Affinity Suite v2 crash

[nobduck]

Hello.

I bought and installed the "Affinity v2" suite, and I'm almost satisfied with it, except for a problem with the software crashing when I try to open a file.

I'm on macOS 10.15.7 and, when I do: "Right click" > "Open with..." > "Affinity Designer 2" / "Affinity Publisher 2" / "Affinity Photo 2" on a file (PNG, JPG, SVG, PDF, etc.), the software open before crashing immediately.

Now when I open "Affinity Designer 2", "Affinity Publisher 2" or "Affinity Photo 2" directly, sometimes it works fine and I can open my file, sometimes it crashes immediately (regardless of the file type I tries to open).

I was therefore forced to reinstall versions 1 of "Affinity" (which work without any problems) in order to be able to launch my software.

Do you have a solution to solve this problem?

Do you need the crash reports generated by macOS?

Awaiting your reply.

Best regards.

Edited November 21, 2022 by nobduck

[NathanC]

Hi @nobduckwelcome to the forums,

I've seen reports of this issue on Windows when opening a non native affinity file causes an app crash but not yet on Mac, I would initially suggest going through a full reset of the app(s) to their default settings by following the below:

1. Back up any custom created assets/brushes etc. that have been imported into the app(s) as these will be wiped
2. Close down all Affinity apps
3. Hold down CTRL, launch Designer 2 whilst still holding down CTRL
4. This will prompt a 'clear user data' menu, tick 'Affinity Designer 2' and 'All Affinity 2 apps' to tick all boxes on screen (do not tick deactivate at the bottom)
5. Press clear, this will load up the app, try opening a file again.

If this still results in the same issue, could you provide me with the most recent crash report(s)? I'll need the full crash report file as a screenshot does not give all the information required.

[MWOO]

I earlier reported that Publisher V2 (Windows) becomes slower at responding after a few hours use - it seems to use a great deal of memory. It has now crashed (whilst trying to paste a MS word document) and will not restart properly - as soon as I try to continue working, it stops responding and I have to close it via Task Manager. This has happened twice in three days of use - last time this happened Affinity Photo2 would not load either - I re-downloaded the software from Affinity and re-loaded both programmes and this seemed to overcome the problem. There appears to be a serious issue with the V2 suite - a pity as the product could be excellent ... . 

[NathanC]

5 minutes ago, MWOO said:

I earlier reported that Publisher V2 (Windows) becomes slower at responding after a few hours use - it seems to use a great deal of memory. It has now crashed (whilst trying to paste a MS word document) and will not restart properly - as soon as I try to continue working, it stops responding and I have to close it via Task Manager. This has happened twice in three days of use - last time this happened Affinity Photo2 would not load either - I re-downloaded the software from Affinity and re-loaded both programmes and this seemed to overcome the problem. There appears to be a serious issue with the V2 suite - a pity as the product could be excellent ... . 

Welcome to the forums @MWOO,

This is the Bug forum for Designer 2 on MacOS, I would advise creating a separate post on Publisher 2 for Windows bugs giving as much detail as possible on the issue. This is to avoid any cross posting/confusion as your issue looks like it's completely different to the original poster's.

[nobduck]

Thanks @NathanC for your answer.

I performed the manipulations as advised.

No sooner had the procedure been completed than the "Affinity Publisher 2" application crashed (without even opening)!

Unfortunately for me, I'm still forced to use version 1 on this computer.

For information, I have a MacBook Pro with macOS 13.0.1 and the entire Affinity v2 suite works without any problems.

Can I send you the full crash report by PM?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Best regards.

[MWOO]

Hello, sorry but it's no good sending the crash report to me as I'm an end-user trying to report the problem to the Affinity tech chaps. I was told to put my issue in the Windows section of the forum but I cannot find a separate Windows section - the forum is just marked MacOS/Windows.

[Hangman]

@MWOO, https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/forum/82-publisher-2-bugs-found-on-windows/

[nobduck]

35 minutes ago, MWOO said:

Hello, sorry but it's no good sending the crash report to me as I'm an end-user trying to report the problem to the Affinity tech chaps. I was told to put my issue in the Windows section of the forum but I cannot find a separate Windows section - the forum is just marked MacOS/Windows.

Hi @MWOO

I don't intend to send you the crash report 🙃

This will be done to someone from the Affinity team only. In this case, to @NathanC.

Best regards.

[Canary Skye]

I have a MacBook Pro and have upgraded to the Affinity 2.0 Suite and can attest that there is a major bug with SVGs and EPS files being used in documents. I have experienced several crashes after working on a document that has either an SVG or EPS logo.  Upon reopening the document the layer that held the SVG/EPS still shows, but the actual file has been removed/stripped. The only remedy I found is by converting the SVG/EPS file to an PNG and using it in the document, but then I'm left with a lower quality logo.

I hope this can be fixed rather sooner then later.

[NathanC]

On 12/6/2022 at 3:50 PM, nobduck said:

This will be done to someone from the Affinity team only. In this case, to @NathanC.

