This updates improves performance and significantly reduces memory usage, adds two new translations, and fixes a number of small issues.

If you’re using the Windows Store release, you should get the update automatically within the next 24 hours. You can also force an update check by following these instructions.

For the Classic release, you should be offered the update automatically within the next week or so. You can get the update sooner by going to ⚙ Settings → Updates → Check Now. You can also download and install it directly from the website.

Changes since 4.2.8:

• Reduced overall memory usage (commit size) by up to 1/3rd by eliminating the per-image scratch buffer
• Greatly improved performance when finishing actions of most tools by employing a shared cache between the render and commit code paths
• Reduced memory usage when working with many tools by consolidating homogenous tiles (those that are comprised of a single color value)
• Significantly improved performance of most history actions (commit, undo, redo) by switching from NTFS compression to multithreaded LZ4 compression for history files
• Significantly improved performance of undo/redo with very complex selections (e.g. from the Magic Wand tool)
• Improved performance of Image -> Flatten (also affects flattening when saving)
• Improved performance of the Invert Colors and Desaturate adjustments by disabling hardware acceleration for them (too much overhead in copying tiles to the GPU for such trivial rendering kernels)
• Improved performance when saving by moving thumbnail rendering for the File -> Open Recent menu to a background thread
• Reduced memory usage when printing, and removed a rare crash that was related to its use of the (now removed) scratch buffer
• Improved performance of effect rendering when a complex selection is active (improved caching)
• New: Added a "busy spinner" to the canvas when using the Magic Wand and Paint Bucket tools
• New translation: Hebrew (HE)
• New translation: Slovak (SK)
• Fixed a really goofy crash that required drawing with the paintbrush and, without letting go of the mouse button, moving the mouse into the toolbar and then using the mouse wheel to change the brush width
• Fixed a layout bug with the image list button
• Fixed an error that prevented saving some images as JPEGs if they had EXIF Interop metadata (PropertyNotFoundException)
• Fixed a crash when running on a CPU that supports AVX but with an OS that is configured to not support it (via bcdedit /set xsavedisable 1)
• Fixed a crash when pressing the spacebar after switching to a tool but before it has received any mouse input events
• Fixed a rare crash when opening the Levels adjustments with certain types of selections
• Fixed a crash when checking for updates with an expired alpha/beta build
• Fixed a crash (FileLoadException) when DLLs are not updated correctly by the updater
• Updated WebPFileType plugin to version 1.3.2 (thanks @null54!)
• Updated DDSFileTypePlus plugin to version 1.9.9. This adds support for X8B8G8R8 and R8G8B8 formats, and fixes a visual glitch when previewing cube maps in some formats. (thanks @null54!)

Enjoy!!

This release has been going smoothly so far with only 1 or 2 issues that have needed fixing, so I’m hopeful that a final public release will be achievable very soon (this week?). The performance improvements should really save a lot of time for everyone who uses the app a lot. For some, it’ll be strongly and immediately noticeable (large images, low-end systems). For others, it’ll be small savings that add up and compound over time, but still very worthwhile.

This beta build fixes one rare crash and adds 2 new translations, Hebrew and Slovak.

To get this update, make sure you have "Also check for pre-release (beta) versions" enabled in Settings, and then click on the Check Now button. (Unfortunately alpha/beta releases are not currently available for the Microsoft Store version of the app).

You can also join the conversation over at the forum.

Changes since last week’s 4.2.9 alpha build:

• Fixed a rare crash that could happen after performing various actions, due to transient history file locking by indexing or antivirus (this was a new crash for 4.2.9)
• New translation: Hebrew (HE)
• New translation: Slovak (SK)
• Updated DDSFileTypePlus plugin to v1.9.9. This adds support for X8B8G8R8 and R8G8B8 formats, and fixes a visual glitch when previewing cube maps in some formats.

Enjoy!

I’ve been working on 4.2.9 for the last month and a half, and really put some work into some big improvements for performance and memory usage. These improvements cut across almost everything you can do in the app, so having a lot of participation in the alpha and beta builds will be really important.

Memory usage is way down, especially when opening many images. Undo/redo should be a lot faster. Finishing/committing actions with most tools should be a lot faster. Effect rendering, particularly when you have a complex selection, should be much more responsive. A lot of these optimizations will scale with CPU core count (more faster CPU = more faster PDN), but should also show great improvements on low-end systems (e.g. dual core CPU, low-power laptop). It’s win-win!

To get this update, make sure you have "Also check for pre-release (beta) versions" enabled in Settings, and then click on the Check Now button. (Unfortunately alpha/beta releases are not currently available for the Microsoft Store version of the app).

You can also join the conversation over at the forum.

Changes since 4.2.8:

• Reduced overall memory usage (commit size) by up to 1/3rd by eliminating the use of and need for a per-image scratch buffer
• Greatly improved performance when finishing actions of most tools by employing a shared cache between the render and commit code paths
• Reduced memory usage when working with many tools by consolidating homogenous tiles (those that are comprised of a single pixel value)
• Significantly improved performance of most history actions (commit, undo, redo) by switching from NTFS compression to multithreaded LZ4 compression for history files
• Significantly improved performance of undo/redo with very complex selections (like from the Magic Wand tool)
• Improved performance of Image -> Flatten (also affects flattening when saving)
• Improved performance of the Invert Colors and Desaturate adjustments by disabling hardware acceleration for them (too much overhead in copying tiles to the GPU for such trivial rendering kernels)
• Improved performance when saving by moving thumbnail rendering for the File -> Open Recent menu to a background thread
• Reduced memory usage when printing, and removed a rare crash that would happen if the scratch buffer couldn’t be acquired
• Added a "busy spinner" to the canvas when using the Magic Wand and Paint Bucket tools
• Improved performance of effect rendering when a complex selection is active (improved caching)
• Fixed a layout bug with the image list button
• Fixed an error that prevented saving some images as JPEGs if they had EXIF Interop metadata (PropertyNotFoundException)
• Fixed a crash when running on a CPU that supports AVX but with an OS that is configured to not support it (via bcdedit /set xsavedisable 1)
• Fixed a crash when pressing the spacebar after switching to a tool but before it has received any mouse input events
• Fixed a rare crash when opening the Levels adjustments with certain types of selections
• Fixed a crash when checking for updates with an expired alpha/beta build
• Fixed a crash (FileLoadException) when DLLs are not updated by the updater.
• Updated WebPFileType plugin to version 1.3.2.0 (thanks @null54)

I am hoping/planning to push out the final release by the end of January. Enjoy!