How to Run WitP:AE in Fullscreen Windowed (Borderless Windowed) Mode

[BillBrown]

ORIGINAL: Korvar

When you run WinExplorer, instead of double-clicking on it as usual - right click and then use the "Run as Administrator" option.

If that ends up being the culprit, I'll also explain how to make that change permanent (if you don't already know); I may also need to update the instructions in the OP as well.

Yes, that is the solution. Now if I can figure out how to not get the bottom cut off

[Korvar]

To make the "Run as Administrator" permanent, right click the WinExplorer .exe file (winexp.exe) and click on "Properties".

Check the "Run this program as administrator" option (circled below) and then click "Ok".




Note - if you meant making the window move permanent/automated, then using DisplayFusion is the way to go. It is not free, but they do run sales on it from time to time.


As for the bottom getting cut off... make sure you are using a negative value in the "Top" field. I've found that -27 does the trick to hide the title bar (picture shown in the OP). In the AE shortcut, also make sure you're using a resolution which matches your monitor resolution. Not to imply you're using incorrect settings, but those should be the two factors at play.

So - 1) make sure your game shortcut is set to run the game at your monitor's current resolution, then 2) use negative "top" and "left" values in WinExplorer to move the game window's title bar and frame offscreen. Once the game appears to be positioned correctly, verify by opening a ship detail window in game and hover your cursor on/off any of the yellow text. If the animated ship art "wiggles", there is still some fine adjustment to do with the top/left WinExplorer settings. Keep experimenting until you can hover over any yellow text in a ship detail window without the art moving at all. Then you know your game is centered.

[BillBrown]

The bottom gets cut off because I do not like to have the taskbar auto hide. Anyway I really do not lose that much space. I run my games in a
window 2540 x 1540 on my 2560 x 1600 monitor. I can see enough.

[Pharnakes]

Thanks you soooo much for this, this has been bugging me for years. As long as I've owned the game in fact, which is far longer than I want to think about.

If I may a add a little that might help anyone with the specific issue I had.

SO I've found a way with winexp to have the taskbar show and have the industry buttons & New zealand on the minimap, but it's a little involved. Sorry I can't include screenshots as apparently I don't have enough posts and the forums just ate my effort guide on how to do this and I can't be bothered recreating it. Seriously why the hell does the you can't include links page not have a button to take you back to your post so you can remove the links rather than just outright deleting it??

Anyway, 20 minutes down the drain but it's not like I'm bitter or anything so here's a quick text only version. I am on win10 latest and using winexp to do this.

Edit: After failing to reproduce my own results on restarting the game, I've added an apparently vital step.

Start by dragging your taskbar to the top and setting it to hide, then proceed as described above.

Once you raise witp to hide the top bar you will be left with a strip of desktop at the bottom, because winexp can't seem to make the window be taller than the native height of your monitor. You can use the height box to shrink witp fine, but not to expand beyond your native resolution.

However, due to god only knows what computer wizardry bullshit, if, rather than raising witp you instead lower it using the top value until the bottom edge of witp touches the bottom of your monitor, it will "stick", for me this happens at -11. In order for this to happen your taskbar must be hidden!

Now raise witp again, for me to -29, and tada, you have witp showing the full bottom edge of the screen, with the industry buttons and the full minimap shown. This will result in a value in the height box of winexp greater than your native resolution, which I can't find any other way to achieve. You can now set your taskbar to not be hidden. This will result in witp resetting and you will have to go through the sticking procedure again. God only knows why it will work this time with the taskbar showing, but it seems to be replicatable to me so it just does, ok. The price you pay for this is of course loosing the top of the screen instead, however I'd imagine most players are like me and use shortcuts for the intel screen ect rather than clicking the buttons, whilst having the full minimap is nice, or you can emit the last step and keep the taskbar in hide mode to get the top row to show.

[Moltrey]

Korvar:

Thought I'd write a follow-up as I have changed videocards out and things got... difficult.

I just replaced my trusty Nvidia GTX1080 (roughly 4yrs old) with a PowerColor Red Devil 5700XT AMD videocard. No real issues with the game running, but it threw all my DisplayFusion Pro settings awry. After MUCH thrashing about and changing settings I discovered that that with the AMD doing any sort of compatibility mode in the game shortcut causes the dreaded ship graphic "hippity-hop" issue. Run as Administrator doesn't seem to affect it either way.

For reasons I haven't been able to figure out AE now sits about 5 pixels right of the left monitor edge (which isn't a real problem) and DFP will not move it. I can move it up and down, so the important part of concealing the border tab is done.

At the end of the day I think I can say for certain that solving this whole borderless window situation is VERY particular to each individual's PC. If you are lucky the settings won't be too hard to find the sweet spot; but in my experience it took many, many game launches and scenario starts to get things close to being correct. For instance, my new LG monitor had a program that ran in the background all the time that was interfering with DisplayFusion's ability to move windows. You never really know what is going to be a complication until you set aside a few hours to wrestle with it all.

Perhaps this can help someone else.

[Zovs]

Well using this guide sort of worked. It does go into full screen on my machine but when I click on a hex on the left side of the map a slice of Australia shows up and then a dialog box of something or another and nothing is responsive. I had to kill it with window explorer.

[Moltrey]

Korvar:

I had some recent User Acct shenanigans with Windows 10 Pro, and after the undoing of my old user settings I decided to try a different tack wrt WITP:AE.

