Any fix for unstable version X8?

[Djard007]

I probably should not be requesting help at this moment, being livid for loss of two hours of work due to another crash. I adopted the habit of manually saving my work every few minutes, but today I forgot to do so. I disabled the autosave feature since it does not work: the feature merely interrupts workflow every 5 minutes, even if set to back up every 15 minutes.

Either Paint Shop Pro version X8 (x64) is not fully compatible with Win 7 (I'm using the Stephen Balmer Signature Edition) or the app is unstable. While using the Smudge brush, a message popped up, stating "Encountered improper argument." The toolbars disappeared and I had to use Win Task Manager to exit the document. This is the third time I suffered loss of work for the same issue. I never encountered such problem in previous versions. I think Corel needs to release a plugin to stabilize PSP X8.

Anybody experienced this issue and found a workaround?

[Kathy_9]

No, I'm not seeing the issue that you are and I'm sure it's frustrating. Have you tried resetting PSP to default? This seems to fix a number of issues when the program gets out of sorts.

The knowledge base article is for X6 but the same steps will apply to X8.

https://support.corel.com/hc/en-us/arti ... figuration

Hope this helps.

[Djard007]

Thank you so much. I will try resetting the preferences and database.

[TroyTheTech]

Although not really helpful Solution-wise, I want to offer my Emotional Support, as I am finding x8 quite unstable as well...

It sounds like it does not crash quite as much as Djard, but it does crash more often than any other program I am using at this time.
For example, when working on an image for say, a total of 10 hours, x8 would probably have crashed about 3-4 times. While not a lot, I have learned to Save As incremental PSPIMAGEs, so that I have "steps" I can continue from.

I have tried "the usual" things, such as running a cleaner Boot/Startup, closing other programs, running as Administrator, etc. but x8 seems to be far more unstable than x7, where it would not crash even once on much longer projects/images.

An odd issue.

[JoeB]

Although not really helpful Solution-wise, I want to offer my Emotional Support, as I am finding x8 quite unstable as well...

It sounds like it does not crash quite as much as Djard, but it does crash more often than any other program I am using at this time.
For example, when working on an image for say, a total of 10 hours, x8 would probably have crashed about 3-4 times. While not a lot, I have learned to Save As incremental PSPIMAGEs, so that I have "steps" I can continue from.

I have tried "the usual" things, such as running a cleaner Boot/Startup, closing other programs, running as Administrator, etc. but x8 seems to be far more unstable than x7, where it would not crash even once on much longer projects/images.

An odd issue.

For me, 10 hours of work on a processor intensive item (if continuous in that there is no closing of the program in the interim) seems like a recipe for creating some problems. There are a variety of variables involved, starting with the cache settings and saving settings in the program to other programs that might have been run during the work (e.g., checking email, internet browsing, anti-virus program activity, etc.) or are running in the background taking up memory, CPU, etc.

This is not to say it might not be an issue compared to X7, but that assumes that all of the variables are the same when running X7 and not seeing such issues.

[TroyTheTech]

Although not really helpful Solution-wise, I want to offer my Emotional Support, as I am finding x8 quite unstable as well...

It sounds like it does not crash quite as much as Djard, but it does crash more often than any other program I am using at this time.
For example, when working on an image for say, a total of 10 hours, x8 would probably have crashed about 3-4 times. While not a lot, I have learned to Save As incremental PSPIMAGEs, so that I have "steps" I can continue from.

I have tried "the usual" things, such as running a cleaner Boot/Startup, closing other programs, running as Administrator, etc. but x8 seems to be far more unstable than x7, where it would not crash even once on much longer projects/images.

An odd issue.

For me, 10 hours of work on a processor intensive item (if continuous in that there is no closing of the program in the interim) seems like a recipe for creating some problems. There are a variety of variables involved, starting with the cache settings and saving settings in the program to other programs that might have been run during the work (e.g., checking email, internet browsing, anti-virus program activity, etc.) or are running in the background taking up memory, CPU, etc.

This is not to say it might not be an issue compared to X7, but that assumes that all of the variables are the same when running X7 and not seeing such issues.

Thanks for your input and yes, that is what makes it such an interesting issue (with the crashes of x8 versus x7).

I rarely shut off or restart my system - and I don't want to sound like a "Windows Fanboy" here, but the more recent versions of Windows, especially 8.1 and 10, seems to be extremely stable. I do run multiple applications at once (music player in the background, 20+ tabs open in a browser, graphic editing application open, video editing application open as well (to pass media back and forth between them), social applications open (skype, gmail, etc); but this has always been the case with me, I run the same "environment" at work and at home, lots of the same things running at once - and I realize that this doesn't exactly contribute to a "clean" working space for PSP - but with x7 (in Windows 8.1) I did not have an issue with frequent crashing, whereas x8 (in Windows 8.1) it crashes quite a bit, sometimes not even starting...

