Re: Affinity Designer 1.8.0.514 Beta With Serial Key
Katerine Aldrige
Affinity Photo Beta 2.4 does not start, both from the exe file and msi installation, regardless if I run it as a user or admin. I am running Windows 11, which is up to date. Designer and Publisher start after running them 3 times after they have previously crashed during starting up attempts. I uninstalled the programs, removed the .affinity directory, as I've read somewhere on the forums, and restarted the computer. After that I again installed the Designer (from exe file), Publisher (from exe file) and Photo (from both exe file and msi - in this order). I think there is something wrong with the installer or program software code. Please check and inform me via e-mail when the problem is solved. This has been going on since the 2.3 Beta update.
Why did you install twice? And do you mean MSIX rather than MSI? Your only installer choices are .exe and .msix, and you should not have both installed (nor should you use a mix of .exe and .msix across the 3 applications).
This post was originally made in the V2 bugs section of the forum which is strictly for the release version of the apps. I have now moved it to the beta specific section of the forums, please ensure any future beta related bugs are posted here
@ Walt Farrel - I installed the programs twice, because Photo was not starting up and I read somewhere in the forums (which seemed to be working for a user), that all programs in the suit had to be uninstalled, and that the .affinity folder had to be removed as well, after which the computer should be restarted, before installing the programs are installed again. You are correct in that I should have used the msix, which I checked in explorer; it wasn't an msi file that I used for installation. But regardless of that, I always start with installing from the exe files and that should work, even beta versions, because in my opinion Serif issues Beta versions to see if functions work properly or should be changed. But for users to try beta versions, the program has to start in the first place. I see no other purpose to issue beta versions. So, installations from exe files or msix should at least allow the programs to start up, otherwise users are unable to check the programs' functionality. Also, if the regular versions contain bugs, I had hoped they were fixed in the beta versions. I did not install the programs from exe files and msix alongside each other. This is the last time I will use beta versions, because they gave me problems for months., assuming this is not going to help Serif in letting users try out beta versions. However if beta versions actually do at least start up, that could be a useful thing for Serif. And to answer your last question, I do not have anti-virus and anti-malware programs installed, except the default Defender which comes with Windows.
Looking at a previous post from yourself I can also see that you have modified the permissions for the 'WindowApps' folder yourself. These folders are for Sandboxed apps which is where the MSIX apps install to. Microsoft prevent access to this folder for security reasons and modifying this yourself will cause further problems, which it does look like you're now encountering. We would never recommend users to modify these permissions and are unable to support those who do.
Hello I am a huge fan of both affinity designer and photos, and own both of them! I just wanted to share some of the work that I have done using the new symbols tool in the Affinity Designer beta. When I got into sacred geometry mandala illustrations, I used smart layers inside photoshop. In the last month, I've recreated some of my past works and created new designs using the new betas.
I'd love to thank all their development teams for creating such incredible and intuitive vector applications. You allow me to effortlessly create designs in Designer and quickly export them to Photos to add nice image/gradient masks and effects before submitting the final render.
I'm still trying to ground myself in the fundamentals of 1.4.2, but the 1.5 symbol function looks incredible from the few examples of work I've seen. Have you had any or many nasty bugs, or the application hanging?
Nothing too bad. At one point I had a bug that was consistently happening whenever I would undo a certain function (can't remember exactly which), but they literally had a fresh beta out the very next day that cleared the issue for me.
Thx for the response. I suppose I will be dloading the 1.5 beta fairly soon. If you care to, could you give a quick run down of how you have used symbols? They seem to be a set of instances of various objects, with various attributes, such as size, distributed across the set.
I'm not sure what you mean by the last part. Symbols are basically a reusable asset that only keeps the inner-content. Meaning, everything you add inside the symbol object automatically gets added and edited to all the other instances of that symbol. But everything you do to the actual symbol is unique to that instance. Meaning that you can use symbols to create mirror-symmetry for creating perfectly symmetrical faces or objects.
I've been working w. symbols some the past few days, and am beginning to get a grasp on how they work, and what they can do. At the simplest level, a library of preformed shapes that can be easily replicated and updated. An improvement on the "paste style" command. But then, because geometric transforms also apply, both symmetric and semi-symmetric transforms are quick.
Once again, I want to thank the developers at serif for creating such a brilliant vector application! It's lightyears more intuitive than illustrator, and seemingly keeps improving (at a rather fast rate!). I would be nothing without the tools you've empowered me with :wub:
Thanks! I'm not sure I know what you mean by circular cloning though, is there an easy way to do that in Affinity Designer? I'm currently using the new-ish symbol tools. I first create a "slice" and then define the symbol, set the pivot point to the center of my document, and then duplicate/rotate the symbols. It allows me to live-edit the entire array of symbols at once, which is the best part IMO.
I had been previously using smart layers in photoshop to achieve this, but the lack of live-updates (and a vector canvas) make it a hassle. Not to mention my mandalas would usually be over a quarter gig, hogging a ton of memory. I've only had one mandala that surpassed 100mb in AD so far. No choking on large canvases either, even when live-editing a curve with 20+ duplications. The performance is the most critical thing for me, as I'm not a true "artist". I design based on my perception, so the ability to live previous the duplication array allows me to continuously make changes until I'm satisfied with the result.
I quit my job to pursue art full time this year. I've been uploading a new design every day to my instagram, if you like what I do please take the time to check it out! Not all my stuff is done in affinity, so I won't be updating this thread with every post.
Okay, this is very strange. It will work once. After I exit the program, it won't start again. Renaming the 2.0 (Beta) folder doesn't fix it without a reinstall. Then it will run one time only.
@EmT, I followed your instructions and created a 20MB file that would have taken all day to upload with my country-boy internet connection. So I cleared the log and started over with a new install of Designer Beta (DB). It didn't generate any events in the log. I reinstalled again, and got in the DB app and played around a little bit. In Preferences, under Beta, I told it to reset the app and it crashed, which did create an event. It also created a crash report, which I have uploaded to the dropbox area you provided (9e1ace97-b6b1-4eec-bbb8-e9746d4da377.dmp).
@EmT Howdy, same for me.
I tried it with the CTRL method and also reinstalled Designer Beta fresh. Didn't download any DLC stuff then, like fonts etc., still it just won't start.
The splash screen gets to the point where it says it's loading fonts, then it disappears. ? Photo and Publisher work fine, tho.
@EmT Howdy, same for me.
I tried it with the CTRL method and also reinstalled Designer Beta fresh. Didn't download any DLC stuff then, like fonts etc., still it just won't start.
The splash screen gets to the point where it says it's loading fonts, then it disappears. ? Photo and Publisher work fine, tho.
Em is currently away on annual leave so you've got me in the mean time!
Unfortunately I can't get any information from either of your crash dumps, however looking at the Event Viewer (and the fact Photo and Publisher are working fine) suggests your issue maybe potentially different to Cooperphile's and more like joe_l's here.