How to prevent KSP2 from minimizing when focus is lost while in fullscreen or borderless modes

[Davidian1024]

I've been searching for this since the day the game released.

The game always minimizes itself when I switch focus to a different app in borderless and fullscreen modes.

The only way I've been able to get it to not minimize on focus loss is if I choose windowed mode.  This is not ideal for me because I would still like the window to at least be able to be maximized.  But windowed mode restricts me to a few specific resolutions.  None of these resolutions properly fit the screen.  The largest one has the edges slightly off screen, and the one down from that is significantly smaller than my screen.  I would be fine with windowed mode it it was possible to properly maximize the window.  I believe this would mean a non-standard resolution, so maybe that's why it's not possible at the moment.

Am I missing something here?  FYI, I'm running this on Ubuntu through Valve's Proton compatability layer.

[TiggerTailz]

I was having the same issue and someone on the Discord pointed me to a utility called. "Borderless Gaming" You can purchase on Steam or D/L free from GitHub. https://github.com/Codeusa/Borderless-Gaming

I run dual monitors and this utility scales windowed mode to full screen borderless. I'm now able to mouse back and forth between monitors without KSP2 minimizing. Not sure if this will help on Linux but there is a source tar.gz on the GitHub so you can try compiling. 

[LoSBoL]

Two things you can try to play with, setting a custom resolution by playing with the settings.json file. KSP2 like KSP seems to be very forgiving if you want to run it in ackward resolutions. 

Second thing you can try is to force this unity game to use borderless windows by using a command line argument. 

See below two links which might help you

 

https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Kerbal_Space_Program_2

 

[GizmoMagui]

9 hours ago, LoSBoL said:

Two things you can try to play with, setting a custom resolution by playing with the settings.json file. KSP2 like KSP seems to be very forgiving if you want to run it in ackward resolutions. 

Second thing you can try is to force this unity game to use borderless windows by using a command line argument. 

See below two links which might help you

 

https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Kerbal_Space_Program_2

 

yes u can set a custom res but borderless still goes Fullscreen, meaning it gives black bars 
i already tested Steam configs as well other config to try and force it to be borderless without it being fullscreen. None have worked its still acts as fullscreen even if its set to borderless. on top of all this BS with how they have it setup is  Nvidia can't record the game while in window mode or borderless mode without it asking to record desktop as well. 
so there is 3 big problems how they have this setup
1, its not good for streamers  because you cant set custom res without the game being locked to fullscreen unless u play in window mode wish is stupid cuz now u have to edit OBS window to cut off the borders
2 borderless mode locks to fit screen when you dont want it to
3 Nvidia privet settings  does not see the game while in window/borderless mode and forces you to record desktop when you don't want it to...

On 3/16/2023 at 5:25 PM, TiggerTailz said:

I was having the same issue and someone on the Discord pointed me to a utility called. "Borderless Gaming" You can purchase on Steam or D/L free from GitHub. https://github.com/Codeusa/Borderless-Gaming

I run dual monitors and this utility scales windowed mode to full screen borderless. I'm now able to mouse back and forth between monitors without KSP2 minimizing. Not sure if this will help on Linux but there is a source tar.gz on the GitHub so you can try compiling. 

when u make a smaller window does it show black bars? or does it show your background of the desktop?

[TiggerTailz]

I set KSP2 so it is windowed mode 2560x14404 or 1920x1080 and Borderless Gaming sets it full screen borderless. There are no sidebars since its it matches my display resolution aspect ratio.

[GizmoMagui]

4 hours ago, TiggerTailz said:

I set KSP2 so it is windowed mode 2560x14404 or 1920x1080 and Borderless Gaming sets it full screen borderless. There are no sidebars since its it matches my display resolution aspect ratio.

thats the biggest problem i run this on my (LG A1 55 inch Class 4K Smart OLED TV) i dont want the game to go fullscreen because i leave up other programs on screen. like OBS/chat or other programs music or anything else. The game regardless of what tool you use  it goes FULLSCREEN  i have other tools that allows me to move around borderless windows  so i can move the game on top of the TV while leaving space below  for other apps. But the problem is the borderless mode goes fullscreen. 

there are other games i have played once u put a game in borderless mode u can set a custom res you want. It will only be that size it does not go fullscreen.
I use a TV screen acting as if its more then one screen by placing  apps into windows frames.  while i have a 2nd pc to run other apps its cheaper to run just one screen. i'v asked the Devs about changing this but sadly no response. so from the start i have been fighting the game  borderless mode and trying to find a way to STOP it from going FULLSCREEN.. but no luck 

Native Resolution : 3840x2160
what i want 
Custom Resolution : 3840x1620
Making the screen ultrawide but moving it to the top of the screen to have programs down below while able to click in and out of the game on the fly but again i can't do this because they locked it to fullscreen. Only making it bad for streamers and multitaskers.
 

[The Aziz]

It's still not sorted out. Borderless doesn't act like borderless.

[Spicat]

53 minutes ago, The Aziz said:

It's still not sorted out. Borderless doesn't act like borderless.

Anth did a good job on this bug report not so long ago. Now that he's hired, he might push it to the devs. We'll see.

[Dakota]

It's on our radar. It bothers me as well.

[Superfluous J]

From this I assume KSP2 actually has the "borderless window fullscreen" mode in settings.

Has anybody tried what used to work for KSP1? That is:

1. Set the game to Windowed.
2. Set the resolution to your screen.
3. Add -popupwindow to your startup script (might not work in Steam as it runs the launcher but who uses the launcher amirite?)
      ksp2.exe -popupwindow
4. For those who want non-fullscreen borderless windows, you can run:
      ksp2.exe -popupwindow -screen-width # -screen-height #
   ...with the caveat that it'll be centered horizontally and vertically and you can't move it.

It's important you don't go into graphics settings after this, as the game will re-assert the settings therein.

Edited October 27, 2023 by Superfluous J

[The Aziz]

Ok while borderless doesn't behave, I think I found a workaround:

Instead of -popupwindow, I entered --popupwindow (with two -'s). Then set it to Windowed mode - all while the game was still running and it seems to work, I can click away and the game stays on the other screen.

[Superfluous J]

16 hours ago, Superfluous J said:

From this I assume KSP2 actually has the "borderless window fullscreen" mode in settings.

Has anybody tried what used to work for KSP1? That is:

1. Set the game to Windowed.
2. Set the resolution to your screen.
3. Add -popupwindow to your startup script (might not work in Steam as it runs the launcher but who uses the launcher amirite?)
      ksp2.exe -popupwindow
4. For those who want non-fullscreen borderless windows, you can run:
      ksp2.exe -popupwindow -screen-width # -screen-height #
   ...with the caveat that it'll be centered horizontally and vertically and you can't move it.

It's important you don't go into graphics settings after this, as the game will re-assert the settings therein.

I just tried this (read into that: I bought the game!) and it works perfectly.

[Izny]

On 10/27/2023 at 11:54 AM, The Aziz said:

Ok while borderless doesn't behave, I think I found a workaround:

Instead of -popupwindow, I entered --popupwindow (with two -'s). Then set it to Windowed mode - all while the game was still running and it seems to work, I can click away and the game stays on the other screen.

YES!