Testing it more recently with Windows 10, things are more stable with x8, but it still likes crashing (it seems like "just for the fun of it" as the crashing symptoms are not repeatable, that is; I could do a step and it would crash, and trying to replicate it after restarting the program, I could do the step without issue). Thanks be to the gods of Corel for their "Recover Opened Images" when it re-opens, to continue working in on them!

x7 seems to like Windows 8.1 better and x8 seems to like Windows 10 better (even though it still crashes more than x7 in Windows 8.1), so I can only assume that each version is "streamlined" on or developed for and with, those versions of Windows. Although I understand the reasoning, it is just unfortunate that they (the Developers) are not making the program a little more robust towards running on differing operating systems. As an example, I can install Sony Movie Studio 13 on Windows 8.1 and it will run the exact same way when I install it in Windows 10 (will not crash more often on either one) - I would love to see this level of ...versatility(?, sorry I do not know the term, I am not a Programmer I am a Computer Technician) in PaintShop. C'mon Corel, I know you can do it; you already do a great job at reverse-compatibility within PSP (being able to open PSPIMAGEs with newer/older versions)!

[Djard007]

Just a guess, but I suspect that the problem might be in the Preferences. I had mine set for 1,000 undo steps. Since limiting them to the default 250, I've not had a crash...so far. I doubt the problem is lack of PC power. A quad Pentium chipset and 12 GB RAM ought to handle a 25 MB file. Some apps have better algorithms then others, and Corel may need to do more testing before releasing its products. Previous versions of PSP worked better for me. Version 8X is definitely not very stable or not fully Windows compatible: I still need to click on my Desktop icon several times to launch the program. But the rich features make up for the otherwise annoying bugs. After trying Paint Shop and finding it user hostile, I definitely will stick with PSP.

[AfterShot]

Perhaps this is an ignorant comment, so forgive me for being so simple, but couldn't a solution be simply using the latest software? X9 and Windows 10 instead of X8 and Windows 7?

[Kathy_9]

Perhaps this is an ignorant comment, so forgive me for being so simple, but couldn't a solution be simply using the latest software? X9 and Windows 10 instead of X8 and Windows 7?

X9? I think you are getting a little ahead of yourself.

[Djard007]

Windows 8.1 offers less control over administrative rights, and Win 10 is spyware with constant telemetry gobbling up bandwidth and other background activity. Microsoft offer Win 10 as "free," but it is not. It also downloads huge amounts of data on your system, without your permission, even if you have updates turned off, bloating the registry and slowing down your system, not noticeable... until running chip challenging tasks. Win 7 is the last Windows program that lets you fully use GPEdit as a GUI for the registry.

[rondo]

Shouldn't have those problems with X8- most modern computers have enough RAM and CPU power to handle very demanding tasks. Could be in how the program manages memory. Using a scratch disc, preferably an external drive may help, may not- I always have one selected.

[AfterShot]

Perhaps this is an ignorant comment, so forgive me for being so simple, but couldn't a solution be simply using the latest software? X9 and Windows 10 instead of X8 and Windows 7?

X9? I think you are getting a little ahead of yourself.

Yeah, sorry...I was thinking of VideoStudio x9 http://help.corel.com/videostudio/v19/m ... dio-x9.pdf

[mmreed]

My X8 keeps crashing as well. SOmethign as simple as opening an image and going to paint a layer in a color gives a crash often. It is very unstable. I
Im running it on a very powerful machine - 64gb ram, beefy cpu, decent gfx card, win10. It crashes so often I hit save about every 5 minutes. I can count on it crashing a few times pretty much every work session.
I reboot and it usually doesnt help. Its a painful issue I just work through.

Nothing odd or unique on my end - pretty much a common average user of x8.

I keep looking for a patch to fix this

[Djard007]

The instability problem is unrelated to PC power: the causality is defective program algorithms. The software engineers would surely like to correct the imperfections, but the marketing department presses them to focus on releasing a new version; and so old problems remain unresolved. All we can do is request a patch.

Another bug: when launching PSP X8, a window pops up offering video tutorials for various interesting features; but none of the links work. Corel PSP fixed the file size limitation for the Warp brush when it acquired JASC PSP, and added many wonderful features. But listening to customers is not a strength of Corel.

[JoeB]

Another bug: when launching PSP X8, a window pops up offering video tutorials for various interesting features; but none of the links work.

All of the links work for me in X8.