SOLVED: [ 2021.15240 , x64 , WIN 11 ] window comp -> open as separate window causes Touch to hang/freeze

if I open a new instance of Touch, set the perform window comp to open on monitor 1 (I’m on a 3 monitor setup) and click “open as separate window” I get a blank perform comp window and all of TD freezes permanently.

I just recently upgraded to win 11, and did not have this issue on 10. So it’s entirely possible this issue is not a TD bug, but wanted to bring it up regardless. It’s also entirely possible it’s just me, as I also reformatted recently and upgraded a bunch of hardware.

Is anyone else who’s taken the plunge to win 11 experiencing this as well? It’s very reproducible for me.


What else is strange, is if I hit f1 the above settings work fine and I get a perform window in monitor 1.

Then if I hover over that perform window, and hit “f10” for a floating network window, it crashes same as above.


If I set my perform monitor to 0 again, and go to perform, and then hit f10, I get that second window no problem.

I can then move that floating network or the perform window up to monitor 1, and everything still works fine.

Weird stuff :slight_smile:

Hey @lucasm

Thanks for the report.

I am on Win11 and I cannot reproduce so far (any of the issues you describe).

Do you have any specific settings on the window COMP other than the monitor number change? Can you test the file I attached and tell me if it occurs and if I am missing anything on the window COMP ? Same by pressing F10 while hovering the widget.

windowCOMP_Monitor_Lucas.toe (18.2 KB)

What we often notice is that this kind of crash is caused by bloatware…

I also have some small doubts with overlays sometimes, and I turn them all off…

If it’s a fresh install with no bloatware for sure:

  • Can you tell us if you have the Xbox Game Bar turned on?
  • If the Xbox Game Bar is on is it set to Record In The Background…?
  • Do you have the Discord overlay?
  • Nvidia Experience overlay?

I don’t think it should matter much because TouchDesigner shouldn’t be “a game” for those… but maybe when an app is going full screen it is?

Lastly, what’s your GPU driver version? Is it up to date?

Let me know if you find anything :slight_smile:

Thanks,
Michel

Hi and thanks @JetXS !

Good to hear it’s not a straight up Win11 thing then. Sounds like it’s a me problem :slight_smile:

your example causes a crash for me as well. Same with F10 over widget.

  • Gamebar is working/functional, not sure how to turn it off, but it shows up with windows + G
  • Gamebar is set to not record in background.
  • no discord overlay, and it’s also closed atm.
  • nvidia ingame overlay was enabled, but I disabled it, no change.
  • gpu drivers are up to date (496.49) , that hardware is constant from before my reformat.

Is there a way to get some kind of error message, attaching visual studio to TD or something like that? I did install a new mobo, so entirely possible some bloatware that came with that. Nothing obvious is jumping out at me yet though.

Thanks for checking all those things, not much more to add at the moment unfortunately.

what’s the brand / model ?

Thanks,
Michel

It is the " ROG Strix Z590-E Gaming WiFi 6E"

Yeah, check for all Asus specific software and sometimes some of their audio stuff as well.

If there is a feature you like in a software that might be here and causing issues, there are high chances that an alternative exists and is less invasive…

that’s sound advice, I’ll take that route and see what I can discover. thanks!

Trail of breadcrumbs for anyone else running into this problem - @JetXS was correct about motherboard bloatware crap :slight_smile:

Specifically in my case was a service called “Nahimic Service”.

Has something to do with audio related bloatware surprisingly, not so much video. If you are checking out the z590 or zXXX lines of asus boards just be wary of that stuff. Great hardware, but some of their official driver / software installer packages must come with some of this stuff. Uninstalling doesn’t always remove all of these gotchas. I couldn’t find this particular application in program files or anywhere else, but it’s pesky exe file and service still persisted.


to fix it, I went to services.msc, stopped that service, then closed that window, opened up cmd as admin, then ran this:

sc.exe delete NahimicService

going back to services.msc showed it was gone.

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As bloatware is a recurring issue for many users, as a documentation RFE I would suggest we start building a wiki page listing the names of known bloatware which can disrupt TD. Then in the future we can just send a link to that page to any user on the forum who experiences freezes/stutters as something to try first (next to upgrading their drivers)
@JetXS and also @ben has seen many of those bloatware issues in the last years, perhaps with a 30 min dig on this forum we already have the beginning of a list.

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Not a bad idea, it can be a real challenge to google such a specific problem generally.