WoW unplayable in windowed mode

Burt Johnson wrote:
> Mark (newsgroups) <marknewsgroups.DeleteThis@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
>>I've always played WoW in full screen mode, but recently tried windowed.
>>When I try, it slows to a crawl, less than 1 fps,
>
>
> FWIW, I always play windowed mode on my Mac, and consistently see
> framerates around 30fps or so.
>
> I have multiple monitors. If I use "fullscreen" mode, WoW blacks out my
> second monitor, making it unusable. By running in "windowed -
> maximized" mode, I have full access to the second monitor to check
> Thottbot, WoWDB, or whatever.

Yes, this is what I want. My PC should be quite capable of handling the
game in windowed mode, but something is screwy.

I played Guild Wars (briefly) in windowed mode with no problems.
 >> Stay informed about: WoW unplayable in windowed mode 

On Sat, 15 Mar 2008 17:09:20 +0000, "Mark (newsgroups)"
<marknewsgroups.RemoveThis@yahoo.com> wrote:

>I've always played WoW in full screen mode, but recently tried windowed.
>When I try, it slows to a crawl, less than 1 fps, I can actually see the
>redraw happening. My framerates are otherwise decent (full screen mode),
>and my machine isn't bad:
>Athlon 64 3500+
>2GB Ram
>Radeon X1950 Pro
>Windows XP
>ViewSonic LCD
>
>I tried dechecking vertical resynch. I suppose I could try lowering my
>graphics settings, but it that's the case then I won't bother with
>windowed mode. I can understand taking a knock in fps, but not to this
>extent. Surely something else is going on? Anyone have any ideas?

No idea - motors along great on my PC, though I prefer full-screen.


Palindrome
 >> Stay informed about: WoW unplayable in windowed mode 

Mark (newsgroups) schrieb:
> I've always played WoW in full screen mode, but recently tried windowed.
> When I try, it slows to a crawl, less than 1 fps, I can actually see the
> redraw happening. My framerates are otherwise decent (full screen mode),
> and my machine isn't bad:
> Athlon 64 3500+
> 2GB Ram
> Radeon X1950 Pro
> Windows XP
> ViewSonic LCD
>
> I tried dechecking vertical resynch. I suppose I could try lowering my
> graphics settings, but it that's the case then I won't bother with
> windowed mode. I can understand taking a knock in fps, but not to this
> extent. Surely something else is going on? Anyone have any ideas?

running wow in window mode on my imac without any problems. the
framerate is a little bit lower than in fullscreenmode

greetings, eljay
 >> Stay informed about: WoW unplayable in windowed mode 

Mark (newsgroups) wrote:
> I've always played WoW in full screen mode, but recently tried windowed.
> When I try, it slows to a crawl, less than 1 fps, I can actually see the
> redraw happening. My framerates are otherwise decent (full screen mode),
> and my machine isn't bad:
> Athlon 64 3500+
> 2GB Ram
> Radeon X1950 Pro
> Windows XP
> ViewSonic LCD
>
> I tried dechecking vertical resynch. I suppose I could try lowering my
> graphics settings, but it that's the case then I won't bother with
> windowed mode. I can understand taking a knock in fps, but not to this
> extent. Surely something else is going on? Anyone have any ideas?

Do you have any other programs running that are maximised on screen? I
get fps dips in windowed mode when i get a new msn message pop up, or i
have winamp running across the top of my screen.
 >> Stay informed about: WoW unplayable in windowed mode 

Burt Johnson wrote:
> Mark (newsgroups) <marknewsgroups.RemoveThis@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> I've always played WoW in full screen mode, but recently tried windowed.
>> When I try, it slows to a crawl, less than 1 fps,
>
> FWIW, I always play windowed mode on my Mac, and consistently see
> framerates around 30fps or so.
>
> I have multiple monitors. If I use "fullscreen" mode, WoW blacks out my
> second monitor, making it unusable. By running in "windowed -
> maximized" mode, I have full access to the second monitor to check
> Thottbot, WoWDB, or whatever.
>

That's how I play too. I'd run it full screen if it didn't blank my
other monitors!

--

x theSpaceGirl (miranda)

http://www.northleithmill.com

-.-

Kammy has a new home: http://www.bitesizedjapan.com
 >> Stay informed about: WoW unplayable in windowed mode 

On 15 Mar, 17:09, "Mark (newsgroups)" <marknewsgro... RemoveThis @yahoo.com>
wrote:
> I've always played WoW in full screen mode, but recently tried windowed.
> When I try, it slows to a crawl, less than 1 fps, I can actually see the
> redraw happening. My framerates are otherwise decent (full screen mode),

Have you got anything overlapping the WoW window? I always run in
windowed mode (on an iMac though) and don't have a problem with it.
Once, I tried having iTunes running over the top of WoW and it dropped
my framerates a load.

steve.kaye
 >> Stay informed about: WoW unplayable in windowed mode 

Mark (newsgroups) <marknewsgroups.DeleteThis@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I've always played WoW in full screen mode, but recently tried windowed.
> When I try, it slows to a crawl, less than 1 fps, I can actually see the
> redraw happening. My framerates are otherwise decent (full screen mode),
> and my machine isn't bad:
> Athlon 64 3500+
> 2GB Ram
> Radeon X1950 Pro
> Windows XP
> ViewSonic LCD
>
> I tried dechecking vertical resynch. I suppose I could try lowering my
> graphics settings, but it that's the case then I won't bother with
> windowed mode. I can understand taking a knock in fps, but not to this
> extent. Surely something else is going on? Anyone have any ideas?

