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VW2024 terrible lag on second monitor


Greg Mitchell

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Just upgraded to 2024.  Everything I do, i.e. zooming in and out with the scroll wheel has a 1-2 second delay.  I didn't have this problem on 2023.  It doesn't happen on my laptop screen.

I'm on a Macbook Pro M2 Max running Sonoma 14.1.2

I have tried connecting through my USB doc and directly to HDMI.

 

Any ideas?

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This issue started happening to me out of the blue - roughly 8 months ago - with no change to my hardware. I just upgraded to the newest SP 7 and can confirm the issue still persists. Really frustrating as it forces me to work on a 16" laptop screen in lieu of my 27" second monitor. 

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Same issue - can't say if it's new or not.  16" M2 Ultra MacBook Pro w/ external display.  Updated to SP7 this morning, along with MacOS 14.6.1.  Turned off the Displays Have Their Own Spaces option.  Still seeing WindowServer pop up to 90+% when switching to any other app from Vectorworks.  Hoping to see a solution soon - this makes Vectorworks unusable for me until we do.

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HI there, I am a mac system operator and followed this thread some months. I just switched a clients workstation from a mac pro 2013 to a Mac Studio M2 Max (12‑Core CPU, 38‑Core GPU, 16‑Core Neural Engine

64 GB RAM , 1 TB SSD). Never had so much problems and bugs in my 25 years of mac experience. I remember similiar times 25 years ago when Apple buried SCSI 😉 in my case a simple USB Hub did not work as expected, older USB 2.0 Devices like a Scanner were not recognized if cable is longer than 1 meter and so on...

Finally my client told me about this freezing screen phenomenon in VW.😤 The main eizo screen is connected with USB C, the second eizo is onboard HDMI. I installed the newest Sonoma build and the newest VW 2024 Version. His VW dealer suggested to downgrade the VW 24 Version to Build 2 oder 3, but that did not solve the problem.

Changing Cables (Display port or HDMI via USB C adaptor) did not help.

Fortunately I had some Thunderbolt Docks for testing purpose in stock. Because I also had those USB 2.0/3.0/3.2 connecting Issues on adapted USB C (there are only 2 classic USB A ports) I connected an Elgato Thunderbolt 2 Dock with a Thunderbolt 3>2 adaptor to the studio. This dock also has an integrated HDMI port. Tadaa all problems were solved. I also tested with an actual Sonnet Thunderbolt 4 Docking Station and the laggy screen did also not appear. Old USB devices worked as expectet in this thunderbolt2 environment. So have you ever tried to connect the second display with an active Thunderbolt Docking Station ?

 

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I also testet with an OWC  Thunderbolt hub OWCTB4HUB5P. The bug did not appear in my scenario. It is the cheapest dock around 140 $. It is worth a try. I assume there will be no final software fix with VW 24/Sonoma. Apple will present a new OS system soon and VW will release a new software canditate version 25. So nobody knows whats happening then. The cards are rearranged.

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Not sure if this will help others but I was losing my mind with the lag on external screens. Vectorworks wasn't just lagging but everything else too - clicking on Google Sheets, Safari, all of it. After trying different cables and monitors I realized it was only when Vectorworks was loaded.... so it wasn't hardware.

I came across a thread that suggested creating a second desktop in Spaces and so far so good. No lag!

A three finger swipe gets me to Vectorworks, and another swipe back to everything else. Not a perfect solution but better than the lag. 

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Just got this issue for the first time and couldn't believe it. Restarted computer. Updated from SP06 to SPO07. Wasn't seeing this on my M1, but am now seeing on my M3 (both fully loaded 14"). I am connected via a USB-C monitor plugged into a daisy chained Sonnet Echo III module. In this setup, I've got displays as separate spaces and my dock and primary working space is on my external extended display. This has worked fine for a year. My setup at home is exactly this, but I connect via HDMI... haven't seen the problem there yet. 

 

The issue is extreme nasty lag, appears to lock up system, but when you command+tab to another app, the other app will work fine. If you even HOVER over a VWX window, the computer moves to a standstill. 

 

Looked at my activity monitor, and VWX isn't coming close to causing any issues there. 

 

Moved the window to my built in monitor (instead of my external display), and VWX works fine – but way too tiny and not good for efficiency. 

 

I'm running some basic apps here. Safari, Slack, Spotify, Mail, Messages, Calendar, FireFox, Discord. Not running a million windows in my browsers. I'm a reasonable man. 

