All apps crash on Windows 11 ARM64

[gnat]

I am trying to run the Affinity suite on Windows 11 ARM64 (4GB RAM), installed from the Microsoft Store. I expected that the apps would be slow but usable under x64 emulation, but all three (Photo, Designer, Publisher) crash after displaying the splash screen (and a warning about lacking a DirectX 10 graphics card and falling back to software rendering).

The Windows Event Log shows the following backtrace:

Application: Photo.exe
Framework Version: v4.0.30319
Description: The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception.
Exception Info: System.Runtime.InteropServices.SEHException
   at <Module>.Raster.Hardware<Raster::DefaultImplementation>.GetHardwarePossible()
   at Serif.Interop.Persona.Settings.PerformanceSettings.get_CanUseHardwareAcceleration()
   at Serif.Interop.Persona.Settings.PerformanceSettings.get_UseHardwareAcceleration()
   at Serif.Interop.Persona.Services.InteropService.Initialise()
   at Serif.Interop.Persona.Application.OnServicesInitialised(Serif.Interop.Persona.Services.IServiceProvider)
   at Serif.Affinity.Application.OnServicesInitialised(Serif.Interop.Persona.Services.IServiceProvider)
   at Serif.Interop.Persona.Application.OnStartup(System.Windows.StartupEventArgs)
   at System.Windows.Application.<.ctor>b__1_0(System.Object)
   at System.Windows.Threading.ExceptionWrapper.InternalRealCall(System.Delegate, System.Object, Int32)
   at System.Windows.Threading.ExceptionWrapper.TryCatchWhen(System.Object, System.Delegate, System.Object, Int32, System.Delegate)
   at System.Windows.Threading.DispatcherOperation.InvokeImpl()
   at MS.Internal.CulturePreservingExecutionContext.CallbackWrapper(System.Object)
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.RunInternal(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object, Boolean)
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object, Boolean)
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object)
   at MS.Internal.CulturePreservingExecutionContext.Run(MS.Internal.CulturePreservingExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object)
   at System.Windows.Threading.DispatcherOperation.Invoke()
   at System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher.ProcessQueue()
   at System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher.WndProcHook(IntPtr, Int32, IntPtr, IntPtr, Boolean ByRef)
   at MS.Win32.HwndWrapper.WndProc(IntPtr, Int32, IntPtr, IntPtr, Boolean ByRef)
   at MS.Win32.HwndSubclass.DispatcherCallbackOperation(System.Object)
   at System.Windows.Threading.ExceptionWrapper.InternalRealCall(System.Delegate, System.Object, Int32)
   at System.Windows.Threading.ExceptionWrapper.TryCatchWhen(System.Object, System.Delegate, System.Object, Int32, System.Delegate)
   at System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher.LegacyInvokeImpl(System.Windows.Threading.DispatcherPriority, System.TimeSpan, System.Delegate, System.Object, Int32)
   at MS.Win32.HwndSubclass.SubclassWndProc(IntPtr, Int32, IntPtr, IntPtr)
   at MS.Win32.UnsafeNativeMethods.DispatchMessage(System.Windows.Interop.MSG ByRef)
   at System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher.PushFrameImpl(System.Windows.Threading.DispatcherFrame)
   at System.Windows.Application.RunDispatcher(System.Object)
   at System.Windows.Application.RunInternal(System.Windows.Window)
   at Photo.Application.Main(System.String[])

I have the saved event log if that is of interest to the developers (please contact me privately).

[Dan C]

Hi @gnat,

Welcome to the Affinity Forums

Unfortunately we don't officially support the Affinity apps on ARM devices through x86 emulation, my apologies.

One suggestion I can make is to ensure you have the OpenGL & OpenCL Compatibility Pack installed from the Microsoft App Store, as this may resolve the crashing on launch.

Should you continue to have further issues with the app however, we would recommend contacting Microsoft for a refund, as mentioned above this is unfortunately an unsupported scenario at this time.

[gnat]

Thanks for the response; that's a pity that it's not supported but fortunately I have other x64 machines that I can use. I did try the OpenGL/CL Compatibility Pack (it was already installed) but without success. I will instead wait patiently for further news about future ARM64 builds! 😉

[BitingChaos]

I know this is an old thread, and I can't offer a solution to fully fix the original problem, but I'm pretty sure it's not entirely an ARM issue.

What I noticed:

Affinity products on Windows 11 ARM under Parallels 18 (which has full video/3D acceleration) gives me the same crash. Lots of mentions of trouble with "HardwareAcceleration()" in the crash logs.

Affinity products on Windows 11 ARM under the newly-released VMware Fusion 13 (which does not have full video/3D acceleration) gave no such error. All Affinity programs I tested opened and seemed to run just fine on ARM. This includes Affinity Photo 1 and 2, Affinity Designer 1 and 2, and Affinity Publisher 1 and 2.

It looks like some compatibility issue with the video driver that is causing an issue, not necessarily emulation on ARM.

To confirm this, in Windows 11 ARM under Parallels 18, I went to Device Manager, right-clicked the "Parallels Display Adapter (WDDM)" and then clicked Disable. The screen flickered, video acceleration was dropped, and then I was able to load all the Affinity apps.

Once I had the app opened (Affinity Photo 2, for example), I went back to Device Manager, right-clicked on the display driver and re-enabled it. After another screen flicker the video acceleration was back on, and the now-accelerated app stayed running.

Affinity Photo 1 and 2, Affinity Designer 1 and 2, and Affinity Publisher 1 and 2 all work fine on ARM. They just have a startup issue when video acceleration is enabled.