I run WoW in windowed mode without problem, so it's not a generic WoW
issue.

I get a decrease in FPS in windows mode, but it's only a small decrease.

I'm on Windows Vista though, with an nVidia 8800GTX, so maybe it's
a driver issue (I was never a big fan of ATI drivers). It may be worth
making sure you've got the latest stable driver for your video card.

I would also suggest (as someone else has already done in this thread)
checking the colour depth of the Windows desktop (right-click your
desktop, select Properties -> Settings, then check the Colour Quality
box - make sure it's set to the same number of bits as WoW is.

--
Zil, Level 70 NE Priest, Aman Shan're, Stormrage Europe
 >> Stay informed about: WoW unplayable in windowed mode 

Hello, Mark!
You wrote on Sat, 15 Mar 2008 17:09:20 +0000:

Mn> I've always played WoW in full screen mode, but recently tried
Mn> windowed.
Mn> When I try, it slows to a crawl, less than 1 fps, I can actually see
Mn> the redraw happening. My framerates are otherwise decent (full
Mn> screen mode), and my machine isn't bad:
Mn> Athlon 64 3500+
Mn> 2GB Ram
Mn> Radeon X1950 Pro
Mn> Windows XP
Mn> ViewSonic LCD

Mn> I tried dechecking vertical resynch. I suppose I could try lowering
Mn> my graphics settings, but it that's the case then I won't bother
Mn> with windowed mode. I can understand taking a knock in fps, but not
Mn> to this extent. Surely something else is going on? Anyone have any
Mn> ideas?

Hmm this is wierd, I never run wow in windowed mode but I had several
friends who playaed only in windowed mode saying wow runs much better like
that for some reason (better framerate, less DC or something).
 >> Stay informed about: WoW unplayable in windowed mode 

In <frl9ok$c60$1@localhost.localdomain>, Shammy wrote:
> Hmm this is wierd, I never run wow in windowed mode but I had several
> friends who playaed only in windowed mode saying wow runs much better like
> that for some reason (better framerate, less DC or something).

I run WoW in windowed mode because I'm running Vista and that combination
means I get live "previews" of the WoW display in the task-switcher and
the popups from the taskbar. Makes it very very easy to see if the boat
has arrived/etc.

There may be a very small FPS dropoff but nothing noticable. This is
with a GF7600GT on a mid-range Core2 Duo machine with 2GB of RAM.

Matt

--
* Matt McLeod | mail: matt.TakeThisOut@boggle.org | blog: http://abortrephrase.com/ *
--- People can do the work, so machines have time to think ---
 >> Stay informed about: WoW unplayable in windowed mode 

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 >> Stay informed about: WoW unplayable in windowed mode 

On Mar 17, 1:33 pm, Lewis <g.kr....RemoveThis@gmail.com.dontsendmecopiesofposts>
wrote:
> I run it in windowed mode because I use dual screens, so it looks silly
> to blank out the other screen.  I keep a web browser there,
> ventrillo/skype, and maybe a spare text window to type into.

Blank out? Weird. I don't use the windowed mode, and there's always
Windows visible on the second screen, although I have to press alt-tab
to access it. I guess it depends on the video card.
 >> Stay informed about: WoW unplayable in windowed mode 

On 17 Mar, 12:13, vmki....DeleteThis@gmail.com wrote:
> On Mar 17, 1:33 pm, Lewis <g.kr....DeleteThis@gmail.com.dontsendmecopiesofposts>
> wrote:
>
> > I run it in windowed mode because I use dual screens, so it looks silly
> > to blank out the other screen.  I keep a web browser there,
> > ventrillo/skype, and maybe a spare text window to type into.
>
> Blank out? Weird. I don't use the windowed mode, and there's always
> Windows visible on the second screen, although I have to press alt-tab
> to access it. I guess it depends on the video card.

Or the OS. I think that Lewis has a mac and I know Burt does. I also
have a mac with two monitors and I also need to run in full screen
windowed mode to be able to use the second monitor.

steve.kaye
 >> Stay informed about: WoW unplayable in windowed mode 

steve.kaye wrote:
> On 15 Mar, 17:09, "Mark (newsgroups)" <marknewsgro... DeleteThis @yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>
>>I've always played WoW in full screen mode, but recently tried windowed.
>>When I try, it slows to a crawl, less than 1 fps, I can actually see the
>>redraw happening. My framerates are otherwise decent (full screen mode),
>
>
> Have you got anything overlapping the WoW window? I always run in
> windowed mode (on an iMac though) and don't have a problem with it.
> Once, I tried having iTunes running over the top of WoW and it dropped
> my framerates a load.

Nope, I just start it fullscreen, check the windowed mode box and it
resizes but then becomes unplayable. Even pushing 'esc' to bring up the
menu to reset it back to fullscreen mode takes several seconds to process.

I'm almost certain it can't be that the GPU can't handle the settings. I
would expect a certain loss of FPS but this is something else, it must
be some strange issue. Been searching the web but can't find anything more.
 >> Stay informed about: WoW unplayable in windowed mode