Windows 10 64-bit
NVIDIA RTX 3070
Any V2 Affinity software
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The problem:
Affinity Designer and Photo would no longer open any file or create a new project without becoming unresponsive or not loading. Half the time it would open and become unresponsive immediately. Half the time it would not load at all, but be found in the Task Manager in order to close.
Coincidence: this happened conspicuously at nearly exactly the moment Serif announced their acquisition by Canva.
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Identified cause of the problem:
After hours of trying just about everything I read about online (reinstall, install older versions, reset all settings, delete AppData files, install desktop exe files instead of Windows Store msix file, reboot Windows, new graphics drivers, turn off hardware acceleration, and probably some more or combination of above), I discovered that what caused this problem was a font, namely this one found on Google Fonts: Aref Ruqaa Ink - Google Fonts .
If Aref Ruqaa Ink is installed in the system, then Affinity is broken.
Does anyone know why a font (one available on Google Fonts no less) would break Affinity? It's not because a font is a variable font, because I've installed a variable font before and Affinity didn't break. The variable font just didn't work properly.