X3 is really a mess... when will be fixed?

[dejudicibus]

I am really disappointed. I remind of the period when Corel acquired Jasc: the new version of PSP was really a mess. Since I was a loyal user of PSP since version 4, I was patient and waited for patches. I had to continue to use version 9 for a while but at last I was satisfied by the patched version XI. Now I upgraded to X3 and it was a mess again: extremely slow performances, memory leak, crashes, and other bugs. But performances was the worst. So I am still using XI even if I purchased X3... wasted money. I wonder when they will fix X3, but I also wonder if I have to experience this ordeal every time a new release is available...

[wds937]

I read your comments in this post and on the web page you linked. Installing the four patches to X3 will solve many, but not all, of the problems associated with X3. In general, I find X3 with the fourth patch installed to be mostly (key word) stable.

However, I don't think you will get X3 to load as fast as XI and previous versions. This is true of many applications; as new features and capabilities creep in, the application grows and becomes more complex. One usual result is that the application takes longer to load when first started.

[Radim]

However, I don't think you will get X3 to load as fast as XI and previous versions. This is true of many applications; as new features and capabilities creep in, the application grows and becomes more complex. One usual result is that the application takes longer to load when first started.

But,, look what Microsoft did with Office 2010 -- it start faster even like 2003, not to speak 2007. So it depend on developers, if they want to do it.

[geru]

I am really disappointed. I remind of the period when Corel acquired Jasc: the new version of PSP was really a mess. Since I was a loyal user of PSP since version 4, I was patient and waited for patches. I had to continue to use version 9 for a while but at last I was satisfied by the patched version XI. Now I upgraded to X3 and it was a mess again: extremely slow performances, memory leak, crashes, and other bugs. But performances was the worst. So I am still using XI even if I purchased X3... wasted money. I wonder when they will fix X3, but I also wonder if I have to experience this ordeal every time a new release is available...

I'm with you, I've been a PSP user for quite a long time and I find X3 is the worst of the bunch. I'm tired of paying for PSP and being nothing but a Beta tester when I pay for something I expect it to be near flawless and this version is anything but.

I have installed and uninstalled X3 probably 10 times both manually and using the clean-up provided by corel, I have followed their directions for problem repairs to the tee which in my case cured absolutely nothing. I installed all 4 updates and still it crashes.

I finally gave up and removed it went back to x2 and have had no problems with crashes since its install.

They add plenty of bloat but don't perfect what they have like the noise removal tool, channels, or the unsharp mask tool to name a couple of things.

It's quite clear that Corel for what ever reason has decided to abandon the PSP users. I will not purchase their next version of PSP I just don't need the hassles and the obvious short-comings such as the inadequate raw processing.

I've purchased elements 9 and have no problems at all with the program (I do like PSP better) and I am also testing Lightroom and will decide in the next month or so what I'm going to do.

Unless Corel changes they can color me gone.

[Joelle]

Dario's frustration is very valid.
I have yet to read a post from a X3 power user (not a dip in and dip out user), who thinks X3 is better than previous versions.

Geru says that X2 is fine on his Windows 7 computer, hah, this will likely meet with the comment that X2 is not compatible with Windows 7 and could we all please buy X3.
Not me, no thanks.
I tried it, found it severely wanting and uninstalled it again.

Geru's comment that users are beta testers is not far off the mark. The real beta tester didn't get much of a say either (some very minor point very corrected, but that's all).
Unfortunately beta testing Paint Shop Pro appears to be a thing of the past.
X1 and X3 were not beta tested and it shows.
Will Corel ever listen to it's users?

To Corel: please remember - users are customers, customers are the people who keep a company afloat... disappointed users don't buy the product.
Simple really.
Maybe telling Vector Capital (who own Corel) might help, but I doubt it.
They are 'experts' at marketing and make investors believe all is well.

I for one am very very sad to see a once excellent application disappear into a large hole.

As this is a User to User Board, Corel won't be too worried about what is said here, which is very unwise.

Joëlle (X & X2 beta tester)

[Tadjio]

Dario's frustration is very valid.
I have yet to read a post from a X3 power user (not a dip in and dip out user), who thinks X3 is better than previous versions.
Joëlle (X & X2 beta tester)

I do

[Joelle]

Hellooo Tadjio, long time no see.
Well done.

Someone queried your wereabouts in the groups the other day.
Jeremy mentioned you were very busy and didn't have time to do much image editing.

Joëlle

[Tadjio]

I hope you're not labelling me as "a dip in and dip out user"
I've been using PSP since version 1.03 thru all the Corel versions
PSP9, X, XI, X2, X2 Ultimate, X3 and X3 Ultimate and
I am happy to say that X3 is stable for my purposes and
"never" crashes, even with large TIFF files from my camera.

[grumpfuttock1]

I am slightly puzzled by some of the bugs and problems with X3 mentioned here, and in other threads on the forum, as I don't seem to have them.
For a few years I used PSP 5 & 7, then used Photoshop CS8 for quite a while (which is still installed but never used) and occasionally The Gimp. When X2 came out I bought that and was happy and impressed, except I missed the extractor tool in CS8, therefore I purchased X3 in August 2010. I have also tried recent trial versions of PS Elements, which I hastily uninstalled again, finding PSP much easier and quicker to work with.

