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Thread: Windows 10 keeps minimising Rome II

  1. #1
    Alwyn's Avatar Frothy Goodness
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    Default Windows 10 keeps minimising Rome II

    Before, Rome II worked smoothly with no issues. Since yesterday, each time Rome II launches, it's minimised during loading. It's then minimised again, about once every two minutes, during game-play. I start Steam, then click on Rome II, then click 'Play' in the box. The loading screen appears and then vanishes. A tab with the Rome II icon appears in the bar at the bottom of my screen. If I click on the tab, initially nothing happens. After a while, the game pops up again and fills the screen normally. However, after loading a campaign, within a minute after I start playing, it will be minimised again. This keeps happening - until this problem is fixed, Rome II will be effectively unplayable on my computer.

    I tried the following:

    1. Verifying the files for Rome II. (When I verified the files, no problems were detected). The problem remained.

    2. Telling Windows 10 to use desktop mode and not to use tablet mode, explained here. The problem remained.

    3. Cutting and pasting my save files and replays to another location, deleting my C:/Users/[my user name]/AppData/Roaming/The Creative Assembly/Rome 2 folder and starting the game. This made a difference once, when I started the game without any saved game files in C:/Users/[my user name]/AppData/Roaming/The Creative Assembly/Rome 2/save_games. However, when I copied my saved games back into that folder, the problem happened again.

    4. A complete reinstall (delete the Rome 2 folder as above, right-click on Rome II in the Steam Library and uninstall, then install). This initially solved the problem, the game ran normally when there were no saved game files in C:/Users/[my user name]/AppData/Roaming/The Creative Assembly/Rome 2/save_games. However, the next time I started the game (having played part of a campaign and saved), the problem happened again, even during the game's initial loading screen before I had asked it to load a save.

    5. Running the game as an administrator and running it in compatibility mode for Windows 7. When I tried this, the game wouldn't start. A box popped up headed 'Allow game launch?' saying that "Rome II Emperor addition is attempting to launch with the optional parameters shown below". Instead of optional parameters, the box showed the location on my hard drive of the Rome II.exe file. When I clicked OK to launch the game, the box closed but the game didn't start.

    6. Running the game normally (not as an administrator) and in compatibility mode for Windows 8. The game began to start but it was minimised during loading again.

    7. Changing the screen resolution. The problem remained.

    The problem still remains. When playing, I don't have any other programs running in the background (except for Avast antivirus and whatever software runs automatically).

    Is anyone else having this problem? Does anyone know how to tell Windows 10 to stop minimising Rome II?
    Last edited by Alwyn; August 29, 2018 at 11:07 AM.

  2. #2
    Daruwind's Avatar Citizen
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    Default Re: Windows 10 keeps minimising Rome II

    Quick googling is showing similar issues for different games.

    http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answer...inimizing.html
    https://windowsreport.com/full-scree...ps-minimizing/
    https://steamcommunity.com/discussio...9106586582830/
    ....

    Looks like it could be GPU driver, try to update it and then common cause was Win Action center notification for various reasons..I have there like "game helper" where i can tick in "game session" to remove all notifications..helper for concentration? Sorry I have win in czech language.. - EDIT: focus assist



    And I remember that my old notebook with integrated and dedicated GPUs had problems especially if I alt+tabbed a lot. Basically PC were switching between GPUs and it was messy..
    Last edited by Daruwind; August 29, 2018 at 12:11 PM.
    DMR: (R2) (Attila) (ToB) (Wh1/2) (3K) (Troy)

  3. #3

    Default Re: Windows 10 keeps minimising Rome II

    I had the same problem, but playing the game in windowed mode solved it for me.

  4. #4
    Alwyn's Avatar Frothy Goodness
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    Default Re: Windows 10 keeps minimising Rome II

    Thanks, Daruwind and Basilius, I appreciate your help.

    I tried updating my GPU drivers, they were already using the latest versions. I updated my audio driver but the problem remained. Like you, Daruwind, I already used 'focus helper' to remove all notifications, so I couldn't change that setting to fix the problem.

    Daruwind mentioned that you used to play Rome II on a laptop with both integrated and dedicated GPUs and this led to problems, I'm doing the same thing. (The problem happens even though I don't alt-tab.) However, if that's the issue, I don't understand why the problem didn't happen until this week. I've been playing Rome II on the same laptop with the same GPUs, the problem didn't happen until a few days ago.

    Basilius, thanks for the idea of using windowed mode. Unfortunately, putting Rome II in windowed mode caused the game to appear in a small window on my screen. I couldn't find a way to expand the window - does anyone know a way to expand the window? I run Rome II on a lower resolution than my screen can handle. I do this because the game lags on maximum screen resolution and runs smoothly on a lower resolution. The difference is massive - on maximum screen resolution, the game lags in big siege battles even with low graphics settings and small unit sizes. With a lower screen resolution, the game runs smoothly even in big siege battles, even on ultra graphics settings and large unit sizes! As you can imagine, I'm keen to keep this better experience if I can. (My laptop has the minimum system requirements for Rome II and most of the recommended system requirements, but the CPU doesn't meet the recommended requirement). I started using a lower resolution weeks ago, the game was running well until this week, so setting the lower resolution doesn't seem to be the cause of the problem.

