Designer crashes when saving

[LeLa]

Hi all,

Unfortunately, I have to get back to you.

I have the same problem again and again.

When saving the file, it crashes and cannot be opened again. It is a really big problem. If no solution is found, I will have to change to another programme.

After crashing, the following error messages appear:

I had already reported on this problem in December. One of two files could then actually be restored.

Someone had the idea that it might be the memory RAM.  In the meantime, I had my IT specialist check my PC, especially the working memory. But everything is in order. I am sending the damaged file in the attachment.

The last thing I was working on was editing an area in Desinger Persona.

I really need to find a solution to this problem. Hopefully someone can help me.

Many greetings,

Lena

[LeLa]

Sorry, the file is apparently too big to upload. Maybe someone can give me a dropbox link for the upload again.

the last time @DWrightwas able to restore a file.

@Arte had the idea with the possibly damaged working memory. I was able to clarify and clear that up in the meantime. Its not the problem.

[Dan C]

Hi @LeLa,

Sorry to hear you're having trouble!

I can see the first dialog is asking if you want to open a recovery version of this file - are you selecting Yes or No here? does this choice change the error message shown, or do you see this error message regardless of if you try and open the recovery file?

You can upload your file to the below link, once uploaded please reply here to let me know -

https://www.dropbox.com/request/h3GVWhZAsukCBHsEqhEf

Many thanks in advance

[LeLa]

Hi @Dan C,

thanks very much for your answer. I'm sorry for the misunderstandings. Yes, it would be great if i could get a recoverd file once again.

I uploaded the crashed file in the dropbox. Its a new file, not the crashed one from Decembre. After recovering this one from December it workes fine. But now its the same problem with this one, another new file.

I really need to find out the problem because I really enjoy working with Affinity Designer...

[Dan C]

Many thanks for the document, I have tried to recover this here using the methods available to me and have thus far been unable, my apologies.

Therefore I have logged this file with our developers now - so they can attempt to repair or recover this data.

This process may take some time, but I'll be sure to respond here with any update I receive. Our sincerest apologies once again for the inconvenience caused.

[LeLa]

thank you very much for your effort. I am very grateful for this.

My main concern is to find out where the crashes are coming from. I am hopeful that the developers can figure this out as well.

So that I can avoid it in the future.

In any case, it doesn't seem to be a hardware problem, but a problem with the programme.

[Dan C]

No problem at all - in regards to the crashes you're experiencing, I'd like to request some additional information.

Please open the Affinity app and navigate to Edit > Preferences > Performance and provide a screenshot of your settings here for me.

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

%APPDATA%\Affinity\Designer\1.0\CrashReports\reports

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

Many thanks once again!

[LeLa]

Hi @Dan C ,

now you get my settings:

[LeLa]

And now here is my .dmp file attached. there is only one file in this folder.

 

98e8b68e-d19e-42f1-8a7a-3dbd7fe4d82e.dmp

[LeLa]

I really hope it helps.
Get in touch if you need more information.

[Dan C]

Many thanks for the screenshots and crash report provided!

Can you please try unticking Hardware Acceleration at the bottom of the Performance dialog, then restart the app as prompted and try editing once again.

Does this reduce the crashing behaviour you're experiencing please?

[LeLa]

Many thanks for the tip. I have changed it in the settings and will try it out.
It would really be a relief if that is the solution. 😃

[forest-for-trees]

This has been happening to me ever since I got a new computer with MacOS Monterey. Affinity designer reliably crashes every time I try to export assets, not sure if the same problem. I have gotten into the routine of saving my work prior to saving, because I can be relatively certain that it will crash at least once before I can successfully export assets. I always send the crash reports, but the problem persists. It seems likely that it's a problem with the latest versions of MacOS. How can I help to debug the issue?

[Dan C]

Hi @forest-for-trees,

Sorry to hear you're having trouble!

Can you please confirm for me:

• Does this happen with any asset category, or only one specific category?
• Did you purchase the app from the Affinity Store, or the Mac App Store? (this will change the location of the file(s) I will be requesting).
• Do you see any error message when trying to export, or does the app simply close and then ask to send the crash report?

Many thanks in advance

[forest-for-trees]

Hi @Dan C,

Thanks for the quick reply. 

1. I'm not sure, I haven't noticed a specific file type being problematic. I usually export either .png, .jpg, or .svg. As far as I know, it happens with all 3 file types.

2. Affinity store

3. There is no error message. The app hangs ("The application is not responding") when I click the export button. After forcing the app the quit, there is an app crash report that I send to the developers every time the app crashes. I can take a screenshot and post here the next time the app crashes.

It may be worth mentioning that I use Dropbox, and am usually exporting to Dropbox folders. I thought that it might be related to the export dialog opening in folders which are online only, but I just tried it and it worked without error, so I don't think that's the problem after all.

