Windows 10 Build 15019: Game Mode finally operational

Martin Brinkmann
Jan 27, 2017
Updated • Jul 5, 2017
Windows, Windows 10
|
5

Microsoft has just released Windows 10 Build 15019 to the Fast Ring of the Insider Program. The new version brings along with it a functional Game Mode, other gaming related improvements, the new privacy set up experience, and a lot more.

You may read the rather long blog post over on the Windows Experience blog for a detailed rundown on all changes and issues of the release.

Most features that are now available for testing will likely be part of the Creators Update for Windows 10, out in April 2017. Since we are talking about development releases, there is however still a chance that things may change or be pulled before the final version is released.

The issue that the download progress stays at 0% even while it is downloading is still there. You can check the resource monitor to make sure the download actually happens in the background. Note that you may go back and open Windows Update again to start the actual installation of the new build.

Note: This build is quite buggy in regards to issues. Games may crash or refuse to load, Edge extensions don't work, Edge's Developer Tools may crash or hang, and audio may stop working sporadically on some PCs. Also, if you have trouble getting the update to download or install, stop the Windows Update and Delivery Optimization service, restart the PC, and try again.

Windows 10 Build 15019

windows 10 15019

The new build features quite a few gaming related features and changes. One of the big ones is Game Mode. While the controls were visible in Windows 10 Build 15014 already, they are now functional and ready for use.

It will be interesting to see benchmarks that test game performance with and without Game Mode enabled. I'm still not convinced that Game Mode will provide a noticeable improvement when it comes to gaming, but we will see.

First thing you need to do is visit Settings > Gaming > Game Mode to toggle the feature. Once you have done that, you may enable Game Mode in the Game Bar for individual games.

game mode settings

You bring the Game Bar to the front with the shortcut Windows-G.

game bar settings

Microsoft added support for 17 additional games that run in full screen to this build. It allows you to bring up the Game Bar when these games are run in full screen mode to capture a screenshot or record a video.

The list of games features a mix of old and newer titles such as Rainbox Six Siege, Left 4 Dead 2, Grim Dawn or Fifa 17.

The third and final new gaming related feature of Windows 10 build 15019 is a new dedicated Settings section called gaming. It enables you to manage the Game Bar, DVR, Broadcasting and Game Mode there currently.

gaming settings

broadcasting settings game dvr settings

Note that some of the options were previously only configurable through the Xbox application. Moving them to the Settings application makes a lot of sense, especially since some features run in the background by default.

What else is new in Windows 10 Build 15019?

  1. Microsoft Edge supports text to speech now for ebooks that you open in the web browser. All you need to do is click or tap on the "read aloud" button when ebooks are open to use the feature. It works for all ebooks bought in Store, and all non-store EPUB files as well.
  2. Edge will display full colored emoji from this build on.
  3. The new privacy setup experience is included in this build.
  4. Wi-Fi connectivity experience during setup supports Wi-fi Captive Portal.
  5. Microsoft Account sign-up and sign-in updated "to the new design" for the Windows 10 Creators Update.
  6. Windows users can enroll into Windows Hello using the new design implementation.
  7. Audio track used for the setup experience is recorded by voice actors, and no longer computer generated.
  8. Subtitles are now an option during setup.
  9. The Blue light feature is now called Night Light. There is also a new preview option for the feature. Also, some bugs fixed such as Night Light mode not kicking in after waking device from sleep.
  10. You may now resize your virtual machine connection in Hyper-V.
  11. The Action Center displays app and game download progress.
  12. Better discoverability for Troubeshooters. The option has been migrated from the Control Panel to the Settings app. You find them under Settings > Update & Security > Troubleshoot.
  13. Improved high-DPI support.
  14. Custom scaling has been migrated from Control Panel to now be a subpage in Display Settings

Issues in this build (full list on Microsoft's blog post)

The new build, like previous ones, has dozens of known issues, some of them major.

  1. Games may not load correctly, but crash or show black screens.
  2. A click on "certain elements" in desktop games may minimize the game and may prevent it from being restored (yes, Microsoft is this vague).
  3. Dragging apps from the all apps list to Start won't work. Right-click still works to pin apps.
  4. On some PCs, audio may stop working sporadically.
  5. Microsoft Edge Developer Tools may crash, hang or fail otherwise.
  6. Inspect Element and View Source in Edge don't work properly.
  7. Extensions in Edge don't work in this build.

Now You: What's your opinion of this new build and the features, and its issues?

Summary
Windows 10 Build 15019: Game Mode finally operational
Article Name
Windows 10 Build 15019: Game Mode finally operational
Description
Microsoft has just released Windows 10 Build 15019 to the Fast Ring of the Insider Program that brings along a fully working Game Mode feature.
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Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. Dan Donx said on January 15, 2023 at 10:29 am
    Reply

    What mental age of reader are you targeting with the first sentence? 10?

    Why not write an article on how to *avoid* upgrading from W10 to W11. Analogous to those like me who avoided upgrading from 7 to 10 for as long as possible.

    If your paymaster Microsoft permits it, of course.

  2. Dexter said on January 15, 2023 at 11:14 am
    Reply

    5. Rufus
    6. Ventoy

    PS. I hate reading these “SEO optimized” articles.

