Help, I don't want my game to pause when I alt+tab or click outside of the game window

[Naru Kim]

In some Steam games, I have noticed that clicking outside the window (I never play fullscreen) freezes the entire game. I tried looking for an option to disable this in settings but it doesn't exist, there's only the "Launch Option" when you right click>properties on a game in the library, but none of the commands I used seem to work.

I'm currently testing on Cult of The Lamb.

I need it to NOT freeze, because when streaming I have to click on various things off-screen and it is a bit annoying that the game cuts every time I have to click in the browser or another application. If anyone knows a way to fix this I humbly ask for your help, thanks!

[Black Blade]

Use a virtual machine or use two pcs where one has a stream card to stream into the second one
It will change game to game, and each will have its own settings

From what I know most Streamers got 2 PCs one for stream and one for game
That way you load less on the game PC, and your Streaming and stuff effect the game less, like on this case

and/or set up controls from your mobile device so you dont have to leave the game possibly

[rawWwRrr]

There really isn't a solution to prevent a game from freezing when not the active window. For some games it's not a problem but there's always going to be those that don't. You're better off finding solutions for the streaming feed such as changing to a scene that doesn't include the game when fiddling off screen, or possibly a dual PC setup with one dedicated to just gaming and the other capturing the gameplay and streaming it out while running everything else you need.

[kitt]

try borderless window (if the game has that option)?

otherwise:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/388080/Borderless_Gaming/



or free if you don't care about it on Steam: https://github.com/Codeusa/Borderless-Gaming/releases


you could also try to use the ALT key instead of alt-tab but thats also kinda random...

[Pierce Dalton]

I'm not sure but I guess there's not much one can do about it. Certain games have an option to choose between keep running/pause when you alt+tab, but when said option is not available I'm afraid you can't really change the default behavior of the game.

[~Ðêå†h☠†🎀]

I dont know why its happen cuz its happening with me too ! Recently while playing dota 2 my computer hangs automatically and it is freezing without no reasons ,like if someone gives a msg on the steam it does or playing and suddenly in the game it does and all craps ive tried so many ways to fix but still it wont do , also i do make videos so if i try to record it does . :")

[Nx Machina]

That is entirely dependant on how the devs coded the game when you move the mouse outside of the game window.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Originally posted by Pierce Dalton:

I'm not sure but I guess there's not much one can do about it. Certain games have an option to choose between keep running/pause when you alt+tab, but when said option is not available I'm afraid you can't really change the default behavior of the game.

This.

Some games do have this option, where you can choose to keep the game running or not when it loses focus. (Some even let you choose whether the music keeps playing!) But others just seem to have it hard-coded one way or the other and there doesn't seem to be much you can do about it other than modding the game yourself to change this behavior.

I'd be very surprised if Steam were able to force a process to freeze (thus making it possible to pause games that don't normally pause when they lose focus).

But I'd be even more surprised if Steam were able to force a game to not freeze when it's been coded to do so.

[Tito Shivan]

Originally posted by Nx Machina:

That is entirely dependant on how the devs coded the game when you move the mouse outside of the game window.

Correct. It's a game-dependent behaviour. Not anything that can be set up from Steam (Most of the time not even from within the game)

[Corona Varus]

I don't want my Steam download to pause when I play another game.

[HikariLight]

Originally posted by Corona Varus:

I don't want my Steam download to pause when I play another game.

That has nothing to do with this thread.
Go to your Steam settings, select downloads, and select in the drop down 'allow downloads while playing'.

[Naru Kim]

Originally posted by Tito Shivan:

Originally posted by Nx Machina:

That is entirely dependant on how the devs coded the game when you move the mouse outside of the game window.

Correct. It's a game-dependent behaviour. Not anything that can be set up from Steam (Most of the time not even from within the game)

Yeah this seems to be the problem. The only way for games to not pause seems to be to NOT buy them on steam or for pc, but rather on console and use a capturer like elgato, which is waaaaay cheaper than just buying another pc like others have sugested.

[Naru Kim]

Originally posted by kitt:

try borderless window (if the game has that option)?

otherwise:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/388080/Borderless_Gaming/



or free if you don't care about it on Steam: https://github.com/Codeusa/Borderless-Gaming/releases


you could also try to use the ALT key instead of alt-tab but thats also kinda random...

Borderless is not a solution, sadly it doesn't work, the game still pauses :c

[Naru Kim]

Originally posted by ༺Ðêå†h Rêåþêr༻:

I dont know why its happen cuz its happening with me too ! Recently while playing dota 2 my computer hangs automatically and it is freezing without no reasons ,like if someone gives a msg on the steam it does or playing and suddenly in the game it does and all craps ive tried so many ways to fix but still it wont do , also i do make videos so if i try to record it does . :")

My bad, when I say "freeze" I mean that the game auto-pauses (music, video and game itself stop. then when I click back on the window it works again) in your case, I suggest you google the problem, I've encoutered several articles on how to fix the alt+tab issue crashing games, but since it wasn't was was happening to me I ignored them.

[Naru Kim]

Originally posted by Quint the Alligator Snapper:

Originally posted by Pierce Dalton:

I'm not sure but I guess there's not much one can do about it. Certain games have an option to choose between keep running/pause when you alt+tab, but when said option is not available I'm afraid you can't really change the default behavior of the game.

This.

Some games do have this option, where you can choose to keep the game running or not when it loses focus. (Some even let you choose whether the music keeps playing!) But others just seem to have it hard-coded one way or the other and there doesn't seem to be much you can do about it other than modding the game yourself to change this behavior.

I'd be very surprised if Steam were able to force a process to freeze (thus making it possible to pause games that don't normally pause when they lose focus).

But I'd be even more surprised if Steam were able to force a game to not freeze when it's been coded to do so.

Yeah, I thought there'd be a way to "decieve the game" so to speak, so that it believes the window is still on focus when it's not.

TBH It seems rather useless to me to pause the entire game (music, animations, all) when you click outside the windowed game, when there's the option to pause IN GAME before switching windows. Especially with non-multiplayer games like Cult of the Lamb (I mean it's the same mechanincs as Hades and that game never pauses when I click outside, so...)

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Originally posted by Naru Kim:

Yeah, I thought there'd be a way to "decieve the game" so to speak, so that it believes the window is still on focus when it's not.

Now that I think about it, there might be some third-party utilities that extend focus to a normally out-of-focus window. At least, I can imagine something like that.

For example I know of someone who's played like players in the same multiplayer game at once, using the same input.

But keep in mind this means that the rest of your inputs would likely end up being fed into the game as well. Including anything you type, for instance.