 

I'm testing a fairly large VWX file and just clicking around in a sheet layer, so a "low lift" 

 

@OliK solution worked for five minutes and then stopped working. moving VWX to a new space via Mission Control on the extended display sometimes works , but some other variables at play here. 

 

I have since tried:

  1. Launch VWX on primary built-in display ➡️ drag to a new space on my extended external display and immediately go into that space. Doesn't work. Still laggy.  
  2. Launch VWX on extended display ➡️ drag to a new space on my extended external display and immediately go into that space. Doesn't work still laggy. 
  3. Quit all programs and tried solutions (1) and (2) again. This worked.  Now I'm slowly opening programs up, anarchy style. 
  4. Restarted computer and tried solutions (1) and (2) again. Works the same as (3).
  5. [I'll try plugging in monitor direct via HDMI and running tests 1,2,3 to see if that works]

 

TLDR Since (3) worked, I suspect that there's some kind of memory leak and I just got build up enough application use and it'll crash again. Yep – that's it. If I leave MESSAGES open, VWX starts to run laggy AF after a few minutes. If I quit Messages, VWX performs as expected...don't even have to relaunch. Even more stupidly: if I hide MESSAGES, VWX continues to behave properly.

 

HMMMM 🤔 

Edited by trashcan
it's broken
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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

It might be entirely coincidence, but when I performed the 14.7 update, I did not disconnect my external monitor by accident (I usually do because in the past I've seen it hang until it was unplugged.)

 

This time, I forgot. But it installed without any problems.

 

As I said, I do not appear to be having the lag in 14.7 I did in 14.6 and earlier. Maybe keeping the external monitor connected made some difference?

 

I know it's one step removed from hopping on one leg and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance while installing, but I thought I would pass it along. I cannot vouch for whether the other method will work. 😉

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee
2 hours ago, GatRed said:

I spent the all day with Vectorworks 2024 and Vectorworks 2025 sometimes side by side under macOS 15 with an external screen and I did not experienced the issue yet.

Thanks.

This confirms our findings that Apple has resolved this issue with in macOS 15 (Sequoia). 

 

 

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Following up with an update also.   I removed my legacy Thunderbolt display and replaced with a new USB-C display and the issue was resolved.   I know it was an unexpected behavior after updating to 2024, but replacing the older monitor connection and display type to resolve the issue makes sense for me.  

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M2 Max, 64GB

LG UltraFine: USB-C > USB-C 

LG UltraHD: HDMI > USB-C

 

vwx2024 & 2025, latest build

 

Updated to macOS 14.7:

  • no improvement

Updated to macOS 15 >

  • two external monitors > lag has reduced, workable but not gone, WindowServer peaks to 95%
  • one external monitors > lag has reduced more, almost gone but still feels like 30fps,  WindowServer peaks to 95%,  fullscreen-cursor lagging behind, when drawing a rectangle it stutters 

 

tldr: macOS 15 – improvements but far away from being solved 

Edited by Julian_Designliga
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On 9/25/2024 at 8:48 AM, Julian_Designliga said:

MacBook Pro M2 Max, 64GB

LG UltraFine: USB-C > USB-C 

LG UltraHD: HDMI > USB-C

 

vwx2024 & 2025, latest build

 

Updated to macOS 14.7:

  • no improvement

Updated to macOS 15 >

  • two external monitors > lag has reduced, workable but not gone, WindowServer peaks to 95%
  • one external monitors > lag has reduced more, almost gone but still feels like 30fps,  WindowServer peaks to 95%,  fullscreen-cursor lagging behind, when drawing a rectangle it stutters 

 

tldr: macOS 15 – improvements but far away from being solved 

one addition to this topic: 

 

everthing works fine and butterly smooth when i mirror the main screen to the macbook display. dont aks me why. 

WindowServer Task stays below 70%, vwx and cinema work fine, no lag at all. 

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On 9/20/2024 at 10:31 PM, ubybc said:

Following up with an update also.   I removed my legacy Thunderbolt display and replaced with a new USB-C display and the issue was resolved.   I know it was an unexpected behavior after updating to 2024, but replacing the older monitor connection and display type to resolve the issue makes sense for me.  

My setup with super lag (it happens when from VW i move the mouse on the second monitor:

Mac mini m1  Macos 14.6 connected to:

Huawei Mateview via USB-C (first displey in System preferences)

AOC monitor via HDMI  (side display in SP)

 

WindowsServer goes up to 95% in Activity Monitor.

 

Right today I upgraded to 14.7 and I'll check if this fixes.

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