Jump to content
  • Sign Up

Game alt-tabbing or flashing desktop [merged]


Recommended Posts

I have a Radeon GPU, and I have also noticed that this bug occurs when trying to change certain graphic options like light adaption. Both checking and unchecking that option will flash the desktop. Maybe looking into how this update is affecting the GPU's interaction with the game might help narrow down the issue.

It's not just light adaptation. When I tried to change the display to "Best appearance" and back to "Autodetect" for taking screenshots, it also flashed to desktop and back. Maybe it's anything that will change the display options of the game? It didn't seem to be much of an issue when I was using waypoints within a map e.g. different waypoints within the Grove, but to other maps, to WvW, to PvP etc - all of these cause the game to 'minimise' for a couple seconds. It usually flips back to the game when the new map is almost done loading.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 464
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

I am experiencing the issue on my laptop, but not my desktop. Both have intel CPUs, NVIDIA GPU and the latest Windows 10. For me, it seems to be tied to running the game full-screen with a lower than native resolution. My laptop has a 2k screen, but I run the game 1080p.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had this problem for a long time, long before this last windows update (and also, I don't have this problem from this last windows update). I know some of you aren't running any programs but humor me and check for Akamai NetSession. That was the program running in the background that caused the problem for me, an yes it did exactly what the screenshots did for me as well, and it only did it when I was running GW2. Any other game and it didn't interfere.

Some other games use Akamai NetSession to push updates through, though funny enough it still updates with it disabled. However my issue wasn't as bad as every time you hit a load screen, but it would happen several times through a game play session.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK I don't know if this can help Arenanet with the issue, but here is my experience:Most of the time I use Windowed Fullscreen mode and this "issue" never appeared so I went an set it to Fullscreen to see what everyone is talking about. On my first map load I got the same issue everyone describes here. Now here is an interesting thing that happened to me, I was in Lake Doric and used the portal to Divinity's Reach, screen went black and like an "alt-tab" then went back to normal and I was inside Divinity's Reach. For a test, I swapped my resolution to "Windowed Fullscreen" and WITHOUT touching the portal again my screen went black, showed me my character in Lake Doric for a second, then went back to Divinity's Reach. The split second I was in Lake Doric I was stuck and it was the exact same state (same people around me) as when I loaded the first time.

After some more tests I figured that this happens all the time, regardless of how much time passed from the loading. When I swap to Windowed Fullscreen my screen temporarily shows me my latest loading point, then goes back to where I was before changing the setting.

If it also helps Arenanet (same render system) this same thing happens in Guild Wars 1. If you have Guild Wars 1 installed, try to see if the same thing happens there too, because when I set it to full screen it does the exact same thing. Windowed Fullscreen (which was added recently to Guild Wars 1) works fine, and Windowed Fullscreen works fine in Guild Wars 2

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can confirm that it could be because of the recent Windows 10 build. I updated Monday or Tuesday and after that, I noticed the game "alt-tabbing" of flashing to desktop when loading characters, moving between maps, porting from one side of map to another. I haven't played any other games because my primary HDD only holds some 240GB (SSD) and most of my bigger games are between 50-100GB.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

sending anet your computer specs wont do anything. the common factor here is the april windows update. clearly has nothing to do with individual computer specs. turning off focus assist for me didnt solve the issue, it made the "load screen alt tabbing" faster but still annoying nonetheless.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@"billanator.1259" said:I can confirm that it could be because of the recent Windows 10 build. I updated Monday or Tuesday and after that, I noticed the game "alt-tabbing" of flashing to desktop when loading characters, moving between maps, porting from one side of map to another. I haven't played any other games because my primary HDD only holds some 240GB (SSD) and most of my bigger games are between 50-100GB.

