Problems with fonts and text in Inkscape

[Derpitron]

Hello all. I've recently been having an issue with fonts lately.

There is a program called Inkscape, which is a free vector graphics editor, and so I tend to use it very often. When I attempt to create text, problems arise. I use one font, then switch to another one, when a Windows dialogue box opens up -  It says: something like:

          Windows Application Error

          The instruction 00x00000eee referenced memory at

And the rest of the text is blank, same with buttons. I press a button, and all text everywhere in Inkscape turns to rectangles, even dialogue boxes. I exit Inkscape, only to find that all my Desktop icon's names have been blacked out -  you can see the silhouette of the letters, and so you can make out the name, but that's it. No text displayed in other Windows dialogues, Task Manager, etc.

I have asked my father about this - he says it may be a display driver issue, which is triggered by Inkscape accessing a font cache.

May you guys please help me? Thanks!
 

[brynn]

Welcome to the forum!

Are you saying that this only happens when you use Inkscape?  If you use another graphics program, and use the text tool in that program, does it also happen, or not?  Or have you tested a word processing program with text, to see if it happens there?

To be clear, I mean test them to see if they can create the same issues which you see Inkscape is seeming to create.  Based on your description, I'm sure they are affected by it.   But my question is, can those programs create the same problem.  Based on what you've described, I'm guessing they will.  But if they don't, that still would be helpful troubleshooting info.

Have you looked up the error code which is mentioned?  (00x00000eee)

If you think it might be a display driver issue, have you tried upgrading your display drivers?  Although actually I'm not sure if I would think about display drivers.  To me, it sounds like fonts are at the core of the problem.

When did this start?  Can you trace it to some particular incident?

Do you use a font manager?  Have you installed a new font lately?

I'm certainly not a security expert, but if it were me, I'd run all my security scans, just to make sure there's no system-wide virus or other malware.  Anytime the whole system seems to be affected by a problem, I always want to rule out a malware issue.

I read something recently about some changes in the way Windows 10 is handling fonts.  What I read is that after a recent Windows Update, Windows is installing fonts into a new directory.  There may have been other major changes with fonts, besides just a directory.  So it might be useful to investigate whatever recent update you've installed.  It's fairly easy to learn which update might have affected fonts.  And it's fairly easy to uninstall updates (well, at least it is pre-Windows 10 - since I haven't installed it yet, I'm not sure if it still is easy, but it probably is).

I think I'd probably look into any recent Windows Updates you've received lately, first.  This seems like the most likely culprit to me.

Let us know what you learn!

[Derpitron]

Hey there! I was installing some variable fonts yesterday when the same problem occurred. I tried to debug the program when it said fonthostdrv.exe has stopped working. I've been on a 'font-installing spree' lately, though the fonts I installed aren't corrupted, or anything of the sort. I use one font manager called fontba.se, where I transferred a large part of my installed fonts to. Might Font Base be the root of the problem? These issues only arose after I started using Font Base.

[brynn]

Without searching, I have no idea what fonthostdrv.exe might be.  But it seems worth looking into that.  I'm not clear which program you were debugging when that happened.

If you can trace the start of the problem to installing or using Font Base, they I would certainly try uninstalling it.  Or maybe System Restore, if that would be easier than moving all the fonts again.

[Derpitron]

Just uninstalled fontba.se

I still get the error message.

This isn't a screenshot of the message, but rather I just copied it.
I've uninstalled Inkscape and downloaded the Microsoft Store version, which had the same issues.

[brynn]

Before I go deeper into researching what looks like a problem with Windows, I'd like to confirm better that Inkscape is involved at all, and not just an unfortunate bystander.

Can you open some other program which uses text, such as GIMP or Scribus (both open source) or even a word processor such as LibreOffice Writer or Word, and find out if any of those programs create the same problem.

Also, if you received any Windows updates between the last time text was working properly and when the problem started, please investigate what those updates did.  Did they make any changes about text or fonts?  I know I read about at least one recent update regarding fonts.  So I still have a suspicion about that.

And again, if you didn't already, I would suggest running all the security scans which you have - anti-virus, malware, whatever you have.  I think Windows Defender probably came already installed on Windows 10 (but it's not anti-virus, just anti-malware).  If you don't have any security programs, you'll want to fix that before you do anything else.  Visit a reputuable security forum and get advice from professionals about cleaning your computer.  I could probably refer you to a couple, if you need to do that.

After you eliminate those 3 things, I'll search for those error codes.  But that's about all I can do, is try to point you in some direction.  I use Windows, but I'm not a tech support person for Windows.

Oh, and also, what program were you debugging when you got the error about fonthostdrv.exe?

[Derpitron]

I don't have any issue using GIMP, Libre Office, or Paint.net.

I don't have any malware or viruses,
 no Windows updates have taken place during my 'font-installing spree.'
It seems to me that it's an issue with Inkscape, I just don't know how to rectify it.

[Moini]

1. What is your Inkscape version? (precisely) Is it up-to-date?
2. Does this happen with the development version of Inkscape also (called 'master')?
3. Do you make any regular backups, and can compare font folders?

