"Enter+Alt" to make the DCS full-screen is no longer to work for the stable version "2.7.18.30765"

[Hiob]

yeah, problem with alt+enter is (was) it‘s a toggle. So if you don‘t have any secondary indication, you could toggle it, but still not be sure which mode it is. 

[Hiob]

17 minutes ago, silverdevil said:

this is a general answer for any game claiming to be full screen and how to test. https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/348301/how-to-tell-if-game-is-running-in-fullscreen-and-borderless-window and https://www.technewstoday.com/how-to-full-screen-a-game/

haha first fix is ALT+ENTER LOOOOL!

tbh. Nothing of that seems a 100% reliable fullscreen test. HOWEVER, there are some interesting trouble shooting possibilities for the people with problems. Especially in the second guide. The different scaling options in the nvidia options once gave me troubles when I first started using a TV as a monitor. It‘s sorted out now, but that was the culprit then.

[silverdevil]

50 minutes ago, Hiob said:

tbh. Nothing of that seems a 100% reliable fullscreen test. HOWEVER, there are some interesting trouble shooting possibilities for the people with problems. Especially in the second guide. The different scaling options in the nvidia options once gave me troubles when I first started using a TV as a monitor. It‘s sorted out now, but that was the culprit then.

i just thought of something. i know some people do not use geforce experience. i happen to use it. each time i start DCS or another full screen sim, the in-game overlay message in the corner appears. it does not do it for apps like word, excel, notepad, etc. i feel as though that is proof the app is in full screen. 

[scommander2]

Thanks for links and provide the update from my ticket from ED:

Quote

DCS runs on Monitor #2 by default, unless of course you have only two monitors in your configuration. Make sure that the external screen is set to number two in the Window settings (you may have changed the numbering earlier). At the same time, you can drag the windows of the remaining open applications to the main screen of the laptop (for example, so as not to miss an important message in the messenger).
In fact, the Alt +Enter combination is not important in your case if you will use Alt+Tab. Set the desired maximum resolution for the game in advance.
On our forum, quite a few users share their experience of using multi monitor configurations. I recommend this post to read:
https://forum.dcs.world/topic/258724-how-to-multi-monitor-mfcd-display-export-set-up-guide-jan-2021/
 

"Alt+Tab" is mentioned in @silverdevil links... To me, it is just  how to select an background app to the front screen.... Correct me if I am wrong...

[Hiob]

9 hours ago, silverdevil said:

i just thought of something. i know some people do not use geforce experience. i happen to use it. each time i start DCS or another full screen sim, the in-game overlay message in the corner appears. it does not do it for apps like word, excel, notepad, etc. i feel as though that is proof the app is in full screen. 

Or maybe they are not games? They don't access directX or similar. I think Geforce Experience - though crap - is capable to tell a game from an application.
Personally I would recommend to drop GF Experience unless you 100% positively need one of it's functions. But most of them are better fullfilled by Afterburner.

It's your choice of course. I see it as an unecessary trouble maker in the first place.

[silverdevil]

2 hours ago, Hiob said:

Or maybe they are not games? They don't access directX or similar. I think Geforce Experience - though crap - is capable to tell a game from an application.
Personally I would recommend to drop GF Experience unless you 100% positively need one of it's functions. But most of them are better fullfilled by Afterburner.

It's your choice of course. I see it as an unecessary trouble maker in the first place.

indeed. my previous computer benefited from no geforce experience. this latest computer is unaffected.

[Hiob]

5 minutes ago, silverdevil said:

indeed. my previous computer benefited from no geforce experience. this latest computer is unaffected.

Well, they may - in the end - further develope and improve it. I give them that.
I still prefer to run as little processes and third party software in the background as possible. A slim and clean system has always been the best prevention from hickups I can imagine.
Of course a software can improve (Nvidia and Windows for that matter), but once on my blacklist, I would still rather not use it unless I really need to.

 

[-0303-]

On 10/6/2022 at 4:58 PM, Hiob said:

But if it has an effect depends on your resolution settings. E.g. when you set DCS to something lower than your system resolution it will start either in Fullscreen or in a window depending on this checkbox. What was removed was the "Alt+Enter" function.

This is what happens. So much confusion about this. DCS has removed a Windows functionality. My experience, what I must do now to have a "full screen":

My setup is similar as Commander2. A laptop and an external  screen (native 1920x1080 16/9). Note, no VR for me, only discussing screens.

