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adip21769947
Participant
September 25, 2018
Question

Adobe Captivate 2019 very slow

  • September 25, 2018
  • 18 replies
  • 18028 views

Hi,

am trying to develop simulations and interactive slides, but either the new version slows down or hanged. Am using Mac it has ample space to accommodate captivate files. Any remedy?

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    18 replies

    A
    Anonymous
    April 11, 2020

    Yeah,  Captivate runs awful on Mac.  Lag when dragging windows,  typeing text...it's just horible to use.  I have 5 macs in total,  it's the same on all.   Doesnt crash,  but is just really sluggsh.   I believe it's because it's java vm.   To put it to the test,  try running the windows version on your mac via Parallels or VMFusion and you will see it's much faster.  The windows version is not java.  

     

    Just drag a text box and see the difference.   Through the VM it's snappy and instant with high frame rates.   On the mac 'native' you get the equivilant re-draw of a 2 frames a second.  It's got beter over the past 5 years but it's still alomost unuslable in my opinion.  

     

    So yes,  try that.  Run it on your mac through a windows VM.    

    P
    precise_intuition16B8
    Participating Frequently
    May 7, 2021

    So, here's what I'm seeing. I have two displays running off the HDMI ports on a Mac Mini 2012 server. One screen is 1920x1200 native. The other is 2560 x 1440 but the Mac runs it at 1920x1200 because that's the highest resolution its HDMI ports can support.

     

    On the big screen Captivate runs slowly. If I try to drag an object around I'll lose the mouse grip on it. And there were several reports of Captivate running poorly on Retina displays, which I don't have but these are basically high res displays scaled down to something human eyes can see. So I moved captivate over to the non-scaled screen, closed it down, and restarted it. Success! No lag. Then today I got a displayport cable to run the larger display at native resolution. Again, no lag. So I'd say that Captivate's problem, or at least one of them, is that it doesn't want to run on a scaled display. And *that* is probably partly something that Apple is doing.

     

    About 10 or 15 years back I had a similar problem with old software on Windows. When Microsoft changed the look of the interface there seemed to be some underlying window code that translated things like old window borders and button positions to new window border and button positions. The underlying window widgets were still there but their details were being skinned and translated. I had one program that just didn't like that and it ran especially badly if Windows was scaled to something other than 100%.

     

    Captivate dates all the way back to around 2004, when it was RoboHelp. Then Macromedia bought it, then Adobe bought Macromedia, and I'll bet there are still chunks of code from 2004 and Windows XP loitering in the application. Kind of pitiful for a $1200.00 application.

      RodWard
      Community Expert
      RodWardCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      May 10, 2021

      Regardless of whether there's legacy code in Captivate, the main problem seems to be that it runs better on a Mac if your monitor is running at its native resolution and the screen isn't being scaled. That at least fits in with retina display users having troubles, because your desktop has to be scaled in order for you to work comfortably.

       

      One thing I notice is that my higher resolution screen looks pretty good with the Mac running it at 1920 x 1080, which makes me think that Apple is going to some extra effort to make that happen, although I don't know what that would be.  And if Captivate was rewritten in 2010... that was before Retina Displays were released so I don't doubt that everything was "good enough" at that time. Budgets for development usually go to things that marketing teams want rather than fixes. XML was an important push since web technologies like JavaScript can read XML, but also because programs like powerpoint were moving to XML based file formats.

       

      The giveaway to me that Captivate has a problem with scaling is that when you drag a rectangle in the interface, the cursor moves faster than the rectangle you're dragging until eventually the cursor is no longer on the object.


      I don't see that issue in my Windows 10 PC with Cp 2019.  Must be a Mac issue.   I'm running Captivate with a 4k monitor and it runs fine.  No lag at all.

       

      I suggest you log a bug with the Captivate team.

      P
      peterv79136035
      Participant
      October 10, 2019

      Six week old 2019 iMac with 32GB RAM and 8GB Raedon Pro video. Captivate is completely unusable. Selecting, dragging, typing are all painfully slow and jerky. 

      RodWard
      Community Expert
      RodWardCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      October 10, 2019
      I'm not a MAC user, but I have noticed that the usual reason for this behaviour reported on a MAC is directly related to running a very high resolution monitor. Is that likely in your case? If so, go back on this same thread to a post from 8th of May 2019 where the poster provided the settings in MAC OS to correct the issue.
      P
      peterv79136035
      Participant
      October 10, 2019
      Thanks Rod. I appreciate the help, but seeing as I'm just trialing the software; to roll-out to a large team of elearning developers, it would be crazy for me to recommend software with such a major bug and no fix in sight. I'm afraid in my next meeting I'll have to say 'great features, but everyone needs to downtune their displays to 1990's resolutions' - not a good look.
      S
      Scott Azar
      Participant
      August 1, 2019

      I'm having the same issue. I have a 2018 Macbook Pro with 16 GB of RAM i7

      Radeon Pro 555X 4 GB

      Intel UHD Graphics 630 1536 MB

      It's amazingly terrible trying to create a project on this.  I can use my mouse but as soon as I add a hotspot and try to type, it's just SOOO slow.  The video also plays at a snail's pace and it's hard to manipulate that.

      CDubber
      CDubber
      Known Participant
      July 3, 2019

      Addendum: when I posted that video comparison 3 years ago, I had subscribed to Captivate for a year ($360) under the assumption the macOS version would be fully usable. It was not. I held on, sure that a subsequent update would solve the problem. None did. I did not use Captivate for a single project during my subscription period due to the unusable performance. Worst $300+ I ever spent. Lighting $300 in cash on fire would have been more worthwhile if only for the entertainment factor.

