FancyZone version 0.14.1.0 renders Civilization VI non-responsive

[ized3d]

FancyZone version 0.14.1.0 renders Civilization VI (started through Steam) completely non-responsive when fullscreen introfilm is skipped.

The issue is not affected by 'Flashing Zones' setting being on or off.
Steam and Civ exclusions from the zones have been set up but no difference in behaviour

[bzoz]

Sorry, I can't reproduce.

Do you run Civ with DX11 or 12? Do you have multiple screens? Does disabling FancyZones solve the issue? Or maybe you have to stop PowerToys? What are your FancyZones settings (a screenshot would be great)?

[ized3d]

Yes, I run multiple screens (BENQ G2420HDB, Acer XR342CKP) connected to a Nvidia Geforce 1060, running 2 different layouts. The BENQ runs portrait mode 3 rows (no space between them) layout, the Acer runs a landscape Priority Grid or a custom layout with 2 windows (no spaces between them).

I have tried to run both DX11 and DX12 with no difference, immediate non-response when hitting space/mouse key when intro film starts.

Disabling FancyZones does correct the issue fully (as it seems)..

Atm, all FZ toggles except 'Flash Zones' are ON ,

[crutkas]

@bzoz, were you able to repo?

[bzoz]

So, after some more playing with this, I was able to reproduce. The issue happens only if FancyZones zone the Civ window - it breaks both when the Civ is run in fullscreen and when run in a window.

I don't think we can do anything about it, it looks like Civ window does not like to be moved by external tools. I'll investigate this further though to see if we can make FancyZones exclude Civ window by default.

In the meantime, you can add Civ to the excluded apps list (at the bottom of FancyZones settings):

[enricogior]

If you snap the Civ windows using the built-in Windows Snap, does it also break as when snapped using FZ?
I'm asking because of this #1050 where FZ snapping causes an unexpected behavior.

[bzoz]

It does not react to the built-in snap - the window ignores both Win + arrows and moving to the edge of the screen.

[crutkas]

does it happen with any other AAA game running window mode? Was randomly reading this, https://devblogs.microsoft.com/directx/demystifying-full-screen-optimizations/, and we may be able to detect AAA games in window mode this way.

if we do ignore apps this way and someone is trying to adjust, i do think we should figure out a way to tell a user we can't move it.

[bzoz]

For the record: tested with 2016 DOOM, the game still works you snap the window to a zone

[crutkas]

@bzoz, are we thinking this is fixed with the ignore list / 0.15 work?

[bzoz]

I think yes. The excluded list is the only way to do this, since at leas one other game works and can be zoned without issues.

[crutkas]

I think in docs or wiki we need to start a list of known apps or just maybe just populate by default known apps inside FZ.

[crutkas]

@bzoz / @enricogior did we ever come to a conclusion here?

[enricogior]

Rule of thumb, if an app works correctly with Windows Snap, it should also work with FancyZones, but if it doesn't react to Windows Snap or if it breaks when snapped, it won't work with FancyZones as well and I don't think there is anything we can do to workaround it.
I'm OK with adding known apps to the excluded list by default.

[crutkas]

adding to 0.19 as this should be a small cost item

[crutkas]

@enricogior is this still an issue?

[enricogior]

@crutkas
the conclusion was that we can consider adding these problematic apps to a default list of excluded apps, but then we would have maintain the list and verify for every new version of the app if it's still incompatible.
I would say that it's better to have a section in the wiki listing the apps that we know may have issues with FZ.

[crutkas]

Created https://aka.ms/PowerToysAppCompat