Can anyone help me get out of windowed mode?

[Caspella]

I hope this is the right place to ask for help with this. I was playing Fallout 4 on an older laptop, and recently bought a new desktop with Windows 10. I'm trying to get it set up with all my mods, etc. The problem is that when I launch the game, it has windowed mode checked. At first the only resolution was 640 or 600 I think. Unchecking the box for windowed mode causes the options under resolution to be blank. The whole field is blank. I tried to read up on this, and tried a few things. Tried launching it with Nexus, with the fallout launcher, even with Bilago's config tool. I made sure everything is running as an Admin. Eventually, the default and only resolution was changed to 1280 by 720, and the screen got a little bigger. Still, if I uncheck windowed mode it all goes blank.

 

Also, in case it matters, the first time I downloaded Fallout 4 on this pc I was getting the xinput1_3.dll/x3daudio1_3.dll Missing Error. But then, the launch menu wasn't checked to windowed mode, and all the resolution options were there. I ended up having to redo everything due to a problem with the windows registry or something like that (I did not fix that problem, someone else did). After re-downloading Fallout 4, I didn't get that error message again. Yes, all the drivers are up to date as is the game. Everything was just downloaded and so should be good. I don't think the computer specs matter, but if they do here they are:

 

i7 6700K (4.00 GHz) 16 GB DDR4 2 TB HDD 240 GB SSD GTX 980 Ti 6GB

 

I found a thread where a guy said he figured out the the problem is that if you are logging in with your MS password, it causes issues with the permissions no matter the settings. That makes perfect sense to me, based on my problems with Win 10 so far. So he fixed it by creating another user, one that was not linked to a MS account but that was set as an administrator. It solved a bunch of problems for him. I tried this next, but so far it is not working.

 

I see this is a pretty common problem and has been since launch. What I don't see so far is a true solution. People have been using ini tweaks to mimick fullscreen. The problem with this is that it can cause visual distortions and unforeseen problems, and it still doesn't allow me to record video in HD etc.

 

I'm hoping this problem actually has been solved and I just haven't been able to find the solution by google searching. I may not be putting in the right search terms. Does anyone know? Or even have any ideas for me to try besides editing the ini to force it to look fullscreen? I spent a good chunk of change on this new computer and every problem it has had is a Windows 10 issue. I think I've been trying to get my modded Fallout up and running for 2 weeks now, and I just don't know what else to try.

 

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

 

~Caspella

 

 

[obobski]

I think you have already identified the problem: Windows 10.

 

Windows 7 is still available for sale, but Microsoft will physically force you into Windows 10 next year (thanks to the Skylake CPU - its somehow capable of running Windows 7 right now, but by next year it will be "too advanced" for Windows 7, and therefore you must have Windows 10 :psyduck: ).

 

As far as fixing the issue with this game <-> Windows 10, both are riddled with pretty significant bugs/problems and neither developer (Bethesda nor Microsoft) seems to care to any real extent, so I wouldn't expect any official solution. Once better tools become available for Fallout 4 there may be a mod that helps, but that's a big "if" out in the future.

 

I'd suggest rolling drivers back a few versions for the GTX 980 but again, Windows 10 :teehee: (you're stuck with whatever is latest and greatest according to Windows Update and have no other choice).

 

Broader-minded answer: return the computer, get something with Haswell, Devil's Canyon, or Broadwell (all of which are comparable or faster than Skylake anyways), and get Windows 7 - you'll get full ride support until 2020 and at least the OS-side will work. I'm not guaranteeing this will fix Fallout 4, but you won't have the "every problem it has had is a Windows 10 issue" thing, as well as more flexibility to do such advanced, unbelievable, nay even magical and supernatural feats like rolling back drivers and selectively installing updates or patches. :ohmy:

[Caspella]

Thanks so much for your reply. The same day I posted, I starting reading a thread here about how Windows 10 is spyware. I had no idea. Reading that thread led me to do some more research on my own, and I was pretty horrified. I don't understand why media isn't covering this in the US. Some of the best coverage was out of the UK. If I had known, I would not have purchased a computer with 10 on it.

 

I'll give some thought to what you said about the other options and check into the return options on my new computer (bought on Newegg). For now, we bought a totally separate desktop with decent specs (intel core 2 duo e7500, 2.93 GHz, 4 g, DDR3, 160 GB HDD) with Windows 7 for only 90 dollars. We are going to use that desktop for making online purchases, doing our taxes, word processing functions etc. Obviously that pc won't be for gaming. For now, my high end pc with 10 is only going to be used for gaming and video editing and possibly mod making with the GECK. Not something I would have spent so much money on. In the future, we are thinking about going to linux. We did not buy an Xbox One due to the spying concerns (PS4 instead) and I'd really like to have no Microsoft products in the future if that is feasible. I don't know if it is possible to do this type of gaming and modding on linux though, I'll have to look into it.

