Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length

 
Advanced search

1411196 Posts in 69314 Topics- by 58380 Members - Latest Member: feakk

March 18, 2024, 09:50:09 PM

Need hosting? Check out Digital Ocean
(more details in this thread)
TIGSource ForumsDeveloperTechnical (Moderator: ThemsAllTook)Program launch: full screen or windowed?
Pages: [1] 2 3 4
Print
Author Topic: Program launch: full screen or windowed?  (Read 12645 times)
Christian Knudsen
Level 10
*****



View Profile WWW
« on: January 08, 2012, 07:16:57 AM »

Here's a question that's probably not all that technical in nature, but this still seemed like the proper place to ask it...

What's the preferred standard when launching a program/game for the first time (before the user has had a chance to set the options)? To launch it in full screen, windowed at the desktop resolution, or windowed smaller than the desktop resolution?
Logged

Laserbrain Studios
Currently working on Hidden Asset (TIGSource DevLog)
Netsu
Level 10
*****


proficient at just chillin'


View Profile WWW
« Reply #1 on: January 08, 2012, 08:18:05 AM »

Definitely windowed and in a smaller resolution, I don't want the game to take over my desktop when launching it for the first time and not even sure if I'll like it.
Logged

Player 3
Level 10
*****


View Profile
« Reply #2 on: January 08, 2012, 08:20:09 AM »

And if you have quality control for the visuals, be sure to set all of them on the lowest setting. Many times have I been forced to wait a while to change options because a certain developer was selfish enough to set the graphics on HIGH.
Logged
Irock
Level 5
*****


why's my avatar so big


View Profile WWW
« Reply #3 on: January 08, 2012, 08:21:15 AM »

I agree with Netsu. It's kind of jarring whenever I launch an application and it goes right into full screen. Windowed with smaller resolution by default, no doubt.
Logged

_Tommo_
Level 8
***


frn frn frn


View Profile WWW
« Reply #4 on: January 08, 2012, 08:22:13 AM »

traditional PC AAA games used to launch fullscreen at the wrong resolution, maybe with the added plus of resizing the desktop and moving all the icons.

If you don't really need the extra performance boost of the fullscreen (which anyway on modern OSes is very small) please start windowed! And make it easy to me to change the settings whenever I want.
Logged

Christian Knudsen
Level 10
*****



View Profile WWW
« Reply #5 on: January 08, 2012, 08:34:51 AM »

Excellent! That's what I was thinking as well (windowed with smaller resolution). If full screen, the user can get stuck if the program crashes or freezes on first run -- and when I run in windowed mode but full resolution on my system, the WindowsXP bar will cover the bottom of the window.

I've got options for resolution settings and full screen/window mode, so the player can easily change that. Smiley
Logged

Laserbrain Studios
Currently working on Hidden Asset (TIGSource DevLog)
BorisTheBrave
Level 10
*****


View Profile WWW
« Reply #6 on: January 08, 2012, 08:41:15 AM »

I vote for full screen. I nearly always want to use my full screen real estate when playing a game, I don't see why it shouldn't default to it. But it is annoying that many games handle full screen poorly - particularly if they fuck up your desktop. But too many also just crash or hang when you alt-tab out of them, or don't interact well with multiple monitors.

An option I quite like in games is when on first startup, they popup a tiny window prompting you for just this, which never appears again. By the time the game has truly loaded, I'm excited to play it - I don't want to have to immediately dive into config settings, and potentially replay the starting sequence a billion times.
Logged
rivon
Level 10
*****



View Profile
« Reply #7 on: January 08, 2012, 08:46:57 AM »

Fullscreen with the same resolution as is currently set on the screen. Surely not fullscreen with some other resolution. Small window is also an option...

But well, it all depends on the game. If it's some pixel art game with VGA or QVGA graphics then fullscreen is a bad idea. If it's a good-looking 3D game then fullscreen is better.
Logged
J-Snake
Level 10
*****


A fool with a tool is still a fool.


View Profile WWW
« Reply #8 on: January 08, 2012, 09:12:17 AM »

My game will start right in fullscreen. You won't need to change anything anyway.
The resolution and scaling will be done automatically properly by my software.

Personally starting in windowed mode is annoying, I want the game to go properly in full-screen right there, from there on you can still apply changes if you need it.
Logged

Independent game developer with an elaborate focus on interesting gameplay, rewarding depth of play and technical quality.<br /><br />Trap Them: http://store.steampowered.com/app/375930
Zack Bell
Level 10
*****



View Profile WWW
« Reply #9 on: January 08, 2012, 10:13:07 AM »

It really depends on the game for me. I really don't mind as long as I can manually switch between the two. I'd say that I prefer fullscreen, but I can totally agree with what Netsu said as well.
Logged

J. Kyle Pittman
Level 6
*


PostCount++;


View Profile WWW
« Reply #10 on: January 08, 2012, 10:26:56 AM »

I display an options dialog on the first launch to let the user pick. Within this dialog, I default to fullscreen at the current desktop resolution.

Logged

ThemsAllTook
Administrator
Level 10
******



View Profile WWW
« Reply #11 on: January 08, 2012, 11:01:54 AM »

Depends somewhat on the game. Some genres I'd want to play fullscreen, some I wouldn't. Starting in a window is definitely the safer bet.

