Can't alt + tab Ashes

I can't seem to alt + tab Ashes of the singularity. I want to be able to minimize the game on a whim and go do something else for however long it takes. Right now, it seems that it'll go half ways. The game will continue to display while I have control over the rest of my computer. I get a different cursor icon and it has changed to text icon when the opportunity has presented itself. It doesn't do me much good to have control over the computer when I can't see what I'm doing.

Its not just alt + tab that does this. It happens too if I try ctrl + alt + delete. I might get a moment where the computer asks me what I want to do, but then it goes back to showing the game over everything else.

11,787 views 8 replies
Reply #2 Top

Perhaps try borderless windows mode? 

Reply #3 Top

There is a known issue with DirectX 12 and ALT+TAB we're hoping Microsoft will fix soon. In the mean time you can run in "borderless window" mode instead of "fullscreen" in the Ashes video options to work around this.

Reply #4 Top

Used to be able to alt+tab with no issues at all even in dx12. Now it's a 100% crash guarantee. Borderless window also doesn't work. The game doesn't crash perse, but you can't do anything as your mouse commands won't work. 

Reply #5 Top

It can't be anything to with DX 12 as I'm using DX 11.

Borderless window looked like full screen at first (it used the full screen), but alt + tab works with it. It has thus far passed some quick tests. What is different between full screen and borderless window?

Reply #6 Top

Quoting DivineWrath, reply 5

What is different between full screen and borderless window?

Full screen unloads background applications from rendering, dedicating more GPU resources to the full screen application. Alt-tabbing requires the GPU to reallocate video memory to those applications which can cause a bit of a delay and sometimes crashes.

Borderless window the applications things in the background are still being rendered which takes up a small amount of GPU resources. The result typically allows smoother switching between applications.

Reply #7 Top

Quoting MuffinCat, reply 4

Used to be able to alt+tab with no issues at all even in dx12. Now it's a 100% crash guarantee. Borderless window also doesn't work. The game doesn't crash perse, but you can't do anything as your mouse commands won't work. 
Make sure you have the mouse set to "Bind Always" in the options.

Reply #8 Top

Just chiming in to say I have the same issue.  But not sure it's bad.  I can alt tab and show no remnants of me playing a game.  

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