Anonymous edits have been disabled on the wiki. If you want to contribute please login or create an account.

Warning for game developers: PCGamingWiki staff members will only ever reach out to you using the official press@pcgamingwiki.com mail address.
Be aware of scammers claiming to be representatives or affiliates of PCGamingWiki who promise a PCGW page for a game key.

Glossary:Windowed

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Revision as of 17:49, 14 January 2021 by Rose (talk | contribs) (Undo revision 1022509 by 185.55.75.43 (talk))
This page is a stub: it lacks content and/or basic article components. You can help to expand this page by adding an image or additional information.

Graphics and video

Resolutions

Video settings

Hardware

For a list of games, see List of games that support windowed.


Key points

Can often be toggled with Alt+↵ Enter in supported games.
Windowed mode keeps custom color profiles in use for games.
Seamless task switching with no risk of crashes or freezes with a minor loss in performance.
Eliminates screen tearing on Windows due to Vsync being applied over any windows by default.[1]
Some games do not have a native windowed mode; specific workarounds may be required.
Games using Mantle don't work with AMD CrossFire while running in windowed mode.[2]
Windows 10 v1703 ("Creators Update") or later is required for HDR output inside a window

Windows

DxWnd

Actively developed and supported, includes many configuration options.
Great for Win 95/98 like games such as StarCraft, Diablo, and Quake; many presets are included.
Automatically applies any configurations while the program is running.
For games that require launching through Ubisoft Connect or Steam, the games need to be started through those programs while having DxWnd open in order for windowed mode to work. You can set DxWnd to run in the system tray on system startup to avoid having to launch it manually.
Using DxWnd[citation needed]
  1. Open DxWnd, click on Edit, then Add.
  2. Type in a name, and browse for the .exe file path.
  3. Set the preferred coordinates, size, and monitor if needed.
  4. Specify the DirectX version if it's not automatically detected.
  5. Also refer to DxWnd's help menu to read about the documentation.

Notes

DxWnd can be set up to automatically run in the tray on system startup to avoid having to launch it manually every time you need it.
  1. Place a shortcut to dxwnd.exe in the Start Menu's Startup folder.
  2. Right-click the shortcut and click Properties.
  3. In the Properties window that opens, in the Shortcut tab, change Target by adding /T to the end of the text in the field. The resulting field should look something like "<path-to-DxWnd>\dxwnd.exe" /T. The /T parameter launches DxWnd in the system tray.

3D-Analyze

Includes simple option to force windowed mode.
DirectX 8.1 and 9.0 supported; compatibility is not well documented.
Using 3D-Analyze[citation needed]
  1. Open 3D-Analyze.
  2. Select the game's .exe file.
  3. Enable Force windowed mode and run the game.

D3DWindower

Allows to store multiple configurations at once.
Cumbersome to use, has fewer configuration options.
Not maintained, may not work with some games.
Using D3DWindower[3]
  1. Run D3DWindower as administrator.
  2. Click on Add Program and open the game's .exe file.
  3. Select the game and click on Settings.
  4. In the DLL field find D3dHook.dll from the source folder and add it.
  5. Click on Run Program or double-click on it.

Special K

See Special K > Windowed for instructions.

Mouse locking

See the glossary page for potential workarounds.


References