Windows Ink Lag

[Bjoern W]

Hello,

I am running Photoshop 2023 on Windows 11 and am using a Wacom Intuos Pro. I wonder if anybody else is experiencing the serious lag in Photoshop when trying to make slight adjustments, for example to a color slider, with the pen. It makes it absolutely unusable for working professionals in my opinion. I just switched from an older system using PS CC2017, Windows 10 and an almost antique Intuos and everything was fine. I've already tried out tips I found on the internet, like disabling Windows Ink and creating the PSUserconfig.txt but that hack is a thing of the past as I found it only worked up until CC2021. I really hope there is a solution and that somebody can point me to that.

Thank you!

[kevin stohlmeyer]

Hi @Bjoern W please go to Photoshop Help Menu/System Info and copy/paste the details here.

Note they wont show right away - the moderator needs to release.

In the meantime, does your Graphics Drive have a Studio and Gaming mode? If so, switch to Studio mode. That has been noted in previous posts to resolve lag with the Wacom and Windows Ink.

[Bjoern W]

Hi, thanks for your reply.

I already have the latest Studio Driver installed. My System Info is as follows (I deleted last parts, hope that's fine):

Adobe Photoshop Version: 24.1.1 20230112.r.238 4bbfa7a x64
Number of Launches: 43
Operating System: Windows 11 64-bit
Version: 11 or greater 10.0.22621.1105
System architecture: Intel CPU Family:6, Model:7, Stepping:2 with MMX, SSE Integer, SSE FP, SSE2, SSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX, AVX2, AVX-VNNI, HybridCPU(8:4), HyperThreading
Physical processor count: 12
Logical processor count: 20
Processor speed: 2112 MHz
Built-in memory: 32492 MB
Free memory: 20828 MB
Memory available to Photoshop: 24970 MB
Memory used by Photoshop: 70 %
Crash Handler: Adobe
DCX Version: 6.15.3
SAM SDK Version: 2.0.0-main.1564
ACP.local Status:
- SDK Version: 2.11.0
- Core Sync Status: Reachable and compatible
- Core Sync Running: 6.1.0.10
- Min Core Sync Required: 4.3.66.28
Live Edit Client SDK Version: 3.91.3
Content Credential Helper Version: 0.5.3
Manta Canvas: Enabled.
Alias Layers: Disabled.
Modifier Palette: Enabled.
Highbeam: Disabled.
Wintab Digitizer Services
Spec Version 1.4
Impl Version 1.39
Num Devices 1
Image tile size: 1024K
Image cache levels: 4
Font Preview: Medium
HarfBuzz Version: 4.3.0
TextEngine: Unified Text Engine
======= GPU
Native API stable: True
OpenGL API stable: True
OpenCL API stable: True
D3D12Warp renderer: False
GPUDeny: 0
GPUForce: 0
useGPU: 1
useOpenCL: 1
isGPUCapable: 1
GPUName: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070
GPUVendor: NVIDIA
IsNativeGPUCapable: 1
IsOpenGLGPUCapable: 1
IsOpenCLGPUCapable: 1
HasSufficientRAM: 1
GPU accessible RAM: 8,422 MB
Required GPU accessible RAM: 1,500 MB
UseGraphicsProcessorChecked: 1
UseOpenCLChecked: 1
Windows remote desktop: 0
Display: 1
Display Bounds: top=0, left=0, bottom=2160, right=3840
------- Sniffer output
[0 ms]
Launch GPUSnifferThread

[0 ms]
Start RunAllAPIs

[0 ms]
"C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop 2023\sniffer.exe" -baseTimeMS=64784 -comment=Photoshop Version: Adobe Photoshop 24.1.1 20230112.r.238 4bbfa7a x64

[1504 ms]
Start sniffer 2023-01-21 10:28:07
# Photoshop Version: Adobe Photoshop 24.1.1 20230112.r.238 4bbfa7a x64
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop 2023\sniffer.exe -baseTimeMS=64784 -comment=Photoshop Version: Adobe Photoshop 24.1.1 20230112.r.238 4bbfa7a x64

{51 ms}
Start platform native
# displays: 1
Display 0
Display: \\.\DISPLAY1
Main: TRUE
Built in: FALSE
Stereo: FALSE
Bounds: (0, 0) -> (3,840, 2,160)
Dimensions: (3,840 2,160)
Physical size: (0 0)
Pixel size: (0 0)
Dynamic range: (0 1)
Potential dynamic range: (0 1)
Reference dynamic range: (0 0)
Attached Device: (DeviceID name=NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 index=0)

# devices: 1
Device 0
Name: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070
Preferred: TRUE
Power Envelope: UNKNOWN
Attachment: UNKNOWN
# attached displays: 1
\\.\DISPLAY1
GPU accessible RAM: 8,422 MB
VRAM: 8,422 MB
Dedicated System RAM: 0 MB
Shared System RAM: 17,035 MB
API version: 12.0 (12.0)
Device version: 12.0 (12.0)
Vendor name: NVIDIA
Driver date: 2022-12-22 000000.000000-000
Driver age: 1 month
Driver version: 31.0.15.2802
Supports UMA: UNSUPPORTED
D3D-ID: 9352
End platform native
{195 ms}

