Flip 3D + Games

Metallibus · 03-23-2008, 01:20 PM

Flip 3D used to work perfectly for me, and I used it for many things. It was especially useful while playing a game to be able to switch to bring a Firefox page to the front and be able to read it with the game drawn in the background so I could still see what was happening.

I just upgraded my graphics cards and hard drives, and reinstalled Vista Ultimate 32 bit (Same as before). Now, Flip 3D still works fine for normal programs, but if I open up a game, it wont recognize the Win+Tab hotkey. I'm not really sure what's causing this...Before I could Win+Tab out of anything and switch to anything no problem - Now it won't recognize the hotkey if I've got a game such as wow, ut3, crysis, hl2 etc. open.

Other Windows key functions seem to work. Pressing the windows key will open the start menu, Win+L will lock the computer, Win+Space opens the sidebar etc, but if I hit Win+Tab it seems to just be recognized as a Tab press.

Alt + Tab still works, but doesn't have the functionality that Flip 3D does.

Any Ideas?

Metallibus · 03-24-2008, 07:59 AM

*bump*

**Placehold** · 03-24-2008, 09:09 AM

Hey Metallibus

I apologise for not answering earlier, There is an issue where on some of the bigger games that this facility isn't useable becuase the games use Direct X 10 and unfortunatley when the games are running Aero is stopped or is made the secondary process which means that there isnt enough resources to use the Flip 3D facility.

There was a small work around but i bleive that the work around may have been removed through some new updates recently shipped

try this
1. Start\Control Panel\System and Maintenance\Administrative Tools
2. Select services
3. Find Software Licensing
4. Restart the service

Regards

Craig

Metallibus · 03-24-2008, 11:08 AM

Just tried that, and it's still the same

It got me thinking though and I think you're right about it "disabling" Aero while the games are full screen. When I hit Win+Tab games will recognize it as pressing tab. Like I said before all the other hotkeys work though...

I've also got flip3d as the second thing in my quick launch bar, so I tried pressing Win+2 (which normally will open flip3d as well) while in WoW, and it brings up the old non-Aero Alt + Tab screen with icons instead of previews. The screen goes black for a second, and then when the computer comes back with the game minimized, it switches to the Aero Alt+Tab with previews.

After I noticed that, I tried just normal alt+tab again and it does the same non-aero window, then switches to the aero one when it finishes minimizing the game.

The thing is, Flip3D used to work fine before I reinstalled windows and changed my graphics cards...So I feel like it must be a setting somewhere. I'm not sure if it makes a difference, but I used to have vista running with DX10 on a DX9 video card, and now I've got a DX10 video card.

Also, this has happened on this new install both with and without SP1.

Metallibus · 03-24-2008, 12:09 PM

I can't find a way to edit my previous post, so I'm posting what else I've found...

Because of the way DWM works in Vista, it tries to give each program a "layer" to draw to, and then decides which layers on top and draws it etc. Using this, I could have firefox over WoW etc. and WoW didn't know the difference.

For some reason, since I've reinstalled Vista, WoW won't draw back on it's own "Layer" and instead takes control. I notice when I first open it that theres the wow title bar at the top of the screen, but it looks like a classic windows title bar - not aero. It quickly disappears as the game takes over full screen. I know before that bar would occasionally show up, but it would be Aero style...

How do I force WoW and/or other games to draw back to a layer like they used to?

03-23-2008, 01:20 PM	#1 (permalink)
Metallibus Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 5 OS: Vista SP1	Flip 3D + Games Flip 3D used to work perfectly for me, and I used it for many things. It was especially useful while playing a game to be able to switch to bring a Firefox page to the front and be able to read it with the game drawn in the background so I could still see what was happening. I just upgraded my graphics cards and hard drives, and reinstalled Vista Ultimate 32 bit (Same as before). Now, Flip 3D still works fine for normal programs, but if I open up a game, it wont recognize the Win+Tab hotkey. I'm not really sure what's causing this...Before I could Win+Tab out of anything and switch to anything no problem - Now it won't recognize the hotkey if I've got a game such as wow, ut3, crysis, hl2 etc. open. Other Windows key functions seem to work. Pressing the windows key will open the start menu, Win+L will lock the computer, Win+Space opens the sidebar etc, but if I hit Win+Tab it seems to just be recognized as a Tab press. Alt + Tab still works, but doesn't have the functionality that Flip 3D does. Any Ideas?

03-24-2008, 07:59 AM	#2 (permalink)
Metallibus Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 5 OS: Vista SP1	Re: Flip 3D + Games bump

03-24-2008, 09:09 AM	#3 (permalink)
Placehold Mentor, Microsoft Support Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 847 OS: Vista home Premium My System	Re: Flip 3D + Games Hey Metallibus I apologise for not answering earlier, There is an issue where on some of the bigger games that this facility isn't useable becuase the games use Direct X 10 and unfortunatley when the games are running Aero is stopped or is made the secondary process which means that there isnt enough resources to use the Flip 3D facility. There was a small work around but i bleive that the work around may have been removed through some new updates recently shipped try this 1. Start\Control Panel\System and Maintenance\Administrative Tools 2. Select services 3. Find Software Licensing 4. Restart the service Regards Craig __________________

03-24-2008, 11:08 AM	#4 (permalink)
Metallibus Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 5 OS: Vista SP1	Re: Flip 3D + Games Just tried that, and it's still the same It got me thinking though and I think you're right about it "disabling" Aero while the games are full screen. When I hit Win+Tab games will recognize it as pressing tab. Like I said before all the other hotkeys work though... I've also got flip3d as the second thing in my quick launch bar, so I tried pressing Win+2 (which normally will open flip3d as well) while in WoW, and it brings up the old non-Aero Alt + Tab screen with icons instead of previews. The screen goes black for a second, and then when the computer comes back with the game minimized, it switches to the Aero Alt+Tab with previews. After I noticed that, I tried just normal alt+tab again and it does the same non-aero window, then switches to the aero one when it finishes minimizing the game. The thing is, Flip3D used to work fine before I reinstalled windows and changed my graphics cards...So I feel like it must be a setting somewhere. I'm not sure if it makes a difference, but I used to have vista running with DX10 on a DX9 video card, and now I've got a DX10 video card. Also, this has happened on this new install both with and without SP1.

03-24-2008, 12:09 PM	#5 (permalink)
Metallibus Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 5 OS: Vista SP1	Re: Flip 3D + Games I can't find a way to edit my previous post, so I'm posting what else I've found... Because of the way DWM works in Vista, it tries to give each program a "layer" to draw to, and then decides which layers on top and draws it etc. Using this, I could have firefox over WoW etc. and WoW didn't know the difference. For some reason, since I've reinstalled Vista, WoW won't draw back on it's own "Layer" and instead takes control. I notice when I first open it that theres the wow title bar at the top of the screen, but it looks like a classic windows title bar - not aero. It quickly disappears as the game takes over full screen. I know before that bar would occasionally show up, but it would be Aero style... How do I force WoW and/or other games to draw back to a layer like they used to?