Bug when minimizing 16-bit color games in Windows 8 or later

There are applications, which allow running such full-screen DirectX games in a window. This can make the game to run slower, but it will allow to switch between the game and other applications without the graphics issues you describe.

One such application is DxWnd.

Below, I'll describe how to set up the GunBound Thor's Hummer (I think your screenshots are from this game).

The GunBound Thor's Hummer uses Launcher.exe to run the GunGame.gme file (these files are in the GunBound Thor's Hammer installation folder). I failed to setup DxWnd to handle the gme-file directly, so there are some additional steps needed.

1. Copy the GunGame.gme to GunGame.exe.
2. Replace GunGame.gme with GunGame.exe in the Launcher.exe file using some hex editor (Notepad++ will also work, while the standard Windows Notepad will corrupt the executable). You may want to backup the Launcher.exe before patching it.
3. Run the DxWnd as admin.

4. In the DxWnd select Edit > Add and enter the following values in the opened dialog:

   • Name: anything you want
   • Path: C:\Program Files (x86)\GunBound Thor's Hammer (nos)\GunGame.exe (replace with your actual path).
   • Launch: C:\Program Files (x86)\GunBound Thor's Hammer (nos)\Launcher.exe (replace with your actual path to the patched launcher).
   • All other options left with their default values.

5. Press OK.

6. Run the created item in the DxWnd window. The game will run in a window.

Since Windows 8, the Desktop Window Manger (DWM) is always on and runs Windows in 32Bit color depth all the time. This can cause such strange issues.

If applying XP compatibility mode (which activates shim that let games think they run at 16Bit color depth, while Windows still uses 32Bit) doesn't work, setup a Virtual Machine and use older Windows version like Windows XP (but without Internet connection) to run such really old games.