I've been playing 3 other games, RIFT, SWTOR, and WoW, and they are running beautifully. It's just this one. It's not Windows, it's Anet, as this is also happening in GW1. If it were Windows then you would think GW wouldn't be the only one with this issue. My best mate says Wild Star and Warframe is running great, and I know Secret World Legends doesn't have this problem. Anyway if you need me I'll be hanging out behind the Dairy Queen eating a Toblerone, and looking good. Have a great day

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is happening to me since the last patch. Swapping between desktop and game screen between loading screens. It also lags onto the desktop after hitting "PLAY" from the launch app. It'll lag, then load the character select, then flash to desktop, then back to the character select. Then after double clicking the character to load them, flashes to desktop and then goes back in game when the world loads. I am on an SSD, so it doesn't take long whatsoever, but doing this does put some stress on people's graphics cards.

980ti16 gigs RAMintel core i7 6700 4ghzWin 10 home 64-bitNo background apps loaded save Steam and Blizzard launcher, usually. Closed those, same issue. This only happens with GW2 and no other app or game whatsoever.

All drivers current and installed. All OS updated.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Magister.8736They you guys try saying it's probably my discord? You think I didn't already try without discord?Really, Anet?

The problem appeared right after the recent Windows update, and it's clearly a compatibility issue with GW2 in Fullscreen. That's something that can be fixed only at your end.

 

Look:

@Amhiel.6195 said:I've been playing 3 other games, RIFT, SWTOR, and WoW, and they are running beautifully. It's just this one. It's not Windows, it's Anet, as this is also happening in GW1.

I'm not mad, Anet. Problems come up, but you won't solve this by looking the wrong way.

 

 

@"MadBomber.3719" said:sending anet your computer specs wont do anything. the common factor here is the april windows update. clearly has nothing to do with individual computer specs. turning off focus assist for me didnt solve the issue, it made the "load screen alt tabbing" faster but still annoying nonetheless.

That's exactly right.

I understand if Technical Support generally wants your specs and often sees issues with other programs in the background, but can we please move past that here? This is as clear a case as you'll get: the trouble happened immediately after the Windows update, it's 100% consistent, I'm not running Discord or add-ons.

Please recognize this as an issue between Windows and GW2's Fullscreen, because then you can focus on a fix.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • ArenaNet Staff

@Amhiel.6195 said:

@"Cassiel.9230" said:Same issue here. Running the game as administrator and turning off the new Windows-Fokus-assistant was able to reduce the duration the "alt-tabbing" (similar to duration in the video above).For me this started after the new Windows 10 update. I have a 1070 graphics-card and just installed the newest drivers. Right now im reinstalling gw2, but after a first try the "alt-tabbing" is still there. As soon as the game is installed completely i will write an ingame ticket.

Hey there, Cassiel (and anyone else who might be thinking about sending in a ticket!)

Can you submit your ticket through the
instead of through an in-game ticket? While the team will see and review reports that come in through the in-game system, we support agents can't reply to them and open a dialogue with you to easily request additional logs or to recommend other troubleshooting steps to you.

I've done that for over a week now, and they keep asking me for the same info that's in my original ticket. They are either not reading them, or trying really hard to dis us while buying some time. I knew what they would be asking for so I gave them everything. Now their solution is to just run in windowed mode which is not an option for me because windowed has microstutter, and gsync although can set it to windowed and fullscreen runs like garbage in that mode.

Hey Amhiel! I found your ticket, and it actually doesn't look like you did
quite
what we needed. You did send us a list of some hardware you have in your computer, but we did not receive the attachment of the
report that the agent requested from you.

While, yes, this program does send us some of the hardware info you provided, it does far more than that - It will show us additional hardware specs, list the version date of your operating system and drivers, run some short network tests, and highlight any programs which might be interfering with the Guild Wars 2 program in a way that makes it run improperly.

Also, while I understand running in Windowed mode isn't always the most preferred, we often just recommend it as a temporary fix or a test, not as a permanent solution - often, if the an issue occurs in fullscreen but not when playing in a window, this can help us to narrow down the possible causes.

