Hangs/freezes when selecting thumbnails of some large files

[Strangeh]

All versions of XnView MP
OS: Windows 10 - 64-bit

It's like XnView MP performs a full file read every time a thumbnail is selected, even when the preview panel is disabled, causing significant freezes on some large files selection. This issue is not present in XnView Classic, which only reads the file upon opening, not upon selection.

Effect: freezes, long wait times, falling into the "not responding" state.

I've tried many different versions and tried to disable every setting related to file information reading, but the issue persists.
I haven't pinpointed the exact cause yet, but the behavior is inconsistent:
Some files (e.g., 15360x8640px, 34 MB) do not cause any freezes during thumbnail selection.
Other files (e.g., 5668x3840px, 6 MB) cause a freeze every single time they are selected.
In any case, with clean, default settings, XnView Classic does not exhibit this problem at all.

To reproduce:
1. Open a folder containing various high-resolution images (e.g., ~10000x10000px).
2. Select a thumbnail, then rapidly and repeatedly cycle through other thumbnails using the mouse or keyboard.

Actual behaviour (bug): XnView MP will do freezes, long wait time, falling into the "not responding" state.

Expected behaviour: Like in XnView Classic right now: No freezes, no "not responding" state, lightning-fast switching through thumbnails without any difficulties.

[jkm]

Welcome to the forums…

Did you try the just released latest version, 1.10.3, found in the MP-Announcements board?

Please post a link to a file that causes the problem 100% of the time.

[Strangeh]

Yes, i have tried 1.10.3.

https://www.esa.int/var/esa/storage/ima ... he_Sun.jpg
https://i2.pickpik.com/photos/537/559/6 ... 794fe6.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/6a/bc/3d ... d0a2ed.jpg

[jkm]

Well, I can partially confirm what you're seeing.

On the 2nd image (now the third), of the bears, I get no significant delay. Perhaps a tenth of a second, not worth discussing.
EDIT: [Please don't make a moving target of your links by editing... I will skip your last one.]

On the first image, of the sun, there is a delay before you can switch away, but only 2 seconds or slightly less. I could not call it a freeze and certainly not a hang, and it is not enough to provoke a "not responding" response from Windows.

I wonder if the duration has to do with your storage. Are you storing these images on conventional (magnetic) hard drive, and not a SSD?

In my testing, XnViewMP exhibits zero lag on much larger images, meaning hundreds of megabytes, or gigabytes. So the size is not itself causing the long delay you see (except perhaps for your drive as I mentioned).

There's something about the structure of the image that is causing XnViewMP to gag... I notice the image has no EXIF information at all.

I think you'll find you don't experience the delay on cursoring if you disable the preview pane. Please check to confirm.

There does seem to be a problem where XnViewMP pauses/chokes on files where it has failed to process the metadata.
It may be related to this bug: viewtopic.php?t=49408

I achieved a similar effect (a long pause) on a 4GB TIFF with dimensions of 40k, but I have the file on an SSD. There was no pause in cursor movement or file selection, but there was a significant delay before the Metadata panel/Histogram/Info Panel refreshed after one of these images was selected (see files below). Ultimately, XnViewMP failed to show the metadata panel or histogram for the 40k image.

It did show the metadata and histogram for the 10k and 25k images, but there was a significant delay before these panels refreshed. There was NO delay in cursor movement with these files.

Main mage: https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1242a/
40k image 4GB https://cdn2.eso.org/images/publication ... o1242a.tif
25k image 1.5GB https://cdn.eso.org/images/publicationt ... o1242a.tif
10k image 236MB https://cdn.eso.org/images/publicationt ... o1242a.tif


Pierre will have to weigh in, but there is some misbehavior going on here.

[Strangeh]

Well, I can partially confirm what you're seeing.

EDIT: [Please don't make a moving target of your links by editing... I will skip your last one.]

Sorry, i wasn't ready for such a fast response, i thought i’d have time to edit ..

I think you'll find you don't experience the delay on cursoring if you disable the preview pane. Please check to confirm.

As i mentioned earlier, the file reading occurs upon thumbnail selection even when the preview pane is disabled..

I wonder if the duration has to do with your storage. Are you storing these images on conventional (magnetic) hard drive, and not a SSD?

My SSD isn't the fastest, but i am experiencing this issue on both SSD and HDD drives.

This is because XnView MP reads files every time a thumbnail is selected, whereas XnView Classic does NOT;
XnView Classic only reads files when they are opened.

I am attaching video proof for clarity. You can verify the program versions, preview pane settings, and the file read activity via Process Monitor:
XnView MP: https://youtu.be/eO5dwtuPbOI
XnView Classic: https://youtu.be/z227eIXx1PU

As you can see, the 25k 1.5GB images selects and reads(?) fine... But others, especially those with the sun, cause extreme delays and enter a 'Not Responding' state if keep clicking or try to moving the focus while the file is loading.

And again, it shouldn't be read the full file just from a thumbnail selection, should it?..

P.S. Please don't ask me to provide a video with a full settings reset; I've already tried that several times on several versions of program.

[jkm]

I agree it should not be reading the entire file every time it is merely selected/clicked.

But it also seems that it is behaving quite differently on your PC than on mine.

How much RAM is in your PC?

[Strangeh]

24GB

[alee001]

Just passing by…

I tried loading the images you posted on my workstation with 64GB of RAM. The 64MB images took about three seconds to load, and MP showed real-time RAM usage of about 1.5GB.

I also have many PNG images larger than tens of MB, which also didn't load full screen in a second, but that might vary depending on the system.

[Strangeh]

I’ve discovered that the freezes are exacerbated by the Power Saver power plan, which reduces files reading speeds...
However, this doesn't change the core of the issue...

For some reason, certain files are being read just by selecting their thumbnails, even though they already exist in the thumbnail cache...
I’ve tried clearing the thumbnail cache, rebuild thumbnails, synchronize folders, update metadata, and increasing the cache size to 20GB. I also tested older versions (1.9, 1.8, 1.7, etc.) of XnView MP, hoping the issue wasn't present in earlier builds. It turns out this problem is present starting from the very first XnView MP 0.26...

I’m attaching another video: XnView MP loads certain files into memory every time i select their thumbnail, XnView Classic does not suffer from this...
https://youtu.be/KC2gKONY5bc

[xnview]

And again, it shouldn't be read the full file just from a thumbnail selection, should it?..

Please try to change keyDelayedPrev=true in xnview.ini

[Strangeh]

And again, it shouldn't be read the full file just from a thumbnail selection, should it?..

Please try to change keyDelayedPrev=true in xnview.ini

Thanks for the reply. I did as you said, but unfortunately, the observed behavior remains the same