Also, here's some version information:

MacOS Monterey, V12.4

MacBook Pro (14", 2021)

Affinity designer V1.10.5

Thanks for your help, this is a frustrating problem! Especially when I lose changes because I forgot to save recently (p.s. is there a good way to enable auto save with Affinity designer? I see the recovery option in seconds, but I worry that it would affect my system to change that to every 2 or 3 seconds)

[forest-for-trees]

Hi @Dan C,

Just experienced another crash. I was trying to export 4 files with .png filetype at 2x scaling. See attached screenshots. The crash report is massive at 41131 lines of text, so I won't burden the thread with that, but I have saved it to a file in case you have specific questions. Thanks in advance. 

 

[Dan C]

Many thanks for the further information and screenshots provided!

My apologies as I though you were referring to 'Assets' saved in your Assets Studio within Affinity and not objects on your canvas.

5 hours ago, forest-for-trees said:

After forcing the app the quit, there is an app crash report that I send to the developers every time the app crashes. I can take a screenshot and post here the next time the app crashes.

I'd like to request a copy of a crash report such that I can hopefully investigate the exact cause of this. 
Please go to Applications > Utilities and open the Console app. Crash Reports from our apps can be found in the User Reports section. You can Right Click the required Crash Report and select Reveal in Finder, then attach a copy of the latest report here for me.

5 hours ago, forest-for-trees said:

It may be worth mentioning that I use Dropbox, and am usually exporting to Dropbox folders. I thought that it might be related to the export dialog opening in folders which are online only, but I just tried it and it worked without error, so I don't think that's the problem after all.

We recommend not exporting/saving to cloud locations directly, as these can cause unexpected issues, especially with the Export Persona.
I suggest exporting to a local folder on your system that is not being cloud 'synced', then copying any exported files to your Dropbox folder within Finder.

Does this stop the crashes from happening please?

5 hours ago, forest-for-trees said:

is there a good way to enable auto save with Affinity designer? I see the recovery option in seconds, but I worry that it would affect my system to change that to every 2 or 3 seconds

I would of course recommend using File > Save before attempting the export to reduce the chance of recent work being lost if the app crashes, however if you wish to reduce your autosave frequency I would not recommend less than 60-30 seconds between each save, or you may find the performance of the app/your mac is affected.

[forest-for-trees]

Hi @Dan C, 

Thanks for detailed instructions and for your continued help in diagnosing the issue. I didn't see a "User Reports" category, but I did find Affinity logs under the "Diagnostic Reports" section in the Console app. See attached latest log. I can attach earlier ones as well if useful. 

All due respect, the workflow you're suggesting of first exporting to local directories, then copying to cloud synced directories is not realistic for me. I pretty much _only_ save documents to cloud synced directories, especially files of this type which I want a full history of. And I export a lot of files from Affinity. Adding this extra step would be such a headache, that I would rather deal with the crashes than do what you're suggesting. I think that given the direction of computing towards the cloud, it's not reasonable to expect people to do this. And given that Finder doesn't crash on me, this must be something that Affinity can fix if it is related to the problem.

Understood re: save/auto save suggestions.

Affinity Designer_2022-07-13-131140_Jordans-MacBook-Pro.diag

[Dan C]

Many thanks for providing that for me, I'll be sure to log this with our developers now!

I certainly understand regarding your workflow, and we do appreciate this is not an ideal solution so please accept my apologies for any inconveniences in the meantime.

Our developers are working to improve Cloud compatibility with Affinity files, as I understand it this is currently caused due to the way we load and save Affinity files, prioritising speed.

[forest-for-trees]

Hi @Dan C Any update on this? It affects me all the time before I even select a directory, so I don't think it has anything to do with Dropbox. I often have to restart Affinity twice or more before I'm able to export anything and I export things many, many times every day . It only started happening after an upgrade to the latest version of MacOS. Look forward to hearing your news.

[Dan C]

I can confirm this issue is still logged with our developers as a bug - we've discovered that the Export Persona can cause crashing/freezing when exporting to any Cloud location, including iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive and ownCloud and we certainly hope to have this addressed shortly, however I cannot provide a timescale for this currently, my apologies.

[forest-for-trees]

Hi @Dan Cthanks for the update. So do you think simply clicking export to open a Finder window inside of a cloud drive could cause the problem? It is occurring for me as soon as Finder opens and before I even select a location to export. But it only occurs sometimes and regardless of whether those files are synced locally.

[Dan C]

No problem at all, according to the development log:

Quote

With a cloud service ‘syncing’ folders on macOS, this can cause Affinity to crash or freeze when selecting a folder in Finder through the Export Persona. This doesn’t need to specifically be a synced folder you’re selecting/exporting to, simply anywhere on the system can cause this.

Currently the only known fix is to force close the app and not restart the system. Following a force close it should work, but after each mac restart the crash/freeze will happen.

I do understand this must be frustrating, so please accept my sincerest apologies for any inconveniences caused due to this - especially as it can happen even when exporting to local, 'unsynced' folders, so I will be sure to make sure this is marked as urgent with developers

[forest-for-trees]

I just bought version 2 of designer. I was praying that this bug would be fixed, but nope! It's still alive and just as annoying as ever! This issue seriously impacts my workflow and has for the last 6+ months. Is there any update on a fix for this problem? Affinity's apps are the only ones on my computer that have this type of problem...

[SPurz]

And it should be fixed in v1 as well since this is just a massive bug, not a feature update.