Jump to content
You must now use your email address to sign in [click for more info] ×

Designer Startup Time …


Recommended Posts

18 minutes ago, Dr_No said:

discounting two force quit / restarts for 'Application Not Responding'

This could be interesting. Are you familiar with the SpinDump, Sample Process, and other options of Activity Monitor? If so, that (or Instruments if you're a developer) could give some interesting insight into what the app is doing (or waiting for) during the delay. As a data-point, I also am in the 5ish second camp for launching Designer on Mojave.

https://bmb.photos | Focus: The unexpected, the abstract, the extreme on screen, paper, & other physical outputTools: macOS (Primary: Ventura, MBP2018), Canon (Primary: 5D3), iPhone (Primary: 14PM), Nikon Film Scanners, Epson Printers

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Brad Brighton said:

This could be interesting. Are you familiar with the SpinDump, Sample Process, and other options of Activity Monitor? If so, that (or Instruments if you're a developer) could give some interesting insight into what the app is doing (or waiting for) during the delay. As a data-point, I also am in the 5ish second camp for launching Designer on Mojave.

Yes, I'm sure it will become even more interesting with the passage of time. I'm not, however, familiar with SpinDump, Sample Process or other AM options. I know they're there, but I rarely use them. I'm not sure there's not something that's related to my Sierra upgrade from El Cap. That simple step broke some of my other apps that needed nursing back to health. InDesign still doesn't work smoothly, and Illustrator has its own set of glitches. QuarkXpress, tho', appears to be unscathed by the upgrades. I'd think that, as a new install from a freshly-downloaded .dmg master file, Designer would escape whatever causes the 'disturbance in the force' for the other apps. However, I'm shown that's not the case every time I attempt to open and use the program. I could - but won't - go to 'High Sierra' ’cos a friend of mine did and his Mac warned him prior to install that some of this installed applications may not survive the process. So, Upgrade Road for me ends with Sierra. If you can be a bit more specific as to which SpinDump functions may be useful in this instance, I'd be happy to give it a try. Thanks for the information.

Mac Pro (Mid-2010) G5, 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon i7; macOS ‘Sierra,’ 12GB RAM, ATI Radeon HD 5770; S271HL Acer Display (1920 x 1080); Affinity Designer, Photo, and Publisher 1.10.8, Photoshop CS6, Illustrator CS6, InDesign CS6, QuarkXpress 9.5.4.1, ON1 RAW 2020, Portrait Professional Studio64, Topaz Labs Suite, Nik Collection, LibreOffice; separate Western Digital external HDs for storage  

Proudly Wearing the Shame of ThoughtCrime …

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Dr_No said:

No OTHER app takes anywhere near this long to open.

Try the APhoto or APublisher trial to see if they have the same start time. If so, then there is some fundamental problem Affinity vs your PC. If it is not that long, the problem is only with your installation of ADesigner, and as I wrote, try Factory reset or Reinstall.

Affinity Store (MSI/EXE): Affinity Suite (ADe, APh, APu) 2.4.0.2301
Dell OptiPlex 7060, i5-8500 3.00 GHz, 16 GB, Intel UHD Graphics 630, Dell P2417H 1920 x 1080, Windows 11 Pro, Version 23H2, Build 22631.3155.
Dell Latitude E5570, i5-6440HQ 2.60 GHz, 8 GB, Intel HD Graphics 530, 1920 x 1080, Windows 11 Pro, Version 23H2, Build 22631.3155.
Intel NUC5PGYH, Pentium N3700 2.40 GHz, 8 GB, Intel HD Graphics, EIZO EV2456 1920 x 1200, Windows 10 Pro, Version 21H1, Build 19043.2130.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The 'Application Not Responding'  message in Dock or Activity Monitor does not tell any clear info, it can occur because of various reasons and disappear, too.
The fact that the issue appears also in another user and even in save boot mode sounds much like corrupted system files.

Instead of spindump you alternatively can watch the console error messages to see whether Affinity is involved directly or if another process is causing the slow down. Its messages might be lightly more clear, also you can filter the protocol for specific messages/processes. Therefore you start the error protocol and let it run for a couple of hours.

86869068_console-errors.jpg.e6c7739291a6c813ca34ddbe32ca3473.jpg

However, you probably would not be able to read the info of spindump or console errors to solve the issue if it is caused by a corrupted file.

So you will get the best result with a clean install of Sierra, and without using the Migration Assistant (to avoid copies of corrupted files).

macOS 10.14.6 | MacBookPro Retina 15" | Eizo 27" | Affinity V1

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Dr_No said:

If you can be a bit more specific as to which SpinDump functions may be useful in this instance, I'd be happy to give it a try.

