Launching the program in windowed mode. We launch computer games in a window

Running the game in window mode is relevant in cases where new Operating Systems old games are installed. That's when the resolution issue comes in, as apps released a few years ago run at full deployment in terrible quality. Another reason why the game is often switched to windowed mode is conspiracy. Quickly switch between windows if you are suddenly distracted from work in the office - there is nothing easier. Let's take a closer look at how to run the game in windowed mode, what methods exist for this today and for which applications they can be used.

Keyboard Shortcuts for Windowed Mode

The most simple and accessible way for most games is to launch using the Alt + Enter key combination. But few other games recognize different keyboard shortcuts. You can find out about them in the "Game Settings" section.
If the game does not respond to the specified key combination, and no others are specified in the settings, then use the following method.

Right-click on the application's shortcut. In the line with the address, write "-window". For your changes to take effect, you must save them. Some games may not respond to the changed address - then add the object "-w" in the cell.

Through the settings, you can find out the hot keys that will allow you to minimize the game to a window. They can also contain special fields, by checking which you will minimize the game.

Third party programs and emulators

If none of the above methods allow you to minimize the game to a window, then you can resort to the help of additional programs specially designed to minimize the application without delay. Among the most effective are the Chinese development of D3DWindower. To use it to force minimize the application, do the following:

Download the distribution kit, follow all installation instructions.
By clicking on the plus and selecting the file with the game, you thereby add it to the program.
On the name of the program, click LMB, then click on the closed folder - and the settings will open.
Specify the width and height of the window yourself in the settings.
In the lower right corner, click on the button and select the folder with the D3DHook.dll file.
Save your settings and click on the third button in the corner of the window.

In the event that all operations were performed correctly, the program will immediately launch the game in windowed mode on its own.

Another option that will allow you to run the game in windowed mode can be an emulator. But this method is not suitable for everyone, since emulator programs put forward serious requirements for the capabilities of your PC and operating system.

A lot of gamers like to play in windowed mode. Yes, and at work, in order to hide from the boss that you are playing - many people prefer to play in the window, so that in which case they can quickly switch to another window with the mouse. Or old games are much more convenient to play in a window due to the not too high maximum resolution. I suggest ways to switch to windowed mode. Try it, don't be shy. One just right for you:

So, the ways to switch to windowed mode:

1. The most primitive way- start the game, and then press ALT and Enter together. Some games just react to this combination as a call to switch to windowed mode.

2. The method is more complicated. Create a shortcut on the desktop of the game, if it doesn't already exist.

Right-click on the shortcut and call "Properties" or "Properties"

For example: it was - “C:\Program Files (x86)\snowball.ru\MassEffectGold\MassEffect.exe”

became “”C:\Program Files (x86)\snowball.ru\MassEffectGold\MassEffectLauncher.exe” -window

Apply and exit properties. Launch the game using this shortcut.

The pitfall here is this: some games, even if you remove “-window”, will still run in a window. To fix this, replace "-window" with "-full screen".

3. Built-in way. There is no need to invent anything here. Many games, especially modern ones, already support running games in windowed mode by default. It is enough to find the desired item in the settings and check the box.

4. If nothing helped. Well, here you need to search on a special game forum or just on the Internet to see if a particular game starts. Usually, if a windowed mode is built into the game, then the developer trumpets about it everywhere - especially on the game's website.

5. If the game began to slow down in windowed mode - switch to full screen mode. It means that either your computer can’t cope with the game (it’s not strange - resources may be required even more for playing in the window) or the game can’t cope with the computer (the developer simply didn’t optimize or maybe even didn’t test the game in windowed mode).

Windowed mode is the best conspiracy. Why play in windowed mode at all? It is from him that it is easiest to switch to another window when the boss, wife, parents or a cat suddenly entered the room, which is very against your pastime. But seriously, this question may be relevant for fans of old games. As a rule, such games have a very low resolution and look terrible when expanded to full screen. In addition, windowed mode is convenient for switching to other tabs, allowing you to instantly return back to the game, without long wait“loading” textures, locations, and so on.

But how to run the game in windowed mode? Full screen mode in some games can be disabled in the graphic settings of the game itself, with others you will need to apply a couple of tricks. In this article we will talk about all known methods.

In the game, press ALT+Enter. This is a classic combo that works in a lot of fullscreen applications and puts the game in windowed mode.

Some games use other hotkeys, which can be found in the control settings menu.

Using the "-" propertywindow»

If the game does not respond to hotkeys, you should try the following steps:

Save changes and enter the game.

If that doesn't work, try "-w" instead of "-window".

With this property, launching the game using this icon will be done in windowed mode. To open the game in full screen again, you just need to delete the entered condition.