[Derpitron]

1. I use Inkscape 92.3

2. I use the default branch

3. I don't make regular backups, and I cannot compare font folders, however, I can say that the problem does not happen on other programs.

[flamingolady]

Since you went on a 'font binge' (and who hasn't, lol), have you tried turning off many of the fonts that you don't use regularly? What happens is that the pgms have to load up ALL the fonts you have open and available for use, and there often isn't enough memory.  I can't remember what I did to turn them off at startup (Moini, Lazur, or Brynne may be better able to help with that).  You can go into your windows font folder to view, and print fonts to determine if they are printing properly, that might help. You can access via the start button, type in 'fonts', then click on view installed fonts.  Click on the font that isn't working and see if it displays.  If not, the font may not be fully installed.  There's also a couple options, can click on using a shortcut to the font (though I haven't tried that one).  I'm not a font expert by any means, just trying to think of some things for you to test. 

[brynn]

no Windows updates have taken place during my 'font-installing spree.'

If an Update is involved, it would have happened before your font installing spree.  Would you please investigate your Updates for the last 6 months to a year?  You can look them up fairly easily.  I don't know exactly how on Windows 10.  But on Windows 7 it's Control Panel > Windows Updates.  There, you can click a button to list all your updates, and search them by date (maybe even by keyword??).  Read them and find out if there were any updates which affected fonts or font handling or font driver, etc.  I know there's at least one, from a previous report I read.

If you can identify any Update which has something to do with fonts, will you please give me a link to it, so I can read about it?

Besidses that, all I could really do is refer you to my search results for the error message:  https://duckduckgo.com/?q=The+instruction+at+0x00007FF63263609A+referenced+memory+at+0x000000000000008.++The+memory+could+not+be+read.&t=seamonkey&ia=web

None of the results seem to focus on the anything in particular.  They either say this is a generic kind of error which doesn't tell much by itself, or the answer instructs you to run several generic kind of troubleshooting steps (many of the same ones I suggested - Windows update, virus, malware, other programs, etc.).  One answer I saw a few time was to open Windows in "clean boot" mode and find out if the problem still happens.  But thhere really are only a few hits for it.

I also tried to search it in MS TechNet (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx) with more of the same.

I did look up fonthostdrv.exe, info here https://www.file.net/process/fontdrvhost.exe.html.  It's a Windows font driver, which you report crashed when you chose the debug option.  But I'm still not sure what that option was connected to.  Was that option connected to the error message?

It would probably be worth the time to see if there is any upgrade for that font driver.  It's been a long time since I looked into upgrading a driver.  I think you'd need to search your computer for fonthostdrv.exe.  Then right-click > Properties.  And I think on one of the tabs in that Properties dialog is a button to upgrade the driver.  Again, at least that's for Windows 7.  I'm not sure about Windows 10.

I know you said you uninstalled the font manager, so I guess you could double check that it was uninstalled successfully.

If none of this gives us any more helpful info, we'll need to bump this problem up to developers.  I'll tell you how, after you've investigated the Updates.  Because I really think an Update could be part of the problem.  In any case, developers will want to know that info, so it will be good to be able to tell them.

[Derpitron]

I'm trying a clean boot to see if that works. There have been no updates that I have installed that has even a mention of fonts in the changelog.

[Derpitron]

I just tried Inkscape by disabling all non-Microsoft services, and it worked for a little while. I tried Futura, no problems. when I tried using any font after that (I tried Helvetica), Inkscape froze, threw up the dialogue box, this time it had no text, just an ok button, and text in Inkscape turned to placeholder boxes, text on desktop icons turned to silhouettes and all non - UWP programs' text disappeared.

[brynn]

Per Moini's suggestion:

2. Does this happen with the development version of Inkscape also (called 'master')?

Were you able to test with the dev version?  You can find it here, I think  https://ci.appveyor.com/project/inkscape/inkscape/history

If that fails, I guess you'll need to contact developers about this.  I don't know anything else to try.  You can reach them by mailing list, which is the preferred way.  But if you don't want to subscribe, there's an IRC channel for developers.  There's also one for users, which many developers monitor.  Info on all of those can be found on this page:  https://inkscape.org/community/

The other route would be to file a bug report.  Since this is the first I've heard of this problem, I would tend to think it's not a bug.  But the technical side of Inkscape is definitely not my strong suit.  Here's the bug tracker:  https://launchpad.net/inkscape

If it were me, I'd post on the mailing list first, to ask whether it might need a bug report, or if it's a Windows problem.  But you may have insight about it that I don't have, so you should use your judgement on exactly where you want to contact them.

If you make a bug report, will you put a link to it in this thread?  Then others who read this can follow the progress.  If you decide to post on the mailing list, one of us can update this thread with any potential solution.

Good luck!

[Derpitron]

https://gitlab.com/inkscape/infra/services/issues/19

https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/1810667

I've posted the bug report

[brynn]

I split the last messages here into a new topic, since they are a different problem:  https://forum.inkscapecommunity.com/index.php?topic=1637.0