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

[JureL]

Hi @unsigned_char_array,

I was not clear enough. CPU usage is at 1-2% during long wait at step "make -f simulator/gcc/Makefile assets -j8". Once the actual asset generation starts, the CPU usage jumps to ~20% (intel i9-14900K), and the process completes quickly. This suggests something is blocking or delaying the start of asset generation.

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

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Thank you for that suggestion. My system was set to “Balanced,” so I switched it to “High Performance,” but unfortunately, the behavior didn’t change.

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Have you checked older TouchGFX versions?

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Yes, I’ve tried at least five different versions (including 4.20.0, 4.22.0, 4.23.0, 4.24.0, and 4.25.0), and the issue is the same across all of them.

[unsigned_char_array]

I'm afraid finding out the cause of this is going to be difficult and reinstalling Windows would be your best shot.
I once had slow compilation too. But that was because I had TouchGFX use headless build of STM32CubeIDE to build the project and the delay was in updating the index. Once I disabled that compilation was fast again.

[ferro]

Hi @JureL 

1.

Here’s what I’ve tried so far (none of which helped):
 - Completly remove and reinstall TouchGFX Designe"

Did you use TouchGFX uninstaller or Windows "Remove Application" ? If Windows I suggest to use TouchGFX as discussed here:

https://community.st.com/t5/stm32-mcus-touchgfx-and-gui/gfxdesigner-4-24-1-changes-its-version-in-ioc-to-4-25-0/m-p/812004/highlight/true#M43749

2. Does this happen when you run the project in MSVS ?

[JureL]

@unsigned_char_array 

Thank you for all your help.

I’m pretty sure too that’s the fix, but I’m not giving up just yet.
I want to figure out what’s actually blocking the command "make -f simulator/gcc/Makefile assets -j8".

[JureL]

Hi @ferro ,

thank you for the suggestion. Yes, I had previously removed it using Windows Remove Application feature. I just tried uninstalling and reinstalling it again using the TouchGFX uninstaller, but unfortunately, that didn’t resolved the issue.

I also tried repairing the installation, as you mentioned that it fixed the issue for you, but in my case, it didn’t change anything.

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2. Does this happen when you run the project in MSVS ?

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No, this happens when I click "Generate Code" in the TouchGFX Designer app.
The generation process gets stuck at this line for quite some time (at least 2 minutes) and seems to do nothing:

    Generate Assets
        make -f simulator/gcc/Makefile assets -j8

Then, after about ~2 minutes, the actual asset generation starts and completes in just a few seconds.

[ferro]

But MSVS generates assets as well so please delete /generated folder in your project and run MSVS project.

[ferro]

Try to generate assets separately

e.g. Images

Delete folder [.\generated\images] and in the folder where your .touchgfx project lives run this from command line:

c:\TouchGFX\4.24.1\touchgfx\framework\tools\imageconvert\build\win\imageconvert.out -r .\assets\images\ -w .\generated\images\

[ferro]

Do the same for texts and videos - have a look at ./generated\simulator\gcc\Makefile 

[JureL]

@ferro 

Thank you for suggestions I tried all three commands as per you suggestion:

c:\TouchGFX\4.25.0\touchgfx\framework\tools\imageconvert\build\win\imageconvert.out -r .\assets\images\ -w .\generated\images\
c:\TouchGFX\4.25.0\env\MinGW\msys\1.0\Ruby30-x64\bin\ruby.exe c:\TouchGFX\4.25.0\touchgfx\framework\tools\textconvert\main.rb .\assets\texts\texts.xml c:\TouchGFX\4.25.0\touchgfx\framework\tools\fontconvert\build\win\fontconvert.out .\generated\fonts .\generated\texts .\assets\fonts .
c:\TouchGFX\4.25.0\env\MinGW\msys\1.0\Ruby30-x64\bin\ruby.exe c:\TouchGFX\4.25.0\touchgfx\framework\tools\videoconvert\videoconvert.rb .\assets\videos  .\generated\videos

Everything was generated fast in few seconds.
So there seems to be an issue before that calls.

[ferro]

Hm, would be useful to enable verbose mode somewhere, maybe in .touchgfx project. I tried VERBOSE=1 but not sure

    "GenerateAssetsCommand": "make VERBOSE=1 -f simulator/gcc/Makefile assets -j8",

Did you try assets generation in MSVS ?