Game settings

Some games support switching to windowed mode through the settings menu - you just need to check the graphic settings menu and the game will open in a window.

Using Third Party Programs

The most common program for forcing a game into windowed mode is the Chinese D3DWindower, quite old, but working.

In order to play in the window with it, you must:

Download the program, install it and run it.
Click on the "plus" and select the file with the game - it will appear in the program list.
Select the game and click on the closed folder icon - the settings window will open, where in the first tab you will need to:
- set the desired width and height of the window - in the first two input fields, respectively;
- make sure that there is a checkmark to the right of them;
- press the button on the right at the bottom of the window, then select from the folder with the D3DHook.dll program;
- save the settings and click on the third button on the right in the main menu of the program.

If everything is done correctly, the program should open the game in windowed mode.

Attention: on the way to D3DWindower there should be no Cyrillic characters!

Using the emulator

If this program did not help you, you can try using system emulators, however, this method is very demanding on computer resources and is not suitable for everyone.

In order to run the game through the system emulator, you can use Windows Virtual PC or Vmware, which can be downloaded from the links from the official sites. Such programs create a so-called virtual machine - "a computer in a computer" and usually work in windowed mode, so any game launched in this way will be in the window of the emulator program. This method requires a lot of configuration, and the virtual machine takes up quite a lot of hard disk space, so we recommend using this method only if you are already working with it. Setting up the emulator just for the sake of running the game in windowed mode is too time consuming and time consuming.

However, if you still decide to try, then you will need an OS installation image, best of all, Windows, since it is compatible with most games, an emulator distribution kit, time and patience. You will need to do the following:

Install one of the above programs and run it.
Following the instructions, indicate to the program the path to the image of the installation disk with the OS, set the amount of disk space allocated to the virtual machine (as a rule, 20 GB is enough for the emulator to work correctly) free space, but in our case everything will depend on the size of the game you want to run in it).
Wait for the installation of the OS, complete it, following the instructions of the installer.
Reboot the virtual machine.
Install the game on it and all the necessary additional software (Visual C ++, DirectX, etc.).
Run and hope that your computer has enough performance.

It is worth remembering that playing in windowed mode, especially when using third-party software (especially through a virtual machine), requires more resources, and therefore may slow down, freeze and work incorrectly, especially if you play on a weak computer or run in parallel a large number of other programs.

Any computer user at least sometimes, but plays games. Someone does it after work or instead of it. Others buy a new PC with the intent to play computer games. No matter how powerful the computer is, a problem can always happen when installed game will not start. There are many reasons for this.

Let's delve into the topic in more detail and find out why this problem happens and how to deal with it.

Checking requirements

First, you need to look system requirements for Game. They will either be on the box or on the official website. It often happens that the game is made for processors certain brand AMD or Intel or for a specific video card. Then there may be problems with launching on other hardware. Or does the game require a certain amount random access memory, let's say you need 8 GB, and you are only 2, then the game will not work in any way.

You can check your processor model and the amount of RAM in the computer properties.

Checking and updating drivers

Drivers are programs that control hardware connected to a PC. They are constantly needed update to keep your computer working properly. Of course, the system will continue to work and no updates, but modern games often require the latest driver versions.

Most often, games need a driver video cards. Some refuse to run until the latest version is installed. But how to check which driver versions you have? Very simple:

Now we need to update it. There are several ways to do this:

Download latest version from the official site.
If you only know the identifier, then you need to visit the site http://devid.info and type it into the search box.
For convenience, you can find on the Internet, utilities that themselves will determine the versions of your drivers and offer to update them automatically. That is, you only need to scan and choose which drivers to update.

Checking system components

Often games may not run if any of the components listed below are missing. Sometimes even installing the latest version does not save. The game may require exactly the one for which it is made.

DirectX

It is an essential component, as is the video card driver. In order for the game to start and work correctly, you need exactly that version of DirectX under which game created. Often this component is already included in game installer, but sometimes not. The latest version can be downloaded from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Download/confirmation.aspx?id=35.

net framework

This component is needed so that programs written in different languages programming. Basically, he built in into the system. But if not, you can download it from official website https://www.microsoft.com/net/download/framework.

Visual C++

This is a development environment in which various programs are created. Often this component is already included in the game installer. If not, then go to the official website and download latest version.

https://www.microsoft.com/net/download/framework - same link as framework. You can also download Visual.

Checking for viruses

Programs for cleaning and fixing errors

There are programs that will clean the system and fix registry errors. After all, because of this, the game may also not work.

CCleaner

Glary Utilities

This is a program that contains a whole complex to clean the system of debris, as well as its settings. She can do everything, and clean the registry, and defragment disk and registry, fine-tune the system, and much more.

