Game mode in windows 10. Microsoft Edge improvements

Game Mode became available in Windows 10 with the Creators Update, which is designed to improve performance in computer games. Consider how to enable game mode in Windows 10?

Windows 10 Creators Update offers the user many improvements and new features, including implemented new feature"Game mode". But is this feature really capable of increasing the frame rate per second? What is its effect and how to enable it?

What is Game Mode in Windows 10?

Windows 10 has many services running and background processes, which in their measure use the resources of the computer and can reduce the performance of games. Many users try to make the most of their computer's potential, but are hampered by the fact that some system processes can run in the background while playing.

Game mode solves this problem. After activating it game process receives the highest priority. All resources will be distributed in favor of the gameplay, and services that are currently “unnecessary” that run in the background will be limited. As tests show, the function does not so much affect the frame rate per second, but, of course, it allows you to limit the so-called "slowdowns" in games, which often occur due to the fact that some system process has started in the background, for example, the file indexing service ( in turn causes a high load on the disk).

How to activate the game mode feature

The player mode can be enabled through the game menu, which is called using the "Win + G" keys. The menu is an overlay in the style of those offered by Steam or Origin. In its settings, you can enable the mode for the running process.

First you need to check that the game menu is enabled in Windows 10. Open the Start menu, go to Settings (gear icon) and select the Games tab.

Here you should check if the checkbox "Display the game menu during playback in full screen mode verified by Microsoft."

Pay attention to the name of this option, you might think that the game mode can only be enabled in those games that were purchased from the Windows Store in the image universal applications(UWP), such as Rise of Tomb Raider.

But this is not so at all. The menu can be enabled through the key combination Win + G in any game, provided that it was launched in a windowed or full-screen format. It is enough to enter the image settings in the options and set the display format from “Full-screen” to “Windowed” or “Windowed without a border”.

When the game is already running in windowed format (or fullscreen if loaded from Windows Store), then just press the key combination Win + G. The game screen will appear windows menu 10.

Click on the gear icon to go to settings. In the menu, find the item "Use game mode for this game."

It will be enough to mark this item to enable the mode, which will increase productivity. Now you can switch it to the classic full screen format - the settings in the menu will be saved and the game mode will still be enabled.

One of the undeniable advantages of Windows- the presence of a huge library of games. A lot of users who have long since switched to Linux continue to keep their hard Windows disk precisely because of this.

The Creators Update has new features that are designed to make Windows usage 10 as a gaming platform even more enjoyable. In the operating system settings there is a special section "Games" in which all related parameters are concentrated.

Open this section, and then move to the "Game Mode" tab. Turn on the "Use game mode" option. The same action can be performed directly in the game by pressing the Win + G keyboard shortcut, and then activating the corresponding function in the game bar.

According to the developers, as a result of the game they get maximum priority to provide highest quality graphics and performance. However, how are things really?

According to tests conducted by PC World, the activation of the game mode leads to mixed results. If resource-intensive background tasks are not running on the computer, then the player will not feel any improvement. As you can see, the red bar (game mode on) in the diagrams is almost equal to the blue bar (game mode off).

However, later the researchers launched a YouTube video playback, an audio player, and an anti-virus file scan on the computer. In this case, the new game mode proved to be really useful. Thanks to its application, the minimum frame rate in the gaming application has increased significantly.

It cannot be said that this innovation turned out to be completely useless. In some scenarios, Game Mode really helps improve performance. However, this only happens when a lot of background applications are running on the computer.

In December 2016, developers found a mention of the game mode in the Windows 10 code. Its purpose was already assumed from the name - it "squeezes all the juice" out of the PC for better performance.

How to enable Windows 10 Game Mode

Attention A: Everything you do is at your own risk. Insider builds may not work correctly.

Step 1. Sign up for the Windows 10 Insider Build Testing Program.

Step 2. We log in using your Microsoft account in the operating system.

Step 3. Then there are two options for installing the upgrade: activate automatic in the section Updates or manually download from here. We are interested in Insider Preview build 15007.

Step 4. After a successful update, press the Win and G keys at the same time, a dialog box will open. Put a tick next to Use Game Mode for this game, launch any game.

Microsoft promises that with the new mode, the smoothness of games will increase by at least 10-15 frames per second. This is good news for owners of weak PCs.

Has several platform bugs that can affect gameplay in popular games. These bugs are not related to new game mode features. The development team is already working on fixing the bugs.

Let's take a look at the major improvements and changes.

What's new in Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 15019

Gameplay Improvements

Built-in support for broadcasts to the Beam service. Game streaming in Beam is available from the game panel, called by clicking Windows combinations+ G. The new functionality is available for both Windows 10 PCs and Xbox One.

New section "Games" (Gaming) in the application "Settings". This section can be easily identified by the Xbox logo. Work has begun on merging system and user settings related to games in this section. Already now you can find settings for the game bar, GameDVR, game mode, streaming and broadcasts there. Not all items are visible in this build, but section development will continue.

