According to the latest report, most Windows games will occupy the entire screen when you play, and only a few games can be opened in the window. In fact, you can play any game in a window instead of full screen, but it’s up to the developer to allow it.
As long as the feature is supported, you can run any game in a window in seconds. However, some features such as HDR do not support windowed mode. Games in windowed mode also offer lower frame rates, and overall performance isn’t ideal in most cases.
Windowed games are especially useful when you’re multitasking while gaming. It makes it easier for you to switch to other windows or applications. While you can try windowed games in the current stable release, you may have to take some more steps and modify settings to improve performance in windowed games.
New documents confirm that Microsoft is planning to introduce new optimizations for windowed gaming on Windows 11.
With the Windows 11 Build 22557 preview release, we’re getting a new feature that will allow users to easily manage their Alarm Mode, Auto HDR and Variable Refresh Rate (VRR)
These improvements can benefit players by reducing input lag and rendering your game frames optimally. Windows 11’s upcoming optimizations will only work with two types of app windows in the operating system — games with windows and borderless windows. This is because similar optimizations already exist in games that support fullscreen.
Fullscreen-like optimizations will benefit players who prefer windowed and borderless windowed modes for faster performance when their other apps are side-by-side.
To improve performance, Microsoft says it will also move classic apps/games from the traditional Bit mode to a new mode called “Modern Flip Mode”. A lot of games have been updated with support for Modern Flip Mode, but an OS-level implementation will extend the feature to other bots on Telegram and more.
Try better-windowed gaming performance in Windows 11
Windowed game optimizations for Windows 11 are rolling out to users in the Windows Insider Program. Once you’ve joined the program’s Dev channel, you can opt in by following these steps:
- Go to Settings -> System -> Display -> Graphics.
- Open the default graphics settings.
- Find “Optimization for Windowed Games” and enable it.
- Restart your game to see the changes.
This only works when playing in a windowed or borderless windowed environment, as this feature was already present in older desktop builds.
On the page above, you’ll also find some graphics options configured by default. According to Microsoft’s statement, it’s best to leave these options untouched to experience the best graphics settings in-game.
As mentioned, the new optimization mode will require an upgrade to Windows 11 Preview, but you can continue to wait a few more months as these changes will ship with Sun Valley 2 later this year.