{195 ms}
Start platform OpenGL
# displays: 1
Display 0
Display: \\.\DISPLAY1
Main: TRUE
Built in: FALSE
Stereo: FALSE
Bounds: (0, 0) -> (3,840, 2,160)
Dimensions: (3,840 2,160)
Physical size: (0 0)
Pixel size: (0 0)
Dynamic range: (0 1)
Potential dynamic range: (0 1)
Reference dynamic range: (0 0)
Attached Device: (DeviceID name=NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070/PCIe/SSE2 index=0)

# devices: 1
Device 0
Name: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070/PCIe/SSE2
Preferred: TRUE
Power Envelope: INTEGRATED
Attachment: UNKNOWN
# attached displays: 1
\\.\DISPLAY1
GPU accessible RAM: 8,422 MB
VRAM: 8,422 MB
Dedicated System RAM: 0 MB
Shared System RAM: 17,035 MB
API version: 2.1 (2.1.2 NVIDIA 528.02)
Device version: 2.1 (2.1.2 NVIDIA 528.02)
Vendor name: NVIDIA
Driver date: 2022-12-22 000000.000000-000
Driver age: 1 month
Driver version: 31.0.15.2802
GLSL version: 1.20 (1.20 NVIDIA via Cg compiler)
End platform OpenGL
{255 ms}

{255 ms}
Start platform OpenCL
# displays: 0

# devices: 1
Device 0
Name: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070
Preferred: TRUE
Power Envelope: DISCRETE
Attachment: UNKNOWN
# attached displays: 0
GPU accessible RAM: 8,589 MB
VRAM: 8,589 MB
Dedicated System RAM: 0 MB
Shared System RAM: 0 MB
API version: 3.0 (OpenCL 3.0 CUDA)
Device version: 3.0 (OpenCL 3.0 CUDA)
Vendor name: NVIDIA
Driver date: UNKNOWN
Driver age: UNKNOWN
Driver version: UNKNOWN
Bandwidth: 379 GB / s
Compute score: 8,929.85
Device name string: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070
Device vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
Platform name string: NVIDIA CUDA
Platform vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
End platform OpenCL
{1430 ms}

Exit code kExitNormal
End sniffer 2023-01-21 10:28:08
[kStatusNormal, kExitNormal]

[1504 ms]
Finish RunAllAPIs

[1551 ms]
Start GetSnifferResult

[1551 ms]
Finish GetSnifferResult

------- Sniffer output
======= GPU

[Mohammad.Harb]

update the grahic card driver to the most recent update o, if you are on the latest, try resetting photoshop preferences.

[Bjoern W]

Graphic card driver is up to date, PS preferences have been resetted. Unfortuantely it still lags.

[Rosemary...]

I also use a Wacom Intuos Pro on Windows, and have experienced the same maddening pen tablet issues. I miss the good old days when my Wacoms worked as intended. For this particular problem, I found that it helps to disable "press and hold" in pen and touch settings. It's not in the regular Windows Ink settings. Here is a helpful video on how to do it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0Gty6Ckgw0

[Trevor.Dennis]

Rosmary, thanks for the heads up, and I hope it helps some people.  FWIIW I have a fairly new Windows 11 system and an Intuos Pro with 6.4.1-3 and  everything else is at the default settings, and I don't experience any lag.I have just tried a 3000 pixel fairly complex brush with 1% spacing on a 10,000 pixel wide image, and there was still just the tiniest bit of lag.

Could it be an issue with older systems?  That seems unlikely with Windows 11 as you need recent spec hardware to run Win 11.  I've used the Windows Ink for several major version updates, because it is the recommended API nowadays. 

[Rosemary...]

Not sure... could be. The lag I have experienced is not in the brush itself. Brushes work fine. It happens when trying to select and drag sliders, and similar tasks (which is what I think the OP is referring to). I have always found Windows Ink to be super annoying, in all programs (such as in browsers and other design programs, not just Adobe), when my computer is new, and when it's not. Honestly, my Wacom works perfectly in all situations/programs when I completely turn off Windows Ink, but now we have to have it on for pen pressure to work properly in Photoshop, so I selectively turn it on for PS only. However, I find that tweaking various "Windows Ink" and "pen and touch" settings have helped for the most part.

[ajdgikdfag]

I have exactly this issue! This is cause by window11/new photoshop version forcing user to use the useless trash window ink, for those who unaware this is not performance issue at all. Previously everyhing work perfectly fine using PSUserconfig hack but now that no longer work with new window/photoshop.

[user8570918]

Check if you don't have installed any drivers for other tablet. I'm using XP-Pen but had Wacom before and it turned out I had drivers installed for the old one. Uninstalling them fixed the issue.