Game Mode. Game mode will optimize Windows work 10 to improve gaming performance. To enable Game Mode, go to Settings > Games > Game Mode and enable the feature. You can also enable the feature for any UWP and Win32 game by bringing up the Game Bar (Windows + G) and clicking the Settings button.

Improved fullscreen support for Game Bar. Implemented full screen mode support for 17 games. As usual, press Windows + G to bring up the Game Bar. Games List: Battlefield 3, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 - Zombies, FIFA 14, FIFA 17, FIFA Manager 14, Grim Dawn, Guild Wars 2, Left 4 Dead 2, MapleStory, Paragon, Payday 2, Rocket League, The Elder Scrolls Online, The Sims 4, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege, Warface. can be controlled this function using the “Show game bar when playing games in full screen mode” option in the game bar settings.

Improvements Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge can now read aloud. Edge Web Browser Gets Reading Feature e-books. To do this, you need to click the “read aloud” button in the upper right corner after opening the e-book. This feature can be used with EPUB books, not just books from the Windows Store. On this moment Russian language is not supported. Full list supported languages: ar-EG, ca-ES, da-DK, de-DE, en-AU, en-CA, en-GB, en-IN, en-US, es-ES, es-MX, fi-FI , fr-CA, fr-FR, it-IT, ja-JP, nb-NO, nl-BE, nl-NL, pt-BR, pt-PT, sv-SE, tr-TR, zh-CN.

Improved emoji support in Microsoft Edge. Edge will now display full-color, updated emoji by default on sites that use emoji.

Improvements presetting system at first start (Out-Of-Box-Experience)

Introduced the privacy settings page.
Added support wireless networks“captive portal” (networks, upon connection of which, the user needs to perform certain actions). Now a special version of the browser will open. where you can perform the necessary steps to access the Internet. In addition, the settings for some Wi-Fi settings have been updated.
Updated the design of the login page account Microsoft for Windows 10 Creators Update. Navigation has been simplified, loading times have been reduced and usability has been improved.
Updated page design Windows registration Hello.
Updated voice guidance- improved intonation thanks to professional recording with the participation of actors.
Added subtitles for Cortana voice prompts for users with disabilities.
Fixed stability bugs and implemented minor interface improvements.

Night light

The blue color filter is now called "Night Light" to more accurately reflect the main purpose of the feature. In addition, improvements have been made to the settings of the function, which can be reviewed before application.

The color temperature range for night light has been improved and several bugs have been fixed, including:

Fixed an issue where selecting the night color feature in the Action Center and selecting settings would open Homepage Settings app settings, instead of a separate filter settings page.
Fixed incorrect application of filter settings when the device wakes up from sleep mode or when a new monitor is connected.
Hanging issue fixed Windows Explorer when waking up from sleep mode when the night light function is active.

Resizing the connection window virtual machine Hyper-V

Users were able to quickly resize the VMConnect window by simply dragging the corners of the window - in this case the guest operating system will automatically set the new resolution. This requires authorization in the guest OS and work in extended session mode.

Download progress for Windows Store games and apps in the Action Center

For those downloaded from the Store Windows Applications and games in the Action Center, a download progress indicator will be displayed. It will be useful for checking the download status of a major game while performing other operations on the computer.

Troubleshooting

The system's own tools can help correct many errors. Build 15019 continues work on bringing Control Panel functionality to the Settings app. The Troubleshooting section has now been migrated to the Settings app. Improved settings nesting for easier navigation and usability. The settings are available in Settings > Update & security > Troubleshoot.

Improved support for high resolution screens

In build 15002, an option was introduced to override display settings for GDI-based applications for high resolution screens with system parameters. In this build, application compatibility settings are now also available to be enabled or disabled via the Windows ADK. Thus, administrators will be able to apply settings to multiple computers at once.

