Why did Photoshop get so bad in 2023?

[KentheArtist]

So this is going to be more of a rant than anything, coming right off the back of photoshop crashing on me a few minutes ago, just like it did yesterday morning, and will probably do the same tomorrow morning.

What happened to Photoshop? Why did the program suddenly get so bad when 2022 rolled in 2023? Like before the new years, program crashes were a rare occurance, but after the near years, nearly constant. I've had more crashes this year than I've had in the previous 3 years I've used this program, with it crashing on a nearly freaking basis during the first 3 weeks of the year, and most recently jumping up to a nearly daily basis. Im a comic artist who has been using photoshop for drawing his webcomic and these crashes have been a source of anger and stress for me, having to loose my work because auto recover doesnt work in the way it usually crashes. And its gotten to the point where I'm planning on dropped Photoshop near entirely in favor of Clip Studio Paint, and while I've only had that program for just over a month and dont feel proficient enough in it to make the swtich yet, I have not had a single crash with that prorgram compared to photoshop which I think has crashed just around 10 times, maybe even more.

I have made two threads about this, and both answers to that my graphics card driver was out of date. So that means I've had to update my graphics card driver TWO TIMES within the SAME YEAR. Bare in mind, I've never had to do this at all prior to 2023, but suddenly I have to do this every couple of months just so photoshop wont die on me, which isnt a guarentee? Im not mad at the people who suggested it, but I am made at adobe for turning what was a functional program into a complete mess. And that isnt even mentioning the bugs that have yet to be fixed. Im sure you've heard of the left clock lock bug that adobe has yet to fix after 8 months of it being in the program. And Im sure many of you reading this have your own issues with photoshop this year, possibly similar to mine or something.

I dont know what else to say, Im just extremely frustrated with how unstable and buggy the program has become.

[D Fosse]

You need to tell us what GPU you have. This is the source of your problems.

If it's a laptop with dual graphics, you need to disable the intgrated GPU. They will conflict.

I haven't seen a crash in over ten years. Really, not kidding. Photoshop doesn't crash, but your GPU may crash Photoshop, if it's not up to Photoshop's current requirements. These increase with every new version.

[KentheArtist]

I just reazlied I put gpu instead of graphics card driver which was what I meant to put. Sorry for the confusion. I have a Nvidia Graphics Card, the same one I've been using since I've got my current pc back in late 2020. I've had it for nearly 3 plus years and I kind of find it ridiculous that its potentionally a problem now when photoshop ran fine on it prior to 2023.

To be honest, Im very reluctant on buying a new one, due to how much trouble I've had with my pc. In the nearly 3 years I've had it, I've gone through 3 hard drives, one of them getting some sort of virus after updating windows 10 even though I hadnt downloaded anything, and last year my motherboard died on me which I had to relace, along with the gpu and cooling system. Im still paying off the purchases of and payments for repairs to this day, and its a miracle that throughout all of this, my graphics card has remained the same since 2020. Though to be fair, I dont feel as hesitant like I was last year since I've gone through a full year without pc issues, but I dont know...

[D Fosse]

I've had it for nearly 3 plus years and I kind of find it ridiculous that its potentionally a problem now when photoshop ran fine on it prior to 2023.

By @KentheArtist

That's just the point I was trying to make.

People think of the graphics processor (GPU) as a passive thing that receives finished data and just puts them up on screen, but that's very far from the truth now. The GPU is increasingly used for actual data processing, and it sends data back and forth to Photoshop.

Photoshop's GPU functionality has been through a revolution in later years. The requirements from the GPU are vastly higher now that they were three years ago. That it worked three years ago is no guarantee it will work today.

The formal requirements are that it supports DirectX Feature Level 12.0 or higher, and a minimum of 2GB VRAM (but 8GB is recommended for some functions). Note that DirectX Feature Level is not the same as just DirectX 12 "support". The feature level is what the card can actually and physically perform. DirectX "supports" just means it supports the programming interfaces.

In terms of what current models GPU is recommended these days, a Nvidia RTX 4050 or 4060 is pretty much the baseline.

[KentheArtist]

Ah I see. I know this might not be the answer you want to hear but at this point, I'd rather to switch to different program to do art than pay hundreds and thousands of dollars just so photoshop can properly. At that point, its just not worth to invest that much money for one program, especially if the other options are more attractive and less relient on hardware creep. Thats not to say Im not open for upgrading ceritan pc parts, but I the motivation to be an improvement for my pc overall, rather than a means to run photoshop well. I hope you can understand where Im coming from here

[Ged_Traynor]

@KentheArtist do a Google search for Krita, it's free and open source and may suit your needs

[Ged_Traynor]

I can't say that I've had any crashes with Photoshop in the last 5 years probably more, I don't mind keeping my GPU driver up to date, in fact I update all my system drivers on a regular basis.

I will agree about the bugs though, for example, Adobe knew about a bug in the Beta version affecting the colour sliders and still decided to roll out version 25.1 without fixing the bug.

[KentheArtist]

@Ged_Traynor meant to say graphics card driver. Dont know why I typed GPU lol

I can't say that I've had any crashes with Photoshop in the last 5 years probably more, I don't mind keeping my GPU driver up to date, in fact I update all my system drivers on a regular basis.

I will agree about the bugs though, for example, Adobe knew about a bug in the Beta version affecting the colour sliders and still decided to roll out version 25.1 without fixing the bug.

By @Ged_Traynor

Then it seems Adobe doesnt a give a crap. Thats good to know -_- So much for being industry standard

[Derek Cross]

Looking at your posting history, you seem to be having the same rant over and over during the last few months. As others have mentioned, Photoshop is stable but it does require a powerful modern computer. IMO you need to check your sytem out before you go any further.

[KentheArtist]

That's a realization that Im coming to understand. It seems a lot of revovles around my graphics card which I've had a for a while. I do find it crazy how something can out be out of date within less than 5 years but I guess anything can happen with how advanced technology is getitng. I do want to upgrade it but to be honest, if I were to do it now, it would just be so I could run photoshop well. And I dont know if thats really worth it, esepcially because there are other options for art programs out there that are not as hardware dependent as photoshop and potentionally more attractive due to features and prices being way lower than any adobe product. Taking that into account, I dont think its worth it paying lots of money I dont have upgrading my enitre pc just for one program. I am currently in the process of phasing out photoshop for use in creating my webcomic and going forward, it wont be used as much outside a couple of things here in there like school stuff which may compensate for my somewhat out of date set up. I do apologise for my contant ranting over my post history. My experience with PS has not been good this year, one bit