P: Wintab not working (21.0.1)

[Michael Elmkjær Madsen]

BUG : Photoshop 2020 has broken support for wintab via PSUserConfig.txt !!!
UseSystemStylus 0 


This has worked perfectly fine up until PS 2019 - Windows ink is a steaming pile of .... and NOT a viable option. 

(yes, PSUserConfig.txt is in the correct settings folder in Appdata, PS just seems to ignore it) 

We'll revert to 2019 until this is fixed, since wintab is the only reliable solution for pressure sensitivity on Wacoms with Windows workstations. 


MAJOR DEALBREAKER - pls look into this asap ! 

[pnwfox]

This is so frustrating. Same issue on Windows 10 eight months later, will not recognize the same PSUserConfig.txt file I have used to enable pressure sensitivity for the last five years.

Windows 10 version 1909 and PS 21.2.1 seems to be a lethal combination. So many bugs, but this one is catastrophic as enabling Windows Ink introduces several other problems into the Wacom/PS workflow which are worse than having no pressure sensitivity.

Shameful Adobe and Wacom have let this known problem continue for so many years. Many of us in the corporate world have no choice but to use the Windows system provided by our company. Not being able to use pressure sensitivity is BRUTAL for my workflow.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Im loosing a lot of money because of this!!!!!!! I cant deliver my work in time. What a SHAME!

[chad.rolfs]

We have made improvements to painting with Win Ink in 21.2.2; resizing brush via Alt+right-click (hover) and Alt+tap to sample color are now instantaneous (no lag), scrubbies are pressure sensitive too. Modifier toast is an OS thing that we are investigating if we can work around or ask again for MS to provide an option to disable. 

Remove `UseSystemStylus 0` from PSUserConfig or remove that file altogether and make sure Win Ink is enabled in Wacom settings.  You should be good to go.  

`UseSystemStylus 0` is from Win7 days which MS has EOL'd. 

[chad.rolfs]

What specific bugs still exist aside from the OS toast using modifier keys?  We're actively working to make painting work as good if not better than it did with the old PSUserConfig workaround.

[chrb]

I'm getting a bug with scrubby zoom that makes it spaz out on ink. Also everything is noticeably laggier in general with ink enabled. And the modifier keys are definitely a problem- sometimes when they pop up it causes noticable lag, and sometimes they get stuck and block my view.

[Michael Elmkjær Madsen]

While Im sure we all appreciate your hard work, windows ink is simply a dead end. nobody likes it, nobody wants to use it. For starters,  having a stupid ring around your cursor everytime you use your stylus is absolutely unaccetable when you do retouching for a living. Also relying on Microsoft to get anything right in the UI department is insanity. Next windows update they'll break something crucial. Roll your own, and WORK CLOSER with wacom to get things right for pros. Having a reliable and unintrusive interface with PS via your stylus IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING AT ALL for a retoucher. The amount of pain we have to go through to get these simple things working is maddening. You're going the wrong way and wasting your developmental ressources. 

[HarlequinsDen]

Absolutely agree with Mr. Madsen. 
Using Photoshop primarily as software for digital illustraton, Windows Ink is absolute trash and not an option and the fact that I now all of a sudden can't use Photoshop at all due to the lack of sensitivity is infuriating.

Not a single living being on earth wants that stupid press & hold circle around their pen-tip, nor tooltips about the modifier keys they are pressing in their faces. 
Microsoft won't fix it and Adobe had plenty of time to solve this dependency as this crap has been an issue for years.

If its not broken by some unnecessary incompatibility issue introduced trough a patch, every fresh Windows installation its the same hassle of getting pressure sensitivity in Photoshop to run for my Wacom, the world's largest tablet manufacturer no less, in the first place.

It's really no surprise lots of digital artists completely switch to other progams that are exponentially cheaper, but can get the basic functionality of using a tablet for your graphic software right the first time without having to do any type of workarounds.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Are you seriously? Return everything as it was !!!!!!!! 

[Rinthe1]

Having the same issue in latest photoshop...... 21.2.2

[Rinthe1]

actually try the latest photoshop with windows ink update. there is no ring and it works very well.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Same problem here.

There is also a small lag when drawing using Windows Ink.

If Adobe managers would stop assuming how artists work, that would be great.

Also, the app has slowed down once again, enough to make me downgrade.

I am seriously thinking of switching to Affinity Designer, since every update for Photoshop makes it slower.

[Rinthe1]

The new resizing brush via Alt+right-click (hover) BROKE dual brush sizing... Please fix ASAP. you basically broke the function for me. I have to use hotkey resize again.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

updated to photoshop 21.2.2, so now i must see windows ink pop-ups. Have a full day of nervous work couse of it.

You didn't fix ring with alt pop-up, it just works better than it was. But it's not that perfect as turning all pop-ups off. That pop-ups realy slow down work progress, they bring lags and it VERY DISTURBS.

Is it not easier not to brake something that works? PSUserConfig worked! Pls, if u want to help professionals, bring that function back in the form of checkbox in settings and allow as to decide what is better!!

[Rinthe1]

I believe the ring can be turned off via windows settings, because I don't have it

[Michael Elmkjær Madsen]

Why not remove curves while your at it - a recent survey from marketing dep suggest only 12,7 % of customers regularly uses it ... so f... it ... THIS IS HOW YOU DO NOT DO SOFTWARE. NEVER EVER mess with core functionality WITHOUT providing users with an easy fallback to legacy.

