Game minimizes to Taskbar instead of opening in a window

Hi Everyone!
I play lots of games on my laptop, but a game I used to play daily started acting goofy about 3 weeks ago & even the tech support people at Wild Tangent are baffled, because it only effects this one game. I hope someone here knows how to fix this, as I'm going nuts without my favorite game to play!
I'll try to provide as many details related to this as I can, so here goes:
My laptop runs Windows 8 & Flash is up-to-date, (I thought I should get that out of the way)
I use the game console for Wild Tangent & all the games work fine, except for "Pioneer Lands ". I played it daily for 8 months & I never had any problems.
I played "Pioneer Lands" on 8/30/14 for a few hours, then closed it at bedtime, as usual. On 8/31/14 I opened the Game Console, selected it & clicked 'play', but instead of opening in its own window it minimized to my taskbar. I could hear the normal sounds of the game, so I waited for the window to open, & when it didn't I closed it & reopened the console again. Same thing, but this time I saw the tab in my taskbar...how odd! So when clicking on it didn't open it, I right-clicked on it & in the menu I saw 'close window' & 'pioneers.exe', so I clicked on the 'pioneers.exe', thinking it would open the game window, but instead it opened an old version of the main game console, (called "Orb "), that was upgraded several years ago. Even more unusual, the old "Orb" was never installed on this PC! Weird, huh?
I contacted WT tech support & they told me to uninstall/reboot/reinstall the App & the game, so I did...3-4 times!
The problem persisted, & since then I have followed every possible combination of the above procedure almost a dozen times!
As a last resort, I even temporarily disabled my AV program, (even though I had all the correct 'exceptions' entered), & downloaded the App & game because I was hoping that maybe something was getting blocked in the download process. Unfortunately, my idea didn't work, either.
I updated Wild Tangent & while waiting for my next set of instructions to troubleshoot this problem, I decided to do my normal maintenance, & I ran CCleaner. I cleaned out the junk files, then ran the Registry Scan.
While I normally just click the button to fix everything something caught my eye...there were about 15-20 errors that referred to Wild Tangent stuff, & I also noticed a missing Registry Key for "Open AL ". Now, I'm not technically savvy, but I thought I remembered a while back I had to install "Open AL" for another game, so I wondered if there was a connection, or at least a hint for a possible solution. I don't know what ANY of these findings mean, but I know that I saw "Open AL" in the dropdown menu on my Program Files (x86) for Pioneer Lands, so if the Reg Key was missing for this program...then...then maybe....then I got a headache! As I said I'm not tech savvy, but stuff was bouncing around in my brain telling me that this might be related.

I'm attaching screenshots that show the Program Files (x86) dropdown menus for "Pioneer Lands" & Wild Tangent App & the results of the Registry Scan so you can see if there's something there that I need to fix or reinstall or delete or whatever. Believe me, at this point I'm SO frustrated, I'll try just about anything to get my game working again!

I even downloaded "Pioneer Lands" from 2 other sites, including Nevosoft, (the game's creator), & I get the exact result that I do when trying to play in Wild Tangent...it minimizes to my taskbar...period. I can hear the sounds of the game, but it won't open in a window to play it. To my very inexperienced mind, this means that either something's installed on my PC that shouldn't be, or a program that should be installed isn't OR I have the program installed, but it's been corrupted somehow.

Anyway, that's my story & I'm sticking to it! If you need any other info, just ask...I'm desperate to get my game working again!
Thank you for reading this entirely-too-long post & for any & all suggestions to help me fix this mess!

Gratefully,
Nuts4Mutts

 

Something else running in the background eating up all your RAM that you don't know about maybe?
Before you open it, look at Task Manager and see what is running. Then open the game and look in Task Manager again and see if there is more there then there was before besides the game.

Done a disc cleanup up lately? You could try that.

 

Hi Mr. Bill,

Thanks so much for your input; I'm glad to know someone's sharing this annoying mystery with me, I hate to suffer alone!

Everything's been checked on my PC, (I can't begin to count how many scans & reboots I've done since this happened!). It's only this one game that does this & that's why it should be easy to figure out what's wrong, but I don't have the technical knowledge to know what's needed to make a game function on a PC, especially when it worked perfectly, every day for 8 months!

I have enough RAM; nothing else is running;I've defragged the HDD; ALL SCANS are clean, (but I have a pounding migraine...LOL) Also, there's not much on this laptop because it's only a little over 1-year-old, (a mere baby to me), & it's only for email, games & browsing...nothing complicated goes on here.

Only this game behaves this way. I can close "Pioneer Lands" & select any another game in the Wild Tangent game console & all the other games play perfectly...only "Pioneer Lands" opens a tab in my taskbar instead of in a window, (still playing the normal game sounds, just no window to play it in).

