Alt tabbing out of game #3579

[amorosa]

Alt tab shows erratic behaviour. First it works then it doesnt. Need properly functioning alt tab to play with 2 accounts.

[frantish]

Alt tab shows erratic behaviour. First it works then it doesnt. Need properly functioning alt tab to play with 2 accounts.

That description sounds to vague for anyone to troubleshoot with.

Please provide more detail.

[amorosa]

Played with it little more. Seems there is no problem alt tabbing between 2 instances of the offline practice. But to alt tab to desktop when only 1 copy is running you need to start task manager. This isnt the case with 1.30. At least not with W7. Will wait for online beta to test further.

[GOPHUR]

Could be a Win7 related issue. I'll ask for some internal testing too.

[GOPHUR]

Bloo confirms oddness on Win7.

http://192.168.0.35/trac/wwiionline/ticket/3579' rel="external nofollow">

Ticketed.

[OLDZEKE]

Gophur, I've always needed some sort of window in the background to alt tab out.

I've always needed notepad, explorer etc running, xp, vista and win7 or alt tab did not work.

[david06]

I run Vista x64 but I've encountered similar problems. I believe they are driver related. For me the Alt-tab functioned normally with 1.30 online and the offline beta, but once I updated drivers for my 4850s I found I could not tab out of game without using ctrl-alt-del. I uninstalled then reinstalled the driver and now it functions as previously.

Sorry for the vague solution but it's what worked for me. I have two accounts and it was a very annonying problem for awhile.

[GOPHUR]

No that makes sense David. I've noticed oddities in this area also just could never quite nail it down.

[bloo]

Martini and I just did some testing on this.

When you ALT+TAB from game instance 1 (or Other application or window), to game instance 2, and the mouse cursor is visible but doesn't work in the game (though it will highlight UI elements it passes over that do that, such as chat channel bars), try pressing LEFT ALT.

In our test, that puts the mouse back in its proper state in the game.

We think the issue that is when you return to the game app, the mouse is stuck as if you were holding LEFT ALT down, and Martini is going to work on it.

[fearny]

Martini and I just did some testing on this.

When you ALT+TAB from game instance 1 (or Other application or window), to game instance 2, and the mouse cursor is visible but doesn't work in the game (though it will highlight UI elements it passes over that do that, such as chat channel bars), try pressing LEFT ALT.

In our test, that puts the mouse back in its proper state in the game.

We think the issue that is when you return to the game app, the mouse is stuck as if you were holding LEFT ALT down, and Martini is going to work on it.

I found pressing M to open map and close it again got rid of the mouse cursor in game after the alt-tab wierdness.

[Svart]

Gophur, I've always needed some sort of window in the background to alt tab out.

I've always needed notepad, explorer etc running, xp, vista and win7 or alt tab did not work.

Same.

[tempest]

often alt tabbing out of game will cause the game to lock up

but only if i am spawned in

[pusicato]

Same as Tempest. It's pretty random too.

[tempest]

Same as Tempest. It's pretty random too.

The only trend I have notice is that it happens after i've been logged in game for a significant period of time, or at least it is more likely to happen then.

Possibly some memory error

[pusicato]

It can happen to me very shortly after logging in, though it's true it's more likely to happen after being in game for a longer time.

[lure]

There is some kind of compatibility issue with Windows 7 and Alt-Tab.

When I use Alt-Tab in 1.30 I get the Win7 "pretty" Alt-tab box with miniatures of al running windows and the "show desktop" alt-tab option.

In 1.31 beta I get a ugly Windows XP looking Alt-Tab screen and the "show desktop" option is not there. Also If I have no other windowed program running other then BE pressing Alt-Tab does nothing.

I'm running 1.30 in Vista SP2 compatibility mode.

1.31 I'm running with no compatibility modes on at all.

I'll try capture a 1.30 vs. 1.31 comparison video to show the difference.

[adoniram]

There is some kind of compatibility issue with Windows 7 and Alt-Tab.

When I use Alt-Tab in 1.30 I get the Win7 "pretty" Alt-tab box with miniatures of al running windows and the "show desktop" alt-tab option.

In 1.31 beta I get a ugly Windows XP looking Alt-Tab screen and the "show desktop" option is not there. Also If I have no other windowed program running other then BE pressing Alt-Tab does nothing.

I'm running 1.30 in Vista SP2 compatibility mode.

1.31 I'm running with no compatibility modes on at all.

I'll try capture a 1.30 vs. 1.31 comparison video to show the difference.

Confirmed, same for me with different alt-tab box in 1.30 and 1.31

[GOPHUR]

Added ticket #3796

[lure]

Could the 1.31 client be triggering this windows 7 aero feature somehow?

http://www.intowindows.com/how-to-view-classic-alt-tab-in-windows-7-aero-theme/

[KFS1]

Could the 1.31 client be triggering this windows 7 aero feature somehow?

http://www.intowindows.com/how-to-view-classic-alt-tab-in-windows-7-aero-theme/

Very likely, the game is OpenGL based and OpenGL under Vista/7 has some extra factors to take into account - I think it's possible that when a full-screen OpenGL app is running, Win7 may disable Aero temporarily to improve performance. (OpenGL apps can experience a 10-15% decrease in performance while Aero is running).

http://www.opengl.org/pipeline/article/vol003_7/

http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=562592&whichpage=1

[GOPHUR]

I thought they had remedied that before the final release of Win7.

[ironfist]

It works for the live server but not on the beta server

I can still control alt delete to get to where I need to go but its not as smooth and not as fast

Is this an oversight or something intentional ?

[adoniram]

Thinks it is an oversight...

if you have another program open, like internet explorer then you should be able to ALT TAB out

[munchkin]

I can't alt-tab either, Windows 7 here. Have to get the task manager up first.

But the same goes for 1.30 as well as 1.31 in my case.

[GOPHUR]

I'll need more info. Both of my guys on win7 report this working fine since at least .22.