Random Heavy Windows 10 lag - Designer

[nayld]

Recently purchased Designer for my windows computer, I have been using it daily on mac without issues.

 

I randomly receive extremely heavy lag when in designer, it's extremely disruptive to my workflow and forces me to restart the program multiple times an hour. 

 

This is not an issue with my pc, my computer is new, there is nothing running in the background and no other software I'm running has any issues at all. Relevant specs are as follows:

cpu: i7-9700k

gpu: 2060 RTX

RAM: 2x8 (16gb) 3600h DDR4 (XMP enabled)

 

This computer was built with the intention of running high usage GIS software programs daily and should be more than enough to run affinity without any issues. It starts off great but inevitably results in my having to stop what I'm doing to restart the program. As stated previously there are no interactions with my antivirus or firewall, there are no issues with background processes, my cpu and memory are both below 35% usage the entire time I'm using it. It does not seem to be determined by file size or the number of objects in the file.

 

I have tried to perform a clean uninstall and reinstallation of the program, I have gone as far as going into %appdata%  and deleting the affinity file followed by a computer restart before re-installation. 

 

I cannot stand working on a MAC computer, any help would be greatly appreciated, I want to re-iterate that this is not an issue with my computer, this is an affinity problem.

 

-Thanks

 

[Dan C]

Hi @nayld,

Welcome to the Affinity Forums and I'm sorry to hear you're having trouble here!

Our latest update implemented OpenCL Hardware Acceleration to Windows, which utilises your Graphics Card to help render the Affinity document.
A few users are experiencing issues with this enabled, the number one cause of which is outdated Graphics Card drivers. Please visit the manufactures link below to download the latest driver available -

- Intel: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/detect.html 
- Nvidia: https://www.geforce.com/drivers
- AMD: https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/faq/gpu-driver-autodetect

Note: you may need to go direct to your PC manufactures website for the driver, if you see a warning regarding 'OEM drivers' when trying to install one from the above sites.
If you are offered the option to 'Clean Install' this driver then we recommend selecting this, as it will remove any previous drivers from your system that may have been 'left behind'.

Once downloaded and installed, please restart your computer and then launch the Affinity app again. Does this help reduce the lag you're seeing?

If not, please navigate to Edit > Preferences > Performance and provide a screenshot of your settings here. Many thanks in advance

[nayld]

@Dan C

 

Thanks for the response, my drivers are up to date, I did a clean install anyways for science and this did not make a difference. Attached are the current preference settings for Designer. *Note I have tried having Hardware Acceleration both enabled and disabled, and it does not make a difference at all.

Edited May 12, 2021 by nayld

[nayld]

@Dan C

Follow-up: I am now getting a random ~1ms black screen flicker only on the screen my affinity designer app is on (LG 27GL83A (1440p)).

 

[Dan C]

21 hours ago, nayld said:

I am now getting a random ~1ms black screen flicker only on the screen my affinity designer app is on

Thanks for the information and I'm sorry to hear this is now happening for you.

Do you by chance have G-Sync enabled on this monitor?

[nayld]

23 hours ago, Dan C said:

Thanks for the information and I'm sorry to hear this is now happening for you.

Do you by chance have G-Sync enabled on this monitor?

Yes I do have g-sync enabled for the main monitor. I have tried the following:

1) disabling g-sync

2) changing the refresh rate (144hz, 120hz, 100hz, 60hz) 

3) changing resolution (2560x1440, 1920x1440, 1920x1080 etc)

 

None of these changes makes any difference at all, lag still persists both heavily and randomly. I'd say about 30% of the time I can force the lag to stop by moving from affinity to an older 1080 monitor and then moving it back to the main screen. This is not a permanent fix it sometimes causes the lag to stop for 20 seconds to several minutes.

 

Edit (9:08 am est) :  On the topic of g-sync I have also tried changing it "Enable for full screen mode to Enable for windowed and full screen mode" as well, this does not make a difference either.

 

Edited May 14, 2021 by nayld
more g-sync settings I have also tried

[Dan C]

Many thanks for trying this for me and the further information provided!

Can you please confirm the driver version number for me that you're running please?

I ask this as we had previous issues reported here on the forums earlier this year, whereby users running Gsync began seeing screen flickering in Affinity apps and this was caused by the latest Nvidia driver at the time.

I can confirm I'm personally running 461.92, using a GTX1070 with Gsync enabled and I'm not seeing the same issues described currently.

