diff --git a/adv_control/nodes_sparsectrl.py b/adv_control/nodes_sparsectrl.py
index dca2e3f..4df32b0 100644
--- a/adv_control/nodes_sparsectrl.py
+++ b/adv_control/nodes_sparsectrl.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ from torch import Tensor
 import folder_paths
 from nodes import VAEEncode
 import comfy.utils
+from comfy.sd import VAE
 
 from .utils import TimestepKeyframeGroup
 from .control_sparsectrl import SparseMethod, SparseIndexMethod, SparseSettings, SparseSpreadMethod, PreprocSparseRGBWrapper
@@ -148,12 +149,15 @@ class RgbSparseCtrlPreprocessor:
 
     CATEGORY = "Adv-ControlNet 🛂🅐🅒🅝/SparseCtrl/preprocess"
 
-    def preprocess_images(self, vae, image: Tensor, latent_size: Tensor):
+    def preprocess_images(self, vae: VAE, image: Tensor, latent_size: Tensor):
         # first, resize image to match latents
         image = image.movedim(-1,1)
         image = comfy.utils.common_upscale(image, latent_size["samples"].shape[3] * 8, latent_size["samples"].shape[2] * 8, 'nearest-exact', "center")
         image = image.movedim(1,-1)
         # then, vae encode
-        image = VAEEncode.vae_encode_crop_pixels(image)
+        try:
+            image = vae.vae_encode_crop_pixels(image)
+        except Exception:
+            image = VAEEncode.vae_encode_crop_pixels(image)
         encoded = vae.encode(image[:,:,:,:3])
         return (PreprocSparseRGBWrapper(condhint=encoded),)