Dual monitors "focus lock"

[Mellman]

I love dual monitors for my desktop work, but when i want to play a game its quite annoying when i can move the mouse outside of the game, and click and then it takes me out of the game. Is there a way to keep this from happening?

 

[Mellman]

nobody?

 

[PuppettMaster001]

Tweak UI has an option to stop focus stealing, not sure how well it will work with dual monitors though. Linky

 

[Mellman]

hrm ok ill try this...anyone else?

 

[kirbymixmasta]

Doesn't work, just tried it. With cs anyway.

 

[PuppettMaster001]

I did some googling and couldn't find anything dual monitor specific. I did find a registry edit to prevent focus stealing HERE

 

[dderolph]

well, you could go into Display Settings and disable the second monitor when playing games. Although perhaps inconvenient, it would be a solution, wouldn't it?

 

[Elcs]

Originally posted by: dderolph
well, you could go into Display Settings and disable the second monitor when playing games. Although perhaps inconvenient, it would be a solution, wouldn't it?

Id bet there is a way to set Profiles up to disable a second monitor for gaming or certain games. Not the best solution but a decent interim.

Mellman - perhaps if you tell us what games are having an issue and we could try to find a workaround.

 

[dderolph]

Originally posted by: Elcs

Id bet there is a way to set Profiles up to disable a second monitor for gaming or certain games. Not the best solution but a decent interim.

The Profiles idea sounds like it might be good way to do this. I'm using nVidia and have two monitors. I see that nVidia's nView Desktop Manager software (accessible via Control Panel) allows creating Profiles. Create one profile for a single monitor and one for dual monitors, and you would have a quick way to switch.

 

[Peter]

That's the exact reason for having quick-switch profiles.

 

[Mellman]

lately its just been with BF2 - but its happened before with some RTS games, WoW. Basically windows lets me move my mouse outside the game, onto my second monitor. with BF2 it only is an issue when i first start the game, parts of the screen if i click it goes back to the desktop, so i have to click back into the game, and then its ok from them on...

Its nice having my second monitor up and runnin so i can see if someone IM's me or somethin like that.

Thanks for the help guys

 

[Elcs]

Ive found it happens most in RTSes and some RPG's.

Sometimes a game can have focus lock and lose it when Alt+Tabbing.

Every FPS Ive played on my dual monitor system has been focus locked.

Currently, Dungeon Siege 2 is not focus locked on my PC until it actually hits the Menu screen, then it is locked. Alt-Tabbing doesnt make the game lose focus when you return.

Its a very obscure problem and its probably easy for designers to fix. Perhaps we should petition them to make every game focus-lock fixed for dual monitor users. Its a rare case but it is an annoying problem, especially when you dont want to be forced into using profiles.