How can I make games windowed in Vista?

Hello,

I've got a question. How can I make my games run in a window? (For some reason, I prefer to play games in "windowed mode".) In XP you had to add something like "-w" on the shortcut thingy... But it doesn't work on Vista. I know how to do the "Windowed GUI" -thingy, but I think it quite doesn't help me. I even tried it, but the games still run in fullscreen.

I have managed to make a few games run in a window, but that is because there was an option for it in the game options. Unfortunately for me, not all games have that kind of options. Or maybe I'm just blind, and I don't find that kind of things from the game options. *shrug*

So, does anyone know any sort of solution for this? Thanks in advance. =)

(I hope that you guys understood what I meant - I'm not that good in english. ^_^')
I'm going to sleep now (it's nearly 01:00 AM here), so it might take a while for me to answer here.

Edit: Well, I guess this whole problem is now pretty much solved. Thanks for helping me out! d(^^d)

Pupu said:

Hello,

I've got a question. How can I make my games run in a window? (For some reason, I prefer to play games in "windowed mode".) In XP you had to add something like "-w" on the shortcut thingy... But it doesn't work on Vista. I know how to do the "Windowed GUI" -thingy, but I think it quite doesn't help me. I even tried it, but the games still run in fullscreen.

I have managed to make a few games run in a window, but that is because there was an option for it in the game options. Unfortunately for me, not all games have that kind of options. Or maybe I'm just blind, and I don't find that kind of things from the game options. *shrug*

So, does anyone know any sort of solution for this? Thanks in advance. =)

(I hope that you guys understood what I meant - I'm not that good in english. ^_^')
I'm going to sleep now (it's nearly 01:00 AM here), so it might take a while for me to answer here.

Click to expand...

press alt and enter while in game, this turns the screen into windowed mode. works with crysis and assassins creed. not tried it with any other games.

+1 for alt+enter. Works in a lot of games.

Some games you might need to modify a config file as alt+enter won't always work such as Battlefield 1942.

Sometimes it can be simple, like in BF1942, you just open the graphic config in notepad, and put the launch fullscreen thing from 1 to 0 or something like that, others you might need to add a whole new parameter.

Alt + Enter, huh? Well, I'll try that one.

[After testing the Alt + Enter thingy with a few games]
Well, it appears that it doesn't work with The Sims 2. It also did not work with Curse of Monkey Island, Dweep and Sim City 3000. Well, at least it worked with Jazz Jackrabbit 2. I'll test a few other games later. =)


Config file? Well, I have never-ever edited those, but I guess I'll give it a try.
*feels like a dofus* ...What would be the config file for The Sims 2 (Mansion & Garden Stuff)? ^^;

I guess I missed the other method of how to run in windowed mode, which is what The Sims 2 uses.

Right click on the desktop icon for it, and at the end of the Target box, just add -w after the last ". This should launch the game in windowed mode.

Ohh, thank you! Now my Sims 2 launches in a window. But the window is in a strange size. [Somewhat big pic] But I guess that can be fixed by changing the screen resolution in game? ^^

And as for some other games, that seemed to work, too. But for one game it didn't. That game is Sam & Max Hit the Road. When I tried to start up the game, it gave me this error:

Then I clicked "OK", and it started up the game in fullscreen. Anyone have idea what would work for this pretty old game?

It won't work on every game the same way. Just do a Google search for things like "Sam and Max windowed mode" and you'll most likely find something that tells you how.

Ahh, alright. Guess I'll do some Googling tomorrow. Hopefully I'll find something useful. =3
Edit: Well, Googling helped a bit. I just had to put the game in XP compatibility mode, write " -w" thingy in the shortcut, and that was it. Now it works. ^_^

Alt + enter works in Everquest 1. Or you can use the display tab in the alt+oh keyboard shortcut and change it there.