Switching back to the desktop during a game?

[ShadowTech]

I'm wondering how it is you can switch back to the desktop when your playing a game. I know in Windows you could use alt-tab, but I don't think the OS X's command-tab works for that.

Any tips?

 

[hulkaros]

Some games do that by pressing Command(apple key) + M or Esc and then selecting a menu command...

 

[Arden]

As with anything, it depends on the game. Some games like Starcraft or Unreal Tournament will run in a window, allowing you to pause (if you're not in multiplayer) and go to the desktop if you need to look up the specs for your new gun, or find a quick cheat code, for example. Other games, however, don't allow this and force you to quit before you can go back to the desktop, which is a pain if the program takes a long time to load.

Basically, if there's an option to run in a window, you will be able to switch to the desktop, and if not, then you'll have to try it and see. I know Ambrosia games can always switch to the desktop without having to run in a window or quit; you just have to try it.

What game(s) were you thinking about?

 

[ShadowTech]

I'm just playing WarCraft III right now.

 

[Arden]

Ah, well being the semi-sequel to Starcraft, which you can run in a window, WC3 might be able to as well, but since it's so much more advanced, I really don't know. Try it and see; see if there's a "play in window" mode, maybe hold Command, Option, Shift, or some combination thereof when launching the game.

 

[hulkaros]

In Warcraft 3 you just press Command(apple key) + "M" for Windowed mode

And the same combination returns the game in full screen

 

[Arden]

Yeah, I figured if it was there it would be something like that because it's the same in Starcraft.

 

[ShadowTech]

Thanx, it works great!

 

[hulkaros]

You are welcome anytime

 

[bkaron]

What about a game like Quake or Unreal

 

[Arden]

In Unreal Tournament, you push Command-F to switch between window and full screen mode (pause beforehand, though, especially if you set it to use OpenGL instead of RAVE, as it shows the game content in a separate "window" from the main window that it should use). I don't think you can do this in Q3.

As for either Unreal's (the single-player games), I'm sure there's something similar; ditto for UT2K3.

 

[eric halfabee]

If you are running Panther try Expose, it worked for me with the Ghost Master demo.

 

[boi]

yikes... i didn't even think about that. if i'm chillin' in a game and hit my middle mouse button (set to expose all windows) to zoom in with my scope, am i gonna suddenly see all my windows?

 

[brianleahy]

if i'm chillin' in a game and hit my middle mouse button (set to expose all windows) to zoom in with my scope, am i gonna suddenly see all my windows?

Good question - don't know. If so, you could always create a different user ID just for games, and set it's expose prefs differently.

Which brings up another interesting thought; I wonder if you could do fast-user-switching with a game running...