Hey guys, I don't know why, but Poser 12 has recently slowed to a near stand-still. Immediately after loading, it can take seconds for a single button or menu to respond, even with an empty scene. The library takes seconds PER ICON to display. Opening the material room is excruciating, and the program crashes with almost no activity. Here are the steps I've taken to isolate the problem: System restart Full hard drive scan Chkdisk for drive errors Check drive fragmentation - 0% Uninstall and reinstall of latest v of Poser Install latest graphics card drivers Full virus check with ESET online Check and empty temp folder on windows drive Check windows drive for trimming Check windows processes (windows service:web manager running at a about 2-3% nothing else active but Firefox - 1 or 2 tabs open).

All my other programs appear to be running normally. But Poser is completely unusable. But here's the kicker Poser 11 is also acting the same. I'll load a single figure, move the cursor over a body part and it seems normal, then I click the part, and it locks up for a few seconds and the whole screen takes ages to refresh. The fact that both versions of Poser are affected, suggests something in common to them but nothing else. DAZ Studio runs fine, 3D Studio Max runs fine which implies no problem with Open GL or Direct X drivers. Recent software installs: Plants vs Zombies from Steam 1 Poser file to test auto install Update of 4K video downloader and ad block for firefox. Uninstalled adblock.

Anyone else experiencing similar? Anyone got any suggestions please?

first thing to check would be your render cache. If it saves too many renders that will slow down Poser. I leave mine on 10 renders.

ghostship2 posted at 7:23AM Thu, 18 February 2021 - #4413117

first thing to check would be your render cache. If it saves too many renders that will slow down Poser. I leave mine on 10 renders.

Thanks for the suggestion Ghost but I only have a few cached renders. Poser is so slow that if I select a body part on the mannequin, it's fully 5 seconds before the parameters panel changes to show the new selection.

Have you tried deleting your prefs? I've found that's often a fix for a bunch of weird Poser problems. I recently had to delete my LibraryPrefs.xml file because Poser was soooo slow. (Poser will regenerate it.)

This post has directions:

https://www.renderosity.com/rr/mod/forumpro/?thread_id=2935248#msg4360115

(The information used to be on the Smith Micro web site, but like everything else Poser related, it's gone now.)

randym77 posted at 10:31AM Thu, 18 February 2021 - #4413145

Have you tried deleting your prefs? I've found that's often a fix for a bunch of weird Poser problems. I recently had to delete my LibraryPrefs.xml file because Poser was soooo slow. (Poser will regenerate it.)

This post has directions:

https://www.renderosity.com/rr/mod/forumpro/?thread_id=2935248#msg4360115

(The information used to be on the Smith Micro web site, but like everything else Poser related, it's gone now.)

Oh, I was so hopeful that this might be the problem, especially as the program keeps forgetting its layout settings, but alas no. But thank you for the suggestion Randy.

I've occasionally had Poser chewing up CPU cycles for no reason, especially after interrupting a render. But killing the process or rebooting clears that. I haven't seen the slowdown you describe.

If you can't figure it out, I think that's worth taking to Poser support.

I know this is a long shot. And I know there will be people posting that it's unnecessary and shouldn't help, but have you tried defragging your drives? don't do this if it's an ssd but hdds can get fragmented and even though there are claims that it shouldn't affect performance, I found out the hard way it can and does if it gets bad enough.

A few days ago, I was playing with one of the worst windows features: its desesperatly bad integrated search engine. And I deleted the wrong folder in its parameters: the one containing all of poser's runtimes. The result: a complete slow down, up to the moment when the cache management had enough frequently used files...

Was that in the Indexing Options, as shown here? https://devblogs.microsoft.com/windows-search-platform/configuration-and-settings/

If so, you can get there by going to the start menu and typing Indexing Options. Once there, clicking Modify would let you change what folders are indexed, and a Troubleshoot function. Clicking Advanced gives you access to a Rebuild option. If the files are in folders that are being indexed but there is something wrong with the index, that might fix it. But it might need quite a long time to finish the rebuild, like click-the-button-and-come-back-tomorrow long time. And if you are on a laptop, I don't think it does any indexing if you are running off the battery, so bear that in mind as well.