Microsoft has not changed anything (this is proved by downgrading to Sep.2 version) . DCS has removed the Microsoft ALT ENTER functionality from DCS.

What is the "Microsoft ALT ENTER functionality"? Some describe it as "maximizing". It "stretches" an MS window to full screen borderless. It does NOT change the  actual resolution, it just "stretches" the window (*1). Having a weak laptop I used that all the time.

I used to set DCS resolution to lowest possible and then I could quickly ALT ENTER between the small DCS window (1280x768) to stretch and fill the whole 1920x1080 screen or back to the native "true" 1920x1080 MS desktop. This doesn't work anymore.

~

Now I must check the "Full screen" checkbox and I set DCS resolution to 1366x768 (the lowest which is also  16/9 ratio).

To switch I can ALT TAB.  Alternatively I can click on my laptop screen to get back to Windows desktop 1920x1080. From Windows desktop I can click on the taskbar DCS icon to get to  DCS (it switches screen res. to 1366x768). Switching either direction takes about 6 seconds.

With "Full screen" checkbox checked I can not access DCS and Windows desktop at the same time. Often browser windows now gets shuffled to the  small laptop screen and I must drag them back, which is a small annoyance. Besides that, my problems is mainly due to having a weak machine, so I'm not sure I can complain too loudly.

I find myself running windowed a lot so I can watch DCS logging in while using the normal desktop. I might change that habit. I had the notion on starting to write this I sometimes had to wait minutes locked in waiting for DCS but I failed  to provoke it.

CORRECTION: I just had to browse in 1366x768 resolution (while editing this) for a minute while waiting for DCS to "exit to desktop" before it switched  back to 1920x1080 again (of course with a stronger machine I would just run 1920x1080 native all the time and never switch res.).

~

*1) A significant drawback of the "stretched" mode was that clickable cockpit gets disoriented and non functional. For a short time a few years ago, DCS had a fix that had clickable cockpit working while stretched, and then it went away with another patch.

Edited October 20, 2022 by -0303-

[MAXsenna]

@-0303- Didn't consider problems with usage like that. And I find your points extremely valid for bringing back what was removed, as this proves the feature is still needed in special cases "unrelated" to performance. 

[-0303-]

@MAXsenna

Actually ... having functional "clickable cockpit" is such a huge plus I'm not sure I would go back if I could (*1).

I mainly wrote this to describe the (now inaccessible)  Microsoft Windows "stretching" function that no one has talked about in any ALT ENTER thread.

Seemed to me that was the actual thing removed when discussing ALT ENTER.

~

Addendum. I remembered why "I find myself running windowed a lot". It's inconvenient to not be able to quickly use programs outside DCS (or at the same time). Besides arguing on internet, checking Blue flag map, there's SRS radio, Teamspeak, adjusting Headtrack.

*1) Note, clickable cockpit was always available when not using the "stretch" thing and I knew that. I just explored and reevaluated a bit more since ALT ENTER was removed.

Edited October 20, 2022 by -0303-

[scommander2]

12 hours ago, MAXsenna said:

@-0303- Didn't consider problems with usage like that. And I find your points extremely valid for bringing back what was removed, as this proves the feature is still needed in special cases "unrelated" to performance. 

Right, I am not sure why the removal is related to the DCS performance.  The only thing I can think about is that when objects are being rendered without recaluating since the DCS app is at the fulll screen mode.  I guess... 

ED team did not provide me the details why they did it.

[Lange_666]

Since ED removed the ALT-ENTER function, i wonder what the Full Screen setting actually is doing right now (switch between window mode and borderless window)?
Because now, when Full Screen is selected "and" you have a second monitor connected and click anywhere on that second monitor, DCS minimizes on the main monitor each time when scrolling through a manual on the second monitor is plain annoying.
The only option to not have DCS minimized is untick full screen mode.

So this whole full screen, window or borderless mode gets me superconfused to fact that i don't know what i currently look at, full screen, borderless window or window.

Edited October 22, 2022 by Lange_666

[Hiob]

7 minutes ago, Lange_666 said:

Since ED removed the ALT-ENTER function, i wonder what the Full Screen setting actually is doing right now (switch between window mode and borderless window)?
Because now, when Full Screen is selected "and" you have a second monitor connected and click anywhere on that second monitor, DCS minimizes on the main monitor.

