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Frequent Lagging experienced in Affinity Designer V2


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Hello, I have a really annoying problem with Affinity Designer V2. When I'm working with any object when I switch between (mostly) Move tool and Node tool, it takes like 1 second to switch and the software seems lagged. I'm using the latest version 2. 0. 3. I'm sorry if this problem has been already discussed here. 

Does anyone of you have the same problem or is it just me? If so, could you recommend me some kind of an advice?

Thanks in advance.

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I don't have it happening here (for me it's instant, hyper fast, using beta 2.0.3 yet). In Edit/preferences/performance, do you have hardware acceleration activated and your a graphic card selected, or is it using software mode (WARP) ?. In preferences/tools, what do you have there, Windows Ink, High Precision, Low Precision? 

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
Ryzen 9 3900X, 32 GB RAM,  RTX 3060 12GB, Wacom Intuos XL, Wacom L. Eizo ColorEdge CS 2420 monitor. Windows 10 Pro.
(Laptop) HP Omen 16-b1010ns 12700H, 32GB DDR5, nVidia RTX 3060 6GB + Huion Kamvas 22 pen display, Windows 11 Pro.

 

 

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4 hours ago, SrPx said:

I don't have it happening here (for me it's instant, hyper fast, using beta 2.0.3 yet). In Edit/preferences/performance, do you have hardware acceleration activated and your a graphic card selected, or is it using software mode (WARP) ?. In preferences/tools, what do you have there, Windows Ink, High Precision, Low Precision? 

In Edit/preferences/performance, there is selected by default my graphic card (AMD Radeon Graphics), should I use WARP instead? Then, in preferences/tools I have Low Precision selected. Should I select something else?

Thank you for your response.

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Actually, it should list your card. Sometimes I switch to WARP to see if some problematic thing improve, but warp is the software mode only, so, it would provide less performance. Better have your card there in  that field...not WARP. But you could try disabling the Open CL checkbox that is just below it, as it is causing problems for some people. That is, disable "hardware acceleration by Open CL" (or sth like that, I never remember it well). Then exit the software (it does not take until restart), start Designer 2.0.3 again, and see if that  improves things.

You should make sure as well that your graphics card driver is well installed. Or, as I am fearing that your CPU is an APU (graphics integrated in the CPU), and the laptops having these cpus often come with only the graphics integrated in the CPU, they don't have a dedicated graphics card, then in that case, be sure to have installed your chipset drivers. That is, your mother board drivers and other drivers that came with your laptop (if hopefully that was the case).

With 2.0.3, I hope you meant the 2.0.3 stable version, not  the previous beta, right ?

Also, make sure that you have installed the latest Windows updates.

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
Ryzen 9 3900X, 32 GB RAM,  RTX 3060 12GB, Wacom Intuos XL, Wacom L. Eizo ColorEdge CS 2420 monitor. Windows 10 Pro.
(Laptop) HP Omen 16-b1010ns 12700H, 32GB DDR5, nVidia RTX 3060 6GB + Huion Kamvas 22 pen display, Windows 11 Pro.

 

 

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Yes, you assumed correctly that I'm using laptop with APU, however I checked drivers and they are all up to date. Windows is also updated, so there shouldn't be problem with that.

I disabled the "Open CL" function as you have described, so I will see how it works out and let you now later.

I suppose that I'm using 2.0.3. stable version as I bought it a few months ago :DD 

I'm getting a bit frustrated, as I didn't have this kind of problem with the Affinity Designer V1, and now this happens to me with V2. 

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A new version has been released, the one you might have installed, 2.0 , is not the latest one.

[ Edit: Wait... "months" ago...? I mean, time flies, but 2.0 is more recent, isn't it? Are you sure you are using version 2? Could it be version 1.x ? You can check it in any Affinity app at the Help top menu, click on the last option, "About". It should tell you if you are using a 1.x version, 2.0.0, or 2.0.3 beta. ]

I suggest that you set to "follow" certain thread as explained by Patrick in the thread I paste below. It is the announcement of this new release, which addresses a number of issues, you might want to uninstall your current version (by going in your windows to the Start icon -> Settings (the ⚙️ icon) --> Applications. A list will show up, click on each v2 app, then a "uninstall" button will appear, click it. Then it is a matter of downloading the new MSIX files from your  user account (in 'downloads'), which once downloaded only need a double click and the install will happen.

