Plugins in 32-bit vs 64-Bit Paintshop Pro

64_32-bit

Hi all—I’m Matt also known as LeviFiction, a longtime member of the PaintShop Pro community (mostly into photo-editing and vector design) and systems administrator. I’m no computer programmer, but I’m here to help you understand the basics when it comes to the plugins in 32-bit vs 64-bit software and, unfortunately, why they just can’t work together.

Now, there are two ways I can reply to this question—with the short answer and the longer, more technical one. To start, let’s keep things brief.

32-bit vs 64-bit | The Quick Answer

Running 32-bit plugins in 64-bit is a problem because they are simply not compatible with each other, just as 64-bit plugins won’t work with 32-bit programs…. but why not?

A 64-bit system is designed to give your programs access to larger amounts of RAM, so programs built for 32-bit must be rebuilt (or recompiled) to run properly in 64-bit. The source code for each plugin is often owned by the original developer, not the company who owns the program it works with. This means it can sometimes be difficult to have older plugins updated, especially if they’ve lost their initial support. Plugins that lose support are often never converted to 64-bit… thus, not available within the 64-bit version of PaintShop Pro.

Truth is, though, this isn’t a problem unique to Corel… Adobe went through the same issue when it initially released 64-bit versions of both Photoshop and Illustrator.

Apple saw the same thing happen when 64-bit became standard and programs on Mac OS X were upgraded to adapt, while a large number of plugins were not.

With many apps, you may not even notice the impact of 64-bit architecture on most programs except that your processor may run a little smoother. But you’ll really see the difference in memory efficiency with processor-intensive work like photo editing – especially when you run a heavy filter on a really big image. With the increased access to additional memory, more of the image can be worked on, and the whole process will run quite a bit faster than on a 32-bit program.

This is why the Corel team makes PaintShop Pro available in both 32- and 64-bit, so you can work in 64-bit when you need the speed and jump back to 32-bit for access to your favorite older plugins, in case they don’t receive any new support. With the way things are heading in computing, eventually 64-bit will be the de facto standard and you’ll have to let those 32-bit plugins go. But, for now, PSP still gives you the option to choose whichever version is best for your workflow.

And that’s pretty much it in short… I hope you’ve learned a little something from my post. If you’re still curious about why 32-bit vs 64-bit just won’t work when it comes to your plugins, jump over to Page 2 for a more technical explanation.

Page 2 – 32-bit vs 64-bit | The Longer, More Technical Answer

Comments (8)

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Comments

  1. Frank Kalf says

    A shame, because the missing Gradfilter plugin is a upgrade-dealbreaker for me.
    I just have to stick with v2.1.2,10 – 32bit on my 64bit machine.

  2. Brian Lacouvee says

    When you mention that the developers of the 32 bit apps may have vanished does that make the aps unstable if they are not receiving updates?

    Had a problem with reinstalling my PaintPro x9 software today – could not download new copy.
    “Your system has not been modified” apparently a very common issue – but solutions not readily available in your support forum.
    Left a message with support 12 hours ago , never heard a word. Searched a long time for an answer. Your forums gave me little answers, except to discover issue was common.
    Finally thought I would search for a removal tool which I had read about. – it worked great.
    Except that the tool initially told me there was no Pantpro x9 software – I clicked on clean anyhow and it wiped out about 7 files. Their removal seemed to make it able to install a new copy.
    The “Your system has not been modified” wa gone.!

    My comment, if you have no support on Saturdays could you not get the forum full of answers to very common issues, so that we can fix things ourselves easily without spending hours.

    There may be 10 or 15 common problems, you could write out solutions to them.
    The FAQ’s do not deal with any support issues to speak of.

    If you could pass this along, I will feel I have not wasted my time writing this whole thing out.

    • Alex Brazeau says

      Hi Brian, apologies for the delay here. In terms of maintaining compatibility with those 32-bit plugins, that will be up to the individual 3rd party developers. Sorry to hear you had some troubles getting PaintShop Pro installed. There may have been some leftover files from a previous install that jammed things up, but that cleanup tool works wonders. Our Knowledgebase (http://support.corel.com) does answer common technical FAQs, so I’ll definitely talk to our support team about adding answers to those questions to the Knowledgebase. Thanks for the suggestion, Brian!

  3. Maurice M Mizrahi says

    I have a 64-bit system and installed PSP2019. The scanner won’t work. I was told to install the 32-bit version. But how do you do that? I see no option for that.

    • Adam says

      Hello Maurice,

      The 32-bit installer is a separate file from the 64 bit version, and would be a separate download link included with your purchase. Just check the email containing your order details, and you can download and install the 32-bit version as well as the 64-bit version!

      Discovery Center Team

  4. Melanie says

    I have found that you cannot install the 32 and 64 bit version. If you have 64 bit installed and try and install the 32 bit – it automatically proceeds to uninstall the 64 bit. What the 64 bit installation does do is copy the installation files to the Program files x86 folder but it’s not installed.

    So far i am very impressed with the new layout and attempt to really jack up the software, unfortunately without being able to use the my old plugins – I’m not really interested in upgrading. If I can find a way to get my plethora of plugins to work perhaps on the 32 bit – but uninstalling and trying to install the 32bit version is proving to be a time consuming nightmare.

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