Buggy and unstable Affinity Photo performance

[Realm_SGG]

Hello,

I am experiencing 3 major issues, I forgot to mention the crashing in the video but here it is, briefly showing the weird brush strokes and buggy brushes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cTpklaQUFk

 

1: Affinity Photo frequently crashes.

2: Weird performance issue with brushes.

3: Brushes start with paint residue which increases work time and is a mess to clean when working with transparent material.

After getting a new boot drive, I created a fresh install of Affinity Photo and all other programs I use. These issues are exclusive to Affinity Photo but have been a huge hinderance because AP is at the centre of my workflow for a long time now.

I have checked existing threads regarding the crashes but haven't found similar reports to the other two listed problems. I've checked if there are interfering processes through TM but haven't found any that match the list found in the forums here. I have hardware acc. enabled and have set RAM usage to just over 20GB and in all fairness I don't understand how it could be related to my hardware if that was the case.

PC Info:

R7 3700X

32GB 3000MHz mem

RTX 3080

Huion Inspiroy Q11K v2 graphics tablet

HuionTablet drivers 14.8.137.1273 (There is an updated version, but that has not resolved either of the issues, so I downgraded in hopes that this would resolve something - it hasn't.)

Windows 10 v. 2004

Affinity Photo v1.10.1 (up to date at present)

Please let me know if you need more details. I would genuinely appreciate some help right now.

Thank you.

 

[emmrecs01]

@Realm_SGG

Not really an answer to your questions (sorry) but is there any reason why you have not updated Win 10 to a later version?

Jeff

[Realm_SGG]

9 minutes ago, emmrecs01 said:

@Realm_SGG

Not really an answer to your questions (sorry) but is there any reason why you have not updated Win 10 to a later version?

Jeff

Incompatibility issues with some of my other gear - haven't checked if it's been patched but given that it's Microsoft I doubt it

[Dan C]

Hi @Realm_SGG,

Sorry to see you're having trouble!

17 hours ago, Realm_SGG said:

1: Affinity Photo frequently crashes.

I'd like to request a copy of your latest crash reports to see if this contains any obvious cause or further information for us.

Please open Windows Run (Windows Key + R) then paste the following string and press OK:

%APPDATA%\Affinity\Photo\1.0\CrashReports\reports

In the window that opens, please select the 2 most recently .DMP files, then attach these to your reply here.

17 hours ago, Realm_SGG said:

2: Weird performance issue with brushes.

There may be a few reasons for this, can you please confirm for me:

• Did disabling Hardware Acceleration improve the performance of these brushes?
• What version of Nvidia driver is currently in use for your GPU?
• Do you get performance issues when using your mouse, or only when using the drawing tablet?

17 hours ago, Realm_SGG said:

3: Brushes start with paint residue which increases work time and is a mess to clean when working with transparent material.

This appears to be due to the graphics tablet in Affinity, as you've mentioned this doesn't occur with your mouse (but I also understand it does not happen in other apps).

Under Edit > Preferences > Tools, what option is set for Tablet Input Method please?

Do you have Windows Ink enabled? (either through Windows OS, or possibly through the Huion drivers?) - I'm not as familiar with Huion drivers as I am other brands unfortunately!

Did disabling Hardware Acceleration improve the performance of your drawing tablet at all, or do you still notice these same issues with H.A. disabled?

17 hours ago, Realm_SGG said:

I've checked if there are interfering processes through TM but haven't found any that match the list found in the forums here.

I assume you're referring to the following list, so I'd just like to double check this is the same post you have already seen/checked?

Many thanks in advance!

[Realm_SGG]

1 hour ago, Dan C said:

Hi @Realm_SGG,

Sorry to see you're having trouble!

I'd like to request a copy of your latest crash reports to see if this contains any obvious cause or further information for us.

Please open Windows Run (Windows Key + R) then paste the following string and press OK:

%APPDATA%\Affinity\Photo\1.0\CrashReports\reports

In the window that opens, please select the 2 most recently .DMP files, then attach these to your reply here.

