Games minimizing after launch

Title should say "Games minimizing after launch." Accidentally slipped the typo in, sorry.

Hey all, this is a problem I am experiencing with the desktop in my sig. This could probably also be experienced on a laptop as well. Basically, when I launch some games, (Prince of Persia Warrior Within is one of the culprits), the games minimizes and then lock up so I have to kill it through the task manager. Sometime, I can get it to boot in safe mode, but most the times, it just continues to minimize. Has anyone experienced this with any game before? Anyone know what the issue is? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

Try to reinstall it or update it to the newest patch

 

Yea, that will be my first thing to try. I wonder if PoP just wasn't ported well to the PC. Unfortunately, there weren't any patches for it either. I'll post on how things go. Thanks.

 

It could be another program launching a popup or something that steals focus from the game.

 

Hmm...I could see that happening, but when I game, I only have the game open to keep resources available...

 

I've seen that occur with some software firewalls as well as the anti-spyware programs (ex: Spyware Guard) running on the system, but if you've disabled or closed them out before running then shouldn't be the problem.

If the above two type of programs are closed or disabled before you run the game then the next couple of things I'd check are:

1) graphics and sound settings:
Are your graphics and sound drivers up-to-date?
How are your settings configured? Try resetting your graphics settings in windows back to their default settings - if you've changed them - and see if one of those settings might have been responsible. If they are the cause: enable or change one thing at a time until you find out which setting was the problem. (ex: AA or AF being set to an option other than "Application deside", or graphic card AI settings can sometimes cause problems).

2) Are all game patches installed?
Sometimes some of the game patches fix these types of issues.

3) As a test try a No-CD crack. Sometimes the copy-protection programs fail to function correctly and cause the games to exit or crash prematurely. Testing with a no-cd crack will determine if the copy protection program is causing the problem.

If none of that works let us know what antivirus, firewall, anti-spyware, sound card, graphics card, and sound and graphics settings your system is using, and maybe we can find a solution for you.

(Are you encountering this problem on Desktop or Notebook?)

 

Thanks Avid Gamer. I am using the desktop stated in my sig, I allow Virus, Firewall to run when I am gaming. To respond to some things you stated.

1) All drivers are and always are up to date. Settings are maxed out, if my rig can't handle PoP, which is the culprit, I am going so assume it is a software issue.

2) No patch for PoP: WW.

3) I am going to pass on this. I don't have any desire to use software that cracks things.

Now, you did mention firewall, antivirus, etc. I always leave this on, perhaps I need to unblock the program from my firewall, I have issues with this every once in a while when playing LAN games with my friends.

Thanks for the info. I'll try some of those things.

 

If that doesn't solve your problem here is a post on NVidia forum with more things to try.

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=23812

Most of the recommendations pertain to shutting things down (background applications, anti-virus, firewall) all things you would have tried at this point. One thing of note that you may want to try is: setting the desktop resolution to the same resolution of the game before launching the game. (This worked for a number of the people who reported the problem on the Nvidia forum).

 

Thanks for the link avid, I didn't see that when I searched online. I tried changing the desktop setting resolution first to match and it seems to work. Thanks again!