Now, I know that this doesn't strictly follow the thread subject, but it is an alternative for some out there.

I have gone back to single monitor, full screen, which allows all the game stuff to fit, work correctly and scroll fast as I need. I then uploaded the Starter Excel spreadsheet to my Dropbox, use my large iPad Pro to view it and go from there. Granted, it is a bit small, but for Turn 2 start purposes it works for me, and it allows a better overall experience w/o fooling around with screen apps, etc.

Update (10/23/20): I am just using ALT-TAB between Fullscreen WITP:AE and Excel now; I do get random "pop-ups" of the spreadsheet on top of the game occasionally, but not enough to be really annoying. Works w/o needing all the screen adjustment faffing about.

[cgoldfarb]

THANK YOU for all your work on this!

When I get to this step:
10. With WinExplorer running, use the shortcut you created with SeaBee (it is placed on your desktop by default) to run WitP:AE in windowed mode.
11. Let the game load into the main menu - you can skip the intro video to speed things up, if applicable. You may want to load a game so that you'll be looking at the actual game screen when making upcoming adjustments.

It WiTP:AE throws this error:

"Error: Unable to find PW Data!!!"

Any help would be appreciated!

[Oberst_Klink]

Unable to find PW Data

ORIGINAL: cgoldfarb

THANK YOU for all your work on this!

When I get to this step:
10. With WinExplorer running, use the shortcut you created with SeaBee (it is placed on your desktop by default) to run WitP:AE in windowed mode.
11. Let the game load into the main menu - you can skip the intro video to speed things up, if applicable. You may want to load a game so that you'll be looking at the actual game screen when making upcoming adjustments.

It WiTP:AE throws this error:

"Error: Unable to find PW Data!!!"

Any help would be appreciated!

You got the Beta installed? Any other mods, e.g. DaBabes? Here's a thread that did fix it.

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4214418

Klink, Oberst

[OberGeneral]

Bought WitP-AE last Thursday. Thanks to this thread I got it setup on my LG 34 inch Ultra HD curved Monitor.

Target id det to "C:\Matrix Games\War in the Pacific Admiral's Edition\Beta2\War in the Pacific Admiral Edition.exe" -w -pxf2560 -pyf1080 -cpu3 -multiaudio -dd_sw and works just fine.





Thanks.[&o][&o]

[RangerJoe]

ORIGINAL: OberGeneral

Bought WitP-AE last Thursday. Thanks to this thread I got it setup on my LG 34 inch Ultra HD curved Monitor.

Target id det to "C:\Matrix Games\War in the Pacific Admiral's Edition\Beta2\War in the Pacific Admiral Edition.exe" -w -pxf2560 -pyf1080 -cpu3 -multiaudio -dd_sw and works just fine.





Thanks.[&o][&o]

+1

[ETF]

Sorry guys trying to get back into a game with a partner. Couldn't get the Seabee app to work fell apart on me on Step 13/14. Is there a link for the old way with Switches and such?
Thanks, friends

Edit think this is it https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4916799

[MartinG0011]

Thanks for the guide, but it doesn't help me. I use a 4k display and only get to see a tiny part of the menu, with no buttons in sight to start the game

[ETF]

I just went with the old (easier?) way with switches

[OberGeneral]

I bought a new computer and installed WitP-AE on it. These instructions do not work on it! The old computer had Windows 10 Pro and a Nvidia Geforce GTX 1060. As you can see on my previous post I almost had it running full screen. My new computer has Windows 11 Pro and a Nvidia RTX 3070. These are the switches I am using "C:\Matrix Games\War in the Pacific Admiral's Edition\Beta2\War in the Pacific Admiral Edition.exe" -wd -pxf2560 -pxf1440 -cpu3 -multiaudio -dd_sw. Native screen resolution is 3440 x 1440. I have tried adjusting the switches but always get the same result. Does anyone have an idea as to how I can fix this?

[Nomad]

Look at the switches you have listed. You have -pxf2560 and -pxf1440. The second one should probably be -pyf1440

[OberGeneral]

Look at the switches you have listed. You have -pxf2560 and -pxf1440. The second one should probably be -pyf1440

OMG that's it! Thanks. It is now too big but I will be able to adjust it.

[OberGeneral]

I am still having a minor issue. The bottom is cut off. New switches are "C:\Matrix Games\War in the Pacific Admiral's Edition\Beta2\War in the Pacific Admiral Edition.exe" -wd -pxf1720 -pyf976 -cpu3 -multiaudio -dd_sw and below is the result.

[BBfanboy]

You will never get to use the full available screen space without distorting the 16:9 normal ratio for TV and computer screens. You have lots of screen space to expand the X axis but are lacking a bit of space on the Y axis. I suggest using a 1600X900 size - it is standard on most graphics processors. You will get slightly larger hex sizes and slightly more readable text, and I think that will cure the cut-off at the bottom of the screen.

[OberGeneral]

You will never get to use the full available screen space without distorting the 16:9 normal ratio for TV and computer screens. You have lots of screen space to expand the X axis but are lacking a bit of space on the Y axis. I suggest using a 1600X900 size - it is standard on most graphics processors. You will get slightly larger hex sizes and slightly more readable text, and I think that will cure the cut-off at the bottom of the screen.

Thank you very much. That fixed it. It doesnt fit the majority of the screen but is playable now.