Can't open score without updating

• Dec 26, 2023 - 18:42

For referance, I've been working on a pretty big project, usually I'd use Sibelius for this type of thing, but since it's holidays I wouldn't be able to use the Mac i usually work on. The reason I use MuseScore is because it's easy when switching between computers, in this case between a stationary one I have at home with MuseScore 4.2 and a school laptop with MuseScore 4.1.1

My issue is that since I very recently updated the stationary computer with the newest version of MuseScore, it also converted the .mscz to it's newest version. So now I can't open the .mscz on my laptop with 4.1.1 and I am essencially locked out of my own score.

I am unable to update MuseScore until I'm connected to the school WiFi, so that isn't an option. I also attempted to open it as a MusicXML file, but that messed up the formatting making it unreadable. Any way to "downgrade" the .mscz file or another workaround possible?


Comments

Yes, maybe there is a possibility, but I don't know if the formatting is also affected.
Maybe you know that the mscz files are zipped files. I use 7-zip and when I open the included mscx file with an ASCII editor (e.g. notepad++), I see a new tag in line 5 "LastEID" there since about version 4.2.

LastEID.png
This seems to be the cause.

If you delete this line and put it back into the zip file, it probably works.

But I have no information what this tag does and what all could be affected. It's worth a try, but it's unfortunately cumbersome.

Another option would be to use Jojo-Schmitz' version 3.7 evolution from GitHub (you need a free account there). This version can open 4.2 files and save them in 3.x format and then you should be able to open them with 4.1 as well. See here: https://sites.google.com/view/musescore-3-evolution/
3.7 evolution can exist in parallel to 4.2 on your computer.
But again: I'm not sure if all formatting is transferred here as well. The proof of the pudding is in the eating ...

In reply to by oskarboman

Update:

Both alternatives require 7Zip installed, which I am unable to do as I'm currently on the previously mentioned laptop. Therefore I will now attempt to convert the .7z file for MS 3.7 to a .zip file in an online converter.

The convertion worked, all files intact, sadly I still require admin perms to be able to run MS 3.7.

If I attach the .mscz file, would you or someone else be able to try to convert it for me?

In reply to by Jojo-Schmitz

Seems to have worked almost perfectly! A few small anamolies on the naming of the parts, other than that, no issues. Thank you!

Still confused how the file managed to shave off 100kB tho... but won't complain haha

In reply to by oskarboman

> Both alternatives require 7Zip installed
You can try renaming the *.mscz file to *.zip. Newer versions of Windows are able to display the zip content. If you have a usable ASCII editor, you can change the mscx file as described (delete line 5 and change "4.20" in line 2 to 4.10).

However, this may not be so easy with Windows Notepad, so it is best to try it on a backup copy.

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