Constant crashing working with fonts.

[IsabelAracama]

Hi, does anyone else have this same problem or know what it can be? I cannot seem to make Designer work normally, it crashes time and again when I try to choose a font... it gets stuck and then not responding. Has been happening since yesterday... Only difference is I have a new monitor ... does this make sense at all?

Thanks!

[GarryP]

Are we seeing the ‘whole picture’ in your video (pardon the pun)?
You don’t seem to have a document open.

[IsabelAracama]

Hhhh yes you are. At least for that screen. The file is opened in the Cintiq side by side to this monitor. Thanks!

[GarryP]

So is everything okay now or is there still a problem? (I couldn’t quite tell from what you wrote.)

[IsabelAracama]

4 minutes ago, GarryP said:

So is everything okay now or is there still a problem? (I couldn’t quite tell from what you wrote.)

Ah sorry I wasn't clear. No, nothing has changed. I am not at the computer right now but yesterday when I finished it was still doing this flickering then crash. It actually has been happening for two days now. Again, coinciding strangely (or maybe not) with the installation of the new monitor. Have no clue this could be related but sounds to me pretty absurd?

[GarryP]

Ah, I see.
I don’t use a Mac and have no experience of using a second monitor on one so I can’t really say.
What I can see certainly doesn’t look like ‘correct’ functioning to me, but as I can’t see what’s on the other monitor I couldn’t rightly speculate.
Sorry that I can’t be of much more help. Hopefully someone else will be able to advise better.

[IsabelAracama]

Ni worries GarryP. I will first try to replicate disconnecting the new monitor. From there I'll see more. It's crashing all the time when I try to select a font... Thanks anyhow! Happy weekend.

[firstdefence]

I have a dual monitor Mac system and I have no issues with crashing, see my sig for system specs, I would try validating the fonts first using Font Book if you don’t have an alternative font manager.

A nice straightforward explanation of font warnings and why they appear when using font book: https://www.creativefabrica.com/the-ultimate-font-guide/error-and-warning-messages-when-installing-fonts-on-mac/

[firstdefence]

• Which monitor is it, Make & Model?
• How do you have the monitor connected?
• Which Mac version on you using?

You can sometimes have flickering issues with second monitors, there are a few things you can try although they are very hit and miss with regards to success.

Reset the SMC: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201295

Reset the NVRAM or PRAM: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204063

[IsabelAracama]

Hi firstdefence! Thanks for such detailed help. 

Its a BenQ Pd2700U connected through thunderbolt 2 port. My mac is a mid 2015 on Sierra OS. I always had the Cintiq connected also like this to it. Now I have both, Cintiq and monitor. I had never experienced this before at all... that´s why I started suspecting on the monitor, but it´s only happening in Designer... not in Photo so far. 

In case this helps too as it sounds it  might...  I have just noticed there is an exclamation mark before each and every font name on the font field... I had never seen it before either. Only in Designer. Photo works fine.

 

UPDATE: There´s something rotten about this file... I suspect. I know experience selecting a font in the file and it doesn´t display the name for some of the texts. I try in a new file and it works al fine... However, I see Designer is behaving weird in general... 

 

 

 

[firstdefence]

The exclamation mark next to a font name normally indicates a missing font.

[IsabelAracama]

1 hour ago, firstdefence said:

The exclamation mark next to a font name normally indicates a missing font.

but but.. then I'm mising all fonts! And no, I'm actually not missing any font. I don't know... I restart and all is fine, then all of a sudden, this happens again. I need to investigate further..

[IsabelAracama]

More poltergeists... Now when I want to type, it jumps to a different canvas on a different file opened.

[v_kyr]

You will probably have to go through this step by step using an elimination process ...

1. Hardware based:  check cables on used ports
2. Hardware based:  if Cintiq alone connected with cable/port works Ok
3. Hardware based:  if Benq alone connected with cable/port works Ok
4. Hardware & Software:  does OS & other software behave Ok with both connected
5. Hardware & Software:  does it only affect Affinity apps
6. Hardware & Software:  does it only affect Affinity apps when in floating window mode
7. ... etc.

... until you got down encircled the cause of all evil!

• Configuring Wacom Cintiq Pro 13 and 16 with other monitors in Mac

[IsabelAracama]

Thanks a lot for the help and suggestions v_kyr 

I have disconnected the new monitor and this keeps crashing and doing all sorts of weirdness... so at least now I know it is not related to it... which makes me wonder why is this going on now and never before. Icons on the toolbar look half broken and there is a weird line on the top menu area. It happens and ten it comes back to normal and back again like this. This now on the normal UI mode (not separated).

[v_kyr]

4 hours ago, IsabelAracama said:

I have disconnected the new monitor and this keeps crashing and doing all sorts of weirdness... so at least now I know it is not related to it... which makes me wonder why is this going on now and never before. Icons on the toolbar look half broken and there is a weird line on the top menu area. It happens and ten it comes back to normal and back again like this. This now on the normal UI mode (not separated).

Initially you wrote "Only difference is I have a new monitor", so does this mean you had before also two devices (a Cintiq and some other monitor) connected to what (a MacBook Pro, iMac, MacMini ...), or does it mean you had before always only one device (Cintiq) connected? - Further does that odd behavior now only happen with Affinity Designer or also with other Affinity software and also none Affinity software?

If other software behaves Ok with the same Sierra OS version, the same Wacom drivers and display device settings, for both connected devices (Cintiq and monitor), then it's probably more an AD problem. If instead other software is too affected in a similar behaving manner now, then something OS display connection and/or settings related does now make problems. - I assume you are using the latest actual Wacom drivers/tools for Sierra?

