Soft Proof adjustment (still) lists deleted icc profiles

[KLE-France]

This is one last Hail Mary before reporting the following as a bug. I'm rolling this over to this forum because the problem is still present in Affinity Photo 2.

But do please see this post in the Pre-V2 Archive of Affinity on Desktop Questions.

A brief summary:

I'm on a Windows 10, 64-bit machine, now running Version 2.2.1 of AP. When I first reported this problem on February 4, 2020, it was in Version 1.7.3.481 of AP. 

The "Proof Profile" list in the Soft Proof adjustment layer continues to list icc files that were deleted from C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\color years ago thus.

This continues to be the case even after a restart of Affinity, and for that matter after a restart of the computer, and for that matter after having updated from AP1 to AP2.

To my knowledge, I never imported these ICC files into AP using the "Import ICC Profile..." function on the File menu.

I think I've been through all of the various AP files installed on my computer, but have not been able to find these "ghost" ICC profiles.

These "ghost" profiles actually work, i.e., selecting them changes the look of the image. So it's not just that they're still listed, it is that they are still active somehow...

I'm hoping the fact that this problem continues to exist even after having updated from AP1 to AP2 might set off some bells for someone...

Thanks in advance and happy shooting to all.

 

[Lee D]

@Kerwin It's not something I can replicate on my Windows systems. I installed some brand new ICC profiles that have never been installed on my systems before. Into the default Windows location (C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\color) and confirmed using Windows Explorer.

I opened an image in Affinity Photo V2 (2.2.1) and applied a Soft Proof adjustment. Scrolling through the list the new profile where available to select. I then closed Photo, opened the profile location in Explorer and deleted the profiles. Opened Photo again and on checking the Soft Proof adjustment list, the profiles aren't listed.

Apart from if a profile is directly imported using File > Import ICC Profile. The apps shouldn't be referencing any other location, but it's something I'll double check with the developers.

Can you open the same default folder and full screen Explorer and set the view to list so all of the profiles are shown and take a screenshot. Also do a short screen recording of the Soft Proof adjustment profile list being scrolled.

[KLE-France]

Hi @Lee D

Thank you so much for your interest and sorry for the slow response; I was away this week-end and only checked the forums last night.

So, Here is my C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\color, noting that in the Folder Options, "Show hidden files, folders and drives" is activated:

 

 

I don't have screen recording apps on my computer, but here is the Soft Proof's Proof Profile list, one screen after another (left column then right column):

And perhaps more usefully, here's everything together:

 

 

Notice that in the "C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\color" image, there are no "PICTO" or "WW" (Whitewall) profiles.

The "ghost" profiles from those two printing companies are indicated with red arrows. ("U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) v2" is highlighted in blue only because it is the "default" profile when a Soft Proof layer is opened.)

Again, I first reported this problem back in AP V1. Note particularly that the file I had used as an example in that original post, "PICTO_Lambda_Coul_RC_Brilliant_3.icc", is still present as a ghost profile even though I have now updated to AP V2.

I'll add that not all icc profiles do this. Indeed, I've installed dozens and dozens of icc profiles, always from PICTO and Whitewall, and most behave as you described above: if they are deleted from C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\color, they disappear from the Proof Profile list. Moreover, some previous V1 ghost files did disappear with the update to V2, but not all of them, like the PICTO icc in the preceding paragraph.

And finally I'll re-mention that I never knowingly imported the ICCs via File > Import ICC Profile... But is there maybe some keyboard shortcut that I infinite monkey-ed? And if so, where do I need to look in V2's folder structure?

Again thanks a million, and happy shooting to you.

 

 

 

 

[walt.farrell]

On 10/31/2023 at 5:58 AM, Kerwin said:

And finally I'll re-mention that I never knowingly imported the ICCs via File > Import ICC Profile... But is there maybe some keyboard shortcut that I infinite monkey-ed? And if so, where do I need to look in V2's folder structure?

You wouldn't be able to do it by accident, as there would be a file dialog to navigate and locate the profile.

But if you did it intentionally, they would end up (for Photo V2, on Windows using MSIX installer) in C:\Users\your-user-name\.affinity\Photo\2.0\profiles (and if you use the EXE installer it would be in the same relative location in %appdata%.

 

[KLE-France]

Thanks @walt.farrell, and good to know that one can't accidentally import an ICC.

At C:\Users\[Me]\.affinity\Photo\2.0\profiles, there is only the empty "Blacklist.txt" file, which we had seen the last time.

And at C:\Users\[Me]\AppData\Roaming\Affinity\Photo, there appear to be only remnant 1.0 files in both \Common and \Photo. Following through in this latter to \Profiles, there is again only an empty "Blacklist.txt" file.

So, at least that's ruled out. Already a good thing.

Thanks again and happy shooting to you.