Plays games then all fences lose position when exiting game

from WinCustomize Forums

Hello,

I was just curious if there is something I could do to stop the fences I've created from losing their position.

I've never had this problem before using Fences, and I have a lot of icons, folders, documents being held by various fences I've placed.   Although I only use one monitor, I have my fences stored on two different screens.

 

The problem started when I started playing Galactic Civilizations 1: Ultimate Edition.   When I am done playing the game, my fences continue to contain their items, but all the fences come back being stacked on top of one another.  To be fair, the fences I have segregated between the two separate screens stay segregated, but each individual screen has that screen's collection of fences stacked on top of one another in one part of the screen.


My first screen's fences are more application, folder, and file themed, whereas the second screen is games themed.  So, If I'm on the second screen and I launch a game (Galactic Civ), when I'm done with the game and it closes, all the fences I have set up for different groupings of games all pile up on top of each other.   Then, when I go back to the first screen (which has the non games content), all of those particular fenced in groupings of applications, files, and folders are all stacked on top of each other on that screen as well.

 

So I end up having to drag all my fenced groupings back on each screen to their intended position.  This holds fine until I eventually place Galactic Civ again, then WHAMMO, everything gets stacked on top of each other again.

 

Any advice you can give would be much appreciated. 

 

Thanks!

position fences
9,460 views 11 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having issues. Need to know more information on your system and issue.

  1. You on Windows 10 or 11? Also need to know its full version and OS build number. Use Winver.exe to get it.
  2. Fences version installed.
  3. Not sure what you mean by one monitor with 2 screens? Please elaborate more on it.
  4. Resolution, scale factor (100%, 125%, 200% etc) on monitor.
  5. When you play a game does the game on full screen mode and on same resolution as the monitor or lower resolution?
  6. A video of this issue would help us understand the issue better.

Thank you.
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

I have the same problem. Any old game that resizes the screen crams my icons into the top left corner of the screen/desktop. Why can't fences remember it's positions through a screen/resolution resize? My fences is current and my computer is fairly new. i.e. windows 11 with a big screen monitor.

Ashes of the Singularity II
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting gaming_ogre, reply 2

I have the same problem. Any old game that resizes the screen crams my icons into the top left corner of the screen/desktop. Why can't fences remember it's positions through a screen/resolution resize? My fences is current and my computer is fairly new. i.e. windows 11 with a big screen monitor.
End of gaming_ogre's quote

Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having issues. Please reply and answer my queries I posted in Reply#1

Thank you.
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Here are the answers to your questions.

Question 1:

Edition Windows 11 Pro
Version 23H2
Installed on ‎11/‎4/‎2023
OS build 22631.3737
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22700.1009.0

 

Question 2:

Fences Version 5.54

 

Question 3:
By one monitor with two screens I am (in my poor way) trying to say that I have one monitor, and that I have two desktop environments. I'm not sure if that's a better explanation, but one of my desktop environments has applications, folders and files broken up into several different fenced in groupings, and  the other desktop environment has my games broken out into fences containing various game types (like RPG, Racing, Arcade, etc.).

So I have two separate desktop environments if you will.

 

Question 4:

My monitor resolution is 3840x2160. I have my monitor at a custom scaling of 148%.


Question 5:

The game in question where this occurs is Galactic Civilization I: Ultimate Edition.  The game is of course very old.  I originally owned the game under Steam, but I could not get the game to play properly either full screen or windowed.   If I tried playing in windowed mode, the game looked like it would briefly launch in a small window that would remain open a second, then the game would stop; so at no point did the game play, it would just be a half hearted attempt at running itself. Therefore I had to try to run the Steam version full screen.  When I ran the program full screen I would have the issue I originally described regarding the fences all loosing position.  I was still having graphical problems playing via Steam's version, so I went ahead and bought the game under GOG Games as well to see if I'd fair any better with that version.  Indeed I did.  I was able to play the game, and it would launch full screen. However, when I would conclude, the issue I originally described would occur. 

So most accurately, I can say I have only ever successfully run the program full screen.  Regardless, whether it were the Steam version or the GOG version, when I exited the game I would have all my fences lose their positions I had placed them at.     

Question 6:

I have never made a video of anything on my monitor before.   I'm sure I could figure out how to if needed, but I would like to hopefully see if the details I'm giving you now can help solve the problem first.

If it turns out I will need to upload a video of what's occurring, I'm going to both have to figure out how to capture the video on my screen, followed by hopefully having an easy time uploading it on this forum space.  If you need me to do that, perhaps when you reply you can give me directions on how to go about doing it.

 

And although you didn't ask, my general hardware specs are as follows:

CPU: Ryzen 5950X

GPU: Radion 6950XT

RAM: 128GB

 

Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top

Hello again, thank you for the details. Some follow up questions and suggestions.

  1. For the "Two Desktop Environments", do you mean two Fences desktop pages?
  2. Right after you've done playing game and your Fences get messed up. Have you tried Fences Layout snapshot restore function?
  3. Have you tried restart Explorer.exe. Here is how you can restart Explorer.exe: https://www.howtogeek.com/198815/use-this-secret-trick-to-close-and-restart-explorerexe-in-windows/. 

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

 

Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Hi, thanks again for the quick reply.

Question 1:

Yes.  I guess that is the correct way of putting it.  I have two Fences desktop pages.

Question 2.

No, I hadn't used that yet.  I just tried it and it worked great.  Still, it would be nice if this problem weren't happening in the first place.

 

Question 3.

I am familiar with having to occasionally have to restart Explorer.exe for reasons that have nothing to do with the issue with Fences.  I've done it before.  I'm not sure how restarting it would solve the Fences problem.

For now though, I thank you for teaching me how to restore the layout.  That at least saves me time when errors come about.

Is there anything more I need to provide to help solve this problem?  Again, I'll figure out how to do the video if need be.  If there is any other information you need however, please don't hesitate to ask.

 

Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top

In Fences 5 there is several Layout auto-adjustments option. Its in your "Backups" tab in Fences 5 configuration windows. The same tab where you find the layout snapshots. Have you try out those other different option?

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I have not tried any of the options before.  I really wasn't aware of them before now.  I will play around with them and see what I learn.  I might discover something better than I had originally came up with.

Thank you for pointing this out to me as well.  |-)

Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top

Great, do try it out and report back.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Hey, I thought I'd report back.  I'm still having the issue that occurs with the program, but I'm very happy to report I'm able to get the fences back in position.

The only weird thing that occurs when I do that is two boxes I have that are smaller in length (only have three icons in each of them) elongate vertically by double length each time I have to correct it.

I've messed around with changing the length of each box in case that was causing the issue, but that's not the case. 

What also was intriguing about it was the boxes vertically overlapped large boxes underneath them (again, it was the length of an icon).

I have the "Keep Fences Spaced" selection checked, but after I recall the backup fence positions, the overlap occurs.

THAT is an easy fix though, so I do not mind it.

Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top

Please post a video grab of this issue so we understand it better.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant