Quirky Game Experience

I'm not sure if this is the correct thread, but I'll start here. I play a game call Big Farm Mobile, downloaded via Microsoft Store. I have uninstalled the game completely using Revo Uninstaller and reinstalled the game with no change in what is happening. I play this game on several computers and only am experiencing the abnormal behavior on my desktop computer which is listed as Computer 1. And, the behavior described below has been happening with several updates, probably for at least 6 - 8 months. It's like I made a change somewhere, but have no clue what change I could have made to make it happen.

So here is what is happening. I start the game and everything works as expected. No issues at all. I can leave the game maximized on one screen and work on my second screen, taking the mouse focus off the game, and return to the game and still everything works fine.

But, if I minimize the game for maybe 5 minutes or longer (exact time not specific), then maximize the game, it's like the game loses internet. The game will lag, or not respond at all when clicking to play the game. I have to close the game and reopen it to play. Again, this behavior only occurs on my desktop computer, not any other computer.

I hope my description is not to difficult to understand. Please feel free to ask questions to clarify anything.

Thanks in advance.

Just a guess: check under Settings / Apps & features / Big Farm / Advanced options / Background apps -> On/Off

Also, turning on Game Mode will turn off background apps.

garlin said:

Just a guess: check under Settings / Apps & features / Big Farm / Advanced options / Background apps -> On/Off

Click to expand...

Thank you for replying @garlin. I've compared my desktop against my laptop and unlike the laptop, which works fine, the desktop does not offer a section Background apps. It seems this may be problem after reading further about background apps permissions, etc. But I don't know why there is no option to change Background apps permissions.

Any further advice will be appreciated.

Thanks.

App and Data sizes are blank. I'm presuming your AppData is corrupted, which is why you don't have the Background setting listed.
Never played Big Farm, except to install it on my VM to confirm what it's doing... but...

I would uninstall it from Apps & Features and not keep any application data. That will wipe any local stats, but it's corrupted anyway. Don't use Revo myself, so it's not clear if Revo preserves the AppData when it cleans up or wipes everything.

garlin said:

App and Data sizes are blank. I'm presuming your AppData is corrupted, which is why you don't have the Background setting listed.
Never played Big Farm, except to install it on my VM to confirm what it's doing... but...

I would uninstall it from Apps & Features and not keep any application data. That will wipe any local stats, but it's corrupted anyway. Don't use Revo myself, so it's not clear if Revo preserves the AppData when it cleans up or wipes everything.

Click to expand...

Thank you, @garlin for the additional advice, however still no change. Oddly, on my laptop, there is information populated in those fields; App 151 MB, Data 303 MB, and Total usage 454 MB.

After uninstalling Big Farm, can you check C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Local\Packages folder if there's a Big Farm folder that's not deleted?

Look at other apps, and see if they report normal data sizes. Are they all broken, or just the game?

garlin said:

After uninstalling Big Farm, can you check C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Local\Packages folder if there's a Big Farm folder that's not deleted?

Look at other apps, and see if they report normal data sizes. Are they all broken, or just the game

Click to expand...

I checked the folder before deletion to confirm it was there, then deleted the game and the folder was deleted.

Through doing an internet search for information about 0 values on those listing, it must not be uncommon to find installed app, particularly those from the Microsoft Store, to have 0 values listed. I'm just not sure why my laptop is different. And yes, most of the apps installed through the Store, i.e. Calculator, Clock, Clipchamp, etc. all have 0 values listed for App, Data, and Total usage.

0 KB is incorrect, Windows will always report a minimum of 8 KB. This represents the size of each app's offline registry hive (under AppData).
Which you should do is create another local user, logon to this account, and compare the results.

If both accounts report zero, your Windows is corrupted at the system level. An user's AppData may be messed up, but it's segregated from another user's data so there should be no interference.

garlin said:

0 KB is incorrect, Windows will always report a minimum of 8 KB. This represents the size of each app's offline registry hive (under AppData).
Which you should do is create another local user, logon to this account, and compare the results.

If both accounts report zero, your Windows is corrupted at the system level. An user's AppData may be messed up, but it's segregated from another user's data so there should be no interference.

Click to expand...

I am currently attempting to establish another user account on my desktop. I logged into for the first time and it's been about 10 minutes and I'm still waiting for the desktop to appear. I will report soon as I can.

That's a bad sign, Appx user provisioning is whacked. You might want to consider a doing repair or a full reinstall. Power down the system (briefly push the button) since it'll probably never finish.

sfc /scannow or DISM /restorehealth (you can see all the forum threads that cover this) might repair Windows. But be prepared if those methods don't workm and plan how to backup and recover your data (but Windows itself).

garlin said:

That's a bad sign, Appx user provisioning is whacked. You might want to consider a doing repair or a full reinstall. Power down the system (briefly push the button) since it'll probably never finish.

sfc /scannow or DISM /restorehealth (you can see all the forum threads that cover this) might repair Windows. But be prepared if those methods don't workm and plan how to backup and recover your data (but Windows itself).

Click to expand...

About 2 minutes after posting, I got the desktop. While the values remain 0 bytes in the new profile, I can minimize the game for at least 5 minutes, then maximize the game and it still works. I guess there is something awry in my other profile.