whenever I am playing a game in full screen specifically, and I am recording my screen with any application it flashes from the game to my home screen rapidly and randomly,

Question

it started with obs and overwatch and it was easy enough to play it in windowed mode so it didnt flicker, but with some games that I really want to play full screen like single player and story games whenever I screen record it goes from my home screen back to the game extremely fast like a screen flicker, but more a problem with windows prioritizing which layer of the screen to show on the monitor. Its extra weird because it doesnt show up on the recording software or in the clips. you can only see it in person. It does it with screen recording on discord, recording with nvidia replay, steelseries moments obs and more. I am at my wits end and to the point where I am writing this on microsoft ask a question. any help is greatly appreciated

Answer 1

Hello, DJ LEVI (1086562)

Welcome to the Microsoft community.

Thank you for your feedback. Your problem sounds very complex and involves screen flickering issues while in full-screen gaming state as well as when using screen recording software. Here are some troubleshooting options:

1. Update the graphics card driver

Check and update your graphics card driver:

Click the “Start” button, type in “Device Manager” and open it.

Expand “Display Adapters”, right-click on your graphics card and select “Update Driver”.

Select “Automatically search for updated driver software”. If an update is available, install it.

You can also visit your graphics card manufacturer's website (e.g. NVIDIA or AMD) directly to download and install the latest version of the driver.

2. Disable full-screen optimization

Disable full screen optimization in Windows 11:

Right-click on the game's executable file or shortcut and select “Properties”.

In the “Compatibility” tab, check “Turn off full-screen optimization”.

Click “Apply” and “OK”.

3. Adjust game and recording software settings

Adjust the game settings:

In the in-game settings menu, change the display mode to “Windowed Mode” or “Borderless Window Mode”.

Test if the game still has the flickering problem in these modes.

Adjust the recording software settings:

Open the recording software (e.g. OBS) and make sure that its settings do not conflict with Full Screen Optimization or other system settings.

In OBS, try changing the capture mode to “Display Capture” or “Window Capture” instead of “Game Capture”.

4. Check Windows settings

Disable the Xbox Game Bar:

Click the “Start” button and select “Settings” > “Games” > “Xbox Game Bar”. Disable Xbox Game Bar.

Turn off “Turn on the Xbox Game Bar to use this button to record game clips, screenshots, and broadcasts”.

Disable background recording:

In Settings > Games > Capture, turn off “Capture background recording”.

Set up multitasking:

Ensure that all windows are set to display on the primary monitor, and disconnect or configure the non-primary monitor to Extended Mode.

5. Adjust graphics settings (especially for NVIDIA users)

Adjust the settings in the NVIDIA control panel:

Right-click on a blank space on your desktop and select “NVIDIA Control Panel”.

In “NVIDIA Control Panel”, select “Manage 3D Settings”.

Under “Global Settings” or “Program Settings”, set the “Preferred Graphics Processor” to “High Performance NVIDIA Processor “Under Global Settings or Program Settings

Disable G-SYNC or Freesync.

If G-SYNC or Freesync is enabled, try turning it off to see if that solves the problem.

If none of the above steps solved the problem, you may consider installing windows freshly using USB installation media, please backup your important data before doing so.

Reinstall or clean install Windows 11 - Microsoft Community 

I look forward to your feedback, which will help me pinpoint your problem.

Best Regards,

Aaron| Microsoft Community Support Specialist