(Before installing, you could give it a go to running sfc and dism, but because those require a tutorial apart, and your system might be just fine, better just install directly the new v2.0.3 apps).

If your motherboard drivers, windows updates and all are fine, maybe this new install won't have the problem.

Yes, test how it goes, maybe even before uninstalling and all, with Open CL deactivated.

AMD chips can have some improvement in performance by tweaking the bios , but don't touch that (unless you have advanced knowledge of it)...
Do you know how much RAM does it have ? And what CPU do you have? It should run well in your system as is, though. But just to add more context, you can look it up in your Windows Start -> Settings -> System -> About. There it tells you the RAM (please, tell as well the ram that it says inside parenthesis as "usable"). Also it tells you which CPU does it have. Very useful information. But don't share the device identifier (don't do an screenshot) neither any private data.

If you can also paste a screenshot of your Affinity's preferences-> Performance , and preferences-> Tools, that would be great.

But imo, the main thing is installing the new version, seeing if your issue is fixed, and then, and if it is not fixed, then deactivate Open CL. Because it (imo, maybe am wrong) should be preferable that Open CL could be on. It's just that a lot of people have it solved deactivating it. 

APUs, that is, CPUs from AMD with integrated graphics would be quite less powerful than having a dedicated graphic card. But I believe this is can get fluid performance just with some adjustments, with your current hardware. 

The new version (it's the latest post! Not the first ones):

 

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
Ryzen 9 3900X, 32 GB RAM,  RTX 3060 12GB, Wacom Intuos XL, Wacom L. Eizo ColorEdge CS 2420 monitor. Windows 10 Pro.
(Laptop) HP Omen 16-b1010ns 12700H, 32GB DDR5, nVidia RTX 3060 6GB + Huion Kamvas 22 pen display, Windows 11 Pro.

 

 

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Sorry. I believe that was the beta announcement thread (but last post links to the final stable release). This should  have been the link, I guess (apologies). Again, latest post at the bottom, of course, to get the latest release :

 

 

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
Ryzen 9 3900X, 32 GB RAM,  RTX 3060 12GB, Wacom Intuos XL, Wacom L. Eizo ColorEdge CS 2420 monitor. Windows 10 Pro.
(Laptop) HP Omen 16-b1010ns 12700H, 32GB DDR5, nVidia RTX 3060 6GB + Huion Kamvas 22 pen display, Windows 11 Pro.

 

 

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Hey, thanks for all the advice. I have to apologize for "months ago" :DD I did loose track of time at that moment. However, I did try deactivating Open CL but after half an hour of using Affinity Designer V2 I again started experiencing delayed switching between node and move tool. 

So, I might try reinstalling the whole software and hopefully it would help. 

I'm adding printscreens of my version of Affinity Designer and preferences -> Performance and Tools

image.png.511d4a775a03732155959df05ec6ccc6.pngimage.png.8baefaaef88b800d27e33c93e5017bae.pngimage.png.f0d53bda90e1a89f25f647f3312fa47d.png

 

 

 

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After a while... So, for some time it works well. Very important detail. Like if something was accumulating/draining. Could be a memory matter, even external.  Would be interesting to have the Windows Task Manager (ctrl shift esc) to check (even with "always on top" activated) if there's some resource being drained. Configuring in the Task manager the  headers (with right click on headers) to display : CPU, GPU, Memory, Disk.

Were you able (even if can't share the screen) to check how much RAM is there in your system? You are using the typical AMD laptop, I'd be to bet it has 8GB total of RAM, of which 6 are only left after 2gb are reserved for the graphics part of your CPU (or maybe is not the case, but few RAM for the graphics part isn't good news either).

