Affinity Photo memory usage/relinquishing questions

[R C-R]

1 minute ago, nickbatz said:

Oh, I don't think I am running out of available memory. The issue is system instability - really just slowing down rather than crashing - after I quit Affinity Photo.

Do you mean the entire system becomes unstable and/or slows down or is it just certain apps?

[nickbatz]

1 minute ago, R C-R said:

AP does cache files temporarily for recovery, but the cached items are stored in files in the user's Library/Application Support folder, not in memory. It would not make any since to keep them in memory since if the app crashed & system was restarted, there would be nothing in memory to restore.

Right, I probably should have deleted that sentence before posting (because it doesn't make sense).

[nickbatz]

11 minutes ago, R C-R said:

Do you mean the entire system becomes unstable and/or slows down or is it just certain apps?

It's most noticeable in Logic Pro X, because it's a real-time program. But I've noticed slowing in Word, and the machine has grumbled when launching other programs.

Another thought just occurred to me: sometimes I use Edit With [Affinity Photo] in Photos, the Apple program that keeps iPhone photos synced between Apple devices and iCloud. Edit With doesn't usually work - it just sits there (or worse, turns the photo into a blank white page on all devices!).

While I don't *think* I can trace this issue to using Edit With, it's worth checking, because that could be an explanation. If the Mac is trying to sync photos all over the universe, that could well cause a clustershag.

[nickbatz]

I do appreciate all the help. Sorry if I sound even grumpier than usual.

[R C-R]

1 minute ago, nickbatz said:

Could well be. But ideally I wouldn't have to restart the computer.

Since it could be something besides AP that is the problem, you need to start considering if there is a problem with any of the other apps you run, including the ones you say you always need. That doesn't necessarily mean not using them, but if one or more is corrupted or otherwise compromised, then you need to fix that.

[nickbatz]

44 minutes ago, R C-R said:

Since it could be something besides AP that is the problem, you need to start considering if there is a problem with any of the other apps you run, including the ones you say you always need. That doesn't necessarily mean not using them, but if one or more is corrupted or otherwise compromised, then you need to fix that.

Possible but not probable.

[thomaso]

3 hours ago, nickbatz said:

booting in safe mode and then trying to run Affinity Photo... that's not going to tell me anything, unfortunately.

Again: this is only after quitting Affinity Photo.

Yes, you can test only this in Safe boot mode. Open APhoto, check the RAM, open some images + do some work, check the RAM, close APhoto, check the RAM again. This does tell you what you want to know about RAM but with reduced possibly influence of the funny things you mentioned before. That is why Apple named this Safe boot mode.

3 hours ago, nickbatz said:

Everything I have running is important, and I've had all these things running all day long for 50 years.

A confused statement. If you want to detect a culprit for a problem you want to solve then the thought what app you need or not is irrelevant. Instead the point is in testing and reducing influence of as many items as possible to finally narrow the problem down to ideally 1 culprit.

Even if, no, especially if you indeed work with Apple computers for 50 or 49 years you can be aware that the operating system, the CPU and kernels, the memory management etc. have changed massively during that time which makes experiences and possible problem solutions of earlier times quite useless.

[R C-R]

14 minutes ago, nickbatz said:

Possible but not probable.

Why is it any more or less probable than something in AP that apparently affects only your system?

Besides, it isn't just how long you have been running the other stuff, but also about determining if anything has damaged any of them since they were first installed or last updated.

[nickbatz]

On 8/15/2022 at 1:18 PM, thomaso said:

Yes, you can test only this in Safe boot mode. Open APhoto, check the RAM, open some images + do some work, check the RAM, close APhoto, check the RAM again. This does tell you what you want to know about RAM but with reduced possibly influence of the funny things you mentioned before. That is why Apple named this Safe boot mode.

A confused statement. If you want to detect a culprit for a problem you want to solve then the thought what app you need or not is irrelevant. Instead the point is in testing and reducing influence of as many items as possible to finally narrow the problem down to ideally 1 culprit.

Even if, no, especially if you indeed work with Apple computers for 50 or 49 years you can be aware that the operating system, the CPU and kernels, the memory management etc. have changed massively during that time which makes experiences and possible problem solutions of earlier times quite useless.

I truly get all that.

Truly.

Seriously.

 

[nickbatz]

On 8/15/2022 at 1:39 PM, R C-R said:

Why is it any more or less probable than something in AP that apparently affects only your system?

Besides, it isn't just how long you have been running the other stuff, but also about determining if anything has damaged any of them since they were first installed or last updated.

Bruce, you are patronizing me again.

I promise you, I may be stupid but I'm demonstrably not a know-nothing idiot.

[R C-R]

2 hours ago, nickbatz said:

Bruce, you are patronizing me again.

??? My user name is not Bruce.

[nickbatz]

1 hour ago, R C-R said:

??? My user name is not Bruce.

I blame your parents for not naming you that.

[nickbatz]

Update: this issue does not exist on my new machine (Mac Studio, Max, 64GB, 32-core graphics).

For what it's worth to Bruce whose name is not Bruce and others.