EA forums petition [Archive] - Total Gaming Network

SoulAssassin

03-08-2007, 10:01 AM

Hi guys a made a little petition to see how many people want to see BF 2142 support ALT+TAB

Just type *SIGN* under your post there

http://forums.ea.com/mboards/thread.jspa?threadID=192453&tstart=0

Lets hope EA/DICE helps us here with this anoying thing

Ghiblian

03-08-2007, 10:03 AM

I'm too tired to even bother responding to all the levels on which this is silly...

Buttoneer

03-08-2007, 10:05 AM

I know a lot of people can't but I can alt-tab easily. Why the difference?

Ghiblian

03-08-2007, 10:39 AM

Did you remove your movie files? It appears that removing the DICE movie files causes problems for Alt+Tabbing, which makes absolutely no sense to me...

Lanserschrek

03-08-2007, 11:49 AM

Return the dice.bik file to the movies directory, it should resolve the alt+tab issue for you.

Vikaman

03-08-2007, 12:46 PM

Returning Dice.bik does not work.

Its usually native resolution problems and computer specs.

I have all movies, an X700 mobility and 1GB ram. Cant alt+tab.

bold = The reason i think i cant alt tab

Lanserschrek

03-08-2007, 01:58 PM

Returning Dice.bik does not work.

Its usually native resolution problems and computer specs.

I have all movies, an X700 mobility and 1GB ram. Cant alt+tab.

bold = The reason i think i cant alt tab

Works and has always worked fine for me whenever I reinstall, mind you that is with 2GB of ram. With no intro movies I can't Alt + Tab from anywhere in game even on menu screen without a BF2142 hang. Returning all the movies is overkill and takes away precious game time, so when I return "Dice.bik" it works perfectly for me. Sloppy coding.

If all the movies files are deleted I guess you could just try the BF2142 Alt+Tab fix http://battlefield2.filefront.com/file/BF2142_ALTTAB_Fix;74863

Aegis001

03-08-2007, 02:05 PM

All tab always worked for me, i got rid of the movies and everything

DICE <3's Aegis

Im only on 1gig ram and radeon x650 gfx card

MikeyC

03-08-2007, 02:08 PM

ChapmanUK

03-08-2007, 02:25 PM

yeah the Alt + tab works fine for me =S

Revoluti0n

03-08-2007, 02:31 PM

I'm too tired to even bother responding to all the levels on which this is silly...

You just did, how ironic.

Casper

03-08-2007, 02:41 PM

This is a must have for the next patch.

Vikaman

03-08-2007, 02:49 PM

it shouldnt be a patch, its meant to be intergrated into the game.

I mean comeon, I can alt tab out of company of heroes... which is more intensive on my comp AND i run it on 1280x (something I forgot)

Blak4dr

03-08-2007, 03:48 PM

I can't with or without movie, X1900XT and 2gig RAM with Core2duo.
My friend no movies AMD X2 4800 X800 and 2 gig can
Go figure (shrug)

CRIMS0N_W0LF

03-08-2007, 04:40 PM

I don't get it i can ALT+TAB and never had problems with it even while in a match.

right now i'm lonely on our clan server ALT+TABed

imported_Crunch_

03-08-2007, 05:43 PM

Try this fix
http://files.filefront.com/BF2142+Alt+++Tab+Fix/;6543690;/fileinfo.html

worked for me!

Ized

03-08-2007, 05:43 PM

Return the dice.bik file to the movies directory, it should resolve the alt+tab issue for you.

QTF. This worked for me as well. I had originally renamed the whole movies folder into movies2. Copied the dice.bik back into movies folder and alt-tabbing works.

FPS[VT_NERD]

03-08-2007, 05:46 PM

Returning Dice.bik does not work.

Its usually native resolution problems and computer specs.

I have all movies, an X700 mobility and 1GB ram. Cant alt+tab.

bold = The reason i think i cant alt tab

I have 3GB of RAM and a 256MB 78000GT and I still can't alt+tab. The movies are in place. However, my video card is dying so I lowered the video settings drastically and now I can magically alt+tab. I lowered terrain, textures, dynamic lights/shadows, effects, anti-aliasing, texture filtering and a couple more features to low or off and it works now. The problem *could* be one of those settings, but it's stupid that they can't find a way to make all the settings work. As a reference, I used to run everything on the highest setting at 1280x1024 when alt+tab did not work.

kamikaze cow

03-08-2007, 08:37 PM

I used to be able to alt tab, when i had my monitor hooked up with a dvi cable. Now that i have an analog one though, i do it... :/ Just for reference, i have 1 gig of ram and a 8800 gts. It has to be related to resolutions, try messing around with those.

therealmat

03-08-2007, 08:44 PM

My thousandth post in the 2142 general discussion area isnt going to be for a petition.....sorry, never had any trouble Alt+Tabbing.........

