Can't Multitask

[Khaos]

I wanted to sim while doing things at work. I have 256MB of RAM in the PC and only have a DB prog, IE, and at times Excel open. If I sim and go to something else, when I click on the task bar to bring up OOTP, or even if I Alt/Tab, the screen will only show what was last there. The game is still running and it actually "opens" a window, but you can't see the game. It's like it became transparent.

I've tried every combination of 3D on/off, full screen on/off and still have the problem. I'd really like to be able to do this.

OS is 2K.

[Killebrew]

Running a DB prog along with OOTP4 is pretty nasty on any system - I am not sure you can buy enough RAM to make that run smoothly . When a program has been stopped ("Not Responding") by lack of system resources etc. it will sometimes come back to life if you turn the conflict apps off. In this case turn off whatever DB program you are running (and even MS Excel and other non-Explorer/OOTP4/Systray progs) and wait for OOTP4 to come back to life. Of course, don't issue any other windows commands while waiting. If it has not come back after a minute or two then terminate OOTP4, reboot and don't run it along with DB apps ever again .

I suspect you could have some serious issues running DB apps with almost any games, but especially a text sim - your poor processor . I'm a DB programmer, and the main reaon I would not do this is the chance of corrupting data in whatever DB I am working on - the app freeze could easily occur in your DB prog too if your system was overloaded.

[Khaos]

The game is still running and isn't giving a not responding error.

It's a graphics issue in that it becomes transparent and not showing up.

I tried without my DB app and still get the same results. I'll set it to sim a month. Surf the net, try to check back, and it "opens", you see the title bar, but you only see the previous screen you where using before. No one else has run into this?

[DR.Jeter]

Same thing happens to me. For some reason you just can't minimize the game or it will disappear. Is there anyway to fix this...

[SSG Troyer]

Here, too ... since OOTP3, but I just wrote it off to graphic issues beyond Markus' ability to correct (ala D3D) and never minimized/alt-tabbed. The screen must refresh itself to come alive again, but if it's just waiting for user input, you're stuck. ctrl-alt-del and close the program that way.

This could be probably be fixed with a "Screen Refresh" hotkey.

[Killebrew]

[quote]Originally posted by Khaos:
<strong>The game is still running and isn't giving a not responding error.

It's a graphics issue in that it becomes transparent and not showing up.
</strong><hr></blockquote>

I believe I have actually run into that scenario many times, and those symptoms sound like memory issues unrelated to graphics issues. The graphics look wonky because the game is barely moving and balancing between a freeze and completing it's current task (screen is not being repainted). I'd imagine you'd get the 'not responding' message soon enough if you left the program be, or it comes back to life. I think it's important to resist the temptation to hurry it up. It should soon get out of it's hibernation on its own accord and manually terminating it is unwise unless it's unresponsive for over 2-3 minutes. Closing other programs during these freeze period will help of course .

Why it does this when you are not running other system hungry apps is another question though - it makes sense why it would happen if you're running a DB app, but if these programs are all turned off then I guess I'd make sure the system was optimized and no heavy handed background apps like firewall or system scanning apps are running at the same time. Hopefully some Win2K users will add some OS specific ideas.