Fullscreen with Alt-Tab support, why it is important.

First I want to say that the game has made some major progress since release and I appreciate the vast amount of work it has taken to get to where it is. However I think this is a very valid complaint that needs to be addressed.


Many players enjoy playing in fullscreen, however the client seems to have it out for those players. I'm going to try to cover all of the reasons why having a fullscreen is important.



Fullscreen has some immersion that windowed mode does not provide.

Fullscreen has a higher frame rate than windowed mode at the same resolution.

Fullscreen allows technologies such as Crossfire and SLI to function. Find out what these are here.

• FFXIV is a gorgeous game that benefits drastically from a multi-GPU configuration. This is very important to the people who have invested in multiple-GPUs

If the game were to allow you to alt-tab out while in fullscreen: Find out more about Alt-Tabbing here.

Players could use their computers to do other tasks without having to re-login, re-launch, re-load. Some examples: visiting the lodestone, fan sites, linkshell forums, VOIP (Skype, Ventrilo, Teamspeak, Mumble).

The GPU and CPU would stop working to display the game to you, resulting in:

• Power savings Examples here.
• Reduce heat output from computer
• Reduce wear and tear on hardware components
• Players can do other tasks with a better user experience. This would be most noticeable on slower machines.

Typically when a 'fullscreen alt-tab' thread pops up people will reply with, "Use a third party program such as XYZ to get fullscreen with alt-tab support."

Flaw with this statement:

• Many people are not comfortable using third party software.
• Many people cannot get the third party programs to work
• This does not fix the high GPU and CPU usage while tabbed out
• SLI and Crossfire do not function
• Framerates are lower in this configuration
• Albeit unlikely, potential violation of ToS

The third party programs allow a windowed fullscreen, not a true fullscreen with all of the previous mentioned benefits.

Another common reply is the anti-botting stance. Because the game has windowed support the anti-botting stance has no merit.


Please show your support by posting a reply to get awareness up. The goal being a Dev response to the issue and as an end-result true-fullscreen with alt-tab support.

Flawless post. Lets get some support on this for the proper recognition it deserves.

This, oh god this, so freaking much.

It's unacceptable to force players out of use of their computer, totally and utterly unfair. It is ridiculous to thing a game these days doesn't alt+tab without crashing.

It has to be fixed.

100% support. Though I have not invested in an SLI setup yet, I plan to in the future, and was unaware that the windowed mode could not benefit from it.

SE, please fix this, there's no reason for the game to crash out when tabbed at this point.

You have my upvote!

I agree with the qualifier that this is one of those things where it absolutely needs to be done eventually but isn't necessarily something that has to happen immediately.

That said the way things are shaping up it looks like it's time.

Definitely support this. I am new to the game and often tried to alt tab to read these very forums for input. I often forget it will crash.

I agree with you.. its weird not to implement it ><;~ so i support it ofcourse!!!

I always play @ windowed mode because i can't alt-tab while @ fullscreen mode .

I support this 100%

I support this 100%