It would be great if you could reply to the agent and let them know that this does resolve the issue, but that you don't prefer that play method for various reasons, and run the GameAdvisor test when you get a moment! We're only going to be able to solve this issue if the users who are experiencing it contact and work with us to try a number of tests and temporary solutions to see what works. :smile:

@Magister.8736I did send it, then you asked for it again. I sent it again, and can show you that email too if you like. So here I am with the proof of sending it twice, and you guys have nothing. You know this is a huge issue for many people, some more than others. Mine started out simple map change like everyone else, but turned into flashing to desktop during play ever few mins. Star Wars: Old Republic, RIFT, and World of Warcraft are fine, so it's not windows update issue. It's you guys who couldn't keep with the update like everyone else has. Look I'm not upset that I can't play the game. I'm just really disappointed how it's being handles, and you guys keep asking me for the same info I've sent you already two times. In your initial automated reply it asks for that info. I sent it, and while I was doing it I said to myself " this is where they start doing the copy past replies for a while, asking for the same info" Looks like I was correct. Ask for letting them know. Well it's in the original ticket that it works in windowed mode. Here is my original ticket strait from your site. Copied and pasted. (When I launch the game it flashes to desktop, and even upon simple Way Point map change or character change it flashes to desktop for several seconds. This issue also causes Discord audio to break badly if someone is talking when it flashes. I have run DDU and did a complete display driver installation and update, did -repair to shortcut client, and have windows 10 latest update they released a couple days ago. I have tried with and without admin rights. Still same issue. This only happens when my gw2 is set to fullscreen to my native resolution with is 2560x1440p. Windowed Fullscreen doesn't cause this to happen, but my Gsync doesn't work in Windows Fullscreen, and winfullscreen stutters anyway so I don't use it. World of Warcraft, Swtor, and Rift are not having this problem which leads me to believe it's you and not my system. Yes I am using the 64bit client since you released it. I7 8700k, GTX 1070, 15gb Ram, M.2 SSD in case you needed my specs) Where in there do you see me not already telling them it works in windowed mode? They you guys try saying it's probably my discord? You think I didn't already try without discord? My bad I had typed 15gb instead of 16 gb ram. I would assume you guys knew that was a typing error. Anyway. Look GM, I totally prepared to make this and easy ticket to work on, but you guys completely botched it. Anyway. have a great day. I am off to play WoW for now. Be back later.
auTqaFa.png

Hey Amhiel, I don't know what to tell you, but that email didn't reach us. You might want to check your drafts folder.Your original email to us did not include any attachments, and the one reply we received from you on Monday did have your crash log attached, but not the GameAdvisor. We haven't received any replies to ticket #6896605 or any others with your name on it since then. I'd really recommend trying again because it sounds like something got stuck somewhere. We really can't proceed until we receive a reply from you, so we'd appreciate a response as to whether our last suggestion worked, even if that response doesn't come with a Game Advisor attached.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • ArenaNet Staff

@"MadBomber.3719" said:sending anet your computer specs wont do anything. the common factor here is the april windows update. clearly has nothing to do with individual computer specs. turning off focus assist for me didnt solve the issue, it made the "load screen alt tabbing" faster but still annoying nonetheless.

As I said before, Game Advisor contains far more than a hardware report, and it really streamlines the process even if some small pieces of it turn out to be irrelevant.

While it's quite obvious this alt-tabbing/minimizing issue has really taken off with a recent Windows or game update, the symptom itself is not new at all, so if we can help someone out by discovering that their issue is actually related to something else that we are confident we can fix, then it's a win win: We get to solve your issue, and you get to play interruption-free much sooner.

And if that's not the case? At least we have a ticket open for discussion with you an additional information that we can add to the evidence pile to try and figure out what's causing the problem.

Please, please, please: If you have not already, submit a ticket and work with the agents who reply so that we can get this solved. We can't figure this out with a casual forum thread alone (as much as we'd love it.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@GM Magister.8736 said:

@"Cassiel.9230" said:Same issue here. Running the game as administrator and turning off the new Windows-Fokus-assistant was able to reduce the duration the "alt-tabbing" (similar to duration in the video above).For me this started after the new Windows 10 update. I have a 1070 graphics-card and just installed the newest drivers. Right now im reinstalling gw2, but after a first try the "alt-tabbing" is still there. As soon as the game is installed completely i will write an ingame ticket.