So this whole full screen, window or borderless mode gets me superconfused to fact that i don't know what i currently look at, full screen, borderless window or window.

Do you have a g-sync capable monitor?

You can activate the g-sync indicator and make g-sync fullscreen only. Then you will see.

Otherwise, what you describe is correct. when you check „fullscreen enabled“ DCS will minimize when you click on your second monitor. When you uncheck it, it will stay upfront as an inactive windows. But either way, when you click back on or in the DCS icon/window it will be fullscreen again.

Edit: I noticed a little different behavior when the DCS resolution doesn’t match your systems res, but I didn’t care to investigate further, since I run native anyway

Edited October 22, 2022 by Hiob

[Lange_666]

I have a G-Sync capable monitor but i have never seen the indicator, not in nvidia settings, nor in the monitor settings.
Currently i have G-Sync in nvidia CP set to both windowed and full screen mode because if i untick full screen it's windowed mode and for that G-Sync needs to be set to both.
(used to run Full Screen all the time until version 2.7 changed the behavior, now forced to run windowed (whatever it is, borderless or not) to avoid DCS minimizing).

And if G-Sync full screen only still minimizes DCS when i click on my second monitor, i don't see any reason to change it since it doesn't solve anything.

Edited October 22, 2022 by Lange_666

[Lange_666]

22 minutes ago, Hiob said:

You can activate the g-sync indicator and make g-sync fullscreen only. Then you will see.

Can you describe what i need to see because i have no clue what to expect.
(i just ran a test with G-Sync set to full screen only but i see nothing different).

[Hiob]

54 minutes ago, Lange_666 said:

Can you describe what i need to see because i have no clue what to expect.
(i just ran a test with G-Sync set to full screen only but i see nothing different).

I'm not sure how the items are named in English, but from the screenshot you should be able to conclude.

When you click in the top row on "Display/Anzeige" you can check "G-sync-Indicator", that will give you a green label in the upper right corner of your screen when g-sync is active.

Let me know if it works for you.

Personally I prefer the option fullscreen to be disabled in DCS. Gives me a better experience when dealing with applications on the second screen while running DCS (Afterburner or Discord e.g.)

Edited October 22, 2022 by Hiob

[scommander2]

Quote

Personally I prefer the option fullscreen to be disabled in DCS. Gives me a better experience when dealing with applications on the second screen while running DCS (Afterburner or Discord e.g.)

DCS is running on the primary screen or the 2nd screen (extended)?

[Hiob]

21 minutes ago, scommander2 said:

DCS is running on the primary screen or the 2nd screen (extended)?

DCS is running on the main display.

[Lange_666]

2 hours ago, Hiob said:

Let me know if it works for you.

Works (didn't know it existed).

[Hiob]

1 hour ago, Lange_666 said:

Works (didn't know it existed).

That takes the guesswork out of it - and I find it unobtrusive enough to just leave it there.

[scommander2]

9 hours ago, Hiob said:

DCS is running on the main display.

Thanks, my issue was trying to run DCS on the 2nd external display with the docking station.

[wilbur81]

G-Sync is a non-player for me as I play on a 55 in 4K TV that does not support it. I flew a cloudy mission today...and at 51 FPS, it stutters in a way that gives a sensation of a kind of 'slo-mo' effect... an effect that could always be eliminated by Alt-Entering before in all the previous O.B.s before the feature was taken away.

[Hiob]

9 hours ago, wilbur81 said:

G-Sync is a non-player for me as I play on a 55 in 4K TV that does not support it. I flew a cloudy mission today...and at 51 FPS, it stutters in a way that gives a sensation of a kind of 'slo-mo' effect... an effect that could always be eliminated by Alt-Entering before in all the previous O.B.s before the feature was taken away.

Just out of curiosity. How is your system set up. Is the 55 TV your main display you also run windows on? Or is it a secondary display and windows runs mainly on monitor (perhaps with a different resolution?)

[wilbur81]

7 hours ago, Hiob said:

Just out of curiosity. How is your system set up. Is the 55 TV your main display you also run windows on? Or is it a secondary display and windows runs mainly on monitor (perhaps with a different resolution?)

It's my main display...no additional monitors.

[scommander2]

Interesting... that is why I am keeping mentioning that ED team remove the feature to gain what... the removal of this feature should not cause any issue to whom plays DCS on the main display.