Stop main menu wallpaper animation when minimized, pause when in game

[mrvn]

TL;DR

Stop wasting CPU time and making noise when nobody is watching.

What ?

When factorio is minimized in the main menu then all background simulations should stop. When in a single player game the game should be put on pause, just like when opening research. For multiplayer games it should just go mute as leaving and joining the game would be too inconvenient and pausing would affect all players, if the player even has the right for it.

Why ?

There is no point in running those mini simulations for the wallpaper if there is nothing there to display them on and nobody is watching. There is no simple way to pause factorio while in main menu. It always consumes cpu time and always makes noise. The game could run the current simulation till completion and simply not start another while minimized.

For games it would be a convenience to have the game pause and go silent when minimized. Together with the option to minimize the game when loosing focus this would make alt-tab a "boss key". It would be possible to just accept an incoming voice or video call and the game would go quite automatically. As is any interruption of game time requires more actions.

[FuryoftheStars]

Agree with the menu pausing on minimize.

Active game on losing focus/minimize should be an optional setting for those that will alt-tab/dual screen it. (Edit: er, and want it to keep running.)

[Koub]

This is a multi-suggestion, for part of which there are already requests/Suggestions :
viewtopic.php?f=71&t=938 (mute when Alt-Tabbed)
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=96506 (auto pause if AKF)

[FuryoftheStars]

This is a multi-suggestion, for part of which there are already requests/Suggestions :
viewtopic.php?f=71&t=938 (mute when Alt-Tabbed)
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=96506 (auto pause if AKF)

Thanks for the links.

[mrvn]

Agree with the menu pausing on minimize.

Active game on losing focus/minimize should be an optional setting for those that will alt-tab/dual screen it. (Edit: er, and want it to keep running.)

If you just dual screen it then you wouldn't minimize it on focus loss. And for alt-tab there already is an option to minimize on focus loss or not.

This is a multi-suggestion, for part of which there are already requests/Suggestions :
viewtopic.php?f=71&t=938 (mute when Alt-Tabbed)
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=96506 (auto pause if AKF)

Maybe I was unclear. The game already goes silent when paused. So this isn't about muting the game when alt-tabbed. That is just a lucky bonus from the game getting paused.

I feel it's a single suggestion: if minimized => pause.

[Koub]

I feel it's a single suggestion: if minimized => pause.

If your suggestion is just about that, then I disagree. I want to have the control whether the game runs or is paused when minimised. Pausing the game when I want it paused before alt-tabbing is the perfect solution and that's how it works, so I'd rather keep the current behaviour.

[mrvn]

I feel it's a single suggestion: if minimized => pause.

If your suggestion is just about that, then I disagree. I want to have the control whether the game runs or is paused when minimised. Pausing the game when I want it paused before alt-tabbing is the perfect solution and that's how it works, so I'd rather keep the current behaviour.

And it isn't sufficient to background the game? My suggestion is:

background => keep running
minimize => pause

So you do have control.

PS: pause does not work in the main menu.

[FuryoftheStars]

Agree with the menu pausing on minimize.

Active game on losing focus/minimize should be an optional setting for those that will alt-tab/dual screen it. (Edit: er, and want it to keep running.)

If you just dual screen it then you wouldn't minimize it on focus loss. And for alt-tab there already is an option to minimize on focus loss or not.

It should still be an optional setting that's independent of the setting you are referencing. Maybe someone wants it to minimize on focus loss so they can more easily access a desktop icon but don't want it to pause, whereas someone else in a dual screen setup wants it to pause any time they're not paying attention to it. Everyone should have the option to be able to choose how the game responds.

[Koub]

And it isn't sufficient to background the game? My suggestion is:

background => keep running
minimize => pause

The difference exists when you play windowed I guess. I play full screen, and when I alt-Tab, the game is minimised. Or rather there is no visible difference between that and minimised, knowing I can't minimise it more.
And I'm not fond of having different behaviours between full screen and windowed. So I maintain I prefer the way the game currently works.

PS: pause does not work in the main menu.

Indeed. For main menu, I would say : just quit the game if you don't want to interact with it. There is no point in letting the game on the menu for extended periods. Minimal CPU load, and no noise . On the contrary, I find this to be a good reminder of "You forgot the game running in the main menu again, bruh". And yes, in case you wonder, it happens regularly to me

[ssilk]

Knowing when you forgot to stop Factorio: if you open the MacBook in the morning, it’s still warm but black.

[mrvn]

And it isn't sufficient to background the game? My suggestion is:

background => keep running
minimize => pause

The difference exists when you play windowed I guess. I play full screen, and when I alt-Tab, the game is minimised. Or rather there is no visible difference between that and minimised, knowing I can't minimise it more.
And I'm not fond of having different behaviours between full screen and windowed. So I maintain I prefer the way the game currently works.

Maybe it's different on windows. On linux the fullscreen is just a screen sized window with some extra flags for the window manager. If you alt-tab the other window appears before factorio but you can still see the game in the background.

And most window managers let you minimize the game. E.g. xfce shows an icon for factorio in the task bar and the context menu for the icon has "Minimize" and "Unminimize" as options.

PS: pause does not work in the main menu.

Indeed. For main menu, I would say : just quit the game if you don't want to interact with it. There is no point in letting the game on the menu for extended periods. Minimal CPU load, and no noise . On the contrary, I find this to be a good reminder of "You forgot the game running in the main menu again, bruh". And yes, in case you wonder, it happens regularly to me

Last time, which was when I noticed and wrote this suggestion , was when I started the game to play with a friend and then had to wait for him to come online. Since the game takes a minute or two to load with the mod set we use I didn't want to quit it again.

Knowing when you forgot to stop Factorio: if you open the MacBook in the morning, it’s still warm but black.

When you open up the laptop in the train on the way to work the battery is dead just from running factorio on the walk to the train station.