New BPM Non Steam shortcuts always start behind steam's window

[Ginja Ninja]

Since the new BPM was introduced for testing, I've noticed that certain non steam shortcuts will start behind Steam's window. Some games do this, others don't and I'm not exactly sure what the cause for specific titles is. Is anyone else having this issue?

[Balderick]

i see this too for Steam games. CoD MW2 often launches in windowed mode and does not have focus. Have to click game in sys tray to give game focus and alt + tab to exclusive fullscreen. Even when using new big picture ui (-gamepadui) afaiu games should always launch fullscreen when using big picture mode but even the new game configurator launches in new window (not big picture overlay in-game).

[Driesy]

Having same problem with new Big Picture layout (looks like steam deck)

CEMU emulator always starts behind steam loading screen. Have to alt tab to get game back.

Mupen64ppus emulator shows game running in background but has the CMD window that launched the game focused. Using controller sounds like it is navigating steam (can hear tones).

Yuzu emulator is 50/50, sometimes it loads ok. (Maybe first time, but exit and back in stuffed)

[Hi Dog]

Having the samr problem. Did you find a solution to this?

[Hunter Bidens Pipe]

same issue. added skyrim script extender and it launches behind the steam logo spinning in the middle of the screen window. have to alt tab and then steam overlay doesnt work.

[Driesy]

I havent found any solution. I am on beta steam so I could rollback... But keen for the newer interface, so hoping they fix it.

Right now i have to "alt-tab" all my non-steam games. Which is annoying as i use BPM in another room to TV with controllers only

[Baulderan]

Also going to post that I have this issue, oh my god it is absolutely infuriating. I have needing to alt tab to every non-steam game.

[Javitron]

Same here 😒

[DerPanther1893]

Same here, it's frustrating.

[RedGamingNL]

Has anyone a solution to this problem? I spent hours trying to fix this, but without any luck.

Likewise, whenever I start a game via BPM, it launches behind BPM. Alt-tabbing via the keyboard causes the controller to stop functioning in-game. Therefore I haven't been able to play games via Steam Link yet..

[Revolver Wilson]

Same here, it happens mostly with emulators, which, as somebody previously said, have an arbitrary 50/50 chance of launching with focus or behind steam's new BPM.

[UnbendingNose]

My emulators seem fine, I do however have major issues with EA games launch behind BPM. Funny, you would think Valve would have that figured out with the EA integration.

[Balderick]

Some apps especially like emulators with cross platform support may use same software as Steam; SDL. This manages many things including grabbing focus of open windows.

Valve unlike many other devs have made linux primary targeted platform so everything now gets ported over from steam for linux to other supported platforms on Steam.

SDL is undergoing major updates from SDL 2 to SDL 3 .

The changes Valve have made to Steam SDL aka Steam Input and to SDL source code to make that happen is the major contributing factor as to why other apps that may natively support sdl through older and different versions of what Steam uses are behaving oddly in Steam runtime.

i aint a dev but just trying to share my perspective based on what is found on sdl repo in github regarding issues compared to bugs reported here and in Deck forums as well as others.

Most of the problems seem to be SDL related. It very convulated and complex thing

Am not just clutching at straws but have to admit am just taking a slightly informed guess based on what i have found here and elsewhere. Hopefully Valve have a Steam Dev Days soon sharing some insight in their work on making sdl3 work, full CEF work and the move to making steam for linux their primary targeted platform and what this means for the hundreds of millions if not billions of steam for windows users.


All i know for sure is the steam for windows experience has massively went downhill since the arrival of Deck and nbpm.

Just opening controller layout from steam overlay after launching game from large mode is enough for steam to loose focus of game - sdl related issue. This is after using kb shortcuts as the kb shortcuts F12 and shift+ tab for screen shot and steam overlay in game mapped to controller share and guide buttons are completely broken - sdl issues.
Just pressing windows key to show task bar is enough to make steam loose focus of game - yet another sdl issue
etc etc etc etc

[klepp0906]

anyone found a resolution yet? so far ive tried 3 games, all behind which resulted in me marching up the stairs to close out of it and try again. a few times of that and back to -oldbigpicture I go.

i recall this being a thing when this was first pushed to beta, now that its been pushed to the general builds i figured it wouldnt be an issue.

wrong.

[Javitron]

Right click on steam.exe, click on compatibility tab and check "disable full screen optimizations". Completely fixed.

[RedGamingNL]

@Javitron You are an absolute legend. I have spent so many hours on this problem and nothing worked. This solution fixed the problem!