Repeated arbitrary shutdowns

[trbrnd]

I can't give you a specific task that shuts down whatever I'm working on, I just know it happens more often than not! Any kind of edit, modifying a text block, getting ready to print an image, trying to save the work I've done on an image - multiple images, multiple times. In the last week it has become nearly unusable.

There are times when I simply turn away from my screen and when I turn back the program and all my work is just gone.  No errors - no crash reports.  In fact, since I reinstalled Windows, and AP. and updated all drivers, I don't even have a PHOTO folder in the .affinity folder. I've tried the CTRL-open option and checked that 4th box (can't remember the title offhand), Hardward acceleration on or off makes no difference.

When I open a file I get this notice - "Document history has been truncated because it contained versions of commands that are no longer supported."  I've been on v2 just about since the day it came out, so I wouldn't think I used any unsupported commands - I've used AP for some time now, but I'm not THAT smart!

I'm wondering if perhaps I have finally just overtaxed my system. I did recently add a Canon ImageGraf Pro 310 to my workflow - lovely printer BTW - sometimes I can get as far as printing something, other times AP just goes away.  I would get the "blue screen" from time to time when using my small Pixma printer, and while frustrating, not a total deal breaker.

Nothing else drops out like AP does, though I don't do a lot else.

ThinkPad X1 Extreme (from about 2020), Intel Core i7, 64GB RAM, 1TB SSD (plus externals), Nvidia Geoforce GTX 1650 Ti Max-q

Windows 11 Pro

Canon ImageGraf Pro 310

I'm not completely unwilling to drop the $$ for a new laptop, but I do NOT want to take these problems with me.

Suggestions, anyone?

 

  

[trbrnd]

Don't have any old install files or I would go back, but 2.6.0, and the Beta I just downloaded, both just quit whenever they feel like it 😒

[PaulEC]

1 hour ago, trbrnd said:

Don't have any old install files or I would go back

See this post about downloading previous versions:

 

[trbrnd]

Thank you!  I will give an older version a try and see where things might have started going wrong.

 

[Bound by Beans]

5 hours ago, trbrnd said:

I'm wondering if perhaps I have finally just overtaxed my system. I did recently add a Canon ImageGraf Pro 310 to my workflow - lovely printer BTW - sometimes I can get as far as printing something, other times AP just goes away.  I would get the "blue screen" from time to time when using my small Pixma printer, and while frustrating, not a total deal breaker.

No, no, no — this is not about your hardware. Don’t spend money on new equipment now; you would simply be paying twice for Serif’s mistakes.

Once again, it sounds like a problem with Affinity’s shockingly poor file format, which is vulnerable to many issues within Affinity’s architecture. The applications are deeply dependent on the structure of their file format in a way that is quite unsuitable for serious use in creative software. It resembles more a computer game file format than a data format intended for professional work.

I, along with many others, am staying on version 2.5.7 or 2.4, and 2.4 seems to be the last stable version of Affinity. I have no intention of updating from 2.5.7 until the forum is flooded with comments saying that Affinity is finally stable. At the rate Serif is delivering these dreadful releases, I don’t expect to upgrade for another one or two years!

Another factor that contributes to Affinity's instability is the interaction between Affinity and graphics drivers on Windows, though I’m not sure if that applies in your case. Fortunately, I have avoided that problem under macOS.

[trbrnd]

Well that's not going to work too well - even on 2.5.7 I can't open the biggest share of the files I have going on for this project - "The file includes features from a later version of Affinity." This is enough to make me want to pull out what hair I have left!

[carl123]

7 hours ago, trbrnd said:

and the Beta I just downloaded, both just quit whenever they feel like it

If you have the MSIX version installed I would uninstall it and suggest trying the MSI/EXE version to see if that is more stable

[trbrnd]

I've always use the MSI/EXE versions. I uninstalled everything and went back to 2.4.0. I can rebuild my project files for now, I guess, but no telling how many images I won't be able to get to with this version. Appreciate the input.

[trbrnd]

Thanks you guys - I'm back in business.  Went back to 2.4 - a lot of my project files have to be redone, but the images themselves were already exported to JPG, for print on demand services, so I'm able to use them.  I appreciate finally getting some answers - without having to put out for a new laptop! And I seriously hope Affinity figures this out!  In the meantime - I'm not updating, either!

Thanks, again!

[stokerg]

Hi @trbrnd,

On 4/28/2025 at 5:58 PM, trbrnd said:

I don't even have a PHOTO folder in the .affinity folder.

You won't if you've installed the MSI/EXE version, as this installer creates the folder in %appdata%.  The .affinity folder is only used for the MSIX install. 

On 4/28/2025 at 5:58 PM, trbrnd said:

When I open a file I get this notice - "Document history has been truncated because it contained versions of commands that are no longer supported.

Do you still have a copy of this document?  If you do, can you upload it to our Dropbox here and i can get this checked.  If you can also upload one that crashes when you are editing the text, i'll see if i can also replicate that here in 2.6.2

On 4/28/2025 at 5:58 PM, trbrnd said:

I'm wondering if perhaps I have finally just overtaxed my system. I did recently add a Canon ImageGraf Pro 310 to my workflow - lovely printer BTW - sometimes I can get as far as printing something, other times AP just goes away.  I would get the "blue screen" from time to time when using my small Pixma printer, and while frustrating, not a total deal breaker.

 

The printer won't have much affect Affinity, we just hook into the print service provided by Windows and the printers driver.  The blue will have been related to your other printer, as Affinity isn't able to directly cause a blue screen.

[trbrnd]

As I'm working with 2.4.0 now, I am unable to recreate the errors I referenced. 

There was no specific document that generated the problems.  It was any and all - very arbitrary as I noted. Every image I opened with the latest version generated the truncated history error.  And it  wasn't only text that closed the program. I could be doing anything, on any image, at any time and the program would just close. Now that I have reverted to 2.4.0, I am unable to open any .afphoto that I had saved using the 2.6.whatever version. 

The blue screen of death could happen at any time also, whether the printer was on or not.  Since it only happened when I was using Affinity, and never happens any other time, I could only assume that it had something to do with that.

I guess I didn't know where else to look for a crash report.

Running fine on 2.4.0 for now, and will continue to do so. 

 

[conate]

On 5/1/2025 at 8:46 PM, trbrnd said:

As I'm working with 2.4.0 now, I am unable to recreate the errors I referenced. 

There was no specific document that generated the problems.  It was any and all - very arbitrary as I noted. Every image I opened with the latest version generated the truncated history error.  And it  wasn't only text that closed the program. I could be doing anything, on any image, at any time and the program would just close. Now that I have reverted to 2.4.0, I am unable to open any .afphoto that I had saved using the 2.6.whatever version. 

The blue screen of death could happen at any time also, whether the printer was on or not.  Since it only happened when I was using Affinity, and never happens any other time, I could only assume that it had something to do with that.

I guess I didn't know where else to look for a crash report.

Running fine on 2.4.0 for now, and will continue to do so. 

 

If 2.6 was causing blue screens and crashes no matter what you were doing, it’s probably a deeper issue with that version. Sticking with 2.4.0 makes sense for now, but not being able to open files saved in 2.6 is a real problem