RedPhantom posted at 6:51PM Thu, 18 February 2021 - #4413194

I know this is a long shot. And I know there will be people posting that it's unnecessary and shouldn't help, but have you tried defragging your drives? don't do this if it's an ssd but hdds can get fragmented and even though there are claims that it shouldn't affect performance, I found out the hard way it can and does if it gets bad enough.

Yes, one of the first things I checked. But thanks for the thought.

Y-Phil posted at 6:52PM Thu, 18 February 2021 - #4413210

A few days ago, I was playing with one of the worst windows features: its desesperatly bad integrated search engine. And I deleted the wrong folder in its parameters: the one containing all of poser's runtimes. The result: a complete slow down, up to the moment when the cache management had enough frequently used files...

I agree, the Windows 10 explorer is applalling. I'm constantly deleting stuff by mistake. I really resent having been strongarmed onto W10.

It's curious that both versions of Poser are affected.

Recently, I had Poser 11 crash mid-render, and there were all kinds of problems when I tried to start it again, including extreme slowness. I had to re-install it. But Poser 12 worked fine.

Not sure what would cause both versions of Poser to be so slow. Some kind of rights issue, maybe?

randym77 posted at 10:12PM Thu, 18 February 2021 - #4413238

It's curious that both versions of Poser are affected.

Recently, I had Poser 11 crash mid-render, and there were all kinds of problems when I tried to start it again, including extreme slowness. I had to re-install it. But Poser 12 worked fine.

Yes. I thought it might be a graphics card issue. It WAS running hot (91c), and I cleaned it and have brought that down to 85 which is apparently normal. I uninstalled Poser from the drive it was on and reinstalled onto an SSD, and still both versions crawling. Completely inexplicable. I've seen total system crawling during virus infection, but I can still play online games at top performance, and use DAZ studio with no problems.

Not sure what would cause both versions of Poser to be so slow. Some kind of rights issue, maybe?

randym77 posted at 10:16PM Thu, 18 February 2021 - #4413238

Some kind of rights issue, maybe?

Please elaborate.

AcePyx posted at 11:20PM Thu, 18 February 2021 - #4413242

randym77 posted at 10:16PM Thu, 18 February 2021 - #4413238

Some kind of rights issue, maybe?

Please elaborate.

I've occasionally had issues with Windows 10's super aggressive security. You can no longer have a runtime where Poser's main runtime used to be (in Program Files) without massive headaches.

Even when you have an external runtime, there can be problems. I think that was the problem I had. I kept getting "access denied" error messages. Even though my runtimes, including the default runtime, are all on an external drive. I'd try again, and it would work, but it was a pain. This problem appears to have been fixed with the reinstall. (Of Poser, not of the runtimes.)

For awhile, I also had to run Poser as administrator to get it to work right, though I haven't had that problem recently.

Sometimes I really miss Windows XP.

Another thing I've occasionally had issues with was where the temp files were. I don't know if it's a rights issue, a space issue, or just a speed thing, but I've found Poser runs a lot faster with the temp files on some drives than on others.

randym77 posted at 2:34AM Fri, 19 February 2021 - #4413244

AcePyx posted at 11:20PM Thu, 18 February 2021 - #4413242

randym77 posted at 10:16PM Thu, 18 February 2021 - #4413238

Some kind of rights issue, maybe?

Please elaborate.

I've occasionally had issues with Windows 10's super aggressive security. You can no longer have a runtime where Poser's main runtime used to be (in Program Files) without massive headaches.

Even when you have an external runtime, there can be problems. I think that was the problem I had. I kept getting "access denied" error messages. Even though my runtimes, including the default runtime, are all on an external drive. I'd try again, and it would work, but it was a pain. This problem appears to have been fixed with the reinstall. (Of Poser, not of the runtimes.)

