SPM/cat12 basic models: problems with reading GIFTI files - parsing of xml file failed

Hey everyone!
At the moment I am quite desperate because I am not able to analyse surface-based data anymore.
I have experience with it and never got any problems.
Since I installed the actual cat12 version on my computer an ongoing error occurs…

First, I segmented my raw data - no problem
extract additional surface parameters (gyrification and thickness) - no problem
resample and smooth data - also no problem

So, I created a basic model batch (full factorial, 1 factor, 3 covariates) and included my scans (yes, the path is correctly). When I run the batch the following error message occurs:
Warning: [GIFTI] Parsing of XML files “path” .gii failed

Error using xmltree [XLMTree] cannot open “path”

Does anybody have an idea what I can try?