CS4 bug: brush cursor display is incomplete

[_Tony_Tx_]

Just installed CS4 under WinXP, 4G RAM.

I've set my brush cursors to show full size. The cursor displays correctly for brush sizes up to about 150 px. Beyond 150 px, the circle representing the brush size gets truncated: at 170 px, it's down to a half-circle, at 200 px it's down to one-third of a circle, and at 300 px all that remains is a small curved line segment.

[dwterry]

I've seen no tolerance on the part of the ones without problems. All I've seen is the recommendation for a rant against video card makers even for those unfortunate enough to have no recourse to get to video card manufacturers (nVidia does NOT support laptops).

I highly recommend re-reading of this thread.

Thanks for stopping by.

[Guest]

>I've seen no tolerance on the part of the ones without problems

then you don't visit many threads. there's plenty of tolerance and sympathy and help for people who don't just rant at other users who are here trying to share and help for free. like john said, if you don't like the advice, you can either take your own advice or ask for your money back.

[dwterry]

The one and only person who provided any "real support" for me (a laptop user who still to this day would be unable to use CS4 if it were up to folks in this thread) - did so in private, via direct email to me, his name: Adam Jerugim.

While admitting that the bug is still in the nVidia driver (something I've never disputed), he suggested a work around via a registry change which would allow CS4 to enable old GPUs to work.

A workaround. That's all that was needed -while- waiting for nVidia to catch up.

Hoping to provide a "hint" to the more vocal participants of this thread, I pointed out in post #43 that a registry setting was available direct from Adobe which could work around the problem. (emphasis again on WORK AROUND)

Yet in spite of the hint ... people such as Chris and Dave Milbut continue to insist that there is no solution other than to contact nVidia. (true, that is the ultimate solution, but it ignores that there is a "work around" --- again I said "work around" --- which is available to get you up and running in the mean time while you wait)

I watched as more people came into this thread still having the problems.

Finally I suggested to Adam that he pop into the thread and provide the work around himself.

He did so. See post #68.

Now, even with the "work around" available, I still see nothing but recommendations of "go rant against your video card supplier" without even a hint that "yes, while you wait, you can use this solution in the mean time".

And that is the only reason at all that I popped in again ... is to point out that yes, there is a "work around" available.

I'm already using it. I'm not one of those in need of support at this point in time. I'm only trying to help out those who DO still need support.

Post #68 folks. Go back to that one and you'll see it.

(meanwhile, after it's been 6 weeks and I still have no word back from the laptop manufacturer - so another big THANK YOU to Adam for helping get my CS4 up and running)

[Guest]

>I'm only trying to help out those who DO still need support.

fair enough. and thanks.

>it's been 6 weeks and I still have no word back still have no word back from the laptop manufacturer

write em again!

[_Q_Photo_]

I honestly don't want to get into an argument but I have a question. Why do people expect to do any serious Photoshop work on a laptop? And if they do need to do so, why not just use Elements, which is less demanding? Laptops don't have the power to begin with, and evidently, support is not that great. After working on a regular tower system with two monitors the idea of working in a laptop seems like going from driving to walking. Just my opinion.

Intel Quad, 8 gigs, Vista 64 Home Premium, Nvidia 9800GT (7.15.11.7556) NOT latest driver. It's very confusing to me why my Nvidia card is (thankfully) working as it should while others have problems.

CS4 works great, so far. Only complaint is the Lasso tool completes selections before I'm ready. I've had this problem in other versions and my work-around is to do small selections and keep adding to them.

And I do sympathize with those having problem. That is my point, John, Dave and others are very knowledgeable and do feel for those having trouble. There are even Adobe people here trying to sort this all out. I'm pretty sure they want to provide a product they can be proud of. And no, I do not always defend Adobe. Don't get me started on CS Re-activation.
Q

[dwterry]

Not to prolong the issue, but to answer your questions, here's what I have:

- A two monitor system (17" laptop plus 24" monitor)
- A fairly powerful Core 2 Duo T9300 (2.5Ghz) processor
- 4 Gig of ram
- Internal 320Gb drive
- A Drobo 4Tb system for main storage (of current projects)
- And so many external drives for backups that I've lost count

You may have a high end desktop, but I don't feel that my laptop is really all that low end. The huge advantage to a laptop? I can pick it up and go whenever I want. I process photos in between weddings. I process photos when traveling. I process whenever / wherever I want.