For awhile, I also had to run Poser as administrator to get it to work right, though I haven't had that problem recently.

Sometimes I really miss Windows XP.

Another thing I've occasionally had issues with was where the temp files were. I don't know if it's a rights issue, a space issue, or just a speed thing, but I've found Poser runs a lot faster with the temp files on some drives than on others.

In my case, I'e instructed the antivirus (eset internet security) and malwarebytes to forget any folders related to 3D, that means the poser runtimes (both version), the galleries and my 3d-related library, such as hdri's and so one. All this has always been put on a specific drive (a fast sata drive). with one exclusive partition.

Both joker2000 and myself have had an issue with KB4601319 impacting performance (maybe in my case KB4601050 too). If you're a Windows 10 user its worth checking if you've received the KB4601319 patch and if it coincided with the loss in performance.

ironsoul posted at 7:35AM Fri, 19 February 2021 - #4413266

Both joker2000 and myself have had an issue with KB4601319 impacting performance (maybe in my case KB4601050 too). If you're a Windows 10 user its worth checking if you've received the KB4601319 patch and if it coincided with the loss in performance.

I'm sorry but these days, I can't see any slowdown of Poser, and both updates are installed: freshly rebooted, once everything is loaded (2 browsers, full of tabs): Poser 12 loads in23" the 1st time, 15" the 2nd time, Poser 11, after this: 22" the 1st time and no slowdow durign the render. It could be something interacting with the targets of those two updates. The only thing I've done: rebuilt the Windows' Search index.

I had a sudden slowdown as well (P11 and P12). It turned out to be scene related - when I load that scene, Poser went into slowdown mode (giving you a second, then seemed to freeze waking up for a second and freeze again). I then started to delete the figures in the scene and after deleting the 2nd one, suddenly the problem was gone. Funny thing was that when i did an undo of the deleted figures, the problem did not reappear and I was able to save that scene under a new name. The new scene did not have the problem.

It looks like in my case there was some corruption whicb was cleared when I did the Delete and Undo delete. If the problem happens when you start up, it might be an idea to see if it happens with factory default preferred scene as well.

Ok, when I read this it's better to give up Poser at all. I'm getting tired of this poser theater. Bondware let all the Poser 11 user stand in the rain. All your work get lost. It's to risky to work with this dying software. I have lost the trust in Bonwares Poser strategy. The futur is DAZ + Blenderbridge. There I get real support. From Poser support I just get the anser "sorry Poser 11 is not supported anymore".

I wish you all a lot of fun when Poser 13 comes and you can't use all of your Poser 12 work again. I don't need that anymore. Bondware must be happy if they don't have to face legal proceedings about forcing Poser 11.1 users to update to their demaged Poser 11.2 and 11.3 versions. A claim for damages would actually be appropriate if they did not return the working Poser 11.1 from SmithMicro version to us.

Things like this are why I haven't upgraded to win10. I don't like forced OS "security" updates that cause my software to fk up and be unusable until the devs get around to patching. P11 and 12 work fine now that I've sorted out how I can render on my graphics card with P12.

since this update for me....

joker2000 posted at 7:59AM Thu, 01 April 2021 - #4415727

Ok, when I read this it's better to give up Poser at all. I'm getting tired of this poser theater. Bondware let all the Poser 11 user stand in the rain. All your work get lost. It's to risky to work with this dying software. I have lost the trust in Bonwares Poser strategy. The futur is DAZ + Blenderbridge. There I get real support. From Poser support I just get the anser "sorry Poser 11 is not supported anymore".

I wish you all a lot of fun when Poser 13 comes and you can't use all of your Poser 12 work again. I don't need that anymore. Bondware must be happy if they don't have to face legal proceedings about forcing Poser 11.1 users to update to their demaged Poser 11.2 and 11.3 versions. A claim for damages would actually be appropriate if they did not return the working Poser 11.1 from SmithMicro version to us.

i 'm agree...

