Tired of not being able to Alt tab? Heres a solution.
Do you find this useful? Would you yourself actually use something like this?
Total Votes : 0
HighlyFictionalSat Nov 29, 2014 6:36 am
Hello BK this will probably be my second post but over my 5 months here i've always tried to help new players to keep the game active with some binds and a understanding of the id tech engine or IW's version which has the same commands. Today i would like to offer you gentlemen some help with certain problems i always hear people complaining about in the teamspeak. Alt tabbing to get to badkon or just to fix something outside the game. This little program called "Swift Window" which can be found here http://grismar.net/shiftwindow/
Now you might be asking well what does this do that playing in windowed mode wont? Well some people do not know how to play in windowed mode or they might not even know how to get into it since you have to "mess with the config files" well with this program you will have to mess with the config files and launch the game in windowed mode to do this i will include a small guide at the bottom of this. What this program does is something very few people can do them self or choose not to is CENTER THE WINDOWED MODE GAME with the options to use any and your own monitors native resolution and also works with any window so with any game that allows windowed mode but i will only make a guide for W@W.
If any other BK members might need this like blackops or bf players i do not know how they handle windowed mode but it also works in mw2 so it will probably work in blackops just might need one of you more techy gentlemen to post a guide how to do it but my guide for the config is universal with all call of duty games to my knowledge.
First off you must download the program and install with this link http://grismar.net/shiftwindow/ it works on my windows 8.1 so i'm sure it works for all windows above xp. then you navigate your explorer to your config_mp file which is located in your player folder so " C:\Users\<yourusernamehere>\AppData\Local\Activision\CoDWaW\players\profiles\ " in the folder with the profile you would like to use open the file named "config_mp" with word pad and if you have windows 8.1 or any word processor with a simple "find" option which notepad doesn't have i use notepad++ which serves me nicely but for people who don't want a bunch of programs word pad works just fine.
Go to " find " in wordpad and search for "full screen" you should see a command called seta r_fullscreen "1" change that 1 to a zero ( This does not work in the ingame console) so that it looks like this seta r_fullscreen "0" and then save the " config_mp " if you wish to make a back up simply copy and paste the file before editing to the desktop or have your player folder always backed up regardless.
Now once that is done go to the program shortcut for swift window and open the program while it is in the background navigate to w@w shortcut where ever you may have it and launch the game now it should be in windowed mode go into options and then graphics settings and make sure you have it set to your native resolution if it is not ( maybe you have a slower computer? ) and you do not wish to have it set to your monitors native resolution this program will still work.
If for some reason W@W is off screen or cut off just alt tab and go to the swift window ..window and make sure on the bottom of the "trigger" settings if you would like to use a shortcut key to enable the centering that is fine i do not because you have to alt tab around anyways so no use for me. set it to manual or what ever keyboard combo you would like
In the "shift to" boxes you can set the game to be resized to what ever resolution you would like or just pick full screen you can also have the game moved to another monitor when this is activated by switched which monitor in the "target monitor" drop down if you have more than 2 monitors and 1 isn't your default click "identify" with shift windows...window will only show the default monitor so you will have to go to monitor properties in control panel and find which monitor is which if you have a modern operating system ( 7, 8.1, ) you can just right click desktop and click "Screen Resolution" and it will label the monitors in the same numbers used in swift window.
In the "window" boxes you can either choose the .exe (Must navigate to the W@W .exe yourself and paste it in the file name text box ) or the window once the game is open which i find more useful. Check the box for which ever you use for this guide i will detail the use of "Window" so check that box and navigate your mouse pointer to the "grab" button you should still have the game open in the background it will appear in the list as "Call Of Duty ® " after you select the windowed game and click "Okay" Go up to the "Select rule" box and click "Trigger it" and depending on the size of your monitor it should center the game to the best its abilities can.
I have had this not work on a few games and obviously it wont work if your game doesn't have "Windowed mode" but it works for W@W and i am sure most people on here thats all that matters.
This might not work for everyone when it centers my game a bit of the border shows up at the bottom but not at the top and neither of the sides get cut off so i can live with that. If you wonder if your mouse might fly off the screen randomly while playing it wont to move your mouse pointer to another window just press the esc key or pause the game and it will give you control of your mouse and for you single monitor users the ability to alt tab to browser or for all your alt tabbing needs.
Hopefully this was detailed enough for you all and would help some of the people who have been struggling with using two computers to do some simple things you could do with your second monitor if you could just alt tab!
EDIT: I also want to inform BK that there is a nonfree way of doing this with the program called "Active monitors" that works for every game and requires no messing about in config files because it works while the game is fullscreen and just pops up the mouse pointer to let you move about your monitors if you have multiple but that program is $25 a year i will include a link if you are interested http://www.actualtools.com/multiplemonitors/ If you have any questions feel free to ask!