installed new (with new serial number / reg code).  Could I install just the dxi from the Sonar 8 disc without really screwing it up?  If so, I assume I should use the old serial # / code for the dxi installation?

Tripecac


Actually, the easiest (fastest) fix is to update the Dimension Pro serial in these registry keys, which is what mage_et_lent suggested:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Cakewalk Music Software/dp/
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Cakewalk Music Software/Wow6432Node/Cakewalk Music Software/Dimension Pro
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Cakewalk Music Software/Wow6432Node/Cakewalk Music Software/dp

I tried it and it works.

This seem tricky, Should I delete the keys, Serial and Registrant? Registrant keys are not the same values as you registrant keys from Cakewalk, so you can't edit them?

You don't need to delete the registry keys.  Just change the old serial numbers to the new ones.  Three edits total.  If you cut and paste it can be done in less than a minute.

Search for your old Dimension Pro serial number.  Then replace those values with the new values.

Well, it found the serial number only once in the registry, so I changed it.  DimPro 1.5 on the standalone desktop works and has the new serial no and calls itself 1.5 on the about tab/panel.

In X1 however, DimPro now comes saying it's 1.2 (on the about tab) and then asks me to register - with the correct (new) serial number in place.  I then try to register with the new registration code and it tells me it's the wrong code.  Confusing and a pain as I do use Dimension Pro a fair bit. 

i have same issue.   dm pro wont load in X1  but i have all the updates and expansion packs working in 8.5.3 PE    lil annoying  but I'm still in WTF am I doing mode so it's not like i'm gonna be taking on any real prodject for a while till i can get the hang of this well enough to try to pitch X1 to the music dept. dean. I prolly wont get to benifit from taking a class since semester starts in jan., but maybe by the summer semester I could have an X1 lab avilable..  when will X1 be ready for academic packs? hopefully, I can sell him on using a lab for X1 ( bout 20 pc's +- )   
 I think after all the kinks are ironed out, X1 has an actual chance to overtake our ProTools studio..  

  Your Welcome  Cakewalk       
Feel free to send me all the  elite packs and a vs700 anytime..  ;) 

This is getting very painful. I've never had even close to the issues I'm dealing with on this install...

I just downloaded the expansion packs 1-2 for a 3rd time... Now that it's finally allowing an unzip, it hangs at the end of the unzip and crashes the pc?!?

smoddelm


Too late for me - already nuked old installation with dxi and installed new (with new serial number / reg code).  Could I install just the dxi from the Sonar 8 disc without really screwing it up?  If so, I assume I should use the old serial # / code for the dxi installation?

"Patch" apparently does not upgrade DXi Dimension Pro 1.2 to VSTi Dimension Pro 1.5

Hello - my first post...

Too late for me too. I still have Sonar 6 Producer which had DimPro 1.2 + expansion packs running as a DXi. I have loads of tracks that used DimPro. Installed X1 Producer from DVDs and found the "patch" for upgrading 1.2 to 1.5, and ran it. Things whirred and hummed but the result was no DimPro 1.5. I could not see any difference between the 1.2 that did appear and the old 1.2, so I guessed it was the same (old) install.

Then I tried uninstalling DimPro 1.2 using Control Panel - Add/Remove Programs, and it would not uninstall (because running the patch had changed it to a VSTi, and these don't install or uninstall like normal programs - typically you can just copy a dll and it's there, or delete it and it goes away).

If you're having the same DXi-VSTi problem DO NOT follow the next (stupid) step.  A way to remove programs that will not uninstall is to remove their entries from the registry, which I did. I was then able to do a fresh install of 1.5, which then appeared in Sonar.

Now comes the crucial, horrible bit: When I load in an old track that used DimPro, Sonar cannot find it and gives a message that the (DimPRo) plugin may be missing or improperly installed on your system, and "The original plugin state is saved by stand-in plugins and will be restored if you save the project and subsequently load it on a system where the plugins are properly installed".

A bit of searching around demonstrates there is no way to migrate the millions of settings I had in Dim Pro 1.2. The only solution, it seems, is to re-install Dimension Pro 1.2 as a DXi and carry on using it on legacy tracks, and to use 1.5 only on tracks started post-X1.

I would have thought the Roland / Cakewalk engineers would have developed and tested the patch to cope with old DXi installs, or at least put a big notice on the readme file.

UPDATE STEP 1: Dim Pro 1.0 reinstalled as DXi from DVD, 1.2 updater, expansion packs etc all added: Sonar X1 finds it and it works with legacy tracks (phew): About to try installing 1.5 VST alongside... fingers crossed...