That's why I included the screenshots of the 'Program Files (x86)' dropdown menus for the App & the game & the results of the Registry Scan showing all the Registry errors for Pioneer Lands, Wild Tangent & the missing Registry Key for "Open AL "...there has to be something in this information that will give the answer, but I'm not at all technically-inclined to know what this game needs to function properly, but I know that someone HAS to know.

This game was played daily for 8 months on this laptop without any problems, then suddenly it quit opening in a window...no gradual decline in sound or function...no crashes. I closed it on 8/30/14 at bedtime & opened it the next time on 8/31/14 & there it was...opening in a tab in my taskbar! Talk about confusion!

More important to note, is that I downloaded "Pioneer Lands" from 2 other game sites & I get the same result...it opens a tab in my taskbar instead of in a window. I can hear all the normal game sounds, but it won't open from the .exe file for some reason...this should, hopefully, ring a bell with someone who knows how programs operate. It's WAY beyond my limited knowledge, but why won't an executable file open...& ONLY this one file???? I've been working with Wild Tangent tech support for almost 3 weeks & I've uninstalled/deleted & rebooted & reinstalled the App & this game more than a dozen times. I've even disabled my AV program to make the downloads, just in case it was blocking something, but so far, none of these procedures fixed this persistent problem that ONLY AFFECTS THIS ONE GAME. I've been confused many times in my life, but this has to be right up there in the top 10!!!

It seems to me that there is something on my PC that's corrupted or needs reconfigured, or something should be on my PC to allow this game to play, but isn't. I just don't know what only this one game needs that no other game on my PC does...that little detail will give us the answer. I hope beyond hope that someone will read this info & know what I have to do.

Again, thank you for your input.

Best Regards,
Nuts4Mutts

 

Found this Taskbar (8.1) Guide:
http://vip.chowo.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/jaws/Taskbar-8p1-Guide.html

When you see your game in the Taskbar - if you click on it does it open the game Full screen?

I'm wondering if you inadvertently set a Function key mode which is the cause of your problem.
Can you Reset Function Keys to their Default settings? Neil.

 

Hi Neil!
When it's in a tab in the taskbar, left-clicking does nothing; if I right-click on the tab, I get a small menu that has 'close program' or 'pioneers.exe'. When I click on the 'pioneers.exe' it won't play either. That's why I'm so confused...why does ONLY THIS GAME refuse to open???? There has to be something that's preventing this executable file from opening, but I don't know what that something is, that's why I included the screenshots for people to look at, because I don't know what I should be looking for.

The thing that caught my eye were the results of the CCleaner Registry Scan...most, if not all of the Registry Errors it found were related to Wild Tangent, "Pioneer Lands ", Macromedia Flash AND there was a missing Reg. Key for "Open AL ", which is listed in the contents of the Program Files for the game. I know Open AL is an audio platform for games, but could this missing Reg. Key for it be indicating something, like maybe the program is corrupted & needs to be uninstalled/reinstalled? Like I said, I'm not well-versed in PCs, but having Registry errors for the program that's misbehaving seems important.

I'm just SO frustrated at this point because I played a game that became my favorite for 8 months almost every day; then, when I opened the same game the next day it can't open anymore...that's what keeps banging around in my head. The little bit I know about these PC things is that when something that used to work, stops working, there's a reason; either something was corrupted, or accidentally deleted, or needs to be updated, etc., for such an abrupt change, & that's why I posted this problem so people who understand how programs work can see it.

I've eliminated Wild Tangent's game app as being the culprit, because I downloaded the game from 2 other reliable sources, including the game's distributor & it misbehaves the same way.

My AV program's been ruled-out, too, because I disabled it for the downloads in case it was blocking some critical part of the game...it still wouldn't open.

I do know that it played on this PC for 8 months perfectly, then suddenly it wouldn't open. I just keep looking at the screenshots & how all the info seems to point to a corrupt or missing program...finding it it WAY beyond my non-technical brain.

As far as the function keys go, it doesn't make sense that would cause it, because then ALL the games would be refusing to open, right? A function key error couldn't just select ONE game to pick on, at least I don't think it could, (I hope not!). Every other program, game shortcut, file, etc., works just like it's supposed to on my PC. The only thing that won't work on my PC is this single, solitary game.

I went to the link you provided & I don't think it'll apply to me because
I still run Windows 8, (almost everyone I talked to said 8.1's not much different than 8, especially if you use a program like "Start 8 ", (program from Stardock that restores the Start button & menu), but thanks for the idea.

Thank you so much for your thoughts, Neil...I really appreciate your input.

Best Regards,
Nuts4Mutts

 

You really should install W8.1 as it ensures more Security for the OS.
I would assume that you always Update your AV so why not W8.1?
Have you tried a System Restore to an earlier time than the fault occurred?
Before you used the Registry cleaner?
You may need to do a Fresh install of W8. Neil.