There may be a few reasons for this, can you please confirm for me:

• Did disabling Hardware Acceleration improve the performance of these brushes?
• What version of Nvidia driver is currently in use for your GPU?
• Do you get performance issues when using your mouse, or only when using the drawing tablet?

This appears to be due to the graphics tablet in Affinity, as you've mentioned this doesn't occur with your mouse (but I also understand it does not happen in other apps).

Under Edit > Preferences > Tools, what option is set for Tablet Input Method please?

Do you have Windows Ink enabled? (either through Windows OS, or possibly through the Huion drivers?) - I'm not as familiar with Huion drivers as I am other brands unfortunately!

Did disabling Hardware Acceleration improve the performance of your drawing tablet at all, or do you still notice these same issues with H.A. disabled?

I assume you're referring to the following list, so I'd just like to double check this is the same post you have already seen/checked?

Many thanks in advance!

Hello, thank you for your response.

I've uploaded the crash report here, unfortunately I only have one in the directory you specified.

Nvidia Drivers: 427.12 release date 09/20/2021

Performance: Turning hardware acc. off made things worse
Usage: The performance is only hindered with the graphics tablet

Tablet Input Method setting: "High Precision"

Third Party Software: Yep, the link you've provided refers to the list of programs. Sorry, I should've listed it initially. None of the programmes listed are running or even installed on the system.

Windows Ink: Ink is disabled on both Huion and Windows, enabling it doesn't change anything unfortunately.

 

 

90387c9a-c7e3-4619-a54e-4457a44e6346.dmp

[Dan C]

1 hour ago, Realm_SGG said:

I've uploaded the crash report here, unfortunately I only have one in the directory you specified.

Thanks for your report! That's certainly strange that only one file was available here, however I have had this debugged and it appears as though the app is crashing in DXCore which we use for DirectX rendering of the canvas.

We've seen a few similar reports of crashed in DXCore which our developers have improved in our latest beta version. Please find this linked below, you can install the beta alongside your retail version, so you have 2 different versions of Affinity Photo installed -

Do you find the performance / crashing is improved here please?

We've also previously seen this issue when Air Display is installed, or perhaps similar apps that allow you to wireless convert a tablet to an external monitor - do you by chance have such an app installed currently?

2 hours ago, Realm_SGG said:

Tablet Input Method setting: "High Precision"

Can you please try changing this to Low Precision and let me know if this helps performance, or stops the 'additional stroke' issue from happening?

Many thanks once again!

[Realm_SGG]

On 10/12/2021 at 3:03 PM, Dan C said:

Thanks for your report! That's certainly strange that only one file was available here, however I have had this debugged and it appears as though the app is crashing in DXCore which we use for DirectX rendering of the canvas.

We've seen a few similar reports of crashed in DXCore which our developers have improved in our latest beta version. Please find this linked below, you can install the beta alongside your retail version, so you have 2 different versions of Affinity Photo installed -

Do you find the performance / crashing is improved here please?

We've also previously seen this issue when Air Display is installed, or perhaps similar apps that allow you to wireless convert a tablet to an external monitor - do you by chance have such an app installed currently?

Can you please try changing this to Low Precision and let me know if this helps performance, or stops the 'additional stroke' issue from happening?

Many thanks once again!

Hello,

Thank you very much for this, and I apologise for getting back to you this late.

The Beta doesn't appear to have the same issues (any of them) as the current 1.10 version. Is it stable enough to be used in replacement of the current, official version? If not then do you guys have a rough time estimate for when this will become official?

Either way, thank you. Really not sure what was happening with AP, seeing that the issue showed out out of thin air but at least it doesn't exist in the Beta.

[Dan C]

No problem at all, I certainly understand!

Many thanks for letting me know, I'm very glad to hear the beta is performing better for you

1 hour ago, Realm_SGG said:

Is it stable enough to be used in replacement of the current, official version? If not then do you guys have a rough time estimate for when this will become official?

We usually don't recommend the beta for commercial use, but the changes made to the latest version are rather minimal so I would not expect it to be any less stable than the current release build.

As for a release timescale, the head of QA (Patrick) has confirmed that we hope to release 1.10.2 as a full release in the next 2-4 weeks here -

I hope this helps!