Windowed mode is the best conspiracy. Why play in windowed mode at all? It is from him that it is easiest to switch to another window when the boss, wife, parents or a cat suddenly entered the room, which is very against your pastime. But seriously, this question may be relevant for fans of old games. As a rule, such games have a very low resolution and look terrible when expanded to full screen. In addition, windowed mode is convenient for switching to other tabs, allowing you to instantly return back to the game, without a long wait for textures, locations, and so on to “load”.

In the game, press ALT+Enter. This is a classic combo that works in a lot of fullscreen applications and puts the game in windowed mode.

Some games use other hotkeys, which can be found in the control settings menu.

Using the "-" propertywindow»

If the game does not respond to hotkeys, you should try the following steps:

Save changes and enter the game.

If that doesn't work, try "-w" instead of "-window".

With this property, launching the game using this icon will be done in windowed mode. To open the game in full screen again, you just need to delete the entered condition.

Game settings

Some games support switching to windowed mode through the settings menu - you just need to check the graphic settings menu and the game will open in a window.

Using Third Party Programs

The most common program for forcing a game into windowed mode is the Chinese D3DWindower, quite old, but working.

In order to play in the window with it, you must:

Download the program, install it and run it.
Click on the "plus" and select the file with the game - it will appear in the program list.
Select the game and click on the closed folder icon - the settings window will open, where in the first tab you will need to:
- set the desired width and height of the window - in the first two input fields, respectively;
- make sure that there is a checkmark to the right of them;
- press the button on the right at the bottom of the window, then select from the folder with the D3DHook.dll program;
- save the settings and click on the third button on the right in the main menu of the program.

If everything is done correctly, the program should open the game in windowed mode.

Attention: on the way to D3DWindower there should be no Cyrillic characters!

Using the emulator

If this program did not help you, you can try using system emulators, however, this method is very demanding on computer resources and is not suitable for everyone.

Install one of the above programs and run it.
Following the instructions, indicate to the program the path to the image of the installation disk with the OS, set the amount of disk space allocated to the virtual machine (as a rule, 20 GB of free space is enough for the emulator to work correctly, but in our case everything will depend on the size of the game you want in it run).
Wait for the installation of the OS, complete it, following the instructions of the installer.
Reboot the virtual machine.
Install the game on it and all the necessary additional software (Visual C ++, DirectX, etc.).
Run and hope that your computer has enough performance.

It is worth remembering that playing in windowed mode, especially using third-party software (especially through a virtual machine), requires more resources, and therefore may slow down, freeze and work incorrectly, especially if you play on a weak computer or a large number of others are running in parallel. programs.

Table label of the game, if there is none. If there is a label, you will operate on it. Click on the shortcut with the right mouse button, select "Properties" from the drop-down menu ("Properties" - for the English version of the OS). Add "-window" to the address line of the game. For example:
Was - "D:\Games\Data\Gothic.exe";

It became - "D:\Games\Data\Gothic.exe -window".

Click on the "Apply" button and exit. Now launch the game using the edited shortcut. It is worth noting that some games continue to run in the window even if you remove the "-window" inscription. Here you need to write another inscription, namely “full screen”.

The third way is built-in. The fact is that many modern games provide windowed mode. You just need to activate the appropriate option in the game settings and that's it.

In some cases it is convenient to run game in the window mode. For example, if you want to quickly switch between windows or play old games, most of which do not support high resolution modern monitors. There are several ways to switch to windowed mode in the Windows operating system.

Instruction

Before trying various ways to start windowed mode, check if the game has such a setting. To do this, launch the game and go to the "Settings" menu. Select "Video" and find the corresponding function. If it is missing, then you can try other options.

Start the game. After it is fully loaded, press the Alt and Enter keys on the keyboard at the same time. As a rule, many games then go into windowed mode. If this method did not help, then it will be necessary to try out more complex options.

Find the shortcut for your game on your desktop. If it is not there, then open the folder with the game and find the file to run it. Hold it with the right mouse button and drag it to the desktop. A menu will appear in which you need to select the "Create Shortcut" command. You can also just right-click on the file and select "Create Shortcut", then move it to the desired location.

Call the "Properties" menu for the game shortcut. Find the "Object" item, which contains the path to the game, select it and add at the end - window. For example, there was a value: C:/Games/Counter-Strike 1.6 Condition-Zero/hl.exe, and it will become: C:/Games/Counter-Strike 1.6 Condition-Zero/hl.exe - window.

Save your settings and launch the game from the shortcut. If you want to run the game in full screen again, then simply delete the entry you made. In some cases, the launch will still occur in windowed mode, to fix this, write - full screen instead of -window.