Other changes

We fixed an issue where connecting an Xbox 360 or Xbox One controller to a computer could cause DWM to crash and display a black or white screen.
Fixed an issue with some games where pressing Alt + Tab to select a different window would cause the new window with focus and the game to flicker.
We fixed an issue where, when using Microsoft Edge with Narrator, you could hear “no objects in viewable area” or silence when navigating through tabs and using other commands.
We fixed an issue in Microsoft Edge where pasting text over selected text in Web Notes could cause the browser to crash.
We fixed an issue with watching a Twitch.tv stream in Microsoft Edge.
Fixed Microsoft Edge crash when sharing PDF files.
Updated Microsoft Edge e-book viewer - when selecting an image, you can use Ctrl + mouse wheel to zoom.
We fixed an issue where entering characters into the F12 Developer Tools window when using the Hungarian keyboard layout did not work.
The zoom setting has been moved from the control panel to the corresponding display settings page in the Settings app.
We fixed an issue where taskbar icons could be very small at high screen resolutions.
We fixed an issue where, in some UWP apps, tapping an area outside of a text field that had focus in tablet mode would not minimize the on-screen keyboard.
Fixed bugs in new compatibility mode option to override high resolution mode settings for GDI applications.
We fixed an issue where recently pinned secondary tiles (such as a specific page from the Settings app) would appear in the Recently Added list on the Start menu.
Improved animation when adding tiles to folders and excluding tiles from folders in the Start menu.
We fixed an issue where Notepad was maximized and there was enough text to display a scrollbar, causing the right edge of the scrollbar to not respond to drags when scrolling was attempted.
We fixed an issue where applications became unresponsive when pressing Alt to set focus to a menu bar and then pressing Ctrl or clicking outside the application's child window.
Fixed a crash on the default app selection page when trying to install an app from the Windows Store.
Added a link to search for themes in the Windows Store on the theme settings page.
Fixed some applications crashing when using the "Open" menu to rename or open a folder.
We fixed an issue where Win + Shift + S would not work in the Snipping tool if a non-rectangular capture area was selected.
Fixed an issue where multiple running Scissors processes would end when pressing Win + Shift + S and then Esc to stop capturing.
Fixed the problem of losing attributes, for example, +s, when copying or moving a folder to another partition.
Fixed issue when using command line with multiple fonts, the conhost.exe process was using too much CPU.
Updated surface dial settings - now applications are displayed in alphabetical order.
We fixed an issue with the Windows Ink workspace where strokes could reappear randomly when using the Eraser tool.
Improved reliability when copying to Screen Sketch.
We fixed an issue where keyboard and mouse responsiveness was lost for a few seconds.
Fixed crash issue for some apps when switching to tablet mode
Fixed incorrect display of events in the calendar.
Fixed an issue where selecting multiple image source folders for a slideshow would cause the slideshow to not work.
Fixed flash display issue when navigating to skin settings.
Fixed unexpected display of "Systemsettings.Viewmodel.settingentry" at the bottom of the "Bluetooth and other devices" page.
Improved the reliability of the Settings app.
Improved virtual touchpad interface - left and right button became more visible.
Problem fixed. which caused the Netflix app to crash when trying to launch. We also fixed an issue where the Netflix app would crash when running videos on computers with some hardware configuration.
The DOTA2 game is now working properly.

Important: When installing an update, the download progress indicator in Settings > Update & Security > Center windows updates may freeze at 0% or other percentages. Ignore the indicator and be patient. The build should load and install normally.

Known Bugs

Continuous exceptions in the Spectrum.exe service can cause audio loss, increased disk usage, and freezes in some applications, particularly Microsoft Edge. To temporarily fix the problem, delete the C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Spectrum\PersistedSpatialAnchors directory and restart your PC.
Some users may experience problems connecting to Google services due to the implementation of a new security model. You can use the InPrivate tab to access sites.
Extensions for Microsoft Edge do not work in this build. The fix will be available in the next build. If you're actively using extensions in Edge, it's a good idea to pause getting builds in the Settings app.
Microsoft Edge tools accessed by pressing F12 may freeze, crash, or become unresponsive to input.
Items context menu"Inspect Element" and "View Source" may not correctly load DOM Explorer and Debugger.
Insiders can see the new "Mixed Reality" section on home page the Settings app.
There may be connection problems with some wireless WiFi networks captive portal on stage initial setup systems. If the captive portal network uses DNS spoofing to redirect to a secure site, the captive portal application may crash and the user will not be able to remove the portal.
Voice commands Yes/No on the wireless settings page during the initial system setup do not work.
Quicken 2017 applications may crash with “.NET 4.6.1 not installed” error. In the system registry, you need to change the version value to 4.6.XXXXX instead of 4.7.XXXXX in the following ways:
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Client
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full
Dragging apps from the All Apps list to the Start menu does not work. Use the context menu to pin an application.
Tencent apps may crash.
In the Settings app, some settings may have a status of Managed by your organization. You can ignore this message.
On some computers, there may be spontaneous sound problems with a “device in use” error. Restarting the services responsible for the sound will give a temporary solution to the problem.
The action center can sometimes open empty and transparent with no color. If you encounter this issue, drag the taskbar to a different location on the screen.

Problems with games:

Crashes and black screens may occur when loading popular games due to a platform error.
When selecting some games on the desktop (Win32), the game minimizes and cannot be restored to full screen mode.
Game Mode works correctly on the system by default, but the On/Off switch in the Settings app may not correctly show the state as “Off” until the user manually switches the state to “On”.
Broadcasting to Beam using Game Bar requires some privacy settings to be changed.
On some PCs, the live stream preview screen in the game bar may flash green while streaming. This issue does not affect the quality of the content and is only visible in the preview window.