windowed mode?

[aoLhaTer]

is there anyway to bring civilization 3 to windowed mode (doesnt go full screen, just a window; allows you to play the game and do other things)

i remember in civ2 it was possible, never done it in 3


thanks

 

[puglover]

I don't think you can. I don't know. I sure wish I could. Then I could post the story of my conquests and play at the same time!

 

[SuperBeaverInc.]

Just use alt+tab to minimize Civ III. That is what I do.

 

[zurichuk]

windowed would be great for those sneaky moves while at work / wife isn't watching

alt-tab doesn-t work for me as a 'hiding tool' because a 1600*1200 desktop switched to a 1024*768 after alt tab looks stupid and obvious something is going on, and playing civ at 1600*1200 needs binoculars

 

[smalltalk]

Originally posted by zurichuk
alt-tab doesn-t work for me as a 'hiding tool' because a 1600*1200 desktop switched to a 1024*768 after alt tab looks stupid and obvious something is going on, and playing civ at 1600*1200 needs binoculars

I remember, there is a line, which you can add to the civ.ini or conquests.ini, like

screenres =1280 x 1024

What I can't remember is the correct syntax.

 

[Padma]

There is no "windowed mode".

 

[Sparrow3]

I haven't tried to bring Civ3 to windowed mode; but I have a little flag key on the left between ctrl & alt. If I press this key it brings up the start task bar. I can then start or run programs over Civ3.

example: I press the task bar (Flag) key. Click Start / All Programs Windows / Media Player. I select the music I want to listen to and start it playing. I minimize the media player. This returns me to Civ3.

BTW: I have Windows XP Home

 

[Lyonesse]

Yep, the "windows key" is about the only way you can get civ to minimize, but as you said the size won't change....or hasn't for me anyway. You could always tell the boss/wife that you have an easier time seeing things that big <snicker>

 

[Ben E Gas]

civ3 uses up too much juice to do anything else for too long while it is on. atleast on my compo it does.

 

[America444]

on my computer alt+tab minimizes civ. but when i press the windows key it just shows up right over civ and doen't minimze it.

 

[Frollo]

Originally posted by Ben E Gas
civ3 uses up too much juice to do anything else for too long while it is on. atleast on my compo it does.

I'm pretty sure any computer newer than 1999 can run Winamp 2.x in the background without you noticing. It's a feather light program you can use to play MP3 music. It's far less processor time and resource consuming than Windows Media Player anyway.

I use Winamp all the time while playing Civ. Thing is, I'm too immersed in the game to even notice there's music playing

 

[Turner]

To quickly minimize Civ, press WindowKey-D. This will show the desktop, and it does it right quick, too. Unless your taskbar is autohidden, the icon on the taskbar won't disappear. It does help if you're playing the game at the same res your screen is normally at. Sigh. . . wish I had a 16x12 again. I did that when I first started playin civ. . . nice. Gett to see a lot of the map that way.

No, what you need to do is have Civ3 running on another computer that people can't see. Then you use a program like TightVNC to remotely connect to the computer. Then Civ3 would be windowed. . . .Set the target computer up with 1024x768 res, and have your screen higher than that. This would also cut out on the overhead that Civ3 has. . .

 

[aneeshm]

IMHO , there is no need for windowing , as Auto-Hiding the Start Menu has the same effect . You can just drag the mouse to the bottom , and the start menu will pop up , so that you can switch to any window you have open . Hope this helps .

-Aneesh

 

[Turner]

Another thing that I think would work but haven't tried is a virtual desktop program. I use one at work to keep like windows together. One night I had some music videos streaming from launch.com in full screen mode, and hit the key to change to another window. This switched it over to the other window, while keeping the video going. Don't know if this would work with a graphics program. . .have to install it at home and check it out. The one I use at work is xdesk, and you can probably find it online by googling Xdesk. I think I d/led it from www.webattack.com, so that might be a good place to look. If someone is interested in trying it before I can. (might be a day or two.)

 

[Sparrow3]

Originally posted by America444
on my computer alt+tab minimizes civ. but when i press the windows key it just shows up right over civ and doen't minimze it.

True, the windows key shows up over Civ; but I like that. I was using it just yesterday to take notes on a game I'm playing.

 

[America444]

Originally posted by Sparrow3

True, the windows key shows up over Civ; but I like that. I was using it just yesterday to take notes on a game I'm playing.

what i mean is that yes teh windows key goes over the game and i like that too. BUT it doen't minimize the game

 

[frank_mosta]

Originally posted by Turner_727
Another thing that I think would work but haven't tried is a virtual desktop program. I use one at work to keep like windows together.

I use MultiDesk on Windows 2000 Pro at work, and so far on XP Home at home it is doing the job (I have a game going right now...)

The download is here:
http://www.devhood.com/tools/tool_details.aspx?tool_id=343
It says it's a beta version, but I've never had any problems.

 

[Turner]

Cool. . . I'll check this out.

 

[shirleyrocks]

Originally posted by smalltalk

I remember, there is a line, which you can add to the civ.ini or conquests.ini, like

screenres =1280 x 1024

What I can't remember is the correct syntax.

Try adding

KeepRes=1

to your ini file as well.

I had just read about this not too long ago (can't remember which thread it was, sorry) and SOMEBODY out there has got this to work. Good luck...