And the best thing is? I have the full power of my main computer with me at all times. Every software application I use. Every tool I use. Everything I need is right there. I don't have to maintain a separate copy of my files or applications or tools on a second machine.

Is it a good solution for everyone? Probably not. Does it fit my needs? Absolutely.

Does it run Photoshop CS4? (with the Old Gpu Registry settings enabled) ABSOLUTELY! And it does so quite well.

[Hudechrome-sd9sPI]

When is a standard not a standard?

When there is more than one.

[Guest]

I like standards. There are so many to choose from. :)

[Hudechrome-sd9sPI]

Also, there is the problem of backwards compatibility. I recognize that the problem with truncated cursors likely lies with the video card/software. The real problem, for both card providers and third party providers is the collusion in adapting to each others upgrades leaves out the legacy element and here the legacy only goes back one CS revision. The fact that my card will not support open GL and shuts down those tools that are only possible with Open GL or whatever doesn't bother me in the least. What is unacceptable is the things like cursors, damn fundamental, unfortunately also require the upgrades to work at all correctly.

That's the legacy part.

The first order of business, IMO, is to correct that software in CS4 that disallows those fundamental operations from running correctly as a native condition of Photoshop operations. To that end, those operations requiring the newer cards and corrected drivers could be set as a separate operation as a plug in.

[csquared63]

For the record, I have a nVidia Quadro FX 3400/4400 with the updated 178.46 driver and I still have the truncated cursors.

[_KB2_]

nVidia 7600 GS here, running 178.46, and unfortunately for me, AllowOldGPUS_ON.reg key did not help.

As with others, my primary monitor is fine, but the monitor I use to run PS4 on is my secondary monitor. :-(

[Chris Cox]

Once again: this is a known bug in the Nvidia driver software, the only way to fix it is to update your Nvidia driver.

[_Ron_Dodson_]

Chris:

Would it do any good if the good folks at Adobe echoed your "once again" statement in print -- as a news release to prospective buyers -- alerting them that problems such as incomplete cursors "are a known bug in the Nvidia driver software." Therefore, people buying computers that have Nvidia gpu's may experience problems with Adobe C4 products.

Now I certainly would be proud of Adobe and wouldn't we all be surprised if both Nvidia and computer manufactures got off their behinds and resolved this problem.

You would go along with this wouldn't you Chris? Chris?

[Wolf Eilers]

Didn't Photoshop CS4 provide a nag message to ensure that you upgrade to the latest GPU driver. Or did you turn it off before reading it?

[_KB2_]

Perhaps Ron's point is that even though both Adobe and nVidia have been aware of this problem for months, nVidia still hasn't been able to come up with a fix.

I share his frustration with trying to use crippled functionality. If you had to use it, you would too.

[_Expert_Here_]

Updating the Nvidia driver does fix the half circle cursor. That's because GL is disabled on the next PS start after a driver update - silently, by the way, so unless you check, you might be tempted to proclaim you've been healed. Put GL back on, the cursor is again its old half-circle self. Nothing is fixed. It's bugged up pretty bad.

[_Ron_Dodson_]

Wolf / KB2

KB2 is right. Having fought the driver issue for over a year with Dell (forget it!)and Nvidia (forget it!) I am foced to upgrade my GPUs (8800M SLI)using modded drivers (latest 180.70)from LaptopVideo2Go. Believe me, I sympathize with consumers who cannot get a manufacturer or Nvidia to get anything done. So when Chris says to get an updated driver, it causes some of us to grit our teeth.