As was pointed out elsewhere, it will take a bit of technical knowledge to decipher what (if anything) Spindump or Sample Process output gives you but if you're not versed in the geekery, that's what the forum and Serif support are for. :-D 

When you watch AD start up, if it gets stuck "Not Responding", use Spindump to capture the app state. It may be doing stuff (looping) or it may be waiting on something (blocked). 

Similarly, in the case where AD is responding but taking forever (which seems to be your "usual;" case), use Sample Process from the same menu to capture a snapshot of what the app is doing (or not doing).

You'll get a bunch of technical information about the underlying code that you can then peruse on your own or ask for help with. You'd be looking for signs of looping (some reference to font loading over and over and over and over... for example) or of blocking (semaphore_wait for example) where AD asked for something and the system is taking its time to deliver it. Assuming the issue *is* identifiable in the logs, it will probably take some interpretation to find it. That is, the smoking gun is unlikely to stand up and shout, "Hi! This is what's broken!"

As far as the recommended clean install, that's the ultimate weapon but it's also the most destructive. I'd be hesitant to do that unless/until you've run out of time because until the source of the problem is reasonably identified, whatever happened to cause this in the first place could very well return and the "nuke from orbit" approach is only effective when the problem is a genuine gremlin (a one-off/random error) and not something systemic. The absolute worst case is that the problem returns after spending all the time and effort to rebuild your environment and that would be rage-inducing indeed.

Screen Shot 2019-08-26 at 6.49.41 AM.png

https://bmb.photos | Focus: The unexpected, the abstract, the extreme on screen, paper, & other physical outputTools: macOS (Primary: Ventura, MBP2018), Canon (Primary: 5D3), iPhone (Primary: 14PM), Nikon Film Scanners, Epson Printers

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Pšenda said:

Try the APhoto or APublisher trial to see if they have the same start time. If so, then there is some fundamental problem Affinity vs your PC. If it is not that long, the problem is only with your installation of ADesigner, and as I wrote, try Factory reset or Reinstall.

That sounds eminently doable. 'Factory Reset' may be done first, tho'. Dumb question: When 'Factory Reset' is done, does that overwrite (i.e. 'wipe out') my Effects and Text Styles already created? If so, I need to export those to be reinstalled, yes? For 'Reinstall,' my existing .dmg is for v. 1.7.1, so I'd need to re-update too, right? Or is there a separate v. 1.7.2 .dmg to download now?

Mac Pro (Mid-2010) G5, 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon i7; macOS ‘Sierra,’ 12GB RAM, ATI Radeon HD 5770; S271HL Acer Display (1920 x 1080); Affinity Designer, Photo, and Publisher 1.10.8, Photoshop CS6, Illustrator CS6, InDesign CS6, QuarkXpress 9.5.4.1, ON1 RAW 2020, Portrait Professional Studio64, Topaz Labs Suite, Nik Collection, LibreOffice; separate Western Digital external HDs for storage  

Proudly Wearing the Shame of ThoughtCrime …

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, thomaso said:

The 'Application Not Responding'  message in Dock or Activity Monitor does not tell any clear info, it can occur because of various reasons and disappear, too.
The fact that the issue appears also in another user and even in save boot mode sounds much like corrupted system files.

Instead of spindump you alternatively can watch the console error messages to see whether Affinity is involved directly or if another process is causing the slow down. Its messages might be lightly more clear, also you can filter the protocol for specific messages/processes. Therefore you start the error protocol and let it run for a couple of hours.

However, you probably would not be able to read the info of spindump or console errors to solve the issue if it is caused by a corrupted file.

So you will get the best result with a clean install of Sierra, and without using the Migration Assistant (to avoid copies of corrupted files).

Wow. Nope - no 'clean reinstall' of 'Sierra' becos that would likely create more problems (esp. with apps already made wonky by the original clean install) than it would solve. Another avenue is needed …

Mac Pro (Mid-2010) G5, 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon i7; macOS ‘Sierra,’ 12GB RAM, ATI Radeon HD 5770; S271HL Acer Display (1920 x 1080); Affinity Designer, Photo, and Publisher 1.10.8, Photoshop CS6, Illustrator CS6, InDesign CS6, QuarkXpress 9.5.4.1, ON1 RAW 2020, Portrait Professional Studio64, Topaz Labs Suite, Nik Collection, LibreOffice; separate Western Digital external HDs for storage  

Proudly Wearing the Shame of ThoughtCrime …

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Brad Brighton said:

As was pointed out elsewhere, it will take a bit of technical knowledge to decipher what (if anything) Spindump or Sample Process output gives you but if you're not versed in the geekery, that's what the forum and Serif support are for. :-D 

When you watch AD start up, if it gets stuck "Not Responding", use Spindump to capture the app state. It may be doing stuff (looping) or it may be waiting on something (blocked). 