    1. cdr said on January 15, 2023 at 3:32 pm
      Reply

      I used Rufus to create an installer for a 6th gen intel i5 that had MBR. It upgraded using Setup. No issues except for Win 11 always prompting me to replace my local account. Still using Win 10 Pro on all my other PCs to avoid the bullying.

  3. sv said on January 15, 2023 at 6:40 pm
    Reply

    bit pointless to upgrade for the sake of upgrading as you never know when you’ll get locked out because ms might suddenly not provide updates to unsupported systems.

    ps…. time travelling?
    written. Jan 15, 2023
    Updated • Jan 13, 2023

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on January 16, 2023 at 5:49 am
      Reply

      This happens when you schedule a post in WordPress and update it before setting the publication date.

  4. Anonymous said on January 16, 2023 at 8:24 am
    Reply

    Anyone willing to downgrade to this awful OS must like inflicting themselves with harm.

  5. basingstoke said on January 16, 2023 at 11:18 am
    Reply

    I have become convinced now that anybody who has no qualms with using Windows 11/10 must fit into one of the following brackets:

    1) Too young to remember a time before W10 and W11 (doesn’t know better)

    2) Wants to play the latest games on their PC above anything else (or deeply needs some software which already dropped W7 support)

    3) Doesn’t know too much about how computers work, worried that they’d be absolutely lost and in trouble without the “”latest security””

    4) Microsoft apologist that tries to justify that the latest “features” and “changes” are actually a good thing, that improve Windows

    5) Uses their computer to do a bare minimum of like 3 different things, browse web, check emails, etc, so really doesn’t fuss

    Obviously that doesn’t cover everyone, there’s also the category that:

    6) Actually liked W7 more than 10, and held out as long as possible before switching, begrudgingly uses 10 now

    Have I missed any group off this list?

    1. Heinz Strunk said on September 19, 2023 at 3:57 pm
      Reply

      You have missed in this group just about any professional user that uses business software like CAD programs or ERP Programs which are 99% of all professional users from this list.

      Linux doesn’t help anyone who is not a linux kid and apple is just a fancy facebook machine.

  6. ilev said on August 24, 2023 at 7:34 pm
    Reply

    Microsoft has removed KB5029351 update

    1. EP said on August 24, 2023 at 9:21 pm
      Reply

      only from windows update though
      KB5029351 is still available from the ms update catalog site

  7. Anonymous said on August 24, 2023 at 11:05 pm
    Reply

    1. This update is labaled as PREVIEW if it causes issues to unintelligent people, then they shouldn’t have allowed Preview updates ot install.

    2. I have installed it in a 11 years old computer, and no problems at all.

    3. Making a big drama over a bluescreen for an updated labeled as preview is ridiculous.

    This is probably another BS internet drama where people ran programs and scripts that modified the registry until they broke Windows, just for removing stuff that they weren’t even using just for the sake of it.
    Maybe people should stop playing geeks and actually either use Windows 10 or Windows 11, but don’t try to modify things just for the sake of it.

    Sometimes removing or stopping things (like defender is a perfect example) only need intelligence, not scripts or 3rd party programs that might mess with windows.

  8. john said on August 24, 2023 at 11:17 pm
    Reply

    Windows 11 was a pointless release, it was just created because some of the Windows team wanted to boost sales with some sort of new and improved Windows 10. Instead, Microsoft cannot support one version well let alone two.

    1. John G. said on August 25, 2023 at 12:08 pm
      Reply

      Windows 11 is the worst ugly shame by Microsoft ever. They should release with every new W11 version a complete free version of Starallback inside just to make this sh** OS functionally again.

  9. EP said on August 25, 2023 at 3:10 pm
    Reply

    motherboard maker MSI has recently released a statement regarding the “unsupported processor” blue screen error for their boards using Intel 600/700 series chipsets & to avoid the KB5029351 Win11 update:
    https://www.msi.com/news/detail/MSI-On–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–Error-Message-of-Windows-11-Update-KB5029351-Preview-142215

  10. EP said on August 29, 2023 at 7:32 pm
    Reply

    check out the following recent articles:

    Neowin – Microsoft puts little blame on its Windows update after UNSUPPORTED PROCESSOR BSOD bug:
    https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-puts-little-blame-on-its-windows-update-after-unsupported-processor-bsod-bug/

    BleepingComputer – Microsoft blames ‘unsupported processor’ blue screens on OEM vendors:
    https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-blames-unsupported-processor-blue-screens-on-oem-vendors/

  11. Leonard Britvolli said on August 30, 2023 at 10:33 pm
    Reply

    While there may be changes or updates to the Windows 10 Store for Business and Education in the future, it is premature to conclude that it will be discontinued based solely on rumors.

  12. sembrador said on September 5, 2023 at 9:32 pm
    Reply

    My advice, I left win 15 years ago. Now I’m a happy linux user (linuxmint) but there is Centos, Fedora, Ubuntu depending on your needs.

  13. EP said on September 6, 2023 at 11:55 am
    Reply

    motherboard maker MSI has recently released new BIOS/firmware updates for their Intel 600 & 700 series motherboards to fix the “UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR” problem (Sept. 6):

    https://www.msi.com/news/detail/Updated-BIOS-fixes-Error-Message–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–caused-BSOD-on-MSI-s-Intel-700-and-600-Series-Motherboards-142277

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