Crescendo/diminuendo happening too abruptly and aggressively?

Hello,
I haven't used Musescore in a little while, and when I opened it up a few days ago, I updated it to the newest version. I first ran into this issue shortly afterward, when trying to apply a crescendo. The issue can be seen in the sample I attached -- essentially, it seems that the crescendo happens only in the last 2-3 quarter notes before the next dynamic marking. And it seems, at least based on the instruments I'm using (which also in the full piece include another violin, a cello, and a contrabass) to primarily (or only) affect the viola?? For my composition I hadn't yet used a diminuendo yet, but on this test score the diminuendo has an inverse effect -- the first 2-3 beats are full forte before suddenly dropping down -- it is not gradual either.

Beyond it not being gradual, the forte on the Viola is just far too loud; it feels like it jumps to a FF. Do I really have to just mark viola down a dynamic every time? I want things to be uniform across instruments.

Any help is much appreciated!