tannerhelland
[BUG] - Opening the 8bf plugins dialog crashes the application
Version information
- PhotoDemon version: PhotoDemon 2025.4 alfa (build 158)
- Windows 11 25H2 (build 26200.7171)
How can I reproduce the bug?
I don't know if this depend on some specific configuration I have but opening the 8bf plugins dialog crashes the application for me.
Behavior:
- I go to Effects > Photoshop 8bf plugins.
- The window is displayed briefly, then PhotoDemon closes abruptly, so maybe something goes wrong when enumerating plugins (?)
The behavior is the same with different images, or if the 8bf plugins directory is empty or contains different plugins.
Expected behavior
The dialog should of course load plugins properly and not crash.
Debug logs
I have attached the debug log but it doesn't contain any specific error on this.
Sample images and/or screenshots
Thank you!
Adding that I am encountering the same problem as described by manfromarce. Slightly newer version of PhotoDemon at 2025.4 alpha (build 165). Thanks.
Apologies for the late reply, all.
PhotoDemon uses a 3rd-party library (https://github.com/spetric/Photoshop-Plugin-Host) for 8bf plugin support. This limits my ability to easily troubleshoot problems with specific 8bf plugins, because I only have limited understanding of the way the 3rd-party library handles things.
What worries me most is the report of crashes on an empty plugin folder. This definitely shouldn't be happening! You should always see a screen like this if the plugin folder is empty (meaning no plugins in the folder, and no subfolders with plugins either):
If you experience problems with a specific 8bf plugin file and you can share that plugin here, that would help me a lot. In the meantime, I will try to find a way to reproduce the crash on an empty plugin folder.
@tannerhelland unfortunately it crashes with any plugin in my case (and with an empty folder too), so I think it's something in my system that makes the third-party library fail in any case.
I can try to find out if there is a similar problem with other software that provide 8bf plugin compatibility.
For what it is worth, on my Win10/11 systems I can load the 8bf plugins I have experimented with (I haven't found anything particularly useful yet) just work and there are no crashes of PD not while opening the PD Gui, nor using the plugin(s).
Hello Tanner - thanks for including me in this conversation - much appreciated.
I have little to add except to confirm the crashes occur with an empty Data\8bfPlugins folder.
Both App\plugins\PhotoDemon\Plugins and Data\PluginData folders have a ton of files I don't recognize, but I assume that is correct as I am working with a fresh copy of PhotoDemon.
Sorry I am unable to help more than this.
/John
John Cassels 32 Thornbush Crescent, Waterloo ON, N2T 1B2 Canada @.*** +1-226-978-9506
On Mon, Dec 8, 2025 at 3:27 PM hi5 @.***> wrote:
hi5 left a comment (tannerhelland/PhotoDemon#716) https://github.com/tannerhelland/PhotoDemon/issues/716#issuecomment-3628866591
For what it is worth, on my Win10/11 systems I can load the 8bf plugins I have experimented with (I haven't found anything particularly useful yet) just work and there are no crashes of PD not while opening the PD Gui, nor using the plugin(s).
— Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/tannerhelland/PhotoDemon/issues/716#issuecomment-3628866591, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/A3XPD2I4B7OCL37U3WMBRID4AXNLNAVCNFSM6AAAAACMGHX3IGVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZTMMRYHA3DMNJZGE . You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: @.***>
Thank you everyone for the follow-up information! Sounds like this may be a hard problem to track down. Argh.
I recently rebuilt the 3rd-party 8bf library against a different version of the Adobe plugin SDK. I don't expect this to change anything, but if the crashes continue, it at least eliminates one variable.
Unfortunately, the author of the 3rd-party 8bf library has not been active on GitHub for some years now. I think this mechanism for using 8bf plugins is effectively "abandoned".
That leaves me with only one real path forward: removing this 3rd-party library entirely, and trying to write 8bf interoperability myself.
It is hard to estimate the complexity of this task because there are a lot of moving parts, but first I will focus on the "crashing even when no plugins exist" issue. That's the most concerning problem to me. Additional features can follow once that's solved.
I have a number of larger PhotoDemon features already in the works for next year, but I will also try to whittle away at this in the coming weeks. I'll report back once I have something actionable to test.
Thank you for this update - much appreciated.
/John
John Cassels 32 Thornbush Crescent, Waterloo ON, N2T 1B2 Canada @.*** +1-226-978-9506
On Mon, Dec 15, 2025 at 9:43 AM Tanner @.***> wrote:
tannerhelland left a comment (tannerhelland/PhotoDemon#716) https://github.com/tannerhelland/PhotoDemon/issues/716#issuecomment-3656023464
Thank you everyone for the follow-up information! Sounds like this may be a hard problem to track down. Argh.
I recently rebuilt the 3rd-party 8bf library against a different version of the Adobe plugin SDK. I don't expect this to change anything, but if the crashes continue, it at least eliminates one variable.
Unfortunately, the author of the 3rd-party 8bf library has not been active on GitHub for some years now. I think this mechanism for using 8bf plugins is effectively "abandoned".
That leaves me with only one real path forward: removing this 3rd-party library entirely, and trying to write 8bf interoperability myself.
It is hard to estimate the complexity of this task because there are a lot of moving parts, but first I will focus on the "crashing even when no plugins exist" issue. That's the most concerning problem to me. Additional features can follow once that's solved.
I have a number of larger PhotoDemon features already in the works for next year, but I will also try to whittle away at this in the coming weeks. I'll report back once I have something actionable to test.
— Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/tannerhelland/PhotoDemon/issues/716#issuecomment-3656023464, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/A3XPD2PDY5G5NESQA6VRTMT4B3CKLAVCNFSM6AAAAACMGHX3IGVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZTMNJWGAZDGNBWGQ . You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: @.***>
Thank you Tanner for the update, I'm sorry this bug is requiring such a large work.