Never see A/R changes in the latest release, version 8.77. For licensed users upgrades are free for up to six months from purchase date. After that, VP will continue to fully function but a fee will be required in order to register the newest. Retain your old install file and registration info.
Moved Carleton to an unused area, added the split screen, and he appeared. Moved Jo and Terrence to the same vertical strip and split. They appeared. Hu was among the missing 16 files not included in your partial package, so used Kenny on that track, split it into another box. And he appeared.
No other clips were affected.
If you export a partial project, then bring it back in to add more content, there is no way that new effects can change A/R of individual boxes in the that clip. It's a composite.
Perhaps the quickest method for creating a 5x5 with lowest overhead is to follow Nat's advice in the FAQ above. In essence, compose the left-hand column, in sync, and export. Clear the timeline. Compose what will be the next column - still at the left and in sync - and export. And so on until there are five exported clips, each with a column of five faces. Or even just four columns, if there's a newly built column already on the timelline to which the other four exported clips can be added.
Then load them into a new project. Use the POSITION effect to horizontally abut each clip to the right of the prior clip, resulting in five vertical columns side-by-side.
A master audio file of all tracks can be created by right-clicking the Sequences tab in the bin, right-clicking the sequence icon and clicking Save Sequence Audio as New File. That single file can be substituted for all others, further lightening the processing load.
