Affinity Suite does not run on my system under Windows (runs under Linux in VirtualBox)

[ehbowen]

I'm using a PC which I built last year for general purpose use including writing and video work (DaVinci Resolve) under Linux. My book manuscript is almost ready for publication and I wanted to try the Affinity suite to prepare it for prepress. I purchased a new copy of Windows 10 and installed it as a dual-boot system, then installed the 30-day trial of the Affinity products.

However, I have not been able to get the Affinity programs to operate properly under Windows. They report successful installation, but never go beyond the initial logo screen and eventually Windows tells me, "Affinity Publisher 2 is not responding" and offers me no choice except to continue to wait or to exit the program.

This is frustrating because, before purchasing Windows, I successfully installed and ran the Affinity suite on the Linux side in VirtualBox using an unregistered Windows install for evaluation purposes. It was slow but appeared to be fully functional, and I expected it to work much better with a native and activated Windows OS. Instead, it's unusable.

I posted this under the Windows Support forum and another user suggested that I try enabling/disabling hardware acceleration. It didn't make a difference; I received the same results either way. I've also tried with both the .msix and .exe installers, using the latter with "Run as Administrator." No help. The other forum user suggested that my AMD graphics card might be causing the incompatibility. Possible, but I'm not going to jettison a graphics card I'm happy with and which runs all the other software I use because of a problem with this one program.

I'm not going to be moving forward with my purchase of the Affinity suite at this time (can you blame me?), but I'm still in need of a good .pdf generator for my book manuscript. If you resolve this issue please let me know and I'll reconsider purchase. In the meantime, I'm trying to learn Scribus.

My system information (courtesy TechGuy.org):

Tech Support Guy System Info Utility version 1.0.0.9
OS Version: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro, 64 bit, Build 19045, Installed 20230611161523.000000-300
Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 5500, AMD64 Family 25 Model 80 Stepping 0, CPU Count: 12
Total Physical RAM: 32 GB
Graphics Card: AMD FirePro W5100 (FireGL V) Graphics Adapter
Hard Drives: 😄 931 GB (862 GB Free);
Motherboard: ASRock A520M Phantom Gaming 4
System: American Megatrends International, LLC., ver ALASKA - 1072009, s/n To Be Filled By O.E.M.
Antivirus: Windows Defender, Enabled and Updated

 

[walt.farrell]

If it works in a VM on that machine, but not directly on Windows, my guess would be issues with your GPU or with its drivers.

You might try disabling the Hardware Acceleration (OpenCL) setting for the program. This FAQ provides information on doing that:

 

[ehbowen]

I will try that later this afternoon; right now I'm running late for work.

[ehbowen]

22 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

If it works in a VM on that machine, but not directly on Windows, my guess would be issues with your GPU or with its drivers.

You might try disabling the Hardware Acceleration (OpenCL) setting for the program. This FAQ provides information on doing that:

 

Thank you for your help. This technique worked; the one which the other user in the original thread suggested (of ticking the checkboxes in the menu after starting with CTRL held down) did not. Again, thanks.

I'll plan on registering Affinity shortly, but I may need to get a paycheck or two under my belt first...

So it goes----Eric.

[ehbowen]

6 hours ago, ehbowen said:

Thank you for your help. This technique worked; the one which the other user in the original thread suggested (of ticking the checkboxes in the menu after starting with CTRL held down) did not. Again, thanks.

I'll plan on registering Affinity shortly, but I may need to get a paycheck or two under my belt first...

So it goes----Eric.

All right, I'm still having a problem. The post which you linked to stated that disabling the OpenCL acceleration was persistent, that if you did it once you wouldn't have to do it again. That turns out not to be the case. In order to start any of the Affinity programs I have to go into cmd and enter the --no-ocl command by hand, every time. Same with both .msix and .exe installs.

[walt.farrell]

5 hours ago, ehbowen said:

All right, I'm still having a problem. The post which you linked to stated that disabling the OpenCL acceleration was persistent, that if you did it once you wouldn't have to do it again. That turns out not to be the case. In order to start any of the Affinity programs I have to go into cmd and enter the --no-ocl command by hand, every time. Same with both .msix and .exe installs.

Strange.

Try starting it with the --no-ocl once, then open Settings (Edit > Settings) and make sure it shows as disabled. Then make some other Settings change and note what change you made. Close the app, and restart it without --no-ocl. Open Settings again, and see what the OpenCL setting is, and what the other setting is that you changed. 

