Freeze on Launch if NAS is not found

[James B.]

•    What is your operating system and version (Windows 11, OSX Ventura, iOS 16 etc)?
  • macOS Ventura 13.0.1
•    Is hardware acceleration (in Preferences > Performance) ON or OFF ? (and have you tried the other setting?)
  • I don't remember. Unable to open the app since I won't have access to the network with the NAS in question for a few days. 
•    What happened for you (and what you expected to happen)
  • Expected app to open normally, either through clicking on app icon or through opening a .NEF file.
•    Provide a recipe for creating the problem (step-by-step what you did).
  • First connect to a SMB NAS on local network, then edit and save 1 or more files to said SMB NAS. Then disconnect Mac from that network, and then try to open Affinity Photos 2. It should freeze and you should receive a macOS system prompt saying it is unable to connect to NAS.
•    Screenshots (very handy) or a screen capture/video.
•    Any unusual hardware (like tablets or external monitors or drives that may affect things) or relevant other applications like font managers or display managers.
  • I use a SMB NAS at home, but edit off of an external SSD when I am not home. 
•    Did this same thing used to work and if so have you changed anything recently? (software or hardware)
  • If the last used destination for saving .afphoto files was an external SSD the bug would not occur. It only occurs when the last destination used for saving file was on a NAS. 

[walt.farrell]

Welcome to the Serif Affinity forums.

A few additional questions to clarify the scenario:

1. Did you close the app while you had the file open?
2. Do you have the app (or macOS) configured to reopen files when the app starts?
3. Also, what happens after you click OK?
4. Were you also a V1 user, and did it behave the same there?

 

[James B.]

1. I believe so.  

2. I don't think I messed with settings at all, and default setting in V1 appears to be to reopen file when app starts, so I would assume V2 would be the same.

3. The same error message would reappear after I click OK, and it does not go away until I force quit the app.

4. I was a V1 user, and I never encountered this error. In fact I just tested this out by opening a file on a different NAS, then Command+Q without first closing the file, and then disconnected from all networks before reopening Affinity V1. No errors. 

Edited November 16, 2022 by James B.

[walt.farrell]

Thanks for the info

Until it is resolved, disabling the option (in the app, and the OS) to reopen files that were open when the app closed might provide a useful workaround.

[walt.farrell]

Note: Possibly related topic:

With an interesting comment from a developer.

[stokerg]

On 11/16/2022 at 5:11 AM, James B. said:

It should freeze and you should receive a macOS system prompt saying it is unable to connect to NAS.

If you click okay on that message does the app then start?  

I've done some quick tests with a SMB shared drive and also get the error but clicking okay, the app then starts and while i didn't get a freeze, another member of the Tech team did get a freeze.  We will also get this tested with an actual SMB NAS drive to see if the behaviour is the same.

[James B.]

Apologies for the extremely late response, but it would appear that walt.farrel's solution did fix my problem. However, this exact same bug came back with version 2.0.3. This time I managed to fix the error by clearing the "Open Recent" menu. 

• What is your operating system and version (Windows 11, OSX Ventura, iOS 16 etc)?
  • macOS Ventura 13.1
•    Is hardware acceleration (in Preferences > Performance) ON or OFF ? (and have you tried the other setting?)
  • Yes
•    What happened for you (and what you expected to happen)
  • Expected app to open normally, either through clicking on app icon or through opening a .NEF file.
•    Provide a recipe for creating the problem (step-by-step what you did).
  • First connect to a SMB NAS on local network, then edit and save 1 or more files to said SMB NAS. Then disconnect Mac from that network, and then try to open Affinity Photos 2. It should freeze and you should receive a macOS system prompt saying it is unable to connect to NAS. 
•    Any unusual hardware (like tablets or external monitors or drives that may affect things) or relevant other applications like font managers or display managers.
  • I use a SMB NAS at home, but edit off of an external SSD when I am not home. 
•    Did this same thing used to work and if so have you changed anything recently? (software or hardware)
  • It worked for a while after I unchecked reopen last file on startup, then the same error popped up one day, presumably after 2.0.3 update. 

Edited January 24, 2023 by James B.
Added bug report information since this is most likely a 2.0.3 bug

[Neophobica]

I ran into a similar issue today.

I am on Mac (macOS Big Sur 11.7.3), and also have a NAS connected. Altough I use it for storing files that I am not currently working on. 

I worked on a file that was saved locally on my macbook, but I had files in the "recently open" that are saved on the NAS.
My NAS is currently shut off. I was still able to work on the local file, but as soon as I went into the "recently open" menu, Affinity Photo froze, giving me the same error message James B. got. Over and over again. Force quitting the program did not help, because on restart, I would get the same error. Restarting my laptop also didn't work.

I think the issue is, that Affinity photo prompts itself to look for the "recently open" files over and over again, in a loop. There was no opportunity to clear the "recently open" as the submenu where that command is found, wouldnt open. Affinity was already busy looking up the files (and failing ), locked in the loop and not responding to anything.

I could only resolve it by turning my NAS on for a couple of minutes to clear the "recently open". (also disable the reopen option, just to be safe)
only upside to this is, that it happend 2 days before I have to drop off my NAS for inspection (that's why it was shut off) and I am not stuck for 2+ weeks of not being able to work x_X

A failsafe would be nice.
So Affinity would only check once for "recently open files" or files to reopen. And after not being able to do so, giving the option to try again or discard.

 

Edit to add: I am working with Affinity Photo 2, V2.0.4

Edited February 26, 2023 by Neophobica

[Affinity Info Bot]

The issue "App attempts to reconnect to disconnected SMB share on launch" (REF: AFB-7024) has been fixed by the developers in internal build "2.1.0.1728".
This fix should soon be available as a customer beta and is planned for inclusion in the next customer release.
Customer beta builds are announced here and you can participate by following these instructions.
If you still experience this problem once you are using that build version (or later) please reply to this thread including @Serif Info Bot to notify us.