    One really strange thing is that the problem doesn't happen when there are no saved games (in the folder for saved games). When there are saved gamed in that folder, the game starts being minimised during the initial loading (after I start Rome II), even before I ask the game to load a saved game.
    Last edited by Alwyn; August 31, 2018 at 02:14 AM.

  5. #5
    ~Seleukos.I.Nikator~'s Avatar Campidoctor
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    Default Re: Windows 10 keeps minimising Rome II

    I'm not 100% if what I'm saying is true, but I guess that having the same resolution on your screen and R2 will allow you to view the game in the full-screen even if you set it in the windowed mode.

    If you don't want to change the game resolution, then the only solution will be to change your screen resolution so that it matches the one in the game.
    Last edited by ~Seleukos.I.Nikator~; August 31, 2018 at 03:12 AM.

  6. #6
    Daruwind's Avatar Citizen
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    Default Re: Windows 10 keeps minimising Rome II

    Problem happening only with save games? They are stored in different location. Game is under steam folder/program files but saves are usually under Users / AppData. The newer windows are usually limiting where certain programs can reach. I remember a few older games which had setting files, or saves in places where win forbid them to access. It was crashing or constantly asking if i will allow that access.

    ..So maybe problem with security,windows permissions? For example I have C: SSD for system only with C users but also another G: SSD with steam folder. So saves are on one disc, installation on another... If that is happening only during reading of the saves, the game is touching that location,files...

    http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/...ave-files.html
    Last edited by Daruwind; August 31, 2018 at 07:19 AM.
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  7. #7
    Alwyn's Avatar Frothy Goodness
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    Default Re: Windows 10 keeps minimising Rome II

    Quote Originally Posted by seleukos99 View Post
    I'm not 100% if what I'm saying is true, but I guess that having the same resolution on your screen and R2 will allow you to view the game in the full-screen even if you set it in the windowed mode.

    If you don't want to change the game resolution, then the only solution will be to change your screen resolution so that it matches the one in the game.
    seleukos99, thank you for the idea.

    When I set my computer's screen resolution to the one I'm using in the game, the game started normally, once.

    However, after that, the problem returned.

    [Edit to add] Later on, looking around in Windows Settings, I found a line of text which said that I needed to log out and log in (to Windows) again, so that some apps would apply the new graphics settings. I logged out and logged in again. Then I re-started Rome II - and it worked normally! I don't know whether it will keep working. For now, it seems that a combination of re-setting the computer's sceen resolution (to the same resolution I use for Rome II), followed by logging out from Windows and logging in again, could be a workaround for the problem.

    Quote Originally Posted by Daruwind View Post
    Problem happening only with save games? They are stored in different location. Game is under steam folder/program files but saves are usually under Users / AppData. The newer windows are usually limiting where certain programs can reach. I remember a few older games which had setting files, or saves in places where win forbid them to access. It was crashing or constantly asking if i will allow that access.

    ..So maybe problem with security,windows permissions? For example I have C: SSD for system only with C users but also another G: SSD with steam folder. So saves are on one disc, installation on another... If that is happening only during reading of the saves, the game is touching that location,files...

    http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/...ave-files.html
    Thank you for your continued help with this. You're right, of course, that saved games are stored elsewhere (I know where, I've been cutting and pasting my saved games in and out of the relevant folder as part of investigating the problem). I don't have separate C: and G: drives. Everything is stored on C: in the default locations.

    The odd thing is that the problem happens when there are saved games in the folder - and that it starts happening during the initial loading of the game (after I press Play on Steam), because I have even had the chance to load a saved game. My guess is that the game checks during the initial start-up to see if there are saved games, and somehow this triggers the problem.

    One clue I found was in my Windows Update History. An update failed to install - on the day before the problem began. This might be a coincidence, but I wonder if was linked to the problem.
    Last edited by Alwyn; September 01, 2018 at 09:23 AM.

  8. #8
    ~Seleukos.I.Nikator~'s Avatar Campidoctor
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    Default Re: Windows 10 keeps minimising Rome II

    You are welcome, Alwyn! I'm glad I could help.

  9. #9
    Alwyn's Avatar Frothy Goodness
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    Default Re: Windows 10 keeps minimising Rome II

    Thank you again! I'm happy to report that, at least for now, your suggestion is working!

    (Previously, some things I tried worked only the first time that I started the game - after that, the problem returned. Your suggestion is the only solution which continued to work.)

  10. #10
    ♔Greek Strategos♔'s Avatar THE BEARDED MACE
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    Default Re: Windows 10 keeps minimising Rome II

    Quote Originally Posted by Daruwind View Post

    And I remember that my old notebook with integrated and dedicated GPUs had problems especially if I alt+tabbed a lot. Basically PC were switching between GPUs and it was messy..
    Alt tabbing was/is problematic for Rome 2 since Day one.

    Quote Originally Posted by Alwyn View Post
    Thank you again! I'm happy to report that, at least for now, your suggestion is working!

    (Previously, some things I tried worked only the first time that I started the game - after that, the problem returned. Your suggestion is the only solution which continued to work.)
    Well, I know that it happens for other games too. It would be helpful if more people acknowledge the issue so we could try to solve it permanently.

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