Windows 7, CoX, and Desktop Windows Manager
By
all_hell,
Posted on: 2009-11-15 12:36 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs
Yes I have run into the same thing as well on Win 7. There are times when I can switch back and forth without have the game screen lock. The locking seems more persistent when I have other screens open, like a web browser, than just switching between the desktop and back again.
I did have one instance where clicking on my power tray would cause me to switch back to my desktop, which I filed a bug report on.
"Windows: With three stacked powers trays, when positions 8, 9 or 0 on the second power tray up from the bottom are clicked the screen switches to Windows. Current OS being used Windows 7 Pro 64-bit"
I logged out of the game then back again and that corrected the issue.
i have the spontaeous desktop reversion thing ,too.where the task bar comes up and the screen freezes. somtimes it happens when i hit the power tray, and sometimes when im not.
if i right click on the gamescreen it will bring me back to the game.its happened like 10 times in 3 days.
im running windows vista 64-bit basic w/ service pack 2.
glad its not just me.so far im not getting any kooky messages.
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I've been experiencing that with Vista lately. Alt+Tab to another window, switch back to the game, frozen screen (like viewing a screenshot in full screen), switch back to the other window and back to the game again, screen's fine.|
Originally Posted by Chuckers
The game runs fine, but I get a quick flash to the screen, the task bar comes up, then a quick flash back to the game screen. However, the screen is frozen. If I go back to the task bar and click on the CoX icon, the game comes back fine. I know the game is still playing because if I press a movement button while the screen is frozen, my character will have moved when I get the screen back after visiting the task bar.
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I found that if I switch between windows rapidly while moving the mouse, Co* becomes responsive again permanently. Switching back to another window and back to Co* no longer results in the display being locked.
I also should note that this didn't start occurring until I replaced a dead 7800 GTX with a brand new 250 GTS, at which point I found that the DWM didn't always scale the desktop back to basic style (which delights me, because i prefer my transparency effects to remain on). In fact, the problem itself doesn't manifest if the DWM doesn't scale the desktop back, it only occurs when the the DWM kicks in.
Well, CoX doesn't officially run on Vista or 7 yet. It does, usually, but until they actually UPDATE it to work officially we'll have all kinds of anomalies like this.
Try using the Windows Key as opposed to Alt Tab. I have to use the windows key to make it stop freezing when switching between my dual instances of the game. Try using the windows key while left clicking in the game..been doing that since July now.
Same issue here for the last few days.
Vista Home Premium 64-bit SP2
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Very true.. but hopefully someone else has come across this issue and has a solution |
Originally Posted by Anarchist_Kitten
Well, CoX doesn't officially run on Vista or 7 yet. It does, usually, but until they actually UPDATE it to work officially we'll have all kinds of anomalies like this.
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Since I didn't have this problem under Vista, I am confused...
You don't hit smiling monsters - Sister Flame
Happens to me every time I play, every half hour like clockwork. Win 7 RCS (Ultimate ed) 64-bit. Could this be related to a recent Windows patch? Or a recent game patch? Can't remember it happening until a week or two ago.
Getting the same erros too:
A request to disable the Desktop Window Manager was made by a process (City of Heroes). (Error ID 9010)
and
The Desktop Window Manager was unable to start because composition was disabled by a running application. (Error ID 9013)
Only happens when CoH is running - which makes sense judging to the logs.
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i love this game --|
Originally Posted by Anarchist_Kitten
Well, CoX doesn't officially run on Vista or 7 yet. It does, usually, but until they actually UPDATE it to work officially we'll have all kinds of anomalies like this.
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JAN 2007 was launch for Vista and does cox dev's think its a temp program or what --maybe its not going to stay around for long like 3 years
end sarcasm
As opposed to sarcasm, I've submitted a trouble ticket and am working with Support to nail down the issue. Seems to be more productive IMPO. Would have gathered more data earlier but was offline most of the day.
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Thanks Obsidius.. I don't have the knowledge of the workings of Windows to troubleshoot with any efficiency.
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Originally Posted by Obsidius
As opposed to sarcasm, I've submitted a trouble ticket and am working with Support to nail down the issue. Seems to be more productive IMPO. Would have gathered more data earlier but was offline most of the day.
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You don't hit smiling monsters - Sister Flame
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I think it's a Windows patch. I just had it happen with my email application while nothing else was running. It's basically pulling the focus from the primary program for some strange reason. I hope MS can track it down to fix it soon. It's a minor annoyance for me, but I bet it's causing some issues for people with less robust systems than mine.