After purchase of X3 I downloaded the installation file from my Corel Account page, and uninstalled the X3 trial version. Installing X3 on my quad core Win 7 32 bit PC took a whopping 45 minutes, and failed to install properly. I spent a good deal of time removing it manually, and then re-installed (45 minutes)and this time it started and took approximately 10 minutes to load. When I eventually got to the editor, everything ran incredibly slow, taking half a minute or more to complete a task. I then discovered that there was no help available, encountering an error message everytime I clicked on help. By this time I was pretty cheesed off, and uninstalled the whole lot again (took another 45 minutes). At this point I discovered that the installation file for the trial version of X3 was approx 11.5 Mb larger than the one I had downloaded from the user account page. Thinking that the extra 11.5 Mb might be the help files (I still hadn't discovered that there was only online help at that point) I installed the trial version and entered the reg. number that Corel had provided. The installation took a mere 15 minutes , and everything worked except the online help (a browser issue). In fact I found that X3 loaded faster than X2 had done ! Until I installed SP 2 I had an occasional crash when applying an effect, but since SP2 it has performed brilliantly, fast and glitchfree. In fact for some strange reason when I start X3 it is up and running in 8 to 10 seconds, which was more than twice as fast as the trial version of PS Elements 9 managed, and a hell of a lot faster than The Gimp 2.6 which takes 1 minute and 25 seconds to load

I have just completed a couple of weeks of editing approx 500 photos and also doing a fair bit of graphic work in X3, including the use of text and many effects, and have not seemed to run into memory or other form of problems although I can see that the memory usage does increase slightly after saving each file and does not return to the initial value, this is also the case with PS CS8. I see that before starting any editing, X3 is using 73 Mb of memory, CS8 uses 88 Mb, both use approx the same memory (approx 150) when a photo is open in the editor. However, interestingly, The Gimp 2.6 initially uses 36 Mb and when the photo is saved and closed returns to 36 Mb.

Initially the Organiser in X3 irritated me as did the catalogue palette at the bottom of the window in X2. I have always used a browser as in PSP 5 and CS8, or opened a file from the menu or Win Explorer. However I have begun to find myself using the organiser quite a bit, and sorry to say it, now prefer it the way it is .

So, basically I am very satisfied with X3 after the initial frustrations. My only real critism is with the gradient configuration and the quality of the result (slight banding). I do wish PSP had a simpler gradient tool in the PS / Gimp style, that doesn't expect me to save a gradient everytime I create one for one off use, or have I missed something?

I am still puzzled what the extra 11.5 Mb in the downloaded trial version file is, was there something missing (like bug fixes ) in the file Corel had me download after purchase ?

[LeviFiction]

I don't think you've missed anything with the gradients. But for the banding, add some noise and then apply a Gaussian blur, that should clear it up.

[bigfatron]

I have just completed a couple of weeks of editing approx 500 photos and also doing a fair bit of graphic work in X3, including the use of text and many effects, and have not seemed to run into memory or other form of problems although I can see that the memory usage does increase slightly after saving each file and does not return to the initial value, this is also the case with PS CS8. I see that before starting any editing, X3 is using 73 Mb of memory, CS8 uses 88 Mb, both use approx the same memory (approx 150) when a photo is open in the editor. However, interestingly, The Gimp 2.6 initially uses 36 Mb and when the photo is saved and closed returns to 36 Mb.

Whether you're affected by this issue is specific to how you use it. I do alot of work with uncompressed 16 bit TIFF files (produced from a RAW editor processing RAW files from an 18MP DSLR) that are upwards of 100MB a pop. Those bits of memory it never gives back after working with each image do add up fairly quickly and you end up having to restart every so often or else it locks up. Although Photoshop might not give memory back straight away it does eventually (I also use Photoshop CS4 at work). Its also worth noting Paint Shop Pro X2 didn't have this same issue of running out of memory in this manner. So if perhaps you do alot of work with JPEGs or in small numbers of files per session (which is probably true of alot of users) you will probably never notice this issue. Which I suspect might be why it hasn't been fixed yet.

[pdxrjt]

I have it on "good authority" that it will be fixed for every single user, no matter what their computer configuration, by tomorrow.

[nitroman84]

I have it on "good authority" that it will be fixed for every single user, no matter what their computer configuration, by tomorrow.

Well, you've managed to spike my interest hopefully this authority is correct.

[pdxrjt]

I have it on "good authority" that it will be fixed for every single user, no matter what their computer configuration, by tomorrow.

Well, you've managed to spike my interest hopefully this authority is correct.

I sure hope so ...... hate to say it, but I have kind of "gone over to the enemy" while waiting. Not so much because of bugs, but because of how it is lagging in features.

[df]

Did I miss something? I hate to say it too but I've also bought into "the enemy" as well.