Similarly, in the case where AD is responding but taking forever (which seems to be your "usual;" case), use Sample Process from the same menu to capture a snapshot of what the app is doing (or not doing).

You'll get a bunch of technical information about the underlying code that you can then peruse on your own or ask for help with. You'd be looking for signs of looping (some reference to font loading over and over and over and over... for example) or of blocking (semaphore_wait for example) where AD asked for something and the system is taking its time to deliver it. Assuming the issue *is* identifiable in the logs, it will probably take some interpretation to find it. That is, the smoking gun is unlikely to stand up and shout, "Hi! This is what's broken!"

As far as the recommended clean install, that's the ultimate weapon but it's also the most destructive. I'd be hesitant to do that unless/until you've run out of time because until the source of the problem is reasonably identified, whatever happened to cause this in the first place could very well return and the "nuke from orbit" approach is only effective when the problem is a genuine gremlin (a one-off/random error) and not something systemic. The absolute worst case is that the problem returns after spending all the time and effort to rebuild your environment and that would be rage-inducing indeed.

Wow again! I never anticipated such a torrent of informative and helpful responses. Thanks to everyone for their input. 

My 'Advanced Geekery' level hovers between 'Zero' and 'None' … sad, isn't it? I've fired up Activity Monitor in the past, but closed it once I realised I wasn't even walking the path Alice trod as she tracked the White Rabbit. That's way above my level of General Yet Quite Non-Specific Knowledge.

Agreed about the clean install. It would be the classic 'One step forward, two steps back' non-solution. It may, however, teach me the Secret Inner Meaning of 'You put your right foot in, you take your right foot out’ … and at the end, I'd know 'what it's all about.’ I should, as an 'Informed User,' know more of the Tech-y/Geeky stuff, but coding and related activities started to disappear from my screen when OS9 became OS X … until that time, I could usually stay apace of changes. Sad, but that small bit of understanding began slipping away with Unix-world and OS X …

Thanks so much to all for their thoughts and suggestions to this problem. Restart with 'Cmd' (or 'Ctrl') held and / or reinstall sounds like the path to try. Will post the Exciting Conclusion to the story here upon (hopefully) successful completion of the process … stay tuned for our Next Exciting Episode … !

Mac Pro (Mid-2010) G5, 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon i7; macOS ‘Sierra,’ 12GB RAM, ATI Radeon HD 5770; S271HL Acer Display (1920 x 1080); Affinity Designer, Photo, and Publisher 1.10.8, Photoshop CS6, Illustrator CS6, InDesign CS6, QuarkXpress 9.5.4.1, ON1 RAW 2020, Portrait Professional Studio64, Topaz Labs Suite, Nik Collection, LibreOffice; separate Western Digital external HDs for storage  

Proudly Wearing the Shame of ThoughtCrime …

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, Dr_No said:

Restart with 'Cmd' (or 'Ctrl') held and / or reinstall sounds like the path to try.

 

Alfred spacer.png
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks … 'Ctrl' it shall be, then …

Mac Pro (Mid-2010) G5, 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon i7; macOS ‘Sierra,’ 12GB RAM, ATI Radeon HD 5770; S271HL Acer Display (1920 x 1080); Affinity Designer, Photo, and Publisher 1.10.8, Photoshop CS6, Illustrator CS6, InDesign CS6, QuarkXpress 9.5.4.1, ON1 RAW 2020, Portrait Professional Studio64, Topaz Labs Suite, Nik Collection, LibreOffice; separate Western Digital external HDs for storage  

Proudly Wearing the Shame of ThoughtCrime …

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I thought it started taking longer than usual. Im on a 11 inch macbook air. However I did install a bunch of fonts recently, didnt think that could be doing it but maybe...

1st try Affinity Designer

42 seconds bouncing on dock to first "loading" screen

27 seconds more to get to functioning

2nd try Affinity Designer

36 seconds bouncing on dock to first loading screen

22 seconds more to get to functioning

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting. Were the two tries separated by a restart due to an 'Application Not Responding' message followed by 'Force Quit'? All in all, tho', that's a startup time I could manage to live with compared to the one presently displayed.

Mac Pro (Mid-2010) G5, 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon i7; macOS ‘Sierra,’ 12GB RAM, ATI Radeon HD 5770; S271HL Acer Display (1920 x 1080); Affinity Designer, Photo, and Publisher 1.10.8, Photoshop CS6, Illustrator CS6, InDesign CS6, QuarkXpress 9.5.4.1, ON1 RAW 2020, Portrait Professional Studio64, Topaz Labs Suite, Nik Collection, LibreOffice; separate Western Digital external HDs for storage  

Proudly Wearing the Shame of ThoughtCrime …

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Guidelines | We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.