Can't maintain program focus

[WildWeazel 0]

Hi all, first time poster here and I need some help. I've looked around a bit and haven't seen anything about this problem. I recently installed SC4 on my new computer and I'm having a strange problem. As soon as the program launches it is minimized to the taskbar, returning to the desktop. Clicking back or alt-tabbing to it only works for a fraction of a second before it happens again. It otherwise seems to be running fine, no visual or audio problems that I can tell while it is briefly in focus. I'm running vanilla SC4 with the official update (same thing happened before updating), no other modifications. System is WinXP Pro, 2Gb RAM, 7600GT.

[dada222 9]

Have you tried running the application found in C:/Program Files/Maxis/Simcity4/ Apps ? This sounds like a shortcut problem?

[Sam 163]

Also check to see if there are any extra command line parameters the shortcut. For example the game can be set to -f or -w for full screen or window mode respectively. Maybe there is something in there that is causing it to run minimized. Even if there isn't maybe try adding the -f to the command line to see if that has any effect. I'm just guessing here though, I haven't heard of that problem previously.

Edit: Maybe also try closing down any other programs that may be running, especially background programs like spyware blockers in case one of them is causing it to minimise. Again just guessing here.

[WildWeazel 0]

Interestingly, I changed fullscreen to 'false' in the configuration file and now it runs fine, and still in fullscreen mode. Maybe it was something to do with my screen resolution (1440x900)? Thanks for the help.

[WildWeazel 0]

It turns out that wasn't it, it only worked one time and then started again. I tried closing all nonessential background programs and that seems to have fixed the problem (launched several times to be sure) so now I just need to figure out which one was causing it.

[tungston 19]

If my antivirus does a scan while I am playing, it minimizes the game, I think any program that takes priority would do the same thing.

[WildWeazel 0]

Turns out it was Folding at Home, a distributed computing program. Strange because it automatically takes low priority and gives resources to other processes, not to mention it's running on a dual-core processor. The game runs just fine now though.

[tungston 19]

That's good to know, I'm glad you have figured it out.