ROLF

03-08-2007, 08:45 PM

Deesies

03-08-2007, 08:45 PM

I don't really think they're capable of that level of programming :)

EDIT: Isn't the alt tab thing a result of deleting the intro videos anyway?

King-Poulet

03-08-2007, 08:52 PM

Upgrade your RAM if you want a smooth ALT+TAB process, I have no trouble at all because I recently upgraded. I'm not going to comment too much on the petition thing, definately not the right way to go with this though.

ROLF

I have 2gb of ram with a decent processor and machine. Can't alt-tab once I get in a game. On rare exceptions I'm able to get back, but once Alt-Tabed, I know I'm doomed.

ROLF

03-08-2007, 09:21 PM

You're right. It could be any number of issues like OS, drivers, video card, ram, processor lag, hard disk drive speed, fragmentation, the list goes on. I haven't noticed this problem at all after my upgrade. I wouldn't jump to assume its EA Support's fault, or even DICE's fault. I guess I just assumed that RAM was the most likely problem.

ROLF

I have 2gb of ram with a decent processor and machine. Can't alt-tab once I get in a game. On rare exceptions I'm able to get back, but once Alt-Tabed, I know I'm doomed.

King-Poulet

03-08-2007, 09:29 PM

Can't blame you on that. It really sound like it a ram problem. I have 3 different machines and they do the same thing. Gotta try the movie trick or the fix posted above.

Vikaman

03-08-2007, 10:48 PM

Then I am guessing that it is native resolution issues...

Ghiblian

03-08-2007, 10:55 PM

You just did, how ironic.

No. I said I wasn't going to respond to how silly the proposition is (as in, listing out all the reasons why this is a silly proposition). Not that I wouldn't respond. No irony in that.

But now I think I will respond because there are some things to mention.

Before people just discard a fix because "it doesn't work," they should consider that it works for some people and not for others. There are a multitude of reasons that might cause alt+tabbing to fail. For instance, I've always removed the video files and I can't run BF2142 at native resolution because I have a widescreen monitor so alt+tab doesn't work for me. However, once I had an issue with BF2142 and had to reinstall, and I forgot to remove the movies this time. Alt+tab actually worked for me while in game in that one instance.

There is no real way to solve this alt+tab problem because of the nature of the problem. The best possibility of getting it working is completely native resolution and refresh rates, clean install of BF2142 with no modifications, and a powerful computer.

Raiblast

03-08-2007, 11:04 PM

Windows Vista Business
2gb 800mhz corsair ram
asus m2n-sli deluxe nvidia 570 chipset
xfx 7900GTO 256mb
37" polaroid LCD TV

no problems with alt+tab :)

the reason for such items are unknown. have to do with chipset mainly. some don't process items correctly. only worked half the time on my old mobo, this mobo works great.

so it would make sense that the issue is the chipset. this means EA/DICE would have to make a fix for each and every chipset and include them in the game for EVERYONE to be able to alt+tab.

ROLF

03-08-2007, 11:23 PM

I'm too tired to even bother responding to all the levels on which this is silly...You just did, how ironic.No. I said I wasn't going to respond to how silly the proposition is (as in, listing out all the reasons why this is a silly proposition). Not that I wouldn't respond. No irony in that.
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m22/skareo/irony.jpg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony#Verbal_irony)

You first posted that you were too tired to post all the reasons as if to bait your next action.
But now I think I will respond because there are some things to mention.I'm not trying to harrass you, just thought I'd share the humor in that.

Before people just discard a fix because "it doesn't work," they should consider that it works for some people and not for others. There are a multitude of reasons that might cause alt+tabbing to fail. For instance, I've always removed the video files and I can't run BF2142 at native resolution because I have a widescreen monitor so alt+tab doesn't work for me. However, once I had an issue with BF2142 and had to reinstall, and I forgot to remove the movies...You started to rant at the end a bit, but it was on the right track. The point is that it could be anything, don't blame EA Support right away.

ROLF

Vikaman

03-08-2007, 11:27 PM

No. I said I wasn't going to respond to how silly the proposition is (as in, listing out all the reasons why this is a silly proposition). Not that I wouldn't respond. No irony in that.

But now I think I will respond because there are some things to mention.

Before people just discard a fix because "it doesn't work," they should consider that it works for some people and not for others. There are a multitude of reasons that might cause alt+tabbing to fail. For instance, I've always removed the video files and I can't run BF2142 at native resolution because I have a widescreen monitor so alt+tab doesn't work for me. However, once I had an issue with BF2142 and had to reinstall, and I forgot to remove the movies this time. Alt+tab actually worked for me while in game in that one instance.

