Alt-Tabbing for realsies no takebacks

[Asterix]

A long long time ago, Factorio used to Alt-Tab like most Windows applications: you press Alt-Tab, the Factorio window goes away, another window takes its place. You press Alt-Tab again, the current window goes away, the Factorio window comes back. Simple, linear, basic Windows behavior.

Then an update of the underlying game engine occurred, and Factorio started doing the dumb: you Alt-Tab, the focus goes away (so if you type something you are typing in a different window), but the Factorio window stays up (so if you type something you have no idea what that is).

Some time later, the devs, recognizing the issue, added an option to "minimize on focus loss". This half-fixes the problem, by making it so that, if you alt-tab away, factorio minimizes, and you actually get to see the window you are typing in. However, it also means that Factorio becomes the last item in the application queue instead of the first after the current window.

This means you have two choices:

1) alt-tab, alt-tab, alt-tab, alt-tab, alt-tab (5 times) every bloody time to go from Factorio to whatever window you wanted to go to (minimize on focus loss deactivated)
2) alt-tab to go to whatever window you want to go to, shift-alt-tab to go back to factorio (minimize on focus loss activated)

In contrast, the behavior of 90% of windows applications is: alt-tab away, alt-tab back. It's not rocket surgery.

Now, I understand that Microsoft needs to be drowned in radioactive waste, Windows 11 is a blight on the world, Windows 10 is a lie that will see everyone responsible burn in hell for the rest of eternity, and so on and so bloody forth, but. Chrome and Notepad still work the way they did in Windows XP. This isn't a Windows problem, it's a Factorio problem.

Can we please figure out what broke and fix it? This bug was first introduced *years* ago.

[Klonan]

You press Alt-Tab again, the current window goes away, Factorio window comes back. Simple, linear, basic Windows behavior.

My windows doesn't behave like that, Alt-Tab just changes focus and brings the window to the front. No windows are minimized.

[Asterix]

You press Alt-Tab again, the current window goes away, Factorio window comes back. Simple, linear, basic Windows behavior.

My windows doesn't behave like that, Alt-Tab just changes focus and brings the window to the front. No windows are minimized.

And if you alt-tab again you go back to Factorio?

To clarify, here is what happens:

Edit: I for one welcome our new AI overlords.


Close all windows.

Open Chrome, open Edge, open notepad.

Alt-tab.

You will see Edge.

Alt-tab.

You will see notepad.



If, however, instead of Notepad, you open Factorio, that is not what happens.



CASE A:

Your "minimize on focus loss" is disabled:

Close all windows.

Open Chrome, open notepad, open Factorio.

1) Alt-tab.

You will see Factorio *but* you will be typing in notepad.

2) Alt-tab.

You will see Chrome.

3) Alt-tab.

You will see Factorio.

4) Alt-tab.

You will see Factorio *but* you will be typing in Chrome.

5) Alt-tab.

You will (finally) see Notepad.

CASE B:

Your "minimize on focus loss" is enabled:

Close all windows.

Open Chrome, open notepad, open Factorio.

1) Alt-tab.

You will see Notepad.

2) Alt-tab.

You will see Chrome.

3) Alt-tab.

You will see Notepad.

4) Alt-tab.

You will see Chrome.

5) Alt-tab.

You will Notepad.


6) Alt-shift-tab.

You will see Factorio. Probably.

[Klonan]

You press Alt-Tab again, the current window goes away, Factorio window comes back. Simple, linear, basic Windows behavior.

My windows doesn't behave like that, Alt-Tab just changes focus and brings the window to the front. No windows are minimized.

And if you alt-tab again you go back to Factorio?

Yea

[Asterix]

If you only have two windows open, then yes, that is what happens.

Edit: or, if your factorio is not fullscreen. Who plays Factorio in a window?!?

However.

Close all windows.

Open Chrome, open Edge, open notepad.

Alt-tab.

You will see Edge.

Alt-tab.

You will see notepad.

Alt-tab.

You will see Edge.

Alt-tab.

You will see notepad.

And so on and so forth.



If, however, instead of Notepad, you open Factorio, that is not what happens.

(Edit: I could swear I typed case A before case B... My computer is becoming sentient... This should fix it.)



CASE A - your "minimize on focus loss" is disabled:

Close all windows.

Open Chrome, open notepad, open Factorio.

1) Alt-tab.

You will see Factorio *but* you will be typing in notepad.

2) Alt-tab.

You will see Chrome.

3) Alt-tab.

You will see Factorio.

4) Alt-tab.

You will see Factorio *but* you will be typing in Chrome.

5) Alt-tab.

You will (finally) see Notepad.


CASE B - your "minimize on focus loss" is enabled:

Close all windows.

Open Chrome, open notepad, open Factorio.

1) Alt-tab.

You will see Notepad.

2) Alt-tab.

You will see Chrome.

3) Alt-tab.

You will see Notepad.

4) Alt-tab.

You will see Chrome.

5) Alt-tab.

You will see Notepad.


6) Alt-shift-tab.

You will see Factorio. Probably.


Edit- again: this is true for fullscreen Factorio. Windowed Factorio does not have that issue. Klonan, you officially broke my brain.

[Klonan]

Works exactly the same whether its full screen or in a window,
(Factorio has no fullscreen, its actually just fullscreen borderless window)

[Asterix]

Okay... That obviously works for you but not for me.

Let me check where the issue is then.

(SOME DEBUGGING LATER)

Right, so. I found the difference between our setups.

As it happens, I have the classic Alt-Tab behavior enabled (Registry key: Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer -> DWORD AltTabSettings = 1 -- requires Explorer restart)

Basically, instead of getting a big white window preview for notepad, a big white window preview for word, and a big white window preview for google docs, I get a notepad icon, a word icon, and a chrome icon. Don't laugh, any text editor looks like a big white window in the preview, and so do a lot of other applications.

Also, it's a lot easier to tell which icon you are selecting rather than which big white window has a blacker border than the other white windows.

However, it seems that, if you want your big white windows to be big colorful icon instead, some applications don't alt-tab out properly.

Factorio is one of them.

Good to know, I guess?

[ptx0]

You press Alt-Tab again, the current window goes away, Factorio window comes back. Simple, linear, basic Windows behavior.

My windows doesn't behave like that, Alt-Tab just changes focus and brings the window to the front. No windows are minimized.

mine does this on Linux lately.