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Originally Posted by Obsidius
Could this be related to a recent Windows patch? Or a recent game patch? Can't remember it happening until a week or two ago.
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Ack, I hope not. IMPE, OS bugs are always harder to fix than 3rd party bugs. But it could be due to the latest security patch that came out restricting program permissions or whatnot.|
Originally Posted by Catharctic
I think it's a Windows patch. I just had it happen with my email application while nothing else was running. It's basically pulling the focus from the primary program for some strange reason. I hope MS can track it down to fix it soon. It's a minor annoyance for me, but I bet it's causing some issues for people with less robust systems than mine.
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In any case, Support gave me something else to try. Going to see what turns out.
I've had this issue intermittently with CoH only since Win 7 beta....I've started getting it again lately, but I had pretty much chalked it up to my dual-monitor setup. If you guys are getting it though, that's probably not it. Hm.
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This is exactly what I was thinking because Vista got a similar patch.
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Originally Posted by Obsidius
But it could be due to the latest security patch that came out restricting program permissions or whatnot.
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Might be something I can test with System Restore after performing the next test for Support.
Okay, so I did a little bit of playing around after reading this thread, and it definitely seems to be related to desktop composition, more specifically to the fact that when you alt-tab or go back to desktop the system seems to want to try to reactivate it, which doesn't play well with CoH. I got it to stop doing it (for me at least) by setting the system to disable the desktop composition entirely when CoH boots up, and not reinstate it until CoH is closed. I did this by going into the CoH properties and disabling desktop composition in the Compatibility tab. Not the prettiest solution, but it lets me use everything without freezing CoH's graphics. I've been playing with CoH after this change for about 10 minutes now, trying deliberately to get it to freeze, and it's still running nicely ^.^ If anyone else wants to give this a try, this may be a good temporary work-around.
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Well shoot >.< there might be other additional factors then, because that definitely fixed things up for me. Well, hopefully Support can come up with something else that works for you.
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Originally Posted by Catharctic
Unfortunately, I already had that option turned off.
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Actually, I'm disinclined to believe it is a Windows problem at this point. At the recommendation of Support, I used MSConfig to disable all non-MS services and startup apps, and the client worked flawlessly. Still working with Support on this, so hopefully more details to come.
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That's one thing I DID do on my own.. I disabled quite a few start up apps and it seems to have stabilized... Unfortunately, I don't know exactly what I shut off.. doh!|
Originally Posted by Obsidius
Actually, I'm disinclined to believe it is a Windows problem at this point. At the recommendation of Support, I used MSConfig to disable all non-MS services and startup apps, and the client worked flawlessly. Still working with Support on this, so hopefully more details to come.
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While playing on the test account, I did get the non-compatible with windows desktop message, but the game never froze.
You don't hit smiling monsters - Sister Flame
Still wish NCSoft would get the game "compatible" with Windows so that I don't have to keep telling the UAC that yes I trust this unknown program.
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Instead of double-clicking, right-click and "Run as Administrator".|
Originally Posted by Anarchist_Kitten
Still wish NCSoft would get the game "compatible" with Windows so that I don't have to keep telling the UAC that yes I trust this unknown program.
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You could also just turn off UAC, but some people don't like to do that.
I wish I had something useful to add to this conversation other than I recently started experiencing this as well. I actually assumed I had a nasty running around on my computer and ran all sorts of virus/malware scans with no problems.
I will monitor this thread in hopes for a resolution. Thanks Obsidious for knowing what to look for and being willing to help out!
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I seem to be having an odd reoccuring issue when playing now that I have loaded Windows 7.
The game runs fine, but I get a quick flash to the screen, the task bar comes up, then a quick flash back to the game screen. However, the screen is frozen. If I go back to the task bar and click on the CoX icon, the game comes back fine. I know the game is still playing because if I press a movement button while the screen is frozen, my character will have moved when I get the screen back after visiting the task bar.
Doing some research, I opened the event log from the task manager. I have the following events posted that match the times my screen has frozen. They are all the same and always a pair of events one second apart.
First Event:
A request to disable the Desktop Window Manager was made by a process (City of Heroes).
Second Event:
The Desktop Window Manager was unable to start because composition was disabled by a running application.
I also sometimes get a message that says something to the effect "City of Heroes doesn't support the current desktop color scheme, reverting to basic scheme."
Has anyone come across anything like this? It's a minor annoyance, but it also seems to knock out Ventrillo when it happens.
Thanks.
You don't hit smiling monsters - Sister Flame