Call me crazy, but running an application in full screen mode requires a bit more trust from me than running it in a window. If certain things go wrong, it's harder to recover from a full screen state than a windowed state. I like to get a feel for the quality of a game before I give it permission to take over my display.
Logged

Netsu
Level 10
*****


proficient at just chillin'


View Profile WWW
« Reply #12 on: January 08, 2012, 11:57:24 AM »

Call me crazy, but running an application in full screen mode requires a bit more trust from me than running it in a window. If certain things go wrong, it's harder to recover from a full screen state than a windowed state. I like to get a feel for the quality of a game before I give it permission to take over my display.

That's exactly how I feel. And that's why I don't mind AAA titles starting in fullscreen because I only buy them if I'm certain I'm going to play them.
Logged

kamac
Level 10
*****


Notoriously edits his posts


View Profile
« Reply #13 on: January 08, 2012, 12:30:46 PM »

Make a launcher which let's the player select in what mode does he want to run it.

Small 'mockup':

Logged

iffi
Guest
« Reply #14 on: January 08, 2012, 02:15:22 PM »

I display an options dialog on the first launch to let the user pick. Within this dialog, I default to fullscreen at the current desktop resolution.


This. A startup dialog with basic graphics options, and preferably an "always display this dialog" or "don't show this dialog again" checkbox.

Otherwise, I prefer windowed. I only occasionally have a problem with defaulting to windowed when the minimum size is too large for my netbook's 1024x600 screen. (When the size of the game is 800x600, it only fits if it's fullscreen.)
If it must be fullscreen, at least it should be at native resolution so it doesn't screw over all my windows and icons.
Logged
TheLastBanana
Level 9
****



View Profile WWW
« Reply #15 on: January 08, 2012, 05:01:03 PM »

Also keep in mind that plenty of people have firewalls enabled. If your game goes straight to fullscreen, the game might be locked out of network functionality because the warning pop-up went under the window. In a few particularly nasty cases, the game opens straight to full-screen and locked itself up trying to use network functions - at that point, you can't exit the game, you can't allow the firewall to unblock it, since you can't Alt+Tab to another window, and even Ctrl+Alt+Delete out of it because it's stuck in fullscreen. This has happened to me twice, and I've had to hard reboot my computer just to get out of it.

So, whatever mode you decide to open in, please make sure you don't do that. Concerned
Logged
Average Software
Level 10
*****

Fleeing all W'rkncacnter


View Profile WWW
« Reply #16 on: January 08, 2012, 05:30:57 PM »

I prefer to ship a separate configuration program like this:




Considering that bad video settings can make a game unusable, putting the video settings within the game itself always seemed really dumb to me.  Either way, I never default to fullscreen, and most importantly, my windows are freely resizable.  It pisses me off when a game either won't let me resize the window, or only allows me to use certain specially sanctioned window sizes.  Let me adjust the window as I see fit.
Logged



What would John Carmack do?
ThemsAllTook
Administrator
Level 10
******



View Profile WWW
« Reply #17 on: January 09, 2012, 08:01:17 AM »

my windows are freely resizable.  It pisses me off when a game either won't let me resize the window, or only allows me to use certain specially sanctioned window sizes.  Let me adjust the window as I see fit.

Seriously. I can see some argument for choosing certain resolutions where the game's art looks good, but there are plenty of good ways to handle arbitrary sizes. Even worse is when full screen resolutions are a fixed list chosen by the developer, rather than the game reading the display's capabilities and making all of the resolutions it can display available. If I can't play at the native resolution on my LCD, I'm never going to put your game into full screen mode on my computer.
Logged

rivon
Level 10
*****



View Profile
« Reply #18 on: January 09, 2012, 08:19:58 AM »

Also keep in mind that plenty of people have firewalls enabled. If your game goes straight to fullscreen, the game might be locked out of network functionality because the warning pop-up went under the window. In a few particularly nasty cases, the game opens straight to full-screen and locked itself up trying to use network functions - at that point, you can't exit the game, you can't allow the firewall to unblock it, since you can't Alt+Tab to another window, and even Ctrl+Alt+Delete out of it because it's stuck in fullscreen. This has happened to me twice, and I've had to hard reboot my computer just to get out of it.

So, whatever mode you decide to open in, please make sure you don't do that. Concerned
I think this was the case of WinXP. On Vista, CTRL+ALT+DEL has always worked for me and I think that on Win7 it works too.
Logged
Netsu
Level 10
*****


proficient at just chillin'


View Profile WWW
« Reply #19 on: January 09, 2012, 08:52:59 AM »

my windows are freely resizable.  It pisses me off when a game either won't let me resize the window, or only allows me to use certain specially sanctioned window sizes.  Let me adjust the window as I see fit.

Huh, I don't know why I haven't tried it before, for some reason I thought it wouldn't work well. But I just put it in, it took me about 3 minutes and it works flawlessly, at least on Linux. It might be worse in Windows, as it requires an OpenGL context reload on window resize.
Logged

Pages: [1] 2 3 4
Print
Jump to:  

Theme orange-lt created by panic