Alt+tab much?

[Worldsapart]

Seriously what the frickity frick frick. I can't alt tab out of the stupid game. Oh sure some days I can, like all last night, but I guess since it's Thursday and after noon I can no longer alt tab? So annoying that it does the fake you out alt tab thing where it brings up other windows, I can see my bar at the bottom, all that good stuff, until I click on any of it and it throws me back into Civ. At this point I'm not sure if it's a Civ thing or a Steam thing. Yeay for adding more complexity into a system! I've heard that totally helps with trouble shooting things. Wooty woot!

Oh and on a similar note, the reason for my alt tabbing was to find out what the special units that my civ gets are, you know, since I couldn't find the civolopedia anywhere in the menus before actually starting a game. Anyone know if I'm just missing it?

 

[Threedog43]

shift-tab gets you steam's in-game browser.... just saying is alls...

 

[Tylerryan79]

All my games are like that to be honest. They will alt tab out, but sometimes take me 5 times doing it. Civ v usually goes right to the desktop, sometimes it stays in the background, and sometimes it's a black background. But like I said, most of mygames do this, and some I have to ctrl alt dlt to get to the desktop.

 

[Zenstrive]

Since we can drag the map with mouse now, I play ciV windowed. Much much pleasant now that I can find entertainment on CivFanatics while waiting for that HORRENDOUS long turns

 

[Pratputajao]

Yep, do it all the time. But I dont do it much becouse the game will freeze until I come back. In Civ 4 I can do it and the turn will complete itself while I play another game, check the web....whatever. Civ 5 does nothing, I still have to wait for the turn to complete when I come back to the game! I always Alt Tab out when civ 4 is loading, cant do it with civ 5 I have to wait no matter what uhg.

 

[Gamemaster77]

try windows-d ing it.

 

[Zenstrive]

Yep, do it all the time. But I dont do it much becouse the game will freeze until I come back. In Civ 4 I can do it and the turn will complete itself while I play another game, check the web....whatever. Civ 5 does nothing, I still have to wait for the turn to complete when I come back to the game! I always Alt Tab out when civ 4 is loading, cant do it with civ 5 I have to wait no matter what uhg.

Really? Never see it that way...

 

[Pratputajao]

Really? Never see it that way...

So if you end a turn and Alt Tab out then come back maybe 30 secs later your turn will be back up?

Doesnt work for me. The game freezes where it was before I dropped out. I really dislike this when turns start to be up to 20 secs long.

 

[Maniacal]

Most games are not exactly stable when you alt-tab, so I don't. A couple of exceptions being Guild Wars and Sword of the Stars alt tabs really well.

 

[Tylerryan79]

So if you end a turn and Alt Tab out then come back maybe 30 secs later your turn will be back up?

Doesnt work for me. The game freezes where it was before I dropped out. I really dislike this when turns start to be up to 20 secs long.

I was alt tabbing out to see the CPU performance after I hit end turn, and the game would run through the turn normally. It's strange yours stops.

 

[blazekid87]

I only used alt-tab when creating mods....this was to look at the tech tree and edit in modbuddy. I then realized it was alot easier to start the game in windowed mode since it made switching through windows easier. But if u just need to use the browser then shift-tab to use steam. Thats about all. And yea I know, it sucks when alt-tabbing cuz you cant see crap

 

[Worldsapart]

Well it's at least good to know that others are having the same issue and it's not just my decently new comp.
Any advice on seeing a civ's special units and what they actually do before going into a game?

 

[Zenstrive]

So if you end a turn and Alt Tab out then come back maybe 30 secs later your turn will be back up?

Doesnt work for me. The game freezes where it was before I dropped out. I really dislike this when turns start to be up to 20 secs long.

I don't alt-tab. I just click the minimized programs. I run windowed

 

[stormerne]

I run it in a frame too. It changes the way you scroll the map, but I can catch up with my email between turns.

 

[mihaifx]

Alt tab works, but only in Windows 7

 

[eireksten]

Windows + D is a much better combination for leaving the game window than Alt+Tab. Windows + D doesn't try (and fail, thus causing problems) showing you a list of windows to choose from. It just takes you to the desktop. Much easier to process for the OS, not having to fight against the fullscreen view of the game.

 

[Fluxx]

Just use two screens.

Civ is one of the few games that allows you to move back and forth between both screens while the game does not minimize.

Pretty darn handy

 

[PieceOfMind]

I just read a magazine while I wait between turns. Alt+tabbing often doesn't work if the program is deep in some loop (like loading a savegame) and windows thinks it's unresponsive. I think ctrl+alt+del often does the job well enough too, in case you haven't tried it.