Look for information about the windowed mode of your game on the forums and sites dedicated to its settings and walkthrough. Some games require you to enter special codes or commands, while others have special additional programs to run in a window. In doing so, be very careful. If you are playing

Many of us sometimes want to remember the past and play classic computer applications. This often raises the question of how to run the game in a window.

Unfortunately, most older applications are not easy to get to work correctly on modern PCs equipped with Windows 7 operating system or later versions of Microsoft software.

For example, the screen resolution may be 640x480 or even less. On modern HD monitors, this resolution looks, to put it mildly, terrible.

To solve the problem, you need to run the application in windowed mode. Some games offer a built-in feature for the user to launch an application in a window. But what about programs whose developers have not provided for such an opportunity?

There are several solutions to the problem that will help you run in windowed mode not only old, but also new applications.

First of all, you need to try holding down the Alt and Enter key combination on the keyboard while the program is running in full screen mode. This is the easiest way to solve the problem. As a result, some games may automatically go into windowed mode, but not all.

Many applications can be switched to window mode using internal settings.

In any game there is a start menu, where there is always an item "Settings" or "Options". There is usually a sub-item "Video Settings" or "Graphics Settings", in which application developers often provide a function to disable full-screen mode. For example, in the game Dota 2, this function is located in the "Video / Audio" sub-item.

Some programs contain .ini files that allow you to customize the game before launching it. If you're lucky, then among the launch options there may be a mode for playing in a window. .ini files are usually located in the root folder with the game (exactly in the place on the hard drive of the computer where the application was installed).

Another possible solution to the problem is to write certain commands in the program shortcut.

To do this, right-click on the icon that launches any game and try adding one of the following commands to the "Object" field:

-window;
-windowmode;
-f resolution;
-f 1024×768.

Editing the properties of a shortcut may cause the program to malfunction.

You do not need to delete everything that is written in the "Object" line by default. It is enough just to add a command to what is already available. In addition, you may need administrator rights to change the shortcut. If there are no such rights, then you should contact the owner of this PC.

Emulators

There are special emulator programs that allow you to run Windows games on the Apple Mac platform (including in windowed mode). Not all applications are successfully transferred from one platform to another, while maintaining performance, but it's worth a try. The most popular emulators today are DirectX OpenGL Wrapper, DxWnd and Glide.

If you have a desire to run a very old toy running under the DOS operating system, then it is best to use the DOSBox emulator. This program is quite easy to use and allows you to run the game in windowed mode. It is enough to start the emulator to see the emulation of games.

Owners of the Windows 7 operating system can also try Windows XP Mode, an official utility from Microsoft that allows you not only to emulate XP, but also to run the game in a window. Alternative emulators can be programs such as VMware or VirtualBox.

They are able to emulate various operating systems and display the game in windowed mode. Accordingly, all programs launched through these emulators will also be launched in the window.

The situation when you have to use several programs at the same time is a common thing for a computer user. Application programs run in windowed mode, and switching from one window to another is a breeze. But if one of these programs is a computer game, things get a little more complicated due to the fact that applications of this type run in full screen mode by default.

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Instruction

Try the easiest way to switch from full screen to windowed mode - with the game running, press Alt + Enter. If it does not work, check if the manufacturer has used other fairly common analogues of this command - the F11 key and the combination Ctrl + F for Windows or Command + M for MacOS. Another way to do without manually editing the game properties is to use the switch to windowed mode from the program settings. This option is also not available in all games, but it's worth checking - in the menu of the running application, go to the settings section and look for the setting "Screen mode" (Windowed mode) or similar to it. If such a setting exists, check the box and save the changes. If you can’t get by with the controls of the game itself, try adding the appropriate modifier to the program launch line. To do this, right-click on its shortcut on the desktop and select the "Properties" line in the context menu. If you use the item in the OS main menu to start, then do the same with the line in the menu. As a result, a window with a selected line in the "Object" field will appear on the screen. Go to the end of this line (End key) and add the -window modifier separated by a space. Then press the OK button and run the application. This method allows you to run in the window Counter Strike, Warcraft, mass effect etc. If it does not work in your game, try changing the modifier - for example, windowed mode in Sims 2 is enabled by adding -w, and in addition to this option, -win is also possible. This option can also be enabled through the settings file, if, of course, it is provided by the manufacturer. To find out, go to the game folder and look in the files for the text Fullscreen or Windowed. In Windows 7, this can be done using the search box in the upper right corner of the "Explorer" window, if you click the "File Contents" icon after entering text. The Fullscreen setting in the settings file must be disabled, i.e. assign it a value of 0, and Windowed - enable, i.e. assign 1. How easy