Alt-tabbing not possible (Win7)?

[smove]

Is it just me, or does Alt-Tab not work in Automobilista under Win7?

Getting to the desktop works perfectly fine, but when trying to Alt-tab back to AMS, I visually stay at the desktop, but the focus of the mouse changes back to AMS as well as the sound environment of AMS comes back to life again. When having left from the main menu, there's a chance to close the game without force-quitting by listening to the mouseover sounds of the "quit" buttons and clicking around a bit.

SCE shows the same behaviour on my system, by the way. Does anybody have the same problem?

 

[Jan Mikuž]

I got this often with SCE. The sounds/game environment came back on, but the image wouldn't. The sounds from the garage and/or from cursor hitting the menu buttons could be heard, but the image wouldn't come up and all I could do is ctrlaltdelete. I'm on win 7 also.

AMS is crashing for me at the moment so I can't yet test it properly.

 

[Will Mazeo]

it has boarderless mode, just use it and alt tab for the next 100 years with no problem

 

[Jan Mikuž]

I still see window borders with min/max/close icons when using borderless mode. Is it because of my resolution - 1440x900 ?

 

[Will Mazeo]

I still see window borders with min/max/close icons when using borderless mode. Is it because of my resolution - 1440x900 ?

Did you uncheck "Window boarders" in AMS Config?

 

[Gringo]

@smove

Look in your PLR file and set "Inactive Sleep Time" = -1

 

[Dietmar]

@smove

Look in your PLR file and set "Inactive Sleep Time" = -1

What else does this do?

I am asking as this, I think, is an old rF1/2/GSC bug that I experience with any of these titels. When I searched for a solution in internet, the only fix I was told, was to run in Window Mode (which actually fixes the issue).

 

[Ho3n3r]

Borderless window will induce input lag, so decide whether it's worth the trade-off.

I get similar issues with rFactor 1 and 2 - always have. I've just learnt not to alt-tab at all whilst in-game. It's the best compromise, although alt-tabbing isn't very high on my list of necessities whilst racing anyway.

 

[Gringo]

What else does this do?

Else?

What happens here is the game will never sleep when in the background.

For whatever reason this has crept into my systems as of late. It was never a problem years ago, but IDK maybe hardware changes in the new chipsets or GPU or video drivers or who knows. However it seems now if you let rF/GSC/AMS.exe sleep when you TAB to desktop then it gets lost somehow and you cant switch back.

I notice I can tab out from a game session most of the time, but it seems if I am in the UI / Menu then its a good chance to not be able to tab back.

Setting the PLR flag fixed it for me.

 

[Dietmar]

Else?

What happens here is the game will never sleep when in the background.

For whatever reason this has crept into my systems as of late. It was never a problem years ago, but IDK maybe hardware changes in the new chipsets or GPU or video drivers or who knows. However it seems now if you let rF/GSC/AMS.exe sleep when you TAB to desktop then it gets lost somehow and you cant switch back.

I notice I can tab out from a game session most of the time, but it seems if I am in the UI / Menu then its a good chance to not be able to tab back.

Setting the PLR flag fixed it for me.

Just tried this and it did not fix it for, just happened again

 

[Gringo]

it did not fix it

Try using a boarder-less window, set from the AMS config tool.

 

[Dann Murillo]

Here's an alternative, it's from 2011 and still works perfectly. I have tested on SCE & AMS in win7.
forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2675769

The app lets you run (almost) any game in "windowed borderless" mode. The website link doesn't work anymore but I found the app and re-uploaded it here. Hope it can help someone out there.
mega.nz/#!8MUCEKrT!BH_dDsCXs1864ZCgb0IhzCOT16Z0u6iCYYbmrDL3LXM

 

[Dietmar]

Try using a boarder-less window, set from the AMS config tool.

Yes, I know, that's what I was doing actually, but it costs frame rates and I was hoping to find another solution.
Thanks anyway!

 

[Dietmar]

Here's an alternative, it's from 2011 and still works perfectly. I have tested on SCE & AMS in win7.
forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2675769

The app lets you run (almost) any game in "windowed borderless" mode. The website link doesn't work anymore but I found the app and re-uploaded it here. Hope it can help someone out there.
mega.nz/#!8MUCEKrT!BH_dDsCXs1864ZCgb0IhzCOT16Z0u6iCYYbmrDL3LXM

As Gringo explained above, AMS can do this actually by itself (and SCE/rF1&2 as well).

Thanks anyway

 

[Dann Murillo]

Yes Sir, I understand that but someone said it costs fps, which seemed odd, so I am just sharing an option with the group.

And I didnt know SCE & RF1 have borderless mode integrated? Where is that?