Hello,

in most games you can press Alt-Tab to switch to another running application. The fullscreen game would minimize and go back fullscreen when you activate it again. In AoW 1 the game can be minimized without problems, but trying to activate it again will only result in a few flickerings of the windows desktop. The game does not go back to fullscreen.

Has anybody a solution for this?

Windows 8.1 64bit, nvidia gtx 560 card.

No problems with Alt-Tab for me on multiple Win 7 machines. Have you tried playing in windowed mode rather than full screen mode? What about the obligatory "update your Nvidia drivers" question? Good luck. AoW:1 is a good game and worth your time...

Yeah, AoW1 really does not like to be minimized on new OS. Running it in window mode works just fine though, it just means you can't do a vertical mouse-edge scroll. That is what arrow keys are for though.

you didn't mention control+exit/ctr+alt+delete

Thanks, I tried windowed mode and it works without problems.
It just doesn't "feel" that nice as fullscreen, but i think thats okay :)

I have a similar problem on Win 7 pro 64 bit, 1920x1080 full screen, just when I alt/tab and come back I get the game back up no problem just all the interactive buttons are gone so I cant end turn, cast spells or anything. Can't even exit game so only option I've found is to ctrl/alt/delete and end the game through task manager.


EDIT: Bah just noticed this thread is for a AOE 1 and not 3. My problem is with AOE3.

I think it's the OS and not that AoW is a old game because I just had that happen to me with Warlock 2: The Exiled on windows 8.
The second time it happened I managed to somehow "jar it" by pressing Escape a couple of times. It brought up the game menu which I could click the buttons on. Odd that keyboard input worked but I couldn't click on anything on the main screen of the game. Even more odd is that mouse input worked on the game menu.

Is it possible to run windowed mode without a tiny resolution?

Edit: Also, what version is the GOG version of AOW?

It's version 136.0053

As for making the window fullscreen, you can literally just make the window bigger, smaller, or fullscreen, like you would with any bog standard window in a browser of any program. Just press the fullscreen button at the top right, or drag the edges of the window.

Also I recommend playing in compatibility mode Windows 7, and 16-bit reduced colour mode.

Thanks! I will have to give it a try. And yeah I figured out the box drag right after I typed that. Gotta love Windows 10.

Have you tried turning it off and then on again?

But seriously, try alt-enter to window the interface and then press alt-enter again to full-screen it. The display should be properly restored after a few tries.

Yes, Alt+Enter is my best friend when I need to switch something around, then I just Alt+Enter again to make it full-screen once again.