 

So yeah, seriously regret Windows 10! I still can't figure out why my game won't get out of bordered mode. But here is the work around I'm using, if it helps anyone else reading this in the future. I game on my TV anyway, just run a cable to it from the pc or laptop. So I tried running the game with the TV as monitor and that solved the issue. No idea why, but my monitor is very old and cheap. Running on the TV it runs in Fullscreen and at 1080p. I had been playing on my laptop (on the TV as well) with lowest settings before. I was genuinely stunned how good the game looks running on my TV with Ultra settings and godrays and all that. If I can just get my load order sorted out, I'll be good to go at least for now. :smile:

 

Thanks again for the help!

Edited February 27, 2016 by Caspella

[obobski]

Honestly, with that machine being Skylake, its in a tough spot. If it was Haswell/Broadwell (which are incompatible with that platform, but compatible with each other (e.g. Broadwell can go into most Haswell-compatible systems, and Haswell can go into most Broadwell-compatible systems)) you could just roll back to Windows 7 and be fine, but even if you do that on Skylake, they're going to force it up to Windows 7 next year (as opposed to giving you to 2020 (Win7) or 2023 (Win8.1)). Personally, because of that, I'd stick with a Haswell/Broadwell machine. There's no real performance benefit to Skylake anyways - it just costs more to cost more.

 

Some sources:

https://techreport.com/review/28751/intel-core-i7-6700k-skylake-processor-reviewed/6

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9483/intel-skylake-review-6700k-6600k-ddr4-ddr3-ipc-6th-generation/16

 

The 5775C is Broadwell, the 4000s are Haswell or its refresh (Devil's Canyon). There are also some older CPUs in there (like 3770K, and FX-8370) to give some more perspective - generally we're not seeing any significant performance gains, despite the massive price increase for DDR4 and move to Z170. The promise of BCLK OCing turned out to be false, from what I've read, and is generally being removed/unsupported on motherboards going forward.

 

Lest we think Intel is the problem here, newer AMD CPUs will be equally forced into Windows 10 next year - the FX series is excluded, as are the older APUs (but I don't know where the cutoff is, exactly). So anything from Broadwell (Intel) or FX (AMD) down should be completely fine with Windows 7, and generally that isn't a big performance hang-up (yeah the FX series performs worse than the Intel chips in those tests, but they're still playable in many modern games, and you also have to consider that they cost less too (5775C is around $400, FX-8370 is around $200).

 

Not to add fuel to the fire, but it's also probably worth pointing out the other "gotcha" with your new machine - the GTX 980 Ti graphics card. The short version is that nVidia flat out lied about DirectX 12 support on Maxwell, the longer version is that they tried to bully developers and benchmark makers into covering it up. Now, DirectX 12 doesn't really matter for any real-world game, and is only available in Windows 10 (which has its own slew of problems), but it's still an issue on nVidia's part. And on top of that, a lot of the "drivers bricked my Windows 10" stuff I've seen is thanks to nVidia drivers; this isn't to say everyone else has been flawless or that forced automatic driver updates is a good thing, but nVidia seems to be having a worse time of it recently.

 

Personally I'd return the whole kit - you can probably get something a lot cheaper that will perform just as well and let you run Windows 7 and have no fuss with games. As far as "into the future" I'm not sure what that holds.

 

Regarding the consoles:

 

While I've heard a lot of the "spying" concerns on Xbox One, aside from the fear of it watching you sleep/eat/pee/whatever (if you have Kinect hooked up, its always "monitoring" the room to some extent (if its in "quick on"), so that it can respond to voice commands; most voice-enabled hardware is like this just out of necessity, and a lot of it plugs into a cloud service to improve quality), I don't know what else it could really "spy" on - all the thing does is play videogames and run apps out of the Xbox Live walled garden. And it's reporting your play stats back as part of Xbox Live, just like Steam or Origin do on PC (e.g. it counts how many hours you play a game, cloud saves checkpoints and stuff, etc), but I don't think that's any major invasion of privacy. The issue with Windows 10 is that its recording basically everything the machine ever does and reporting it back to an unspecified location over unsecure channels with no clearly defined usage model for that data (and the biggest issue is that "unsecure channels" bit - the potential for malicious actors to get in the middle and wreak havoc is a lot higher than with operating systems/software that either don't phone home or that phone home via secure/authenticated means). That's very different from Xbox Live or Steam or PSN or whatever.