There is no real way to solve this alt+tab problem because of the nature of the problem. The best possibility of getting it working is completely native resolution and refresh rates, clean install of BF2142 with no modifications, and a powerful computer.

same here, that is why it doest work for me, it returns to a black box the size of the resolution i set (800x600)

WarpaQ

03-09-2007, 12:47 AM

ONLINE PETITIONS ALWAYS WORK!@

EDIT: Isn't the alt tab thing a result of deleting the intro videos anyway?

Yeah.

Everyone I know seems to of fixed it by restoring the intro movies.

siiix

03-09-2007, 04:30 AM

6600gt
2gig
have movie
widescreen AND game set that way

never had a problem tabbing

laptop
go700
1gig
have movie
widescreen but game not set that way

never had a problem tabbing

FPS[VT_NERD]

03-09-2007, 04:35 AM

I don't really think they're capable of that level of programming :)

EDIT: Isn't the alt tab thing a result of deleting the intro videos anyway?

ONLINE PETITIONS ALWAYS WORK!@

Yeah.

Everyone I know seems to of fixed it by restoring the intro movies.

I can tell you with no uncertainty that having the movie files makes no difference for many people, myself included.

Vikaman

03-09-2007, 09:02 AM

I can tell you with no uncertainty that having the movie files makes no difference for many people, myself included.

Thank you! no one understands when it works for them...

Ghiblian

03-09-2007, 10:21 AM

[You first posted that you were too tired to post all the reasons as if to bait your next action.
I'm not trying to harrass you, just thought I'd share the humor in that.
You started to rant at the end a bit, but it was on the right track. The point is that it could be anything, don't blame EA Support right away.

I don't know if you can tell, but I posted the thing at 2:03AM my time while working on a heavy programming assignment, so I really was tired at the time. I had no intention on pointing out many of the points that were brought up (online petitions don't work, the alt+tab problem is unfixable due to the nature of the problem, the way the original post is phrased) -- in essence, I was not trying to bait my next action. I was pretty much just procrastinating and really wanted to voice out my opinion on the matter.

After revolution responded to my post, I felt I just had to respond to his post. I also felt there was content now to the discussion after hearing what everyone else said. That's all. As you can see, I've been pushed into responding again. =P

CRIMS0N_W0LF

03-09-2007, 10:58 AM

I don't get it i have mere single core 3500 AMD 64 bit and 1 GB ram ONLY and i can alt tab while in game. hell once i accidently left guild wars in background while playing bf2142 and didn't even expierince lag or anything!

Keep your system up to date do maintenace on register start up degfrag scanning for errors and everything!

King-Poulet

03-10-2007, 01:11 AM

can confirm you that Dices intro has nothing to do with it. I've put the dice.bik back and it did not heal the problem.

Talus

03-10-2007, 01:18 AM

Try this fix
http://files.filefront.com/BF2142+Alt+++Tab+Fix/;6543690;/fileinfo.html

worked for me!

I'd like to know what this fix does exactly...

Does it simply create zero byte .bik files or what?

MikeyC

03-10-2007, 01:24 AM

Did you remove your movie files? It appears that removing the DICE movie files causes problems for Alt+Tabbing, which makes absolutely no sense to me...

Sigh... Might work for you, but for me and about 50% of the rest of us I'm guessing,

THIS DOES NOT WORK. STOP TELLING US TO REMOVE THE STUPID MOVIES.

Al we want is simple WINDOWS OPERATING SYSTEM FUNCTIONALITY, like ALMOST EVERY OTHER SINGLE PROGRAM OUT THERE. I'M TIRED OF HAVING TO RESET MY COMPUTER EVERY TIME I NEED TO ADMIN MY SERVER...

That is all.

Grrrrrrrrr....

Vikaman

03-10-2007, 01:40 AM

I'd like to know what this fix does exactly...

Does it simply create zero byte .bik files or what?

I used it, but in vain.

It merely renames all the BIK files and leaves the DICE logo alone....

WarpaQ

03-10-2007, 05:25 AM

Sigh... Might work for you, but for me and about 50% of the rest of us I'm guessing,

THIS DOES NOT WORK. STOP TELLING US TO REMOVE THE STUPID MOVIES.

Al we want is simple WINDOWS OPERATING SYSTEM FUNCTIONALITY, like ALMOST EVERY OTHER SINGLE PROGRAM OUT THERE. I'M TIRED OF HAVING TO RESET MY COMPUTER EVERY TIME I NEED TO ADMIN MY SERVER...

That is all.

Grrrrrrrrr....

They said RESTORE THE INTRO MOVIES NOT REMOVE

and

RCON and IGA are pretty much all you need to to admin YOUR SERVER in game :confused:

X-Rayz

03-10-2007, 06:06 AM

Native resolution seems to play a role in the alt tab situation... If i set my desktop res to 1024x768 and then set my ingame res to the same, i can alt tab with no problems for like an hour. But it seems after my game has been running it wont work. I have tried this with and without movies files. Oh and another tip i can give is to alt tab immediately after logging in to EA account, that used to work for me, then again i used to run 800x600 so that could also be the problem.

