MadHugger

Windows 10 v22H2, Intel i5-9600K As Subj says, within roughly 5 seconds of launching any of the V2 Apps of Designer, Publisher and Photo; they will suddenly crash. I have been taking steps to use that roughly 5 seconds of time to review and change settings. Often, barely having enough time to save those changes before it crashes. All I have been able to do is allocate more RAM in hopes that would work. This is what was suggested to me when having sudden crashing issues with V1 Apps - which still occur. I have not been able to even begin to open a file, as it crashes in the process of attempting to open a file. So, logic tells ya that it is not document related. With V1, I had noticed and had reported in the past that the crashing issues seems to cycle with App & Windows Updates. Once Affinity apps are seemingly stable for a period of time, Windows will update and the crashing starts again. Then the apps update and it stops. Oddly, uninstalling and re-installing did not affect this issue. By the way, V1 is back to crashing after some time - often when I am working on any file that has many embedded or link components within and happens after working on it for some time (regardless of saves). To me and my tech friends, they seem to think this is a ram/cache issue. Just paraphrasing their guesses. I would love to share more details on my experience with V2 and its performance, but I never get enough time to capture anything or work on settings (preferences). Granted, I do not have a beast for doing graphic work but normally everything has worked fine - including Adobe CC which is a resource hog. What I can share is that over the years with V1 and the similar issue I had tried countless measures to troubleshoot and fix the "Sudden Crash" issue with no reliable results. This measures were advised by moderators and users of this forum as well as other tech forms where other users were experiencing the exact same and similar crash issues. Honestly, a look under the hood of this software is needed. There are too many people reporting stability issues that would not have come up during "real world" testing.

Ver. 2 on Windows 10: Crashed upon opening the first time after install. Crashes attempting to create a new file. Crashes when opening a very small simple file with 1 layer with 1 color box within it. Crashes trying to add another layer. Crashes upon trying to save the 1 layer file. It has also crashed during loading. I have reset, repaired and run as administrator as well as every other piece of advice given for this issue in the past. Ver. 1 crashed a lot too, but not as rapidly and often. So I would say Ver 2 is 100% faster at crashing than previous version. I tired of reporting this issue as every single time I was given generic base level instructions that do nothing and when I have followed all advice given, it still happens. When there are videos, numerous social media comments and countless articles about this issue with all Affinity graphic software it is obviously a bigger issue than they wish to discus.

This is an APublisher only feature. Of course you can trick around by "Edit in Publisher", turning embedded to linked and then "Edit in Designer" again. But I don't think this way was intended by the developers. Are there plans in the works to update Designer to add this functionality? As it is, it makes the entire purpose of having Linked Documents pointless as the feature is currently. As one who needs to often swap static images and rely upon the links working to ensure that any static image the changes in a master document is updated. This was something I loved dearly about Adobe Illustrator and made so much of my work more efficient. It is also mentioned that the Asset Manager can be used to replace linked docs. But in Preflight all you get is "an embedded file has changed" with no details on which of the embedded (formerly linked) documents have changed. Making this feature more of an annoyance than helpful. As a product that touts being a good choice to replace Adobe, to miss out on such a base feature is really not serving your customers. If this ability/function (not genuinely a "feature" as that is dismissive as an attempt to minimize the usefulness) is not improved, then the implied value is irrelevant as it becomes a comparison of apples and oranges; not Macintosh and Fuji (if you know your apples). I came to the Affinity ecosystem based upon the marketing of it being comparable to Adobe CC.

I have reported this issue many times and seem to not get a thorough response outside of repeated basic troubleshooting instructions. I also see that others are still encountering similar issues. I am using Windows 10 20H2, with ample CPU, RAM and GPU - in fact this is happening on a newly built computer, but occurred on previous build as well. Upon launching Publisher or Designer any of the following will happen. Upon opening, will lockup and become inactive immediately upon selecting to open any/every (or create new) .af_ file type. Behavior is that it acts as if it is trying to open the file but it never opens. Even if I let it sit for hours. I cannot interact with the program as I will get a notice that it is in the process of opening a file. I am forced to use task manager to close the application and try again. If the file opens, once you click into anything: a menu, a layer, a color, an item; the program will lock up If it does not do the previous issues, it will lock up within 30 seconds, even if you do nothing with the program I have assured that all Drivers are up to date, especially the GPU and Windows. I have uninstalled and reinstalled the programs (after a reboot). I have launched after clearing all settings (CTRL+click shortcut icon). I have run the program as Administrator. Also, I have combined these steps in all possible combinations and it still happens. I am unable to use the program until an update is posted for the application, Windows OR the GPU driver - or magically it will run for a few days - but if I reboot, it starts all over again. Being that this has continually happened on 2 computers with completely different specs, one being less than 6 mos old using fresh install of all software and programs, there is more too this problem. My experience is telling me there is something more to this problem than a driver issue - which seems to be the standard go to suggested fix. When these programs work, they work great - but sadly for my job I need them to work more often that "whenever"

I see this post is not exactly recent, but it is the one post that covers the exact situation I am looking into. I was able to use drag & drop with Publisher up to a couple months ago and then suddenly the capability is gone. I sought information on whether this was a settings default change or if the support was removed. No information was found. I learned that the "official way" , which seems like a workaround, is to "place" file into document. The placement for this function is not in a sensible location, it requires a file explorer window to open, find then select file and then let it get added to the document. Normally I would have a file explorer window ready with the folder open that I am working with so I can drag and drop as I needed it. Far more efficient, and how Adobe lets you do it as well as countless other design and publishing tools do as well. What boggles my mind is why this functionality was there, then not... what was the logic for disabling it. (statement, not a question). To tell someone they are doing it wrong is not an answer, it's an attack and an ego stroking insult. Which seems to be acceptable behavior on help and support forums.

Seems others have been having this issue. I have also experienced this in the past. Update to newest version (today) did not fix it. Brand new build computer, installed 2 weeks ago as part of build and worked fine. Then suddenly it started again. Have followed all previous fixes suggested and have updated all significant drivers (mainly video) and it still happens. Being that this is a very new PC, there is minimal content installed and there has been zero file installs in the last week - ie Publisher and Designer functioned properly since last install of any other applications for at least 1 week. This seems to be a recurring issue and leads to question the stability of the applications.

Greetings Lee, I have done all as suggested and many times over. It will work until I dare try to add or edit, and then it immediately locks up again. Using the first step you mentioned only works for so long before I need to do it again, and I seem to lose preferences with it each time. I am also curious as to why Designer converts text to curves when editing an AI or EPS file. This is a huge pain when working on product labels that are very text heavy.

After launch of either application and attempting to either open a create a new file, or opening an existing file the application shows no response or activity. Attempting to close the application, I receive a notice that it is opening a file and I should wait. Giving the application hours, including overnight, the file never opens. The applications show no activity (in systems monitoring) that would relate to opening a file. Please note, all attempted files have been rather small in size, along with creating new files causing the same issue it is very likely not related to the files sizes. The only action I could take was to force close the application, close all other applications and reboot my system. Upon reboot, I am able to open 1 application or create a new one. If I dare open the application, open a file, close file, close application then restart application (with no changes to other applications running that were not running previously) the Affinity applications return to locking up trying to open or create a new file. I have increased the amount of RAM and disk space the applications can use as an attempt to give it more buffer space, that had no affect either. I am using Windows 10 1809 build, 16gb RAM and a processor that meets requirements.