Affinity Designer 2 causing bluetooth peripherals to become sporadically unresponsive.

[Mark Tang]

[debraspicher]

Do you have tablet drivers installed (that also supports variants with BT?) by any chance? That's the only thing I think could be triggering it is if a tablet is being searched for and the driver is only causing issues once Affinity is loaded... Affinity does have "high Precision" settings, etc, that might make the driver more unresponsive than it normally would be even if it is in the background regardless?... It would be a bit of a fluke, but worth asking anyway.

It's just interesting because it interferes with the cursor. Perhaps something is trying to take it over and it's not a "responsive"/radio issue, necessarily?

[Mark Tang]

Hi @debraspicher Thanks so much for your reply. I do have a Bluetooth tablet (Wacom Intuos Pro) that wasn't on at the time of the recording. The Tablet input method is set to "High Precision", and I did check "Enable Pointer Support" in the User Interface settings in an attempt to fix the issue (though I don't know what "Enable Pointer Support" does). What do you suggest I change settings wise?

I've included some screenshots of my tablet settings, as well as other settings I think might be relevant. 

[debraspicher]

21 minutes ago, Mark Tang said:

Hi @debraspicher Thanks so much for your reply. I do have a Bluetooth tablet (Wacom Intuos Pro) that wasn't on at the time of the recording. The Tablet input method is set to "High Precision", and I did check "Enable Pointer Support" in the User Interface settings in an attempt to fix the issue (though I don't know what "Enable Pointer Support" does). What do you suggest I change settings wise?

I've included some screenshots of my tablet settings, as well as other settings I think might be relevant. 

It may or may not require the tablet to actually be plugged in if the driver running in the background is searching for a BT tablet. Wacom services are running at all times for when we do plug in. You could maybe turn down the setting for High Precision, to see if it at least has an effect on the latency or if it resolves it. But I would think the point is to narrow it down so I would look system-wide at things that could impact your cursor. I threw this out there because that's the only device I would expect to also impact the cursor (and would take over...) and that was also BT-related... plus, I figure Affinity probably does "alert" the tablet driver that it will take extended interaction from one (pressure-related settings, Windows Ink, etc), especially seeing as the apps are .NET-based, so that could also cause trigger odd behavior in a device driver if it is indeed acting up somehow... but again, all just a guess but something to try to rule out?

Edit: I did not remember you saying, did you check a wired mouse?

[Mark Tang]

I haven't tried a wired mouse as I don't own one. I'll try messing around with the tablet settings, and if that doesn't work, I'll try removing the tablet as a bluetooth device, and maybe reinstalling my bluetooth drivers if neither of those things work. 

[debraspicher]

11 minutes ago, Mark Tang said:

I haven't tried a wired mouse as I don't own one. I'll try messing around with the tablet settings, and if that doesn't work, I'll try removing the tablet as a bluetooth device, and maybe reinstalling my bluetooth drivers if neither of those things work. 

I'm sorry that is even necessary, but hopefully it narrows down the cause.

[Mark Tang]

Changing the tablet settings from "High Precision" to "Low Precision" seems to a bit better. Not sure if it's completely resolved. I'll have to test further.

Edited January 23, 2024 by Mark Tang

[Komatös]

@Mark Tang

Set the Tablet Input Method to Windows Ink. Also in the settings software. Mouse mode may also be active in the tablet settings software.

[Mark Tang]

Similar result with "Windows ink" as "low precision". I'm still getting moments of unresponsiveness, but it feels less often. Also my mapping in my tablet settings is on "pen" not "mouse"

[debraspicher]

31 minutes ago, Mark Tang said:

Similar result with "Windows ink" as "low precision". I'm still getting moments of unresponsiveness, but it feels less often. Also my mapping in my tablet settings is on "pen" not "mouse"

These are the services (that I'm aware of) that would be running in the background to provide support for Wacom devices. You could try disabling them (they would revive on a restart), but better, would be uninstalling your tablet... but that could be a last resort if you get a positive result by killing/disabling the services.

You could also peak at Task Manager while having the issue and see if other processes are creating load on your machine or not. (and maybe check that panel for others by sorting by "CPU %".

EDIT: FWIW, I have the Intuos Pro installed on my machine (stuck at an older version for Intuos4 Large support) and I have never ran into this issue. However, I don't use it in BT mode. I'm not even sure I have it paired... you could try unpairing it in Windows Bluetooth settings

[Mark Tang]

I tried unpairing the tablet, it didn't help. I'll try reinstalling the bluetooth drivers tonight, see if that does anything. 

[stokerg]

Hi @Mark Tang,

It would be best to untick Enable Pointer Support, as this is a setting for Microsoft Surface devices and enables better support for using the Stylus that they have.  However, this isn't needed for Wacom devices.

I've also done some quick tests with a Wacom Intuos connected to my Windows 11 laptop via Bluetooth, with a Bluetooth mouse also connected and haven't run into any problems with the connection to the mouse dropping when starting or using Affinity.

[Mark Tang]

After unpairing the Wacom tablet, I tried connecting it to the computer with a wire. That did fix the problem while the tablet was connected, but when I disconnected it, the problem came back. At least that works, and that seems to confirm the theory that this problem is tablet related. I'll try messing with my Bluetooth drivers and see if it helps.

[Mark Tang]

Update on this issue: 

I reset my tablet following these instructions and re-paired it to my machine. Since then, things work fine as long as the tablet is on or plugged in. Not ideal, but I can live with it.