Once you make sure your total RAM is 8gb (in the way I explained in the other post) and please, what it says in "usable", as sometimes your laptop vendor does configure the system to reserve way less memory than 2gb, we'd better know about it. But once we know the RAM installed, if it's 8gb, set there in preferences/tools  only 6gb, as it could be that the system is getting clogged by for example Chrome eating RAM (after some use, its memory consumption grows), or any other app (music, antivirus, etc) open at the time. Very often even if you are not working with  that other app. Once the system is at its limits, these things can easily happen.

I don't know how Affinity handles the memory, but in PS we used to leave some memory for the operating system and other apps.  If you have 16GB of RAM installed, I'd recommend the opposite, increase it a bit till like 12GB or so.

Set the undo limit to something like 40. You don't need at all 1024 undos. In other software brands, this setting does use memory over time, in Affinity, dunno, but I'd play safe setting like 40. And I don't know if I am imagining it now or what, but I'd bet I have read someone reporting improving a similar situation by reducing the number of undos.

Much longer time ago, some people reported with v1 to have issues while painting with the History windows on. You could close that panel to check if that improves it, but I'd test ANYTHING before that, as that's a useful panel. And revert to have it always on, if testing it in an isolated way, and realizing it's not that.

And a long shot, but who knows (indeed... could be this). For me, setting "Windows Ink" in Preferences/Tools/tablet input method (you have now 'low precision') fixed some big issues of the kind you are having now, long time ago, with version 1.x, but with other parts of the interface. Indeed, not with nodes, but the behavior was very similar, and also happened after some time of use.   When doing this, you need to make sure that your wacom tablet (or other brand), if you use a pen and tablet for your work, in the Wacom driver panel configuration for  this Affinity app (I suppose you are adding each app in the Wacom panel, to have a different configuration for each),  has checked the setting "Windows  Ink". Or it won't work well. I would do a full system restart to be sure the Wacom service and everything is taking the change.

(BTW, in tools, you can set 'use wheel for zoom'. It's a tad easier for me, but to each their own)

Are you working with very large files?  Large raster images or very complex vector objects, many layers ?

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
Ryzen 9 3900X, 32 GB RAM,  RTX 3060 12GB, Wacom Intuos XL, Wacom L. Eizo ColorEdge CS 2420 monitor. Windows 10 Pro.
(Laptop) HP Omen 16-b1010ns 12700H, 32GB DDR5, nVidia RTX 3060 6GB + Huion Kamvas 22 pen display, Windows 11 Pro.

 

 

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Hey, I tried reistalling the whole thing and the problem still continues bothering me. I tried to increase the usage of RAM to 12GB and decresed the number of undos and still the problem occured after some time of using Designer.

I have 16GB RAM, I checked the usage in task manaher while using Designer V2, and there was not any kind of increase in usage in any part of my hardware. 

I'm becoming really desperate as I can't figure out what might be causing the problem.

 

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I have this kind of bug , lag sometime working on a simple file with just 3 or 4 layers. Changing the brush size using Ctrl-Alt and the mouse the brush cursor stutters and disappears for a second or two and then reappears somewhere. I then stop, take a deep breath, wait a few seconds ... and it's back to normal. While this was happening the fan was getting louder too. 

It feels like a memory ... let's say mix up.

-- Window 11 - 32 gb - Intel I7 - 8700 - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060
-- iPad Pro 2020 - 12,9 - 256 gb - Apple Pencil 2 -- iPad 9th gen 256 gb - Apple Pencil 1
-- Macbook Air 15"

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I can't use the new version, the lag makes it unworkable. It happens all the time, the lag is almost constant, sometimes, the program works for about 30 sec and... lag again. Closing and oppening it does'tn change anything. I dont' know what to do. For now, I use another drawing program. But I am really frustrated to have paid for a program wich doesn't work. I didn't have this problem with the old version.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi @stokerg ,

I would like to jump in here because I have exactly the same problem with AD V2.0.3. The problem that AD starts to become extremely slow is not dependent on specific files in my experience. It happens with very simple documents as well as with more complex ones. Unfortunately, I can't contribute actual files, as all my projects are custom work and subject to secrecy.

These delays affect all areas of AD in my experience, but especially the selection of objects, whether on the canvas or in the Layers palette, but also painting, adjusting colours, applying effects and more. Some actions take seconds to be done. Strangely enough, other actions show no lags again. The lagging can occur instantly when starting to work with a document. In other cases it can take some time to see the lags.