If the hardware, the ports and cables are generally Ok and don't make the trouble, then it has to be the software side. On the software side it could be due to the OS and drivers (some possible mismatched or currupted OS display settings, or some software clash etc.), or to the AD application itself (in case only that one is affected).

 

[IsabelAracama]

Hi v_kyr thanks again for the help offered.

So I will gather all in one post, maybe this helps better:

1. Until 3 days ago I had a Macbook Pro 15 inches mid 2015 on Sierra OS (10.12) connected through Thunderbolt 2 to my Cintiq 22HD Touch. Drivers are all up to date on the Wacom. All worked perfectly fine always for any software. I was happy and no problems whatsoever for years.

2. I have now bought a BenQ PD2700U and connected it through the other Thunderbolt 2 port available on the macbook pro. So now it is Macbook + Cintiq + BenQ

3. At the same time, about 2 days ago, I started to experience all this I show on the images and videos ONLY IN AFFINTY DESIGNER. I've tested Affinity Photo and other graphic software and all works fine.  My first thought was it could be related to the new monitor but then... I realised it was only for Designer.

4. I however disconnected the new monitor to see if it persisted, and yes, it does persist crashing specially but not limited when I work with fonts, and some new anomalies happened to it as I was working through the day, like the broken icons and interface.

5. I don't know what else to do now other than trying to update the OS which I was anyways thinking of doing as it is about time.

Thanks.

 

[v_kyr]

OK so it's somehow the way I guessed/interpreted it then from what you wrote first.

I believe the overall fact is due to the before none existing second monitor handling which specifically AD here seems to have problems with then. The MacOS itself is usually pretty plug'n'play (unproblematic) when using an external second monitor. - So from what you described and encircled, the problem seems to be overall more AD related then, which seems to have problems with the additional two monitor combo setup to the notebook.

[IsabelAracama]

10 minutes ago, v_kyr said:

OK so it's somehow the way I guessed/interpreted it then from what you wrote first.

I believe the overall fact is due to the before none existing second monitor handling which specifically AD here seems to have problems with then. The MacOS itself is usually pretty plug'n'play (unproblematic) when using an external second monitor. - So from what you described and encircled, the problem seems to be overall more AD related then, which seems to have problems with the additional two monitor combo setup to the notebook.

I think also it is AD related, but.. how can then be explained that when disconnecting the new second monitor now I still have these problems (and never before)? Does this make sense at all?

Thanks for the super help!

[v_kyr]

21 minutes ago, IsabelAracama said:

I think also it is AD related, but.. how can then be explained that when disconnecting the new second monitor now I still have these problems (and never before)? Does this make sense at all?

AD probably (maybe, don't know for sure since I didn't looked/hunted after it) uses or alters/modifies some own prefs settings related to the detected hardware and something might have been be overwritten and thus it's configuration gots puzzled now and differs from the one before or the internal one.

Did you already tried to wipe out AD and all it's custom app specific settings and reinitiate sort of a fresh install (like an initial first time install)? - You should do that only, if you have backups of all your add-ons, customizations/settings etc. so that you can put it back into your current state!

Does APhoto still behave Ok in contrast to ADesigner?

[IsabelAracama]

16 minutes ago, v_kyr said:

AD probably (maybe, don't know for sure since I didn't looked/hunted after it) uses or alters/modifies some own prefs settings related to the detected hardware and something might have been be overwritten and thus it's configuration gots puzzled now and differs from the one before or the internal one.

Did you already tried to wipe out AD and all it's custom app specific settings and reinitiate sort of a fresh install (like an initial first time install)? - You should do that only, if you have backups of all your add-ons, customizations/settings etc. so that you can put it back into your current state!

Does APhoto still behave Ok in contrast to ADesigner?

No I haven't done that you mention. 

APhoto works perfectly. No issues whatsoever.

[v_kyr]

In the past there were some people having some trouble with some multiple monitor setups, but not in the same sense like yours now ...

 

[markw]

As your problem only seems to affect Designer, as well as trying a reset of the app, if that is unsuccessful, you could try uninstalling Designer and reinstalling it again.
As with trying a reset, I would strongly recommend making sure first that you have a backup of your Designer’s ‘user’ folder which contains all the things like brushes etc… that you have added to Designer.

Path if you bought from Apple it can be found here:
/Users/your name here/Library/Containers/com.seriflabs.affinitydesigner/Data/Library/Application Support/user
Path if you bought from Serif, it’s here:
/Users/your name here/Library/Application Support/Affinity Designer/user
After reinstalling you can put this folder and it’s content back.

Along with removing the app itself, remove it’s support folder as well before reinstalling.
Path if you bought from Apple it can be found here:
 /Users/your name here/Library/Containers/com.seriflabs.affinitydesigner
Path if you bought from Serif, it’s here:
/Users/your name here/Library/Application Support/Affinity Designer

[IsabelAracama]

Thanks markw! I bought it from Apple store.

So am I supposed to remove those and then uninstall and reinstall and put them back right?

[markw]

The order of steps I would take are;
1: Make sure you have a backup of the folder named  ‘user’.
2: Delete the app from the Applications folder.
3: Delete the support folder.
4: Re-download from Apple Store.
5: Launch Designer and test.
6: If all is well Quit Designer and replace the ‘user’ folder with the backup one containing all your add-ons.
7: Re-launch Designer.
Hopefully it still is functioning correctly and will now have all your personal content back again.

Do you use Time Machine?
If so, before going down the re-installation rout, another idea might be to try restoring both the App and its support folder from a known time before the problems started.