Is there a way to play in windowed mode?

from GalCiv2 Forums
It'd be nice to play in windowed mode so I can use IM while I'm playing GalCiv2. I try unchecking Fullscreen, but when I restart the game it appears to still be in fullscreen. Can anyone help?
5,320 views 5 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
From the GalCiv II readme.txt in the directory the game was installed to:

"Create a shortcut to the GalCiv2.exe file and add a 'w' (without the quotation marks) parameter to it to launch the game in a window."

As an example: ie. "C:\program files\stardock\galciv2\galciv2.exe" w

You may need to uncheck Fullscreen in the Options Menu on the Video tab.

Be aware there have been reports of windowed mode not working for some people.
If something should go wrong and you need to force Fullscreen back on, preferences are stored under:
Documents and Settings\%username\My Documents\GalCiv2.

You can edit the prefs.ini file in that directory. Look for the line 'fullscreen=0' and change it to 'fullscreen=1
that should reset it to fullscreen mode.

If you ever want \ need to set Game \ Race settings back to default you can delete or rename this file and it will be regenerated the next time the game runs.
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
If you're playing at the same resolution in windowed mode as your desktop is at, you're effectively playing full-screen. Your desktop should be set to > 1024x768 to see the window.
Elemental: Reforged
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I can't get this to work. It just tells me that the name in the specified target box is not valid. I've tried simply adding a w to the end, using the exact quote from above "C:\program files\stardock\galciv2\galciv2.exe" w, using a dash, using a space, using no space, using everything I can think of. There really must be better instructions than this. The readme is utterly uninformative.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I've tried all the ideas listed here too but can't get windowed mode to work either.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
If you're getting an error about not being able to find the specified target, you've either installed the game to a different directory/drive than what's listed in the above post, or you've put the 'w' in the wrong place.

The fool-proof way to do it, is to go find the galciv2.exe file in explorer, hold down alt (this will create a shortcut) & drag it to whereever you want the shortcut. Then edit the target for that shortcut and add a single space and a w after the quotation mark.