TouchGFX Designer 4.25.0 – extremely slow asset generation (make assets takes 5+ minutes)

[JureL]

Hi everyone,

I'm experiencing a very frustrating issue with TouchGFX Designer version 4.25.0.

Whenever I click "Generate Code", the process hangs for several minutes (up to 5 minutes) at the step:
make -f simulator/gcc/Makefile assets -j8.

This used to work quickly in the past with the same version on the same PC, but the issue suddenly started recently without any apparent changes.
I'm running Windows 11, and this problem affects all projects, even the official TouchGFX examples.

Here’s what I’ve tried so far (none of which helped):

• Disabled antivirus and security software completely
• Completly remove and reinstall TouchGFX Designer
• Run the Make command manually from the TouchGFX environment terminal – the issue presist
• Tested the same project on another (slower) PC – and it works fine there

I use TouchGFX on a daily basis, so this issue is really slowing down my workflow.

Has anyone else experienced this?
Any advice would be highly appreciated!

Best regards,
Jure

[LouisB]

Hello @JureL,

Please do not ping forum members when you have a question. 
Have you tried to generate code offline, without internet connection ?

BR,

[JureL]

Hi LouisB ,

thank you for your reply.

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Please do not ping forum members when you have a question. 

Apologies for that — I wasn’t aware this is not allowed. It won’t happen again.

Have you tried to generate code offline, without internet connection ?

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Yes, I’ve also tried generating the code offline without an internet connection, but unfortunately it didn’t make any difference.

Here are a few additional details:

• I’ve tested multiple versions of TouchGFX, and the issue persists across all of them.
• during the hang-delay, CPU usage remains low and the application doesn’t freeze it just waits at the step make -f simulator/gcc/Makefile assets -j8. After a few minutes of waiting, the assets are suddenly generated within a few seconds.

Let me know if you have any other suggestions — I’m happy to try anything that might help.
I can also provide remote access so you can take a look and test it directly.

In the attachment, you can also find a video that demonstrates the issue.

Best regards,

Jure

[LouisB]

Hello @JureL,

I can suggest you to try:

• Solved: Performance Issues - STMicroelectronics Community
• Use touchgfx with and without admin rights
• Do you use a VPN ?

BR,

[unsigned_char_array]

If it is not software it might be hardware. I use TouchGFX 4.25.0 on Windows 11 without any problems.

What is your memory usage? And CPU usage? And drive usage?
What is your CPU temperature? If it is 99c it might be thermal throttling. If CPU cooler is not making proper contact anymore (can suddenly happen if PC shifts) and if thermal past has dried up it can slow down CPU intensive tasks very quickly.

[JureL]

Hi @LouisB,

Thank you for your suggestions.

I had Kaspersky antivirus installed, but I completely removed it - unfortunately, that didn’t make any difference.

I also tried running TouchGFX with and without admin rights, but again, no change.

I do use a VPN occasionally, but just to be sure it’s not causing the issue, I completely uninstalled the OpenVPN app from my system. Still no luck.

[JureL]

Hi @unsigned_char_array 

CPU usage stays low (around 1–2%) and the temperature is normal (35–37°C), so it’s clearly not a hardware issue.The application worked on this computer with windows 11 for quite a while without an issue. But then someday just started hanging in make -f simulator/gcc/Makefile assets -j8. My best guess at this point is that some Windows update might have triggered the problem, but honestly, I’m out of ideas.

[unsigned_char_array]

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@JureL wrote:

Hi @unsigned_char_array 

CPU usage stays low (around 1–2%) and the temperature is normal (35–37°C), so it’s clearly not a hardware issue.

---

I assume you measured CPU usage while the compilation was running. If that is the case it seems the CPU is not thermal throttling. Also not overused. So we can exclude that.
However 1-2% is very low. My CPU is an intel i7-12700 and it is around 4% now and while compiling (after clearing generated folder) it spikes to 38%. It seems there is a bottleneck somewhere else and your CPU is waiting for things to do. It could be waiting for IO. 
That's why I mentioned other hardware things too. So we cannot conclude there are no hardware issues.
What about RAM usage? And drive (disk) usage? Compilation is drive intensive. Lots of files to read and write. If your drive is faulty or slow it will slow down compilation. And your CPU won't be busy when it is waiting for IO.

Any suspicious background applications in task manager?

[JureL]

@unsigned_char_array 

Thanks for your input.

I’ve already tested all of that. I even moved the entire project from an SSD to an HDD and tried installing touchgfx on HDD insetad of SSD but it didn't change a thing. I also monitored RAM usage during the asset generation process, and the memory was not under any noticeable load.

As a further test, I installed a fresh Windows 11 virtual machine on the same PC. Interestingly, within the virtual machine TouchGFX worked perfectly fine – asset generation was quick and smooth, without any delays. So it really seems like something is wrong with the host OS environment, not the hardware or project files.

[unsigned_char_array]

I think that's a fair conclusion. If a virtual machine on the same PC is working it is probably not the hardware. Also nothing in the host OS is restricting resources in general or the virtual machine would be having problems too.

I wonder what CPU usage is when compiling in the guest OS. I guess it would be more than the 1-2% you've seen. Same with CPU clock frequency.
Perhaps the TouchGFX application is somehow assigned lower CPU priority? But it would be weird if that setting persists after uninstall and reinstall.

Have you checked your power settings? Make sure power mode is set to "best performance".

Have you checked older TouchGFX versions?