Using OD 2 as a taskbar, dock and explorer are frozen when exiting battlefield 3 session.

from Stardock Forums

I tried using object dock as a task bar replacement, with windows on one dock and the tray in a 2nd. If i play Battlefield 3, i exit the game and find the dock has frozen, right click on the desktop wont work, and if i ctrl-alt-del to open the task manager the window freezes so i cant end the task. The only solution is to ctrl-alt-del and log off and log back in. Something (BF3, origin, both) is causing ObjectDock to lock up my desktop. Any ideas?

 

Edit: I just had the game fail to load and it still locked up. The act of Origin launching the game seems to make it lock. Seems to have problems with how Origin and BF3 launch and minimize when a game is launched.

objectdock
7,839 views 9 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Any ideas?
End of quote

Only thing I can think of is perhaps a screen res issue.  Is BF3 running in the same/native res?

I can drop out of all sorts of games to OD without issue. [though do not have BF3]...;)

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

yes, i have a 1080p screen (two actually) and the game runs native res. BF3 itself doesn't run like a normal game. You launch via a web site. This calls up the Origin game store client which launches the BF3.exe. The game starts minimized while it loads. The game is brought to the foreground once it loads.

I managed to make the dock freeze without loading fully into the game. I failed to connect to s server so the BF3.exe opened, tried to load and closed. So it seems the freeze occurs either during the attempt to launch the game, both with origin already running and not running, or as a consequence of Origin starting itself and/or BF3 minimized.

Start11 - Customize the Start Menu and Taskbar in Windows 10/11.
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

i MAY have isolated the issue. I am able to prevent freezing if the dock is set to "Keep on bottom". So I guess the weird way BF3 launches changes the z-ordering of the dock too many times in a short interval, causing a lock.

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

Dealing with Z-ordering is a nightmare when programming, so I'm not surprised that's where the issue is localized.

Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Though this isn't the 'technical' fix you may be looking for, you may want to consider GameBooster.

I have used the free version for a couple years (as have some other gamers and skinners around here) and it's been great.

It will automatically check your system for anything that doesn't need to be running while you game. You have complete control over choosing from what it finds to shut off when gaming as well as being able to add apps to the list. (I add stuff like Dropbox, Sugarsync, Rainmeter, etc.)

It increases your PC's performance while your gaming (having shut down unnecessary apps) and when you are done it will restart all the apps for you. The only issue I have had with it is restarting Sugarsync and Automatic Updates, which I have had to do manually.

Game Booster 3 is capable of delivering the best gaming experience to you even if you have an old PC. One-click to boost PC performance is not enough, Game Booster 3 also allows you to tweak your system for top PC performance. By temporarily shutting background processes and unnecessary Windows services, cleaning RAM, and intensifying processor performance, Game Booster 3 concentrates every little system resource for gaming only.

I've used it with WOW, STOL, DCUNIVERSE, and CHAMPIONS ONLINE with no issues.

Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Thanks i'll give it a shot!  If this works you'll be a lifesaver as at this point I was wrong. Managed to get a frozen dock after dropping out of BF3 and switching servers. After dropping out from the second server it was frozen.

Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top

So i installed the program but I'm a bit confused. Does it automatically detect the launch of a game exe and then execute the boost function or must i run a game from the gamebox. Also, would I set it up with swtor and BF3 since those rely on external launchers, the latter actually being a website. I tried giving it the EXE, assuming that gameboost would detect the exe but nothing happened. Your help would be much appreciated.

Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting F3N1X85, reply 7
So i installed the program but I'm a bit confused. Does it automatically detect the launch of a game exe and then execute the boost function or must i run a game from the gamebox.
End of F3N1X85's quote

If you launch from Gamebox it will detect it and do what it is supposed to BUT...I have had it shut down CursorXP and FX from there and then I can't log into WOW or STOL because I can't see my cursor to find anything/click on anything.

I open Gamebooster and load all my settings and look over what it thinks it should be shut down. I check and uncheck accordingly. Once you set it and save, you're good. After that, I just click on the 'Gaming Mode' icon and it will start and go to the notification tray when it is fully active. (You get a 10 second countdown to minimize to tray) then I open my game launcher.

 

I just went through it and used Gamebox. The problem I have with Gamebox is that it shuts down CursorXP and I have no cursor to do what I need on the launcher. I don't know why it does this or if it does it for anyone else. When I go through the options in Gamebox, CursorXP isn't even listed so why it gets shut down from Gamebox is beyond me.  So I don't use Gamebox for now.

 

Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top

The game starts minimized while it loads. The game is brought to the foreground once it loads.