 

As far as the PS4, basically identical hardware (both use AMD APUs based on Jaguar x86 modules and GCN GPU logic), but PSN is historically less secure than Xbox Live (PSN/Sony has been hacked multiple times, with HUGE data leaks occurring). I'm not sure if this is still a significant problem for PSN, but it was a big enough ordeal in the past that I haven't bothered with PSN since. Might be something to research though, but again I can't honestly imagine what kind of "spying" could really be accomplished via a game console (ignoring malicious use of cameras/microphones hooked up to them, but that seems a bit paranoid to worry about).

 

On hooking up to the TV:

 

Not sure what setting change would've fixed that, but good to know its working. The GTX 980 (or any other high end modern card) should have no problems running that game on Ultra:

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/fallout_4_pc_graphics_performance_benchmark_review,7.html (this shouldn't be taken as a good comparison of AMD vs nVidia cards, as Fallout 4 is at least partially held hostage by Gameworks (has a bit more depth: http://wccftech.com/fallout-4-pc-performance-analyzed-gameready-drivers-nvidia-amd-gpus-runs-geforce/)).

 

As far as gaming on linux/non-windows:

 

I'd look at Wine. It will work on Linux and OS X, and OS X itself may be worth looking at as there are many direct releases or licensed ports of games available there (e.g. look at Steam's OS X library, and Aspyr Media's ports). The "other side" to OS X is that, officially, you must use Apple's hardware to run the entire thing, on the upside, they've been giving X away for free for at least the last few versions. Just food for thought.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Caspella]

Wow, thanks so much for elaborating. I really, really should have asked for advice here before buying the new computer. My partner works in IT, but he doesn't deal so much with the personal computer side of things. He works with large scale infrastructure, at a huge company. So he asked for help from a friend who does pc builds for his own gaming. With his help, we used pc part picker to build a machine. On that build, I had picked the Haswell, pretty sure 4770. I also had chosen a less expensive graphics card, too.

 

The reason we bought this pc was because it was a better price. This pc came with more memory than we could afford to build it with, and the newer 980ti. Plus it was supposed to be ready out of the box ( a month later still troubleshooting). So it seemed to me to be cheaper to purchase this one, rather than one we had to build that would need upgrades later to be as good.

 

I'm a console gamer mostly. I got Skyrim on pc and thanks to nexus and Gopher's excellent hand-holding, I was able to run a game with almost 200 mods, no problem. On a gaming laptop. I kind of got addicted to modding my game, just a wee bit. From now on, I intend to buy every beth game, every open world rpg, every xcom. on pc so I can mod it. But I'm not the kind of person who needs the best of pc gaming. I AM the kind of person who hates buying electronics and tries to buy them to last. I've bought exactly 3 computers (counting these two) in 10 years. I also intend to buy an occulus rift in a year or two, so I bought a pc with specs that could handle it. My whole plan here was to buy a pc that would last as many years as possible.

 

And that's my concern with Windows 10. I'm worried that within the next 2 years, all or most triple A titles will require 10 to run. That's the pattern here, Microsoft forcing other companies to dance to whatever tune they say. So I'm afraid to buy a gaming pc without 10 for fear I will just have to replace it, at great cost, in 2 years tops. Maybe even 1. So what do you think about that? How soon do you think games will require 10 to run? If I had only gotten the other one, I could have just put Windows 7 on for now and had the option to add 10 later if I was forced to. But you are saying if I put 7 on this machine, next year I will be forced to upgrade to 10? How are they going to do that? Are they going to stop doing updates for my machine until I 'upgrade' to 10?

 

I'm going to look into that wine. My partner is familiar with it. As for apple, I do like their OS. I switched from an i-phone to an android phone so I could run old NES and SNES emulators on my phone. But after this Windows 10 debacle, I'm going back to an i-phone. I use my phone for a lot of private things, including purchasing online, and I need to be able to trust whoever is behind the operating system. I have a friend who has a mac, I'll ask to take a look at hers, and I'll keep this in mind as a potential solution.

 

But my worries about linux or the the like are similar. I always see threads where poor mac or linux users are begging for ports of the biggest titles. I've always felt like you have to be the type of person who plays mostly indie games or who is really flexible about playing whatever is available to you. Is it still that way, or have ports gotten more common? Plus, the last I heard, occulus wasn't even developing for Mac or linux at all.

