Overview
Some players of Children of Morta have reported that the usage of “-window-mode exclusive” command does nothing to fix their performance issues. But on the contrary, it does still work. It just needs some extra steps.
Introduction
The “-window-mode exclusive” launch command is a regular recommendation among gamers when they report performance issues with a Unity Engine game. The reason is, Unity Engine games use borderless windowed display mode by default when a user chooses to go fullscreen, as it’s the engine’s default setting, and the display mode has a really big part in how a game’s performance can be. So by using the aforementioned command, the game gets more resources from the operating system and runs better as a result.
I have previously talked about the pros & cons of each screen mode, and explained the relation between them and performance. So if you want more information about those, refer to this guide:
[link]
Now, back to the topic at hand. Children of Morta supported the use of this command flawlessly when it launched back in late 2019. But after the first content updates, the support suddenly stopped, which made a lot of people (including myself) run into issues playing it. The game just did not want to go exclusive fullscreen anymore.
Why this decision was made and why this happened is not clear. Many have been wondering if the command was not going to work anymore. However, I have recently found out this command still works, you just have to do some extra steps to activate the effect.
How to enable exclusive fullscreen
Now, let’s talk about how you can force the game to run in exclusive fullscreen mode nowadays. It’s just like before, you just have to do something extra in the end:
- Step 1: Go to the game’s properties by right clicking on it in your library and choosing “Properties”.
- Step 2: Choose “Set Launch Options”, type “-window-mode exclusive” (without the quotes) and confirm the changes.
- Step 3: Launch the game.
- Step 4: Go into the graphic options screen.
- Step 5: Set your desired resolution. If you found out it’s not there, choose something near it and it will show up in the list afterwards. Might be a bug in the game.
- Step 6: Uncheck the Fullscreen option. The game goes windowed at this point.
- Step 7: Check the Fullscreen option again. This time the game goes into exclusive fullscreen mode.
- Step 8: Do not change anything else. The resolution will appear wrong, but the command should have applied your desired resolution. Go back to the main menu and start playing the game.
If you want, you can use Steam Overlay to easily check if the resolution has changed. The size of the fps counter and pop-ups will shrink or get bigger depending on resolution.
This game resets your screen mode right after the “Press Any Button” screen. Every time you launch the game or go back to the main menu from in-game, make sure to redo the steps mentioned above or the game will revert to its predefined settings.