Have you ever tried to add this line into the Host file ?

127.0.0.1 www.renderosity.com

This might be the trick to speed back up Poser and if then you know what or who is using up all the resources :)

I am also experiencing the same general slowdown in both Poser 11 and 12. My last major Windows 10 update was 20H2, but that didn't slow Poser down, so it must have been something that got updated in the last 2 weeks, because that's when this has started for me. I have recorded videos using Poser 12 about 2 weeks ago where it was perfectly normal. But don't be surprised that whatever this is affects both Poser 11 and 12, because they are the same program, where the latter has some updates. Whatever affects one will affect the other.

Windows 10 updates whenever it wants to, so whatever it was, we have no control over it. But it seems strange that it affects some people, but not others. There are also GPU drivers from nVidia that can break Poser and some other 3D applications as well, so I try not to update very often. When it is an issue with nVidia drivers, Poser won't even start, or in some cases, won't be able to render. Although Poser is now super slow, OpenGL previews and renders are still fast, so this only appears to affect using the Poser interface. This may be an indication that the issue might be on Windows and not nVidia drivers.

Has anyone found a solution for this?

Considering this could be a Win10 update issue, I was suggested updating to see if it helps. I have installed the only available Win10 cumulative update KB5000842, and tested Poser 12 after rebooting. No changes, the sluggish performance persists. Whatever this is, that will not fix it.

I have Windows 10 set to update whenever Microsoft wants to update it, and have not had any problem with Poser 11 or 12 recently.

Maybe try uninstalling the Windows updates since Poser last worked correctly?

randym77 posted at 6:05PM Sat, 03 April 2021 - #4416142

I have Windows 10 set to update whenever Microsoft wants to update it, and have not had any problem with Poser 11 or 12 recently.

Maybe try uninstalling the Windows updates since Poser last worked correctly?

I have thought of that, but there is no saying which update from the last 2 weeks is causing this. It's hard to remember when exactly this started because I have been doing more Python scripting than Poser in this same period, where I still need Poser to be running, but most of the action happens in Python. Today I have tried upgrading the GeForce driver instead, to the latest version released 3 days ago, and it appears to have reduced the crawling to about half, but it's still there.

So there some of us experiencing this issue, but not others. Here are the things I have tried so far:

1. Rolled Poser 12 back to an older version. Didn't help.
2. Installed the latest Win10 updates. No luck, still slow. However, this has fixed an issue I was having with iClone, which is now fixed, so there was something there.
3. Upgraded the GPU driver. A little better, but still slow.

This does not appear to affect OpenGL previews or rendering performance. Those are still fast. It is just the Poser interface that is affected, where we can see "Poser is Not responding" on the title bar when switching rooms, or with general interface usage.

I have checked with another person using the P12 version and Ampere video card in Windows 10, and she is not having the slowdown. Checked with another using a Mac, and again, not happening there, so it might be Windows 10 only, but not affecting everybody.

Have you considered that it might be due the removal of Flash ? first step was to shut it down but there was no forced removal the removal happen on the one before last mayor Win Updates. I got aware of it the moment some programs did not work correctly any longer. Going into the poser Ui folder you might find an Air folder with a Flash LSMGUIAIR file ! you might find this file also in Poser 12. I am not running Poser 12 so can not check it . but it might be that it still needs a local Flash working. so instead of searching what Win has added try to search what got removed. I reinstalled Flash actually an older version below 10.3 and allot of older Programs worked again like a charm.

Hmm, the Flash installer is no longer available even if I wanted to have it installed, though. How did you do it?

You can find the Older flash arcives

Here

Note that the Latest versions of the oldie is Locked by Win 10 so Pick a Prior Version after Install got to Flash settings and turn of automatic Update

There's something I've remarked this afternoon, but I'll have to investigate later (no time just now): there was an material definition error in one of the item, and Poser 12 was really slow. I've corrected the error and it seems to be more responsive.