Hey there, Cassiel (and anyone else who might be thinking about sending in a ticket!)

Can you submit your ticket through the
instead of through an in-game ticket? While the team will see and review reports that come in through the in-game system, we support agents can't reply to them and open a dialogue with you to easily request additional logs or to recommend other troubleshooting steps to you.

I've done that for over a week now, and they keep asking me for the same info that's in my original ticket. They are either not reading them, or trying really hard to dis us while buying some time. I knew what they would be asking for so I gave them everything. Now their solution is to just run in windowed mode which is not an option for me because windowed has microstutter, and gsync although can set it to windowed and fullscreen runs like garbage in that mode.

Hey Amhiel! I found your ticket, and it actually doesn't look like you did
quite
what we needed. You did send us a list of some hardware you have in your computer, but we did not receive the attachment of the
report that the agent requested from you.

While, yes, this program does send us some of the hardware info you provided, it does far more than that - It will show us additional hardware specs, list the version date of your operating system and drivers, run some short network tests, and highlight any programs which might be interfering with the Guild Wars 2 program in a way that makes it run improperly.

Also, while I understand running in Windowed mode isn't always the most preferred, we often just recommend it as a temporary fix or a test, not as a permanent solution - often, if the an issue occurs in fullscreen but not when playing in a window, this can help us to narrow down the possible causes.

It would be great if you could reply to the agent and let them know that this does resolve the issue, but that you don't prefer that play method for various reasons, and run the GameAdvisor test when you get a moment! We're only going to be able to solve this issue if the users who are experiencing it contact and work with us to try a number of tests and temporary solutions to see what works. :smile:

@Magister.8736I did send it, then you asked for it again. I sent it again, and can show you that email too if you like. So here I am with the proof of sending it twice, and you guys have nothing. You know this is a huge issue for many people, some more than others. Mine started out simple map change like everyone else, but turned into flashing to desktop during play ever few mins. Star Wars: Old Republic, RIFT, and World of Warcraft are fine, so it's not windows update issue. It's you guys who couldn't keep with the update like everyone else has. Look I'm not upset that I can't play the game. I'm just really disappointed how it's being handles, and you guys keep asking me for the same info I've sent you already two times. In your initial automated reply it asks for that info. I sent it, and while I was doing it I said to myself " this is where they start doing the copy past replies for a while, asking for the same info" Looks like I was correct. Ask for letting them know. Well it's in the original ticket that it works in windowed mode. Here is my original ticket strait from your site. Copied and pasted. (When I launch the game it flashes to desktop, and even upon simple Way Point map change or character change it flashes to desktop for several seconds. This issue also causes Discord audio to break badly if someone is talking when it flashes. I have run DDU and did a complete display driver installation and update, did -repair to shortcut client, and have windows 10 latest update they released a couple days ago. I have tried with and without admin rights. Still same issue. This only happens when my gw2 is set to fullscreen to my native resolution with is 2560x1440p. Windowed Fullscreen doesn't cause this to happen, but my Gsync doesn't work in Windows Fullscreen, and winfullscreen stutters anyway so I don't use it. World of Warcraft, Swtor, and Rift are not having this problem which leads me to believe it's you and not my system. Yes I am using the 64bit client since you released it. I7 8700k, GTX 1070, 15gb Ram, M.2 SSD in case you needed my specs) Where in there do you see me not already telling them it works in windowed mode? They you guys try saying it's probably my discord? You think I didn't already try without discord? My bad I had typed 15gb instead of 16 gb ram. I would assume you guys knew that was a typing error. Anyway. Look GM, I totally prepared to make this and easy ticket to work on, but you guys completely botched it. Anyway. have a great day. I am off to play WoW for now. Be back later.
auTqaFa.png

Hey Amhiel, I don't know what to tell you, but that email didn't reach us. You might want to check your drafts folder.Your original email to us did not include any attachments, and the one reply we received from you on Monday did have your crash log attached, but not the GameAdvisor. We haven't received any replies to ticket #6896605 or any others with your name on it since then. I'd really recommend trying again because it sounds like something got stuck somewhere. We really can't proceed until we receive a reply from you, so we'd appreciate a response as to whether our last suggestion worked, even if that response doesn't come with a Game Advisor attached.