Actually, nothing will get Nvidia off their arse unless Adobe publicly points out that there are known bugs in their drivers. Then, and only then will Nvidia make a move. So I guess I was trying to point out to Chris that after a while consumers come to believe that Adobe does indeed have some responsibility in resolving the matter.

If it is Nvidia's fault (which I honestly beleive), then Adobe should consider issuance of a formal public notice that use of computers (at least laptops) with their GPUs could be problematic...rather than let them advertise how great their GPUs are with Adobe graphic systems.

[_KB2_]

I 100% agree, Ron!

As for my problem, I was finally able to resolve it this morning.

It turns out that under XP, the numbering of your primary & secondary monitor is arbitrary. That is, you may mark monitor #1 or #2 as the primary; it doesn't matter (except for this bug!).

In my case, contrary to what I wrote previously, what I had actually been doing was editing on my primary monitor, which XP identified as monitor #2. This setup exhibited the drawing bug.

This morning I discovered it is possible to renumber the monitors. Now I am editing on the same monitor, still set as the primary device, but it is now identified as monitor #1. The problem "disappeared". (It now occurs if I try to edit on monitor #2, my secondary monitor, which I do not use for editing, but which had previously not had the problem.)

In case anyone is in the same situation, here's how you go about swapping monitor ID #s:

Turn off your secondary monitor, and unplug its cable from the computer. After rebooting, look at the Settings tab on Display Properties and verify that only one monitor is shown. Re-attach the secondary monitor's cable, and reboot again. This time, the Settings tab should show both monitors, and the primary monitor should be identified as monitor #1.

PS - I just tried setting the 'AllowOldGPUS' to 0 and relaunched PS; it still works. So it seems that the registry key never made a difference in my case.

[_Ron_Dodson_]

KB2:

Yep, we seem to have the identical issue. Primary monitor works fine when editing is done on base laptop and it is set as primary monitor (1). The external monitor works for me in all aspects except the incomplete cursor. This is either a problem with Nvidia GPU or Microsoft XP (thought I would bring them to the blame party).

Nvidia is finalizing their "Big Bang" drivers that allow an external monitor in SLI configuration. XP is not listed as yet, but perhaps if they include an XP version, we may get some relief.

I frankly don't want to go with Vista but may have to if the Big Bang drivers actually do allow SLI with 2 screens. I would like to edit on larger external (24" monitor).

I'm wondering, has anyone been able to get SLI to work with an external monitor attached to a laptop? My guess is you have to use a modified inf to accomplish this. And if you've been successful, do you have complete cursor control as well as other GPU-related functions?

[Guest]

I think i recall chris saying that sli won't effect photoshop. it will still only use 1 card... could be wrong. maybe someone could confirm...

[Guest]

Just in this attachment it reads, in 2 areas, that photoshop will only use 1 GPU on a card. Nothing about SLI.

http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb404898&sliceId=2

[_Ron_Dodson_]

Yep, you're right. No SLI for Photoshop yet.
So, we're right back to looking for a solution for external monitors that can't display full cursor.

If we look on the bright side, we can get damn big panels on the external monitor! Just keep zooming in on the laptop. Thanks again guys.

[Hudechrome-sd9sPI]

This brush problem is a total deal breaker for me. I'll check this on the new platform I configured last week, but on my single core AMD XP Pro box, I get the most idiotic operation possible.

When the brush is over a white area, the circle is black. Fine

When over a black area, the circle is white. Great!

When over a gray area, the circle is gray!! That is invisible.

I see it shift as I negotiate an image.

Whut?

[Guest]

I think you freaked the brush out Lawrence

[_KB2_]

Lawrence, is this the clone stamp brush? It sounds like you might be describing the new (GREAT, IMO) behavior of cloning which shows you a preview of what your clone stamp is going to look like before you click. It might sound a bit silly, but I've found it to be a great time saver, especially when trying to line up patterns.

OTOH, you could be describing an actual bug, and if so, my apologies.