Alt Tabbed - Closing a file throws me back into the game

[Pac Man 10]

I'm not sure where the problem may be. Steam or Arma3. Whenever I'm alt tabbed, I'm usually editing a mission file. The issue I'm having is that as soon as I save & close said file, it throws me back into the game automatically. I then have to re- Alt Tab back out. This is very annoying for me. Is there any option in steam or Arma3 that will stop this from happening? Thanks.

[Azza FHI 50]

Dont think so but i may be wrong. Its happening because wen u close that file windows is selecting the next one in line and if its arma then it will go back into the game. Ull see what i mean if u hold alt (when in windows) and then hit tab until u select the right one.

Anyway a good workaround for this is to start arma in windowed mode then make it full screen. Then u can get back to windowdls without alt tabbing. Just remeber that when arma goes into windowed mode it changes the video setting (cant remeber what its called atm, the % one) it will need to be put back to 100% otherwise the foreground of the game is blurry.

[jurrasstoil 10]

Yeah, this isn't really a problem, just normal windows behavior. Once you close a window or file, focus switches to the file or window that has been selected before. e.g. if you are currently using your browser window, then open a windows explorer window, the focus will switch from the browser to the explorer window. Once you close the explorer window it will switch back to the browser.

So, either give something else focus after tabbing out and before opening/focusing the mission file or use windowed mode since the cursor isn't restricted inside the ARMA window's boundaries (except when ingame and not in the inventory/map screen).

[Pac Man 10]

Thanks for the replies. Makes sense. I do know you can cycle through with alt tab, and though I've countless hours in arma editing in the previous titles, I never noticed it conflict with the game.. Maybe until now? lol, idk. Cheers for the answers.

Edited September 23, 2013 by Pac Man

[mamasan8 11]

Its a Windows Feature, has been in Windows for ages. Nothing the BI Devs can do about that.

[celery 8]

Arma 3 is the first game where I've seen this kind of behavior. I'm inclined to believe something in A3 or Steam is causing it.

[zimms 22]

If Arma is next in line after the file you just closed, of course it will get the focus. If you don't want Arma to get the focus, open another file or directory before closing the first one, so it comes next.

[celery 8]

If Arma is next in line after the file you just closed, of course it will get the focus. If you don't want Arma to get the focus, open another file or directory before closing the first one, so it comes next.

How come other games are never next in line?

[zimms 22]

I can't recall an instance when this wasn't the case. But there aren't many games where I would regularly tab out.

[celery 8]

I can't recall an instance when this wasn't the case. But there aren't many games where I would regularly tab out.

I've regularly tabbed out of all the Arma series games, and Arma 3 is the only one that wants back on top so adamantly.

[dale0404 5]

This does happen on some other games tbh.

[Tankbuster 1741]

Arma 3 is the first game where I've seen this kind of behavior. I'm inclined to believe something in A3 or Steam is causing it.

You're right. It seems to me that closing ANYTHING while A3 is minimized brings the game back to front. A browser (either full screen or not) notepad++, remote desktop.. closing any of these brings the minimized game back to focus.

Not only that A2 didn't do this in the same circumstances.

It annoys me enough sometimes that I alt F4 the game, rather than alt tab it, so I can be sure it will stay away until I need it. I have to sit through the 30 second start up of course when I restart the game.

[Pac Man 10]

Arma 3 is the first game where I've seen this kind of behavior. I'm inclined to believe something in A3 or Steam is causing it.

I've not noticed this until I got Arma3. I've alt tabbed hundreds, probably thousands of times in the other BI titles over the last decade or so & never had this annoyance. I do know how alt tab cycling works LOL. Thank goodness you & tankbuster noticed this too, or I'd be looking silly :p

Edited September 25, 2013 by Pac Man

[mr_centipede 31]

My problem is alt-tab related, but not the focus thing. It froze my computer altogether. It doesn't happen everytime, but will happen eventually because I will edit some scripts and need to alt-tab back and forth. There's no rpt or dump files anywhere. And sometimes after I exit the game too, my pc froze..

Maybe it's because of my old core2 quad q9550?

[Hellhound 10]

I've had this behaviour in the past too with some game, what you need to do is following (prevent windows from stealing focus).

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windowsxp/ht/stealingfocus02.htm

after reboot it should all be good.

[kklownboy 43]

My problem is alt-tab related, but not the focus thing. It froze my computer altogether. It doesn't happen everytime, but will happen eventually because I will edit some scripts and need to alt-tab back and forth. There's no rpt or dump files anywhere. And sometimes after I exit the game too, my pc froze..

Maybe it's because of my old core2 quad q9550?

Yes, the ability to multitask, and usually on a older CPU platform you have less RAM ,slower RAM, older HDD etc..poor cache retrieval.

As for the alt-tab, i just keep taskmanager up and it wins over A3 if alt-tab with other windows up. Usually players complain that alt-tabing that leaves them a black screen or it doesnt work at all... here it works every time , but just takes precedence...

Edited September 25, 2013 by kklownboy

[celery 8]

I've had this behaviour in the past too with some game, what you need to do is following (prevent windows from stealing focus).

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windowsxp/ht/stealingfocus02.htm

after reboot it should all be good.

And what if that's how the registry value already is?

[Fushko 59]

Speaking of alt-tabbing, it should be instant while it isn't. It takes some time, which doesn't happen in any other game I've played. Thus alt-tabbing doesn't work in certain situations(editor, pause, etc) , you have to alt-ctrl-del. Am I the only one having this issue?

Edited September 25, 2013 by FrankHH
typo

[Hellhound 10]

And what if that's how the registry value already is?

Well then you're out of luck i guess, probably an Arma 3 bug, maybe open a ticket.