Why does the Windows version multitask so badly?

[Peter34]

I haven't tried it with the newest version, but I've played a lot of Factorio in recent weeks, and my experience is that whenever I alt+tab to minimize the Factorio game so that I can interact with Windows in other ways, the game crashes on me about half the time. I've therefore made it a habit to always save the game before I want to alt+tab out of the game, e.g. to check my email, or Skype, or whatever else I might want to do to take a brief break from the game while it's still running (factory still producing stuff). Often what I want to do outside of the game pertains to communications.

Of course this roundaboutness, first having to save the game and secondly knowing that there's about a 50% chance that the game will crash and I'l have to restart it and load the saved game, makes me very reluctant to alt+tab out of it. Thus playing the game has the effect of isolating me completely from communication with the outside world, for the duration of the play period, often several hours in a row.

This is 2015, though, and things ought not to be that way. A well-programmed and stable game should not have a 50% chance of crashing every time you do something so perfectly normal, and so utterly well-established, as pressing alt+tab.

[GewaltSam]

I am playing Factorio since May last year now, and I never had ANY problems with ALT-tabbing. I played in maximized windowed mode, mostly, and I am tabbing a lot. Can't say what's the problem with your system though :/

[Cloner]

Zero alt tab crashes for me... check your system.

[katyal]

Do you play at same resolution as your desktop, I used to have something similar happen to me and I noticed it stopped when both of them are set to the same thing.

[starholme]

Another vote on the never had any crashes. I run dual monitors, so I'm continuously in and out of factorio, but I don't actually minimize it. Maybe that's the difference?

[FishSandwich]

Same here, I alt+tab often, never get crashes.

[keyboardhack]

Yet another person with no crashes. Must be something specific to your system or settings.

[Peter34]

Do you play at same resolution as your desktop, I used to have something similar happen to me and I noticed it stopped when both of them are set to the same thing.

I'm not sure what resolution Factorio runs in,. and I actually asked about that on here a month or two ago, because I suspected that the game might not be running in my 1600x1200 desktop rez. Is there a way to check?

By the way, I don't think I play in windowed mode. I think I play in full-screen mode. That's my usual approach to Windows games, and if there's an Options toggle to choose then I'll usually set it to full-screen right away by habit, just as I do with all other games (and which, apart from Civ 5, are very stable during and after alt+tabbing out of them).

[starholme]

Not every monitor does this, but I know that at least some do:
When you have factorio open on the monitor, use the buttons on the monitor that adjust contrast/etc. On the display that pops up overtop of factorio, it might tell you the resolution it's being fed. My Dell monitors do at least.

But a little more info about your system and game might help too.
What OS, intel/amd, amount of RAM, game version and bitness (x64 or x86?)?

[cube]

I'm not sure what resolution Factorio runs in,. and I actually asked about that on here a month or two ago, because I suspected that the game might not be running in my 1600x1200 desktop rez. Is there a way to check?

Factorio doesn't change resolution, it runs in your desktop 1600x1200.

[OBAMA MCLAMA]

I only run games in window mode now, and borderless fullscreen mode to those that have the option. This allows me to alt tab to my 2nd monitor without interfering with the game. So I never had a alt tab crash with factorio.
When I start factorio I maximize the window.

[Xterminator]

I play on windows as well Windows 7 64 bit to be exact. I play Factorio in full screen mode and all+tab constantly. I think I have only had a crash one or two times ever. As everyone else has said, must be something with your system or game. :/
More details would help I think.

[Cilya]

It could be a bug in Allegro. You could search there.