Hidden app (but spaces turned off)

[tritogeneia]

When I launch a particular app (Monopoly: Here and Now), its icon doesn't appear in the dock, its menu doesn't appear at the top of the screen (instead, the menu for whatever program was last running remains), and if I try to switch apps using the Cmd-Tab shortcut, it doesn't appear amongst the selections there either.

However, if I use Expose to reveal all windows, it WILL appear there.

In the grand scheme of things, this is more of an irritation than a critical problem, but does anyone have any suggestions for a solution? It's driving me crazy.

Thanks for any help you can offer!
trito

P.S. As I indicated in the post's subject line, I'm running Leopard but have Spaces turned off. I never had this problem when running the app under Tiger.

 

[xUKHCx]

Seems like the program has an option to hide the icon from the dock, or if not then something has gone wrong. Download something like Dockless and check the checkbox next to the application in question and press relaunch.

 

[tritogeneia]

Hey, thanks for the suggestion. I haven't tried Dockless yet because I wanted to wait a bit and see if anyone else had a similar experience with GameHouse apps and Leopard. (Long shot, I know.)

I wonder if it has something to do with the fullscreen mode that it launches in by default. I downloaded the traditional Monopoly game (also by GameHouse) and it has the same issues: no dock icon, no menubar menus, no presence when pressing command-tab... Maybe there's some weird Monopoly coding that worked in Tiger but not in Leopard.

Oddly, GameHouse's Scrabble works perfectly in Leopard, just as it did in Tiger – and it doesn't matter if it's in fullscreen or not. Oh well, like I said before, it's not a critical issue. Just an irritant.

 

[zakatov]

I don't get it. What's in the menu bar when it's the active window? Can you minimize it?

 

[tritogeneia]

When it's the active window, the menu bar displays the menu for whatever app was active just prior. In other words, let's say I'm using Finder, and then I launch Monopoly. Monopoly is now the active window, but the menu bar will still display the Finder menus.

It's quite maddening. Once I'm running Monopoly, I can't switch to another app because there's no way to switch back (no dock icon, no access via Cmd-Tab...) It's as if the OS doesn't "see" Monopoly at all. The only way I can do it is by having Expose set up so I can see all open windows, thereby allowing me to select Monopoly that way.

Weird.

 

[losx12]

Its just a bug, i have the same game and it worked fine on tiger but when i upgraded to leopard the same thing happened to me, i emailed them and they said its a known bug and are working on making their games leopard compatible... my guess is they'll release an update in a couple of months but at least you can still play it in the mean time...

 

[xUKHCx]

It is a way of running applications, for example there are many applications/processes that run while you are using the computer that aren't being displayed, for example Spotlight. Now for some reason, I think, Monopoly has gone into that mode.

 

[tritogeneia]

Good to know that the problem isn't on my end. Thanks to everyone for their comments and feedback. I really appreciate it!

Trito

 

[Teh Don Ditty]

I just downloaded monopoly myself and ran into that problem. If I switch Apps it'll disappear but if I re-click the application in the application folder (i use an application stack, a lot easier) it'll reappear. It 'tis be a bug, nothing serious though. Just inconvenient.

 

[oqion]

command line solution

Open Terminal from the utilities and type paste in the following command:

defaults write com.apple.dock showhidden -bool true; killall Dock

you will not have the problem again. If you want it back the other way, replace "true" with "false" like this:

defaults write com.apple.dock showhidden -bool false; killall Dock

 

[Shagrat]

It is a way of running applications, for example there are many applications/processes that run while you are using the computer that aren't being displayed, for example Spotlight. Now for some reason, I think, Monopoly has gone into that mode.

Yep, Aperture for one. When in Full screen mode, +Tab doesn't switch apps. Same in Tiger as in Leopard, for me. Must be a Full screen mode thing. Whether it's a bug, or more likely a deliberate thing, i don't know.

Why would Apple decide that +Tab SHOULDN'T work if an app is in full screen mode?

Dunno.