 

[nayld]

On 5/14/2021 at 10:49 AM, Dan C said:

Many thanks for trying this for me and the further information provided!

Can you please confirm the driver version number for me that you're running please?

I ask this as we had previous issues reported here on the forums earlier this year, whereby users running Gsync began seeing screen flickering in Affinity apps and this was caused by the latest Nvidia driver at the time.

I can confirm I'm personally running 461.92, using a GTX1070 with Gsync enabled and I'm not seeing the same issues described currently.

 

Thanks for the links, the driver that I am using is:

466.27 (game ready for 2060 RTX)

 

I am not using the studio drivers the one that is available to download is 462.59. Should I attempt to switch over to the studio driver (462.59)?

 

I am hesitant to add another driver into the mix and potentially cause other issues outside of affinity (I know that I should be able to switch between the two through geforce experience). Are there known similar issues with studio driver 462.59 in relation to affinity?

 

Thanks

[nayld]

2 hours ago, nayld said:

Thanks for the links, the driver that I am using is:

466.27 (game ready for 2060 RTX)

 

I am not using the studio drivers the one that is available to download is 462.59. Should I attempt to switch over to the studio driver (462.59)?

 

I am hesitant to add another driver into the mix and potentially cause other issues outside of affinity (I know that I should be able to switch between the two through geforce experience). Are there known similar issues with studio driver 462.59 in relation to affinity?

 

Thanks

@Dan C

 

I decided to try switching to the studio driver 462.59; the issue is worse when using the studio driver. I also attempted changing my g-sync settings with no results.

[Dan C]

Many thanks for confirming this for me, and your willingness to try other drivers - it's certainly appreciated.

Our team here believe that DDU may help resolve this issue, as it has helped similar customers reporting this issue via email.

Can you please download the latest version of DDU from the below link -

https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html

Then download a copy of the latest drivers from NVidia (466.47) from here - 

https://www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/175537/en-us

Now run DDU to remove all of your graphics card drivers from your system, this may prompt you to re-boot. Once restarted, install the latest driver you've just downloaded as normal and then try using the Affinity apps once more.

If this does not help, although somewhat unorthodox, can you please try unplugging and reseating your DisplayPort/HDMI cables, both into your GPU and into the monitors - as another user reported this issue was fixed in Affinity after doing this.

Please do let me know if this changes the experienced behaviour in Affinity for you!

[nayld]

6 hours ago, Dan C said:

Many thanks for confirming this for me, and your willingness to try other drivers - it's certainly appreciated.

Our team here believe that DDU may help resolve this issue, as it has helped similar customers reporting this issue via email.

Can you please download the latest version of DDU from the below link -

https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html

Then download a copy of the latest drivers from NVidia (466.47) from here - 

https://www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/175537/en-us

Now run DDU to remove all of your graphics card drivers from your system, this may prompt you to re-boot. Once restarted, install the latest driver you've just downloaded as normal and then try using the Affinity apps once more.

If this does not help, although somewhat unorthodox, can you please try unplugging and reseating your DisplayPort/HDMI cables, both into your GPU and into the monitors - as another user reported this issue was fixed in Affinity after doing this.

Please do let me know if this changes the experienced behaviour in Affinity for you!

@Dan C

 

I've performed a clean install with DDU each time I've updated my drivers, there has been no improvement, rather I'm now at the point where I cannot use it at all. The now application crashes anytime a shape is divided on the artboard, on top of the heavy lag. Is there someone that I can talk to about a refund, the application is clearly not usable on windows. I do not have any issues on any other applications on this computer, work or game related. 

[Dan C]

13 hours ago, nayld said:

I've performed a clean install with DDU each time I've updated my drivers, there has been no improvement, rather I'm now at the point where I cannot use it at all. The now application crashes anytime a shape is divided on the artboard, on top of the heavy lag.

Thank you for letting me know and I'm certainly sorry to hear this!

13 hours ago, nayld said:

Is there someone that I can talk to about a refund

You can email affinityreturns@serif.com, and provided the purchase was made through the Affinity Store then we can accommodate you here.
If you could include your Order Number within this email it will make it easier for our team to locate your account.

13 hours ago, nayld said:

the application is clearly not usable on windows. I do not have any issues on any other applications on this computer, work or game related

I'm sorry to hear you feel this way, as I've mentioned I'm not seeing any of the same issues with Affinity on Windows 10, using a GTX1070 and Gsync - however I do understand this does not minimise the issues you're experiencing currently, so our sincerest apologies for any inconveniences caused here.