P: Unchecking brush spacing breaks pressure sensitivity

[Claudia5C11]

PS version 23.0.1 (and a few older ones)
Windows 10

When I turn off "Spacing" to make my brush move faster (mostly used when smudging with large brushes that cause lag) I lose Pen Pressure or Pen Tilt control over the brush properties. The settings are available (no error warning), the preview stroke seems fine (thick and thin), it just doesn't acts like it's now there.

If I turn "Spacing" back on, I have full pressure sensitivity (and laggy brushes).

Same issue with or without Windows Ink, and I tried rolling back to 4 or 5 old photoshop versions.

What changed recently? I'm using a new Huion tablet to replace an old Wacom Cintiq that broke, but while I was setting up the new tablet, PS had an update so I can't be 100% sure who's at fault.
I've tried another Huion tablet on my computer, same exact thing happens. Yet, both tablets, when used on my sister's computer with an ancient pre-subscription Photoshop, work flawlessly. That's why I have my suspicions that something is off with Photoshop...

Ideas?

[chad.rolfs]

Hi @Claudia5C11 Thanks for throwing this out. Photoshop doesn't officially test or support Huion but some quick tests on my end with Wacom tablets shows me that if you are using WinTab (PSUserConfig.txt in Preferences folder), unchecking Spacing will indeed lose pressure/tilt.  If you remove or disable that file and use Windows Ink (enable in Wacom Tablet Properties, Calibrate tab), that might work for you.  It works for Wacom but since I don't have Huion tablet, I'm not sure of results there. 

[Claudia5C11]

Thanks for the prompt reply!

I figured that photoshop wouldn't cater specifically to more recent tablet brands, but since these act so flawlessly in every other aspect, I assumed they'd all be the same "on the inside"...

So, I went looking for that file and it was there! Mind you, I didn't add it, I guess PS made it when I turned Windows Ink off?! Anyway, I deleted it, made double sure that Windows Ink was ON at the tablet driver and... IT WORKED! It seems the issue is with WinTab, regardless of the tablet brand.

I have my favourite fast smudge brushes back. Awesome, thank you so much! 😄

[Claudia5C11]

UPDATE:
This is happening again!
I have recently updated to PS 25.7, but I can't be sure that this was the cause, as I was busy with other stuff and didn't use my spacing-less brushes for days.

The tablet, tablet driver and driver settings didn't change since last time. All that (might have) changed was PS version, but I tried rolling back a few versions to no avail.

I also went to see if PS had spontaneously created another damned PSUserConfig like last time, but NOPE!

So, there's absolutely no reason for a tablet with Windows Ink enabled (and which worked flawlessly until maybe 2 weeks ago) to lose pressure & tilt after deactivating spacing in a brush.

Unbelievable that this happened again, I'm on a tight schedule, my favourite smudge brushes are broken and I've already wasted over 2 hours trying to fix this!

[Claudia5C11]

Updating the Update:

OK, so it turns out the solution was the same as two years ago, a rogue "PSUserConfig" file lurking around, ruining the Windows Ink functionality and replacing it with the very lousy WinTab..

So why didn't I find it?!
Because I used the "search" utility, which turns out to be very not useful at all. The file was in a HIDDEN folder called AppData that I am able to see, but the computer, apparently, isn't able to search! Ok, ok, my bad for not searching it personally with my own eyes, but in my defense, the last time I had to bother with this business was 2 years ago....

So for my own future reference and yours, the file that Photoshop materializes (maybe at random, maybe after an update, maybe something with the tablet driver, who knows?) and that ruins a bunch of functionalities with pen pressure, cannot be found through search, it is HERE:

C:\Users\YOURNAME\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop YOURVERSION\Adobe Photoshop YOURVERSION Settings

Find it, kill it, make sure the tablet driver has Windows Ink properly activated, and restart PS.

That's all.