 

I was talking about the kinect spying on the Xbox One. The reason we know about the extent of the spying that was planned, is because someone directed the public to the patents MS had filed in regards to it. The kinect was going to have built in facial recognition software and it was going to be recording audio and visual in your home, all the time. It was to be built in to the Xbox One, and it wasn't going to have any off switch, or even a way to tell if it was on or not (no light, etc). It was even going to be recording you when the Xbox was off. The idea was to record you while you were playing games or (esp) watching movies or TV. Then it had some kind of software for reading facial expressions that would allow it to target ads to you based on your frame of mind. So if you were watching a movie with your girlfriend and making aroused type faces, it would transmit that data and allow 3rd party advertisers to target you with condom ads. Or if you were crying, you'd see ads for Paxil. So it was not so much about MS wanting to spy on you for nefarious reasons, per se, but rather that they wanted to spy on you for the purpose of selling that data to ad firms. Without your knowledge or consent. And we all know how long it would take for. as you put it, malicious actors, to take advantage of that info. That's not to speak of the government, which is already attempting to force tech companies to build in back doors for spying on citizens in all kind of devices. There was a huge backlash over this info (along with DRM and always online issues), and MS lost a ton of sales over it. They eventually realized it wasn't going to fly, and they changed the Xbox One so the kinect wasn't bundled inside. It was too little too late in terms of damaged trust though. Despite lower prices, Xbox sales still haven't caught up to PS4 sales (last I heard).

 

And yes, that is even with PSN having a bad track record with being hacked. I'm pretty concerned about it. So far, I've just avoided tying a debit card to my PSN account. I use things that have at least some kind of extra protection. But consumer trust is still higher with sony because they failed due to ineptitude rather than blatantly lying to their consumers (at least on the playstation front). I'm pretty damned paranoid about these always on cameras recording us in our homes. I bought a cheaper brand smart TV partly because this one had no camera bundled inside it. You have to buy the camera separately and I just didn't. The smart TVs have been caught patenting the exact same kind of stuff MS was patenting for the Xbox. People are crazy! Why would you need the ability to turn on your TV with your voice so bad that you are willing to be recorded 24/7, even when your TV is off? You literally turn on a TV by pushing one button, on a remote. This is not a groundbreaking new feature!

 

And that's my issue with MS in a nutshell. They just got caught lying to consumers with regards to spying on them with Xbox One. They got spanked over it, lost money over it...and turned around and did it to a MUCH larger degree. The type of spying happening in 10 seems much, much worse (from what I understand). Their solution seems to be to force companies into helping them create an even more extreme monopoly so that users have to have 10, and keeping the media quieter about it. That's really troubling.

 

But anyway, thanks again for the info, I passed it along to my partner as well. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the long game with regards to Windows 10 and gaming and if it is going to come down to a choice between triple A gaming or privacy.

[obobski]

Honestly I don't think it will be so binary - nothing is set in stone and all of the actors involved are able to move/change in response to one another. I'm not at all going to be surprised if Windows 10 undergoes significant changes in the coming future in response to concerns over its data collection, along with typical "big changes" that other Windows operating systems have seen in response to public responses over the years. In other words, it isn't some sort of epic battle, its more of an ongoing dialog. Currently there's issues with Windows 10, but that isn't surprising at all - generally new Windows operating systems experience growing pains for the first 6-12 months of their lives (even Windows XP and Windows 7 weren't universally beloved at launch), and then settle into a working condition as time goes on. At least, that's probably not unreasonable to hope for. As far as Microsoft forcing everyone into Windows 10 for gaming in the next year or two, I don't see it - the only stick they have is DirectX 12, and it's not a very strong one at that.

 

As far as non-Windows - XCOM exists on SteamPlay, so it will run on OS X or Linux. I think OS X is gaining more momentum as a gaming platform largely due to Apple's growing market share (especially for laptops). Certainly something to consider, and you still get WINE for games that aren't ported/natively supported.

 

As far as the whole "always on camera" thing - it's kind of a requirement of the feature. IOW you can't have the Star Trek computer respond to you talking/gesturing to it without it always listening/watching for you to do something. And I don't think that, by itself, is "evil" or anything, its just a matter of how the creators of the device (or other involved parties) may or may not be using the data you're providing it.

 

 

[Caspella]

That's great to hear, I'm glad you think it will get better over time. I wasn't doing pc gaming during the roll out for 7 or 8 so I have nothing to compare it to.

 

I might not think the voice commands are worth the camera in my home, but I'll tell you what I do think is worth it. VR. I know it's no holodeck yet, but it's getting there (eventually) and I want to have VR bad enough I'm willing to use a camera set up to do it. I know some games are going to require you to have a kinect like set up for tracking movement. We are hoping to have a separate game room after we move so I guess I can just close the door or unplug it! :laugh:

 

Anyway, thanks again for taking the time to share your knowledge. :)