I suspect it may have something to do with the nesting of the objects. For example, painting on pixel layers often goes more smoothly when they are on the top level of the hierarchy. If the pixel layer is subordinate to other objects, delays are more likely to occur. The same is for selecting objects. But there is no strict rule to that.

When I work with the same documents in Affinity Designer V1, I don't see these lags. Something crucial must have changed between the versions. Can this possibly affect the memory management?

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I notice lag in painting (I use very large canvases and large brushes) if I have set several "live" filters/fx etc layers. With just simple pixel layers (even using many) and nothing live (I don't need it for painting, or I do whatever and then rasterize) I don't have lag. I have this paranoid obsession with the default number of undos (in preferences/performance) being excessive, 1024, as that did cause performance issues in very old versions of Photoshop (I set it in Affinity apps always to 30 - 70).

Also, most problems I had of it not being snappy did vanish by setting Open Cl/hardware acceleration off (but setting there my nvidia card, not Warp). 

Some other slighter issues have gone away by not using anymore Windows INK  in both the Wacom panel and the Affinity preferences/input method. Setting there "High precision", instead.

Surely has helped curing all the graphic driver/.NET/win updates/sfc & dism cleanup.

But for sure I know that if I set Open CL on, I get lag. So, it's off, in all the Affinity 2.0.3 apps, and goes fluid (at least here) with very large canvases and large brushes, after doing  those things, specially OCL stuff.

Also, I have 32GB RAM. Not sure if there's also a problem with people with 16gb or less.

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
Ryzen 9 3900X, 32 GB RAM,  RTX 3060 12GB, Wacom Intuos XL, Wacom L. Eizo ColorEdge CS 2420 monitor. Windows 10 Pro.
(Laptop) HP Omen 16-b1010ns 12700H, 32GB DDR5, nVidia RTX 3060 6GB + Huion Kamvas 22 pen display, Windows 11 Pro.

 

 

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IMO, disable the OpenCL... It works fast, anyway.

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
Ryzen 9 3900X, 32 GB RAM,  RTX 3060 12GB, Wacom Intuos XL, Wacom L. Eizo ColorEdge CS 2420 monitor. Windows 10 Pro.
(Laptop) HP Omen 16-b1010ns 12700H, 32GB DDR5, nVidia RTX 3060 6GB + Huion Kamvas 22 pen display, Windows 11 Pro.

 

 

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hi @stokerg,

I'm glad you care about the problem we face. As chessboard said, the stuttering does not happen with specific files. In fact, no matter what file I open, if the windows version of Affinity Designer 2.0 runs long enough (For me it is 30min~60min), I will definitely encounter the lag. If you can ask your team's designer to work with windows Affinity Designer v2 for a few days, he must be able to experience the problem we encountered.

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Got exactly the same problem, lag after a while. And when i quit Designer then it keeps running in the background, still using the CPU like Hephaestus described in this thread.

Windows 10 Home 64 / AMD Ryzen 1700 @ 3.6 GHz / Asus Prime B350-Plus / 32 GB RAM / GeForce RTX 3060 12GB with latest studio drivers
Affinity Suite V2 latest official versions

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On 1/19/2023 at 2:33 PM, stokerg said:

Hi @mara.cernochand everyone else in this thread,

Could you attach an afdesign file that shows the issue?  I've been moving nodes in a test document i have with no issues for the past 30 minutes.

 

Hello, sorry for such a delay of my response. I attach the file with which I have encountered the lagging problem, however it doesn't matter what file I'm working with as the trouble appears while working with any file. 

If your team could look into it, that would be great!

File.afdesign

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  • Staff

Hi @mara.cernoch,

Thanks for your file.

No slow down for me on my laptop using its NVIDIA RTX 3050 graphics card but when I switched to the integrated Intel card I was getting lag using the brushes.  However, updating the Intel Graphics Driver resolved the issue and I've had no lagging since with your file.  What CPU is in your laptop?

Everyone else in this thread, who doesn't have the details in their signature, what CPU are you using in your computer?

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