Minimizing issue with F@H client

It seems when running the F@H client in the background on any of my computers, that it minimizes any program that switches video modes. Problem goes away as soon as I shut down the client.

The is a rather annoying issue, and has prevented me from installing F@H on any rig I could potentially use for gaming. Does anybody know of a fix? The has happened with all versions of the client, from the 3x days all the way to the new v5 clients.

Odd. Got any examples?

I've been running FAH3/4/5 now on my primary gaming system through three different boards (Gigabyte/1800+ through K8N/A64), playing UT and successors, and never have seen an instance of what you're describing.

If I'm understanding this (and this is all example), your desktop is running at 1600x1200, FAH is running in the background, you start a game that switches video mode down to 1280x1024, and the game starts minimized.

Let's say I'm running my desktop at one resolution, and I load up a game (say bf42) and I run that game at the same resolution as my desktop - but a different refresh rate - it starts minimized. I can bring it up again, actually get into a real game (so that there is a refresh change again, or even just a switch from 2D to 3D) and it minimizes again.

The same holds true for most every game except HL, where when it minimizes once at the beginning, but then doesn't have problems afterwards. This is most irritating.

Problems such as you describe are why many people don't mess with the graphical client and instead run the console version of F@H. I'm assumning you're running the graphical client which uses OpenGL for display. The problem may lie with the OpenGL driver on your system. OpenGL on Windows systems (all systems?) does not share the video display at all well. It may not be unique to F@H, other OpenGL apps minimized might generate the same effect on your system. The simplest solution (workaround actually) is to switch to the console client.

Good Luck!

Yup, a lot of people start out with the graphical client. If you have been at this a while, you will find the console version to be a total no brainier. It just runs, you forget it’s there. It affects nothing else you do, multi media work, games etc. A very well behaved program for most users.

Luck.

What version of Windows are you using?

I have had this issue under:

Windows 2000 SP2, SP3, SP4
Windows XP, SP1, SP1a, SP2

I have been using the GUI client on my windows boxes, and the console app for my linux ones. I think I'll just ditch the GUI version.

kleptophobiac said:

I have been using the GUI client on my windows boxes, and the console app for my linux ones. I think I'll just ditch the GUI version.

Click to expand...

good chioce. it should be more efficient as well as resolve your problem.

Seconded. GUIs are for games, console is for power. Use LPerry's excellent EM3 to track your progress (and get a small fix of graphical goodness)

I've never run the graphics version of the client. It's good enough that Stanford sees it, I don't need to.