      Please fix this situation, Adobe!!!

        CDubber
        CDubber
        Known Participant
        July 3, 2019

        I demonstrated this issue nearly 3 years ago, running both Captivate for Mac and Captivate for Windows simultaneously on my iMac (via Parallels):

        It's just inexplicable that the native Mac version should perform so poorly compared to the Windows version running simultaneously in a virtual machine and the additional processing overhead that entails. Sadly, despite both major and minor version updates to Captivate in the 3 years that have passed, the issue persists. Every time a new version is released, I immediately jump in, hoping the problem has been resolved. NOPE! So, so frustrating. Photoshop doesn't have this issue. Illustrator doesn't have this issue. No other Adobe Mac/Windows software that I'm aware of has this issue. Only Captivate. Working in Captivate for macOS is like walking through semi-cured cement.

        I can only assume the entire code base of Captivate for Mac is flawed and requires a complete rewrite. Anyone familiar with macOS UI recognizes that Captivate for Mac is not really running as "native" Mac software. The menus are weird, the buttons are weird, the dialog boxes are weird. Maybe it runs in some sort of emulation layer or cross-platform coding tool that clearly is not optimized for macOS. Since Articulate abandoned its plan for a native Mac version of Storyline (***WEEPS OPENLY!!!***), Captivate is all we've got. And what we've got, frankly, is not good enough.

          PerfectPixelMarketing
          PerfectPixelMarketing
          Participating Frequently
          June 18, 2019

          I don't know if anyone has seen this but you can launch Adobe Captivate in "low resolution" mode without needing to adjust your display settings. Although I haven't done a full test on it just yet, this short-term solution looks promising.

          Here are the instructions for launching in low resolution:

          Captivate does not perform as expected on HIDPI Retina i-Mac machines. As a work-around, reduce the display of Captivate to a lower resolution (Right-click the Adobe Captivate app > Get Info > Enable the option Open in Row Resolution). Restart Captivate.

          N
          noybn52798794
          Participant
          May 8, 2019

          The earlier posts about resolution being the issue, I think they are correct. But, the earlier posts that tell you to change the scale to "bigger text" are missing a step that's required for many HiDPI Mac displays.

          Try this:

          1. Go into System Preferences> Display

          2. You have these options: "Default for Display" and "Scale" ...

          ... but wait. There's a third option, and it's hidden, and it's what you need to get Captivate running quickly.

          3. Hold the "Option" key and click "Scaled". This causes actual display resolutions to be presented, as well as a new checkbox called "Show low resolution modes".

          4. Click "Show low resolution modes"

          5. Pick a resolution that has "(low resolution)" in its name.

          Switch back to captivate, no need to restart it, and it should be faster.  At least, this worked for me.

          N
          noybn52798794
          Participant
          May 8, 2019

          Or, try setting Captivate to always open in low resolution mode:

          1. Use "Get Info" on Captivate.app, (command-click or Finder > File > Get Info)

          2. Select "Open in Low Resolution"

          This seems to allow you to leave your Mac in HiDPI mode, but just set Captivate to be low resolution.

          TheKapp
          TheKapp
          Participating Frequently
          May 8, 2019

          This actually has worked as well...!!   MAJOR THANKS  from me personally for this... I now feel that my Thesis Project will definitely be picking up MUCH speed towards it's conclusion!! God bless!!  You have this Mac user's gratitude!! 

            B
            bonniea73485140
            Participant
            April 25, 2019

            I am having this same issue and I am a Windows users. Are there other WU's out there that are getting hung up using Captivate?

              S
              Suresh Jayaraman
              Inspiring
              April 24, 2019

              Hello Everyone,

              As i write we are investigating the MAC issue - Captivate slowness on high resolution display machines ( 4k / 5k) very actively and will have a resolution very soon . Really sorry about the inconvenience caused , will keep you posted on the progress

              Thanks

              Suresh Jayaraman

              Adobe Captivate Engineering 

              TheKapp
              TheKapp
              Participating Frequently
              April 24, 2019

              Thank you Suresh and to the rest of the Adobe Captivate Engineering Team

              Please know that this is greatly appreciated, but also that the resolution

              to this software issue is also *highly anticipated and eagerly awaited *by

              us as customers

              On Wed, Apr 24, 2019 at 9:46 AM Suresh Jayaraman <forums_noreply@adobe.com>

              S
              sawhatley
              Known Participant
              March 29, 2019

              I as well am experiencing the extremely slow issues on the mac. I actually had to change my display settings to "default for display" to get the best results, but it is still quite laggy.

              I am using a mac pro with plenty of ram and plenty of storage. No other applications give me issues. Ironically, I installed the Captivate trial on a MacBook Pro and it actually seems to be running faster and smoother than the souped-up Mac Pro. It seems that Adobe has not figured out a fix for this yet. Hopefully they do. It can be so bad that the application is practically unusable...

              PerfectPixelMarketing
              PerfectPixelMarketing
              Participating Frequently
              March 29, 2019

              From my understanding, it is when you are using a 4K or 5K monitor. When I change my resolution to "Larger Text" (i.e. reduce the resolution), Adobe Captivate responds quickly without any lag.

              TheKapp
              TheKapp
              Participating Frequently
              April 15, 2019

              I am using a late 2015 iMac 27 inch with 5K Retina Display. 

              I've switched the display settings in System Preferences to "Largest Text"

              And, I experience NO CHANGE in Captivate's behavior after doing this...The "super slow" speed issues are the same, just in a larger screen version

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