Second Screen Gaming Wishlist on Steam

Fallout 4 alt-tab fix: stop minimizing and pausing

A wanderer in heavy armour in a ruined retro-futuristic city on one monitor and a browser on the other

To stop Fallout 4 minimizing, tick Windowed Mode and Borderless in the launcher's Options. To stop it pausing, add bAlwaysActive=1 under [General] in Fallout4Custom.ini. Neither picks the monitor the game opens on, and the cursor still slides onto your other screen. Second Screen Gaming puts Fallout 4 borderless on the screen you choose at every launch and keeps the mouse there while you play.

Keep Fallout 4 on your second monitor

With Windowed Mode ticked, turn on Second Screen Gaming's Run borderless on a chosen screen and pick the monitor. Fallout 4 fills it at every launch, and if that screen is unplugged the game waits for it. It moves the window without loading anything into the game.

Turn on Keep the mouse on this screen too. It holds the cursor on Fallout 4's monitor while you play and frees it the moment you alt-tab.

Wishlist on Steam

Why Fallout 4 minimizes and pauses

In fullscreen, Fallout 4 owns the display, so any click on another monitor or any program that takes focus sends it to the desktop. Separately, the game pauses itself whenever its window is not the one in front, which is what bAlwaysActive turns off.

Fix Fallout 4 by hand

Each of these fixes one part: the launcher does not choose a screen, and the INI lines have to be redone if the files are reset.

Play borderless

  1. Open the Fallout 4 launcher and click Options.
  2. Tick Windowed Mode and Borderless, and set the resolution to your monitor's.

In Fallout4Prefs.ini under [Display] that is bFull Screen=0 and bBorderless=1.

If Fallout 4 still drops to the desktop at random, something else is grabbing focus: a launcher, an overlay or a notification. Borderless makes those interruptions harmless.

Stop the pause

  1. Open Documents\My Games\Fallout4\ and edit Fallout4Custom.ini. Create it if it is missing.

  2. Add these two lines. The [General] header is usually not there yet:

    [General]
bAlwaysActive=1

Players report this as the method that works most often. If it does not take for you, add the same line under [General] in Fallout4Prefs.ini as well.

Free the mouse stuck in the middle of the screen

Clicking your other monitor while Fallout 4 is loading can leave the cursor locked to the center. Hold Alt, tap Tab until Fallout 4 is selected, release, then click in the game.

Move the window to another monitor

Adding iLocation X= and iLocation Y= under [Display] in Fallout4Custom.ini moves the window, for example iLocation X=1920 for a second 1920-pixel-wide screen to the right. Some players find the game resets it.

Common questions

Why does Fallout 4 keep minimizing?

In fullscreen, any click on another monitor or any program that takes focus sends it to the desktop. Borderless windowed stops that.

Why does Fallout 4 change resolution or go black when I alt-tab?

In exclusive fullscreen, leaving the game switches the display back to your desktop's resolution, and that switch is the black flash. Borderless windowed never changes the display mode, so alt-tab is instant.

Does Fallout 4 keep its sound when I alt-tab?

Reports differ by setup. If it goes quiet when you click away, see how to keep game sound on when tabbed out.

Does this work with mods?

Yes. These are the game's own settings. If you use Mod Organizer, edit the INI files through it, since it keeps its own copies per profile.