Note that it may just be by chance.

@Azarth Thank you, I will give it a try. :)

@Y-Phil Anything that helps stopping this will be welcome. ^^

I've also got the feeling that from time to tim, Poser 12 slows down when using part of an old scene (could be a Poser 10 or a Poser 11). I've stumbled upon a situation in which it crashes if I parent two characters (one to the hip of the other), these two were imported from an "old" scene.

Sometime, i would be really helpful if Poser's log window was far more verbose, even by a simple option, for example what looks like internal Python errors.

Oh and previously, I forgot to mention that I will never use the Firefly anymore. That's why I've written a Python script to clean everything related to this render engine. I'll remain strictly Superfly-based. If I use another engine, that's Octane. This results in simpler material definitions, hence giving a kind of relief to Poser.

But that's my choice, and true evidence: the vendors can't act this way...

I've noticed I have some scenes where, when I click something to select it, there is a delay during which the menus flash multiple times, which suggests the interface is being refreshed multiple times. It isn't as bad as described by the original poster (for example I don't see any delay in the library), but something is not being done right and it makes things less responsive. Tried rebuilding the index, updating graphics drivers, fixing any invalid materials, but no difference.

On the other hand, some other scenes don't have those issues.

ChromeStar posted at 11:53AM Mon, 05 April 2021 - #4416229

I've noticed I have some scenes where, when I click something to select it, there is a delay during which the menus flash multiple times, which suggests the interface is being refreshed multiple times. It isn't as bad as described by the original poster (for example I don't see any delay in the library), but something is not being done right and it makes things less responsive. Tried rebuilding the index, updating graphics drivers, fixing any invalid materials, but no difference.

On the other hand, some other scenes don't have those issues.

Problems with detecting some items?

For the record, the same slowdown is affecting both Poser 11 and 12, and I know for a fact that P11 hasn't been changed in any way. In addition, I have tried rolling P12 back to an older version I knew had no delay, but it's still slow, so this is a clear indication the issue is not in Poser 12 itself (or else it wouldn't affect P11), but perhaps a Windows update that brought up some incompatibility issue - which is not uncommon these days.

I have tried reinstalling Flash player, as suggested by Azath, but Windows 10 UAC forbids it. I have UAC disabled in my computer, but it is still forbidden anyway,

Y-Phil posted at 4:41PM Mon, 05 April 2021 - #4416238

ChromeStar posted at 11:53AM Mon, 05 April 2021 - #4416229

I've noticed I have some scenes where, when I click something to select it, there is a delay during which the menus flash multiple times, which suggests the interface is being refreshed multiple times. It isn't as bad as described by the original poster (for example I don't see any delay in the library), but something is not being done right and it makes things less responsive. Tried rebuilding the index, updating graphics drivers, fixing any invalid materials, but no difference.

On the other hand, some other scenes don't have those issues.

Problems with detecting some items?

I'm not sure. There's the same delay whether I click the item directly or pick it from the pulldown lists. But no delay if I select it in the material room or in the animation palette. And after I select the camera (with a delay), it's not any less responsive when I move it around. It's something about selection.

Scroll down on the download Page ! like I said a version above 11.3 will get locked. Take the Version

Macromedia Flash Player 11.3.300.265

Prior to 268 and it will work just fine :) Version 268 Up are locked by Windows but Versions 265 and Prior will all work just fine

It's a shot in the dark, but do you have "Enhance multilayer transparency" checked on here?

Trying to use that option has made my Poser slow to impossible use. I do remember my GPU is similar to yours - could be something like that.

After I read Afrodite-Ohki's idea, I checked this:

I have just checked both, and both Poser versions all of a sudden seemed more responsive when clicking a part in the Material Room. Just to be sure, I've tested with and without, and it seems to make s difference. Don't forget that it's an option saved with the scene.

Can someone else test this?