Was either change retained? If not, there's something preventing the app from saving its Settings.

You do need to make sure that you're running the installed app, not the installer, when you start the VM. And you need to make sure the VM is saving the files you modify. (I've seen configurations that reinitialize completely, which isn't what you want, of course.)

[ehbowen]

2 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

Strange.

Try starting it with the --no-ocl once, then open Settings (Edit > Settings) and make sure it shows as disabled. Then make some other Settings change and note what change you made. Close the app, and restart it without --no-ocl. Open Settings again, and see what the OpenCL setting is, and what the other setting is that you changed. 

Was either change retained? If not, there's something preventing the app from saving its Settings.

You do need to make sure that you're running the installed app, not the installer, when you start the VM. And you need to make sure the VM is saving the files you modify. (I've seen configurations that reinitialize completely, which isn't what you want, of course.)

No, no help. I still have to start it in the cmd window and specify --no-ocl. I did make a settings change as you suggested (limit initial zoom to 100% in Publisher) and it persisted, and the hardware acceleration on the Performance tab was showing as off, but when I restarted Publisher it hung again and I had to close it and restart with the cmd window.

By the way, I'm not using the VM any more while I'm working on this; I'm using a native Windows installation on a separate hard drive from my Linux install. Dual boot system.

Time to call the Orkin man....

(Orkin=Professional pest control on this side of The Pond)

[walt.farrell]

26 minutes ago, ehbowen said:

but when I restarted Publisher it hung again and I had to close it and restart with the cmd window.

And when you did the restart using the cmd window, and checked the Settings again, was your earlier change to the Initial Zoom maintained?

 

[ehbowen]

Yes, it was.

[walt.farrell]

Definitely odd.

I can only suggest that you create a shortcut to the app, with the --no-ocl parameter included in the shortcut, and start the app using that shortcut.

Perhaps someone else (another user, or someone from the Serif staff) will have a better idea.

[ehbowen]

Where are the .msix versions installed on the system? I can't find them in C:\Program Files. If I copy the shortcuts from the Start menu onto the desktop, I can't find anywhere to add the --no-ocl parameter.

[walt.farrell]

2 hours ago, ehbowen said:

Where are the .msix versions installed on the system? I can't find them in C:\Program Files. If I copy the shortcuts from the Start menu onto the desktop, I can't find anywhere to add the --no-ocl parameter.

You should probably uninstall the MSIX versions and install the EXE/MSI versions.

The MSIX versions are very well hidden by Windows. You can get a desktop shortcut, though, and with them maybe you can add the parameter.

 

[ehbowen]

Jumping back in to comment that whenever I upgrade the programs I have to repeat these steps...

[walt.farrell]

9 hours ago, ehbowen said:

Jumping back in to comment that whenever I upgrade the programs I have to repeat these steps...

Repeat which steps?

[ehbowen]

40 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Repeat which steps?

Create a new icon with the --no-ocl parameter. Oh, and I can't "Open With Affinity" in Explorer; I have to use the icon.

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, ehbowen said:

Create a new icon with the --no-ocl parameter. Oh, and I can't "Open With Affinity" in Explorer; I have to use the icon.

If you're using the MSIX version, then yes, after updates you need to repeat that step. An update puts the MSIX-based application in a different folder.

You should still be able to open with Affinity Photo 2 (or whatever application), as I remember, so I'm not sure what might be happening there.

As mentioned above, if you're having difficulties you might want to install using the EXE installers instead; just be sure to uninstall the MSIX-based ones first to avoid confusion and issues.

[ehbowen]

I am using the .exe installers. The .msix install doesn't work at all.

[walt.farrell]

OK; no further ideas, then. Sorry.

[JDewis]

Hi there,

Not sure if you're still experiencing this issue, but I had the same problem with a user - same graphics card, hung while opening but ran fine using the --no-ocl flag.

I checked Windows Update, and ended up finding the following driver update under Optional Updates:

"Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. - Graphics Adapter WDDM1.1, Graphics Adapter WDDM1.3, Graphics Adapter WDDM2.0 - AMD FirePro W5100 Graphics Adapter"

Installed this and Affinity started loading fine, with or without the flag. Turned OpenCL Acceleration back on and that worked fine, too.

I've heard that there's been issues with AMD cards and Affinity in the past, so I'm assuming my card's driver hadn't been updated since that was fixed. That's just speculation on my end, though.