X4: Foundations – How to Run X4 in the Background

X4 can be run in the background while you are busy doing other stuff. Don’t let your empire be idle just because you are not looking at it!

Why?

All credit goes to Nexuscrawler!

In X3 and previous X-titles there was always an option in the menu that you could select to have the game continue running while it was minimized. In X4, that is no longer the case, but there is an easy fix.

This should be useful if you’d like to do other stuff while your traders and stations are making you Credits in the background. Especially if you only have one monitor.

It will also save your PC some unnecessary computing power, if you are the type that has X4 running over night.

How to Achieve That?

To have X4 continue running when it loses focus or is minimized, you’ll have to go to your graphic settings and change the display mode from Fullscreen to Borderless Window. You will not notice the difference, because the borderless window will look just like the fullscreen. The advantage is however, that you can leave the game now with your mouse and do stuff on your other monitor (if you have one). In this display mode, X4 will also keep running while minimized.

My FPS Drops when X4 Loses Focus!

Yes, but that is intended and you want this!

When you unfocus the window, the FPS of your game will be throttled. That does NOT mean that your game is running slower. The throttling of the framerate only affects the update rate on your monitor, which will manifest itself in a slight stuttering. That is fine!

Unfocusing or minimizing the window will save CPU and GPU resources, giving it more calculation power for actually doing game related stuff while you are not looking. If you are running with SINZA and your CPU is struggling already, doing this will actually speed things up, because the game doesn’t need to reserve so much processing power to graphical stuff and can focus on updating the pathing of your ships and calculations for your production.

If you have the game running over night, minimize or unfocus the game! It keeps your PC cool, saves electricity and makes the game run faster, by reducing FPS.