Of course you didn't receive it. Not this one I just showed you, nor the other. Those emails are in my sent folder, and the were sent by clicking reply to your replies. I'm done with this nonsense.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Amhiel.6195 said:

@"GM Magister.8736" said:

Hey Amhiel! I found your ticket, and it actually doesn't look like you did
quite
what we needed. You did send us a list of some hardware you have in your computer, but we did not receive the attachment of the
report that the agent requested from you.

While, yes, this program does send us some of the hardware info you provided, it does far more than that - It will show us additional hardware specs, list the version date of your operating system and drivers, run some short network tests, and highlight any programs which might be interfering with the Guild Wars 2 program in a way that makes it run improperly.

Also, while I understand running in Windowed mode isn't always the most preferred, we often just recommend it as a temporary fix or a test, not as a permanent solution - often, if the an issue occurs in fullscreen but not when playing in a window, this can help us to narrow down the possible causes.

It would be great if you could reply to the agent and let them know that this does resolve the issue, but that you don't prefer that play method for various reasons, and run the GameAdvisor test when you get a moment! We're only going to be able to solve this issue if the users who are experiencing it contact and work with us to try a number of tests and temporary solutions to see what works. :smile:

Can I ask a quick question @GM Magister.8736 : I expect you guys are playing the game just like the rest of us. At least from time to time hopefully, and I would guess a fair number of you use Windows 10 and have updated it with the 1803 update. Since you request the around 100 of us posting here experiencing this issue to send in our hardware configurations, am I right in concluding that none of you have this issue on your computers?

Actually I did send it, and I even sent it again.

I sent the Game Advisor report yesterday immediately after I got the email with the program. Then today I got an email requesting the report. I sent it again, but it looks like there may be some internal communication gaps in the CS dept.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@LINKAZZATORE.8135 said:my windows 10 has just decided to autoupdate itself and now i got the same issue :D

Welcome aboard brother!!

I too am experiencing the same issue.... But for me GW2 kept on crashing everytime i hit the login button to load up the game. I got so fed up with it that I rolled back to Windows 1709. Problems went away but now the 'Enable Post Processing' option in GW1 is greyed out and it makes the game look funny.

Ive updated my Nvidia drivers to the latest with no result so rolled them back again to the ones that I was using before that were working with everything on before I updated to 1803 and I still cant enable post processing...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To the people who have rolled back or are intentionally holding back on installing the new windows update, its usually a bad idea to do so. These updates often contain security features and patches, and you can leave your computer vulnerable for the sake of convenience. Better to put up with this bug for now rather than putting your computer and personal safety at risk.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I updated Win 10 to the April feature update last night and immediately started experiencing this problem. Like others, I turned off focus assist and that changed it from showing the desktop the entire time a loading screen would be present (a few seconds) to just blinking to the desktop right before the map actually loads (less than a second).

It's feels like Windows is treating the game as if it's not running in the moment between the loading screen ending and the actual map loading.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@X T D.6458 said:To the people who have rolled back or are intentionally holding back on installing the new windows update, its usually a bad idea to do so. These updates often contain security features and patches, and you can leave your computer vulnerable for the sake of convenience. Better to put up with this bug for now rather than putting your computer and personal safety at risk.

I'll wait for the next update in June.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Dying Oblivion.8296 said:

@"X T D.6458" said:To the people who have rolled back or are intentionally holding back on installing the new windows update, its usually a bad idea to do so. These updates often contain security features and patches, and you can leave your computer vulnerable for the sake of convenience. Better to put up with this bug for now rather than putting your computer and personal safety at risk.

I'll wait for the next update in June.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WannaCry_ransomware_attack

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...