scook
The RXP which ships with X3 Studio and Producer is a VSTi installed in the Vstplugins directory. The DXi version must be from a prior release. Not sure why the VST scanner is even looking at the "Shared DXi" directory.
 
What are the paths defined in "VST scan paths"?
 

 there are 3 paths, all the standard default  (x86) including common files folder. I haven't added any paths. VST scan seems buggy to me and seems to be checking out more paths than it should.
 
It was initially crashing on Vsampler, which it did on my first X3 install. When pluggin manager offered to delete Vsampler from the registry that's when the problems showed up with RXP.  Although it may be that it just hadn't gotten to RXP before i crashed on Vsampler, I'm not sure about this part.

Strange, only 2 paths are standard in an X3 64bit installation:
C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\Vstplugins
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Vst3
 
I would expect the 32bit installation to only show:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Cakewalk\Vstplugins
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Vst3
 
 
Prior to X3 there was only one path by default in the VST Scan Path window. The VST3 path is new to X3.

scook
Strange, only 2 paths are standard in an X3 64bit installation:
C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\Vstplugins
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Vst3
 
I would expect the 32bit installation to only show:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Cakewalk\Vstplugins
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Vst3
 
 
Prior to X3 there was only one path by default in the VST Scan Path window. The VST3 path is new to X3.

 
there's one other directory under Cakewalk/shared something?/internal it has console emulator in there

After I did all the Windows updates I made an image file,  I reverted back to it and uninstalled Vsampler first, Vsampler is completely uninstalled, including deleting it's speedsoft folder and the Vsampler.dll found in the Cakewalk vst folder. I then uninstalled and reinstalled X3 using the run as administrator option.
 
After the install, I didn't launch the application, instead I updated to X3e using the patch and using the run as administrator option. When I did launch X3 I ran it as the administrator and even though Vsampler is completely uninstalled it's showing up in VST scan and crashes it everytime. I tried reset, with no check boxes and then with the check boxes. So far the RXP problem hasn't occurred again and I did see it flash by during the VST scan.
 
I rebooted and tried it all again to no avail. Also when I did launch the application for the first time it did copy preferences and maybe that's where it got the Vsampler info from. Either that or the VST scan didn't uninstall, since it's used by 8.5 and X1.
 
In pluggin manager under DXi if I choose "show excluded", it shows Vsampler under excluded. X1 never had this buggy performance with VST scan. I'm at a loss what to try next.
 

gmp
 
there's one other directory under Cakewalk/shared something?/internal it has console emulator in there

AFAIK, the "C:\Program Files (x86)\Cakewalk\Shared Utilties\Internal" path is only exposed in the VST Scan Path box via the Cakewalk Plugin Manager. Cakewalk staff have advised to use the Preferences > File > VST Settings dialog for scanning plug-ins insted of the Cakewalk Plugin Manager.

gmp
In pluggin manager under DXi if I choose "show excluded", it shows Vsampler under excluded. X1 never had this buggy performance with VST scan. I'm at a loss what to try next.

Is is possible there are still some references to VSampler in the registry? It is not unusual for uninstall process to leave registry entries. I am not sure how it would affect the VST scan process; it is an excluded DXi.
 

After reading both this and other thread http://forum.cakewalk.com/FindPost/3026687 I see no mention of the recommended reset/rescan http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/kb/reader.aspx/2007013315 when upgrading to X3. Be aware, just like the VST scanner, there is only one version of the VST inventory used by all versions of SONAR on the machine. The reset removes all VST entries in the registry before the rescan rebuilds the list.

scook

gmp
In pluggin manager under DXi if I choose "show excluded", it shows Vsampler under excluded. X1 never had this buggy performance with VST scan. I'm at a loss what to try next.

Is is possible there are still some references to VSampler in the registry? It is not unusual for uninstall process to leave registry entries. I am not sure how it would affect the VST scan process; it is an excluded DXi.
 

 
I searched the registry and it's all over. Even if the program did say it would clean the registry during uninstall, I guess we can't expect it to clean all the references to it that other programs like Sonar have done. Here are the registry keys below I'd think would get rid of the problem. Note also that even though I manually deleted Vsampler.dll from cakewalk/vstplugins, it still shows up in the registry.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Cakewalk Music Software\ExcludedPlugIns

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Cakewalk Music Software\SONAR Producer\Cakewalk VST X64\Inventory\c:/program files (x86)/cakewalk/vstplugins/VSampler3.dll

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\FX-MAX\BitBridge\VoLEffect\c:\program files (x86)\cakewalk\vstplugins\VSampler3.dll

HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-3235901495-1408207914-819435497-1004\Software\FX-MAX\BitBridge\VoLEffect\c:\program files (x86)\cakewalk\vstplugins\VSampler3.dll

scook
After reading both this and other thread http://forum.cakewalk.com/FindPost/3026687 I see no mention of the recommended reset/rescan http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/kb/reader.aspx/2007013315 when upgrading to X3. Be aware, just like the VST scanner, there is only one version of the VST inventory used by all versions of SONAR on the machine. The reset removes all VST entries in the registry before the rescan rebuilds the list.

 Actually both threads mention this. I tried that multiple times, in this thread and once in the earlier thread - in fact that's what solved the problem in the earlier thread.
 
Yes I know there is only one version of the VST inventory used by all versions of SONAR on the machine. Maybe the reset is supposed to remove all VST entries in the registry before the rescan rebuilds the list, but I think in my case it's not happening correctly. I wish I knew why.

scook

gmp
 
there's one other directory under Cakewalk/shared something?/internal it has console emulator in there

AFAIK, the "C:\Program Files (x86)\Cakewalk\Shared Utilties\Internal" path is only exposed in the VST Scan Path box via the Cakewalk Plugin Manager. Cakewalk staff have advised to use the Preferences > File > VST Settings dialog for scanning plug-ins insted of the Cakewalk Plugin Manager.

That's right, the path is only exposed in the VST Scan Path box via the Cakewalk Plugin Manager. I didn't know the Cakewalk staff have advised us  to use the Preferences > File > VST Settings dialog for scanning plug-ins. The first thing I tried was the usual method of reset under preferences. I only used pluggin manager when the usual way with preferences didn't work.