SketchUp crash bugsplat on startup SOLVED

As a SketchUp user since 2000 and an extension developer, I usually can diagnose any problems.I encounter.

But a couple months back I started getting Bugsplats on SketchUp 2016 Pro startup.
If I clicked on the SketchUp shortcut or double clicked on a recent skp I’d get bugsplat!.
Only way I could run SketchUp is to double click on some older skp file, then File open the skp file I wanted.

I suspected a corrupt default template as I had recently defined one. I noticed some recent skp’s that were unusually large for what they were. I could only open them after first opening an old file.

I finally discovered a corrupt component definition: (how it got that way I don’t know.)
It was something I downloaded then deleted (I thought) from the component warehouse. It was over 44,000kb.
Component statistices: No geometry but 6 subcomponents. Loaded from:
C:\Users\hahnsmith\Desktop\Correy\Furniture designs\Sketch-up 3D\MP Table with natural edge nuki.skp
(Not a user on my computer.)
It appeared as a blank image in the component definition tray. If you dragged it to the model you would see a bounding box, but nothing would be added when you released your mouse button. Click on select all then delete. Yet the definition could not be deleted or purged(?) The 6 subcomponents did not appear in the component tray… Maybe SketchUp allowed me to delete them without deleting the parent? Maybe the original parent was downloaded without its children? And why then is is so large?

Here’s what I had to do to solve the problem:
Delete all my custom templates over 44,000 kb from Windows Sketchup Program files.
(Whose bad idea was it to store user templates in program data??)
Delete all recent skp. files over 44,000 kb.
I didn’t lose anything too important or readily recreatable.
But I could see no other way to delete the zombie component definition.

No more bugsplats. Who knows how many other users have run into this?
Maybe noone.
Obviously SketchUp code should not allow this kind of zombie to exist.

Barry Milliken,
Developer of 2DXY SiteSurvey and 2DXY SlickMoves.

1 Like

Nice detective work. It looks like that “MP Table with natural edge nuki” came from this model: Matsu Kaze Woodworking Slab Table | 3D Warehouse

Mac saves in ~/Library/blah… not in app wrapper, so it’s probably a PC-only issue, but we’ll check.

Saving location was just a side comment.
Your bug probably has to do with component definition management and reading of templates.

Lots of users might have zombie definitions that they never notice, but if they don’t also try to create a new default template that has the zombie they might not ever get a bugslat.