Affinity Suite "Light" version

[Grunt]

Hello,

I'm aware there is currently no plan for supporting GNU/Linux or any other software other than Mac/Windows. Nevertheless there is one thing which could help.

Would be possible to create "light" build of Affinity suite? Windows version. Just for testing.

What should such a build consist of? Well, the less, the better.

• No installer - installer is only checking Windows versions, maybe dependencies. Actually no need for this. Zip file is fine.
• No WinRT - this feature has been added in version 2 and I'm not sure if it is any good. Other then integration when installing through msix installer. Again, it causes more problems, then benefits.
• No OpenCL - I wish I could see Affinity to work in Linux with OpenCL support. But in current implementation (I believe through DirectX) there is no chance. No need to even link it into build.
• DirectX 9/11:

  Quote

  In order to enable Hardware Acceleration in Affinity V2 apps, your graphics card will need to have Direct3D 12 Feature Level 12.0.

  Affinity uses D3D9 for UI and canvas requires D3D11. How do I know this? It is possible to use Affinity apps through dxvk. Why is Direct3D 12 Feature Level 12.0 even required? It is possible to lower this requirement as much as needed? There is better chance to translate D3D calls into Vulkan API then.

• Configuration files are currently scattered variously throughout the system. Usually I just install Affinity into C:\Affinity\App and that's it. It is possible to use same apps just by moving into different wine prefix. Maybe isn't bad idea to just save all necessary configurations along executable and use it there.

Not sure when another Beta version will be released and what features are planed for future release, but this one "light" feature request might be more useful than you think. Especially in GNU/Linux community.

[Pšenda]

20 hours ago, Grunt said:

Would be possible to create "light" build of Affinity suite? Windows version. Just for testing.

I'm just wondering - why would Serif do this? Why should he spend valuable resources (development capacities), which he obviously lacks even on regular/saleable applications, on some three other "testing" (so apparently not even saleable) applications?

[Wanesty]

On 6/3/2023 at 2:18 PM, Pšenda said:

so apparently not even saleable

if it ends up being decent to the point were it runs 70% as good on wine as it does on windows :

it might actually be a significant step for Serif to get a good idea of the opportunity releasing such suite on Linux would bring.

See this as Market research !

[Grunt]

Just to add: Wine isn't only Linux EXE boot loader but it has more broad platform support. But yes, for starters let's just say, Linux support would be very interesting.

On 6/3/2023 at 2:18 PM, Pšenda said:

on some three other "testing" (so apparently not even saleable) applications?

In current state, there is not much use than just testing, patching, compiling and bug reporting for lets say "future support".