Quartus Prime 16.1 crashes at very start of Assembler phase with NO ERROR MESSAGE

Just so this is documented somewhere... I've worked around the problem.

I was trying to integrate an EMIF block into my GHRD-based project. Since my previous incarnation of the GHRD project had a PLL generating my useful clocks from the base input 100MHz signal, I wanted the new EMIF to generate those clocks so there would be a firm relationship between EMIF clock domain and my project base clocks. So, in the EMIF settings in Qsys I selected the checkbox for "Specify additional core clocks based on existing PLL" and put in the necessary parameters for the 2 clock signals I wanted to generate in addition to the EMIF user clock output. That is when the problems started. Everything seems to compile just fine... but the Assembler dies seconds into its routine, and the only way to get any insight as to why is to run the assembler from the command line. At that point I see a whole mess of red text, much of which seems to be complaining about PLL settings.

This is where it gets VERY BUGGY. Going back into Qsys I unchecked the "Specify additional core clocks..." box and the clock parameters I entered disappeared. However, those settings were still getting applied to my project. There is a hard bug in the Quartus software that causes the tool to ignore that checkbox. The software is still using the (now hidden) settings I entered before and is still trying to generate my additional clocks! Hence, I got the feeling my design was now permanently broken. Only when I re-checked the "Specify..." box did my old settings come right back just as I had entered them a few days previous. I had to change the parameters entered and explicitly set the number of additional clocks to ZERO before I cleared that checkbox and all the parameters disappear from the window.

Now that I've cleared those hidden settings my design compiles again.

Next challenge... how to create associated clocks from the user_clk output of the EMIF since I can't use the EMIF's PLL to create associated signals.

Thanks for reading... hope this saves somebody a few days of banging their head against this frustrating $uite of $oftware.

-VJR