Mactype: DirectWrite feature crashes Chrome

[a0193143]

Using the latest 2018.1-beta5
Noticed if the DirectWrite enabled, Chrome will keep crashing

OS: Windows 8.1 64bit

[snowie2000]

This usually caused by some anti-malware software as the DirectWrite support is the simplest one: it only changes the parameters of the DirectWrite engine.

[a0193143]

I had a clean install Win8.1(64bit), with only Chrome(73.0.3683.86 64bit) and Mactype
It still crashes Chrome, or do I need to provide logs?

[Garry050]

Can you try other chromium based browser? like... Cent Browser, Chromium, Brave etc etc

[snowie2000]

The quality of your screenshots is too bad to see details.

[a0193143]

The quality of your screenshots is too bad to see details.

I recorded a video for more details.
https://youtu.be/wQIfxs9NFow

[snowie2000]

Did you modify any part of the profile?

[a0193143]

Nope, just "DirectWrite", and the other built-in profiles like XMac have the same problem.

[sammilucia]

@a0193143 is the issue still occurring with Chrome 74?

[a0193143]

@a0193143 is the issue still occurring with Chrome 74?

@sammilucia Still the same

[sammilucia]

@a0193143 thank you! I'm sorry for the delay.

Interesting, can anyone else confirm this?

In the meantime @a0193143, Cent Browser is the recommended browser for MacType, it's based on Chrome but still supports GDI (or DirectWrite) font rendering, plus a number of other enhancements.

[snowie2000]

@a0193143 Hi, I would like to know if you are available for some tests.
I would like to compile new versions for you with some of the directwrite features disabled so that we can locate the problematic code.

[a0193143]

@a0193143 Hi, I would like to know if you are available for some tests.
I would like to compile new versions for you with some of the directwrite features disabled so that we can locate the problematic code.

Sure

[snowie2000]

Ok, the first build I would like you to try is this one:
MacType-no-replace.zip

This one has the latest process injector and has DirectWrite font substitution disabled which, I believe, most likely caused the problem.

[a0193143]

Ok, the first build I would like you to try is this one:
MacType-no-replace.zip

This one has the latest process injector and has DirectWrite font substitution disabled which, I believe, most likely caused the problem.

Unfortunately, the problem still there.

[a0193143]

Plus, I've tested previous beta versions, this problem occured since beta4.
Beta 1 and 2 are fine.

[snowie2000]

Thank you. this helps narrowing down the problem a lot.

[snowie2000]

This will definitely work for you.
MacType-W8.zip

---

I ended up building my own Windows 8.1 VM and it took me several hours to realize why Windows 8 is well known as Windows bug 8.
It has too many bugs in all aspects. A lot of common APIs don't work correctly or simply crashed when called when the app is sandboxed, such as GetDC, GetStockObject, DeleteDC, and DirectWrite also doesn't work as expected. GDI interop crashed on use, cast interface from IDWriteFont3 to IDWriteFontFaceReference succeeded but returned an empty result to me which caused another crash...

I've added some more checks to MacType and fully disabled font substitution of DirectWrite on Windows 8/8.1. And finally, it works.

[a0193143]

This will definitely work for you.
MacType-W8.zip

I ended up building my own Windows 8.1 VM and it took me several hours to realize why Windows 8 is well known as Windows bug 8.
It has too many bugs in all aspects. A lot of common APIs don't work correctly or simply crashed when called when the app is sandboxed, such as GetDC, GetStockObject, DeleteDC, and DirectWrite also doesn't work as expected. GDI interop crashed on use, cast interface from IDWriteFont3 to IDWriteFontFaceReference succeeded but returned an empty result to me which caused another crash...

I've added some more checks to MacType and fully disabled font substitution of DirectWrite on Windows 8/8.1. And finally, it works.

Yep, it does work.
Thanks
Looking for stable release! :)

[sammilucia]

Can I just take a moment to acknowledge what a kick-ass coder @snowie2000 is? I've worked with a lot of coders snowie and you're amazing 😊

[sammilucia]

Please try the new beta6 here https://github.com/snowie2000/mactype/releases/tag/2019.1-beta6. I will close this issue as we believe it's resolved however if you still have problems please let us know (respond to this thread).