Mongo Only Pawn

03-10-2007, 05:17 PM

Bottom line here.
If you REMOVE the movies, it doesn't fix it.
If you DID remove the movies, under the mistaken impression that it would fix it, and then RESTORE them after you found the error of your ways, it won't fix it.

If you get another 4 Gigs of RAM, it won't fix it.
If you set the native resoloutions correctly, it won't fix it.
If you do ANYTHING to fix it, it won't fix it. Period.

Why is it that I can convert a 150 page Publisher file w/ photos to a PDF while surfing the 'net and playing another game and ALT-Tab works fine? But for this one application, after ending the tasks of unneeded background processes, I can't alt-tab from BF?

(FYI- Using RCON and IGA for admin duties are a band-aid. It doesn't solve the underlying problem)

Ghiblian

03-10-2007, 09:43 PM

Sigh... Might work for you, but for me and about 50% of the rest of us I'm guessing

Like they already said, no one told you to remove the movies to fix this problem. Some people have had successes restoring the dice.bik file so we recommended you TRY it. If it doesn't work for you, that's unfortunate! But that DOESN'T mean it doesn't work. If, like you guessed, it doesn't work for 50% of the population, it DOES work for the other 50%. Therefore, it is a substantial enough number to keep suggesting they try it.

I understand your frustration. You just don't have to run around screaming at people who are trying to help.

Additionally, to the people who are talking about background processes and running lots of high resource programs running other games, you should be able to deduce that rarely is this problem an issue with the memory for BF2142. The primary causes are the resolutions causing the game to crash. Have you guys tried native resolution at all to see if that's the problem?

Graywolf

03-10-2007, 10:09 PM

Vikaman

03-10-2007, 11:17 PM

Returning the DICE.bik did restore alt-tab capability for me. I dont know why, but it did. Didnt change anything else either!

It did for a while for me, but then it went out. Its a temporary fix. Starts to piss on you after awhile.

Bottom line here.
If you REMOVE the movies, it doesn't fix it.
If you DID remove the movies, under the mistaken impression that it would fix it, and then RESTORE them after you found the error of your ways, it won't fix it.

If you get another 4 Gigs of RAM, it won't fix it.
If you set the native resoloutions correctly, it won't fix it.
If you do ANYTHING to fix it, it won't fix it. Period.

Why is it that I can convert a 150 page Publisher file w/ photos to a PDF while surfing the 'net and playing another game and ALT-Tab works fine? But for this one application, after ending the tasks of unneeded background processes, I can't alt-tab from BF?

(FYI- Using RCON and IGA for admin duties are a band-aid. It doesn't solve the underlying problem)

Quoted for plain truth.

Mongo *high five*!

MrKlorox

03-12-2007, 08:14 AM

I can Alt+Tab but only before the 3d game engine launches. I can Alt+Tab back into the game and everything work fine if I have not joined a server or started a single player game. Once a game is started, Alt+Tab only leaves me with a black box the size of the game's resolution when I try to get back in. Everybody needs to make clear at which times they have and have not been successful.

hobiecatter

03-13-2007, 01:53 AM

I'd like to know what this fix does exactly...

Does it simply create zero byte .bik files or what?

me too. can anyone confirm?

Snickety B

03-13-2007, 02:30 AM

ThirtyOughtSix

03-13-2007, 05:01 AM

This is a must have for the next patch.

I'm pretty sure it's NOT the game, but your system that is at fault... I can alt tab till I'm blue in the face and it works fine. Not even a hiccup (unless it's lagging anyways because of the server, my network connection, or because I'm playing titan mode... lol).

Snickety B

03-13-2007, 06:18 AM

I'm pretty sure it's NOT the game, but your system that is at fault... I can alt tab till I'm blue in the face and it works fine. Not even a hiccup (unless it's lagging anyways because of the server, my network connection, or because I'm playing titan mode... lol).

Yeah, my old PC could alt-tab in and out of the game fine but I now have a new PC with better specs, more RAM yadayadayada and I can't ALt- tab from the game without BF2142 crashing. I can alt-tab from the BFHQ screens if I don't have the game engine running on the new PC though.

Wasp

03-14-2007, 08:13 AM

I'm pretty sure it's NOT the game, but your system that is at fault... I can alt tab till I'm blue in the face and it works fine. Not even a hiccup (unless it's lagging anyways because of the server, my network connection, or because I'm playing titan mode... lol).

It IS the game. Nothing else. A DICE member said on this very forum somewhere that ALT + TAB is not supported.