Every. Single. Time - the same lack of understanding of whats important for pro users. Insisting on windows ink instead of rolling your own with wacom is the problem here. I dont care if wintab is eol'ed as long as there's no alternatives thats equally good. As the other posters stated : Stop breaking things that work, stop trying to force us to work in a way WE DONT WANT (for good reasons). 

This is not to bash the individual hard working developers at Adobe. This is, as we have seen many times before a management problem. 

[pnwfox]

Same, CB, same. Lag, delay, pen buttons not working as expected, even when disabling all I can through the Windows Ink settings it still produces issues while working in Photoshop.

How is it programs a decade old like Sketchbook Pro still work perfectly fine with pressure sensitivity on Windows 10 and my Intuos Pro M, but Photoshop doesn't?

This is so ridiculous the amount of time I've spent trying to get this figured out while I have deadlines and work responsibilities to meet which do not care about technical issues on my end. Awful.

[Erik--H]

Yep same issues here. 

I've had to role back from 21.2.2 to 21.2.0 to be able to use the PSUserConfig. Adobe may have addressed the issue with Wacom pen pressure and not needing the PSUserConfig any longer, but this creates other issues.

1. When resizing the brush in Photoshop when using a Wacom pen and Alt+RMB on Windows 10 with Windows Ink enabled, a little "Alt" text popup shows up when resizing the brush.

2. Resizing of the brush lag when using the Alt+RMB every couple of times with Windows Ink enabled which makes it basically unusable and extremely frustrating. This issues kills my workflow as I'm constantly resizing my brush for concept art.

 3. Things like browser MMB scrolling with a Wacom pen doesn't work with Windows Ink enabled.

 4. All of the other little annoying idiosyncrasies of Windows Ink, feedback rings, text highlight graphics etc.

5. I just noticed I'm also unable to highlight browser text with my Wacom pen when Windows Ink is enabled, with or without Press and Hold enabled. 

I don't have these issues with Zbrush, Substance Painter, Blender, Mari, or 3d Coat when Windows Ink is disabled.

I preferred having to use the PSUserConfig at this point because at least that way we could avoid all of these Windows Ink conflicts.

 Adobe, please figure out a way for users to have the option to disable Windows Ink, even if it requires using the PSUserConfig. 

I'll reiterate, I use 5 other software packages one of which Adobe recently acquired (Allegorithmic) regularly, all without pressure sensitivity problems and Windows Ink OFF.

Maybe I'm missing a step in Windows 10 with how to disable all of the issues I listed above with Windows Ink. I'm open to suggestions:)

Specs:

PS: 21.2.2

Windows 10: version 2004

Wacom Driver: 6.3.40-2

Wacom Model: Intuos Pro M

GPU: Nvidia GTX 1080Ti

[chad.rolfs]

How are you accessing scrubby zoom?  Zoom tool, tap+drag?  Ctrl+Space+tap+drag?

What specifically is laggy?  Is it only when the OS toast interferes? 

How are the pen buttons not working as expected?  Are they mapped to defaults or have you custom assigned them?

[chrb]

Thanks for the communication, Chad!

I get the scrubby zoom bug with ctrl+space, holding z, or just by selecting the tool and trying to use it. It's not a big deal but it's kinda headache inducing after a while. It sorta flashes to a different zoom level for about 1 frame, then pops back. It does that constantly throughout a zoom slide. Does not happen with mouse.

The very latest update actually fixed a lot of the general lag issues. There are just some ui elements that still act oddly. Off the top of my head the color wheel is sticky and annoying, again not a big issue, and maybe it's by design? It just didn't do that before.

I don't use pen buttons myself so I can't help there.

The popups are my main issue now personally. Most of the time they're just irritating but on occasion they'll cause a stutter when they appear and sometimes they'll glitch out and stick in place, blocking the screen. I'm pretty sure that's just a windows thing but it's interfering with photoshop now that we have to use ink.

Thanks again.

[chad.rolfs]

Rinth can you post a screen recording of how the dual brush resizing KBSC broke?  Is it that the KBSC doesn't work or is it that after a number of resizes, the size is wrong?

[pnwfox]

The lag is not just brush strokes, but PS responsiveness when accessing sliders and other UI elements too. Because I only have ink enabled for PS in the Intuos preferences when switching back and forth between programs quickly, sometimes ink features will appear in other program windows before the Intuos driver catches up.

As for the buttons, when I have Windows Ink enabled my right-click and double-click buttons don't work at all. There is no response from pen buttons. It is certainly possible there is a setting on the OS side to fix this issue, but again, if I wasn't being forced by the latest version of Photoshop to use Windows Ink, this wouldn't be an issue at all.

[chad.rolfs]

Ahhh, Ok, that 1 frame flash is a bug with Overscroll which we're aware of and fixing. 

I'll look into the color wheel issue; is that the Color panel Color Wheel or a different one, like Coolorus?

Thanks for the additional info. We're pushing more on MS to provide an option to turn those OS modifier toasts off.

[chrb]

Sounds great Chad thank you! The color wheel is the triangular default one in photoshop.

[chad.rolfs]

NorCalF0x what Wacom drivers are you using?  Testing with Intous Pro L; buttons work for me. 

[pnwfox]