[Lupissimo]

I am using a Windows 10 PC (Kodi 20.2 or 21.1 ) to create the data for the movie library. For this I use a local folder (New Films) in which I place the movie file within a folder with the same name e.g. Movie Name (movie name.mkv). After scraping I shift the folder "Movie Name" with its content to the NAS for playback.
I scrape the movie by pointing to "New Films" and select "Scan for new content". After that I choose "Export Library" and confirm "separately" and all the rest. This creates within the folder "Movie Name" the .nfo file, the -poster.jpeg and a folder "actors" in which the actor pictures should be stored.  With older Verrsions this had worked. With the present version the folder "actors" is created but remains empty. In order to get the pictures moved , it seems I have to open the movie data within Kodi using "information" and then choose "refresh" and then export again. Then the actor pictures appear in the folder"actors" within the "Movie Name" folder.

[PatK]

You didn't mention the skin you are using. I note that Aeon-Nox has a slight bug (author is aware) in that the actors folder is not exported. You need to fall back to default Estuary to store off actor folder & images.  This may not be your case.

questions:

• After scanned target, does information show the actors?
  
• Are you using the default scraper?
  
• Change over to the universal scraper & ensure it's configured. 
  

A debug log might show some deviation from norm.

[Karellen]

Actor images are loaded on demand which means they need to be viewed first.
After scraping, open the Information Page for the movie / tv show / episodes and scroll through the row of actors.

[Lupissimo]

Thank you for the explanation! That is exactly what is happening. The "problem" with this is, is that then automatically a -thumb.jpeg is loaded, which I normally not use and therefore have to erase every time. Has this behaviour been changed, because I think it worked differently with older versions? If so, could you let me know the version, so I can revert back to this, since I use my PC only for scraping/editing movie information.

[Karellen]

The "problem" with this is, is that then automatically a -thumb.jpeg

Which thumb image is loaded and where?
The only place a thumb.jpg should be used is for episode images.
You should delete all other thumb images as it is a confusing image type, and different skins use it in different ways.
There is a setting you can disable - "Extract thumbnails from video files"... https://kodi.wiki/view/Settings/Media/Vi...ideo_files

Has this behaviour been changed

No. It has always been like this.
My workflow is the same as yours, scrape on one computer and then move to network storage and scan on another Kodi. So I know how annoying it can be to scroll through the actors before running the export.

[Lupissimo]

Thanks again for the hint! I now disabled the thumb.jpeg! I wish they would include the option (activated/disabled): download the actors jpeg while sraping!

[Karellen]

I wish they would include the option (activated/disabled): download the actors jpeg while sraping!

Yea, the actors module needs a major overhaul, in my opinion. But no volunteer developer has shown any interest.
Also, you should be aware of this bug I recently discovered... https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/issues/25662