Factorio Forums

Is there a way to disable always on top in windows during factorio loading screen? I hate to disable it manually using turbotop. Normally game does not use always on top, only during BORING loading screen when I want to alt tab to something else while it loads.

It happens in full screen windowed mode.

fullscreen is always on top for some reason (and not just factorio, it's something the fullscreen mode does in general for any app). There is already another thread about that.

Did I already make that thread here years ago? I forgot.

I don’t seem to have this issue. I’m able to alt tab to other applications while at the loading screen just fine. Only when (I think) I alt tab before the loading screen starts, then it forces on top and I have to play around with a few iterations of alt tabbing to then get other things on top.

I don't know why this bug that is in MANY MANY MANY other apps/games never gets fixed. Feels like it's bug in windows itself.
Wish i could just globally disable always on top and only whitelist apps I want AOT to have.

FuryoftheStars wrote: ↑Thu Nov 11, 2021 9:52 pm I don’t seem to have this issue. I’m able to alt tab to other applications while at the loading screen just fine. Only when (I think) I alt tab before the loading screen starts, then it forces on top and I have to play around with a few iterations of alt tabbing to then get other things on top.

After alt-tab move the mouse over the factorio window in the background and it will pop to the front after a small delay.

It's something Xorg (or the Window Manager?) does with fullscreen applications when they regain focus. Aparently Windows does the same. I've noticed this with factorio, firefox, xfce-terminal, gimp, ...

mrvn wrote: ↑Fri Nov 12, 2021 5:13 pm

FuryoftheStars wrote: ↑Thu Nov 11, 2021 9:52 pm I don’t seem to have this issue. I’m able to alt tab to other applications while at the loading screen just fine. Only when (I think) I alt tab before the loading screen starts, then it forces on top and I have to play around with a few iterations of alt tabbing to then get other things on top.

After alt-tab move the mouse over the factorio window in the background and it will pop to the front after a small delay.

It's something Xorg (or the Window Manager?) does with fullscreen applications when they regain focus. Aparently Windows does the same. I've noticed this with factorio, firefox, xfce-terminal, gimp, ...

Yeah, or the other thing I've discovered is just alt tab to something else, then back to the game, then I can alt tab to what I actually wanted. Still, only occurs if I try alt tabbing at the wrong moment.

I learned that I have to click the game window first in order to be able to alt+tab out of it. Works during any of Factorio's screens.

MEOWMI wrote: ↑Fri Nov 12, 2021 8:42 pm I learned that I have to click the game window first in order to be able to alt+tab out of it. Works during any of Factorio's screens.

Windows? Linux? MaxOS?

mrvn wrote: ↑Fri Nov 12, 2021 10:43 pm

MEOWMI wrote: ↑Fri Nov 12, 2021 8:42 pm I learned that I have to click the game window first in order to be able to alt+tab out of it. Works during any of Factorio's screens.

Windows? Linux? MaxOS?

On Windows for me.

Under Windows, if you sometimes need to interact with other apps on the desktop and sometimes not, you can switch Factorio with ALT-ENTER between fullscreen and windowed without needing to change the ingame settings. Windowed doesn't hide the Windows task bar, so it doesn't appear as "always on top", and you can drag the window border to resize. Unfortunately a manually set window size isn't kept between restarts.