# Cabbage VST3 shows tiny black window in Ableton Live

**URL:** <https://forum.cabbageaudio.com/t/cabbage-vst3-shows-tiny-black-window-in-ableton-live/4903>\
**Category:** Cabbage Stew\
**Created:** [22 September 2025 18:19 UTC](https://forum.cabbageaudio.com/t/cabbage-vst3-shows-tiny-black-window-in-ableton-live/4903 "2025-09-22T18:19:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jona](https://forum.cabbageaudio.com/user_avatar/forum.cabbageaudio.com/jona/32/6080_2.png) [@jona](https://forum.cabbageaudio.com/u/jona)\
**Post date:** [22 September 2025 18:19 UTC](https://forum.cabbageaudio.com/t/cabbage-vst3-shows-tiny-black-window-in-ableton-live/4903/1 "2025-09-22T18:19:27Z")

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Hi everyone,

I’m having a strange issue when exporting plugins from **Cabbage 2.9.0** to **Ableton Live**.

When I test my plugins:

- Inside **Cabbage** they look fine.
- With **pluginval** (the Tracktion plugin validation tool) they also render correctly.
- But when I load them in **Ableton Live** (VST3), the plugin window shows up as a **tiny black rectangle with no controls** , as shown in the screenshot.

Even with the most basic example, the same thing happens. For instance, with this code:  
  
form caption(“Cabbage”) size(400, 300), pluginId(“CAB1”), guiMode(“queue”)

In **Cabbage and pluginval** it opens as a 400x300 window as expected, but in **Ableton** it only shows a very small black box.

### My questions:

1. Has anyone else experienced this specific issue with Ableton and Cabbage-exported VST3s?
2. Could this be a compatibility bug between Live and Cabbage VST3 plugins?
3. Is there any extra setting I should add in the `form` or during export so that Ableton displays the GUI correctly? ![example](https://forum.cabbageaudio.com/uploads/default/original/2X/0/0c9e060c02cda5c4bf83ca7755f88ab1abab13c2.png)

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**Author:** ![rorywalsh](https://forum.cabbageaudio.com/user_avatar/forum.cabbageaudio.com/rorywalsh/32/165_2.png) [@rorywalsh](https://forum.cabbageaudio.com/u/rorywalsh)\
**Post date:** [22 September 2025 18:20 UTC](https://forum.cabbageaudio.com/t/cabbage-vst3-shows-tiny-black-window-in-ableton-live/4903/2 "2025-09-22T18:20:28Z")

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You need to put your .csd file into the same location as the plugin. Cabbage automatically does this when it exports a plugin, but you probably moved it manually after exporting. It’s a common error.

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**Author:** ![jona](https://forum.cabbageaudio.com/user_avatar/forum.cabbageaudio.com/jona/32/6080_2.png) [@jona](https://forum.cabbageaudio.com/u/jona)\
**Post date:** [23 September 2025 13:51 UTC](https://forum.cabbageaudio.com/t/cabbage-vst3-shows-tiny-black-window-in-ableton-live/4903/3 "2025-09-23T13:51:06Z")

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Perfect, that solved the issue, thanks a lot for the help! Time to keep experimenting.