My installation: Poser 11 is on an SSD (the main one), and Poser 12 is on a dedicated Samsung 860 Evo (the type directly connected on the motherboard). And I have just installed the last NVidia Studio driver.

Afrodite-Ohki posted at 10:38AM Tue, 06 April 2021 - #4416299

It's a shot in the dark, but do you have "Enhance multilayer transparency" checked on here?

Trying to use that option has made my Poser slow to impossible use. I do remember my GPU is similar to yours - could be something like that.

You are absolutely right: Poser is so deeply locked that I wonder why that option even exists...

Good thoughts, and the original poster should try those things. They don't help me, though. The menu keeps doing its flashing thing regardless.

I actually have Enhance Multilayer Transparency checked most of the time, because it is much clearer about what is going on, and Enable Hardware Shading is off because it's too hard to work with an all-white figure. But changing those settings has little to no effect on performance on my system.

ChromeStar posted at 5:30PM Tue, 06 April 2021 - #4416327

Good thoughts, and the original poster should try those things. They don't help me, though. The menu keeps doing its flashing thing regardless.

I actually have Enhance Multilayer Transparency checked most of the time, because it is much clearer about what is going on, and Enable Hardware Shading is off because it's too hard to work with an all-white figure. But changing those settings has little to no effect on performance on my system.

"All white figures" isn't easy to work with, indeed... That's why I setup Cycles-based skins, save them in a specific Mats folder of one of my runtimes, then using a specific script I've written, I wipe out the skins, replacing them with a simple skin-like diffuse color. Loading them back is just a matter of seconds. Furthermore, I'm doing this as most of the time, I'm using a second layer for each part, which defines the level of anisotropy, with the help of a transparencybsdf node. this kills the possibility to adjust cloths...

I didn't see if this was mentioned (too much to catch up on in here) But I've noticed Windows these days defaults to Balanced under the power settings, which I thought was only for laptops, but after installed W10 i see its also Desktops. Make sure you're set on High Performance. For me this drastically speeds up any version of Poser. Not just Poser, but any 3D app or video games as well. Its kind of a silly setting since we don't need to worry about laptop battery power management on desktops. I know Windows updates like to try to revert changes you make to your configuration sometimes, so I woundn't be surprised if this also was reverted.

If that isn't it hopefully this at least helps you out in the future.

ShaneNewville posted at 6:30AM Sun, 11 April 2021 - #4416697

I didn't see if this was mentioned (too much to catch up on in here) But I've noticed Windows these days defaults to Balanced under the power settings, which I thought was only for laptops, but after installed W10 i see its also Desktops. Make sure you're set on High Performance. For me this drastically speeds up any version of Poser. Not just Poser, but any 3D app or video games as well. Its kind of a silly setting since we don't need to worry about laptop battery power management on desktops. I know Windows updates like to try to revert changes you make to your configuration sometimes, so I woundn't be surprised if this also was reverted.

If that isn't it hopefully this at least helps you out in the future.

I confirm this point: the last update reverted these setting back to balanced, and it's not only micro$oft that's doing it, quite a lot of other publishers have this behavoir kind of "hard-wired", which is... annoying to remain polite.

Well, my Win10 isn't giving me anything BUT the Balanced option, and I don't now if that's Win10 or my laptop that's doing it. I don't remember if I ever looked for that option in the 17 months I have this puppy. It's an Alienware gaming laptop, and it's possible it came with only that one setting, but I'm not sure as I haven't checked it before.

My computer is a Dell, and though you can see other settings if you pick "Advanced power settings," it doesn't actually accept them if you pick them. Your only choice is the Dell plan.

However, you can change the Dell plan so they match the high performance settings. Near as I can tell, the ones that matter for Poser are the CPU settings and the graphics settings. Set at 100% or Max performance.

Maybe see if you can change the plan settings under "Changed advanced power settings"?

If you're only seeing this,

click on the circled arrow for the high performance option.