Thanks for sending the crash report via PM @nobduck,

We'll focus on trying to get one app working rather than removing them all, could you try a complete re-install of Designer 2 by following the below:

1. From applications, move Designer 2 over to the bin and delete it
2. From finder, press CMD + Space to bring up Spotlight search and enter ~/Library/Application Support/
3. In the Application Support folder, rename the 'Affinity Designer 2' folder to another name, like 'Affinity Designer 2 old'
4. Go to the Affinity store and re-download and install Designer 2 again

Once installed, launch the app again and try and open and edit your files. If this works then this can be repeated for the other two apps.

 

[nobduck]

Hi @NathanC

Thanks for your answer.

I did all the manipulations as advised:
- I moved the "Designer 2" application to the trash
- I emptied the recycle bin
- I renamed the folder in "Application Support" as follows: "Affinity Designer 2 old"
- I re-downloaded "Affinity Designer 2" from the store
- I reinstalled the app
- I restarted it

As soon as the message asking me to import data from version 1 appeared, the application crashed.

I tried to launch the app again, but it crashed immediately!

Sorry that this solution didn't work.

Do you have another idea for me?

I send you in PM the last crash report generated by macOS.

Best regards.

[NathanC]

Hi @nobduck,

At this point are you able to get into the app welcome screen or does it crash during the start up/splash screen?

Could you try launching the apps from a separate mac user/ if ones not available creating a temporary new mac user and then trying to launch/use the apps on the separate user? This helps rule out if there's something unusual in the user environment.

[MWOO]

Hi All, sorry but I keep trying to say that this problem is with my Windows 11 PC - not Apple. The forum name is 'Apple/Windows issues' - perhaps there should be definitive separate forums for the two systems? I haven't used Publisher for a few days as I need to get some publications 'out' quickly so I am reverting to Adobe InDesign for the time being - pity as I like the Publisher system.

[walt.farrell]

7 minutes ago, MWOO said:

The forum name is 'Apple/Windows issues'

No, it's not. The forum name this topic is in is "Designer 2 Bugs found on macOS".

Earlier, another user gave you a pointer to the appropriate forum for Publisher 2 bugs on Windows: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/forum/82-publisher-2-bugs-found-on-windows/

[nobduck]

Hi @NathanC

First of all, I wish a very happy new year 2023 to the entire Affinity team.

To respond to your test request:
- I created a new session on my Mac
- I opened each Affinity application (Designer first)
- the update to version 2.0.3 has been done
- each application opened correctly, without crashing

So I went back to my main session, and again tried to open each Affinity application (Designer first).

Unfortunately, here, the app crashed once the splash screen was displayed.

Does this mean I could never use Affinity 2 on my main session? It would be a shame 😞 Switching sessions is not the most practical.

Do you have any solutions for me?
Do I need to check something specific in my main session?

Awaiting your reply.

Best regards.

[NathanC]

Hi @nobduck

Thanks for coming back to me, I have since found another user with an identical problem to yours, it appears to be caused by a user environment specific issue on Mac to do with the most recent documents list (MRU.dat) causing the crashes. Unfortunately the only feasible workaround currently for this is to use an alternate Mac user, I've since collated and logged this issue with the developers for further investigation. I'll get back to you once I get any further information.

[nobduck]

Hi @NathanC

Thank you for your response and investigation.

I hope that the development team will find a solution so that we don't have to change sessions as soon as we need to use Affinity v2.

I look forward to your return.

Best regards.

[RHWebDesigns]

Having shared everyone's pain and frustration I just wanted to provide a solution which worked for me.  I'm not sure if it will work for anyone on a Mac but my constant crashing during exports has stopped for me.

I'm a Windows 10 user and I changed two key things.

1. Reduced the file path length of where the images were being saved by renaming so rather lengthy folders and moving the working project files.
2. Cleared up lots of space on the drive in question.

I hope this may be of relevance and helps others.  

As this issue is so widely reported across the forum by many individuals, I won't cross-post, I'll leave that that decision to the forum administrators.

Cheers,
Richard.

[Patrick Connor]

Sorry that you have experienced this problem with the Affinity Suite. 

We have now released 2.0.4 on all platforms, and using that build we believe we have made an improvement in that area that should have fixed the crash 

[nobduck]

Hi @NathanC and @Patrick Connor

Thanks for your help!

• I uninstalled version 2 of the Affinity apps.
• I downloaded the proposed 2.0.4 versions.
• I installed them.

And it seems that, for the moment, everything is working well! Awesome ! 😁
I hope this will hold up over time.

Congratulations to the development team who seem to have solved the problem.

I think this post can be marked as "Solved".

Best regards.

[RHWebDesigns]

On 1/27/2023 at 6:29 PM, Patrick Connor said:

Sorry that you have experienced this problem with the Affinity Suite. 

We have now released 2.0.4 on all platforms, and using that build we believe we have made an improvement in that area that should have fixed the crash 

Great stuff Patrick! What was the improvement made?

[Patrick Connor]

1 hour ago, RHWebDesigns said:

Great stuff Patrick! What was the improvement made?

From the release notes, this thread benefitted from this change

• App crash upon startup caused by a deleted "Recently Used" file on Catalina