Sonar X3 Safe Mode - Doesn't Load Plugins

I have a project that was fine for a couple days then suddenly would not open at all.  Nothing "happened" that I could see.  Closed fine the day before.  Next day wouldn't open.   A big project for me with at least 10 vst plugins and a few plugin instruments.  It pretends to load then ultimately goes into a "not responding" freeze.  It will load up in safe mode (holding shift key) so the audio is still there but the plugins won't load.  Even if I choose to load them during the safe mode dialog.   It makes no difference what I choose during the dialog, it loads without any plugins. 
 
TLDR background.  
Worked on the project for a couple weeks without issue.  Loaded it this morning and it froze up.  Fought it for many hours by reinstalling sonar and the main plugins in the project.  Still freezing.   Decided to start over since the audio was still there.  Exported everything to neat little wave files.  Imported it into a clean and fresh project (not a default template) and got it back running.  Started adding the the original plugins with no trouble.  Worked on it another 3 or 4 hours tweaking here and there then it crashed during a manual save.  Next load up try was a freeze like the original.   I disabled every plugin available through the manager and it doesn't make a difference.  I can load other projects with very similar plugins with no issues (yet).   I'm getting afraid to trust this program with my work.  I loaded a trial copy of Studio One a few months back and did two hardcore heavy use session.  I ran every plugin I had, numerous instances of each, just to see what it would do.   It never crashed once.   This does not make me want to "get on board" with the Sonar rental program. 
 
Windows 7.  Sonar X3e.  Using Kontakt with Studio Drummer, Amplitube, TruePianos, Loung Lizard and GTR mostly for this particular project.   I've been using all of these plugins for years with only crashes here and there.  Nothing ever this bad.