Big Fish games leaving something running

Lately Big Fish games are apparently not completing shutting down because whenever I finish a game and exit out the game manger claims the game is still running when I try to delete it. Only way I can delete the game is to reboot the computer. Same thing happens if I quit an unfinished game then try to reload it later. The game manager wont run the game again until I reboot. And if I quit a demo I have to reboot before buying the full game because otherwise the game manager wont run the newly installed full version. It will download and install it but wont run it.

Bigfish customer service hasn't gotten back to me.

That's nothing new. It happens because you're starting the game from a shortcut that points to the Big Fish client. It's the Big Fish client that opens the game, but doesn't close when you exit the game.

Make a shortcut to the game exe and run from that instead of using the shortcut Big Fish installs. You have to enable viewing of hidden files before you can see the game exe in the game folder.

Since this is a technical problem, I have moved your post over to Glitches. Perhaps someone here will have some advice or insights.

I've always ran the games from the game manager and never had this problem before. Thanks for the advice tough.

I run games from the Game Manager too and am always able to uninstall a game if needed. My Game Manager is also not running in the background when I check my running processes in Task Manager. You might try going in to your Task Manager and find the Big Fish Game Client and do an End Task from there. Your shouldn't have to reboot.

Depends on how you uninstall.
If you uninstall through the Game Manager there shouldn't be a problem.
There are other ways to uninstall where there is a "file or folder in use" problem if the Game Manager is running.

If you try to move or manually delete a game folder while the Game Manager is running, you'll get a "file or folder in use" type problem. In my experience, if I started a game -- any Big Fish game -- using the shortcut Big Fish creates, the Game Manager never completely closes after exiting the game and blocks me from moving any Big Fish game folder, not just the game I was just playing. This also happens after I install a game -- I can't move the game folder of that or any other game without first doing something (like rebooting) to make sure the Game Manager is closed. This happens because the Big Fish client is trying to keep track of all your installed games and objects to something suddenly disappearing from its list without its permission -- at least while the Client is running and active.

This is what I do to uninstall a Big Fish game :

1. I open Control Panel and select "Programmes and Features".
2. R Click on the game I want to uninstall and then L Click to confirm uninstall.
3. After the uninstall is complete I close Control Panel and then take the path to the saved games location.
[For me it's : C Drive/ Users/ Mad/ AppData/Roaming/Game Developer/ Game Title]
4. I delete the Game Title folder.

And I am never left with anything "still running".

[I always use IE to download Big Fish games - if that makes any difference.]

That's also what I do, Mad. I also never have anything from Big Fish left running in the background.

I've never had a reason to move anything, so I haven't tried doing that.

The problem was this...

I'm sorry no one here really has an answer for you -- not for all your issues anyway.

I agree that the Big Fish Client can be buggy, and it's probably buggiest on older computers that have had many different versions of the Big Fish Client installed and many different games played on them over the years. Even if you uninstalled through one of the recommended methods -- through the Game Manager or Add/Remove Programs -- rather than deleting the game folder, problems with the Big Fish Client will tend to accumulate. It won't run as well on the same computer as it did 8 or 9 years ago when the Windows installation was fresher and had less junk accumulate in the registry.

To address the problem of having to reboot before restarting your game, I've found it's easiest to detach the game from the Game Manager after installing -- by making a shortcut directly to the game exe, instead of having the Big Fish Client "manage" things -- which it doesn't do very well. If you start directly from the game exe, you shouldn't have to reboot before restarting your game again. Of course I have to make a shortcut for every single game I buy, but the games start faster without the Client and I don't have issues with the Client "already running" when I want to restart the game.

I don't have any fix for having to reboot after playing a game demo before being able to purchase a game. I haven't had that particular problem. If you see the Game client listed in Task Manager, you can try shutting it down through Task Manager. All the problems you listed are caused by the Big Fish Game Manager/Client not shutting down completely when you exit a game (or demo). The client may or may not show up in Windows Task Manager. If not, rebooting is about all you can do to force the Client to shut down.

Perhaps an uninstall of the client itself and then a reinstall might work. I just didn't find much out there and I can't replicate because the client is shutting down for me.

It doesn't shut down for me on my old laptop.
The client "appears" to close, but it's actually still running in the background, or at least some part of it is still running. The games themselves shut down, but not the client.

I should check on my old XP computer to see if it shuts down there. The client shuts down completely on my Windows 10 computer.

You don't have to make a new shortcut. As soon as I install a BF game, I look in the game folder, copy the name of the game exe file, right click on the desktop shortcut that the game installed, select Properties, and then highlight the launchgame.bfg that BF always puts in the Target box, and paste the game exe filename over it. I've been doing this for over 5 years and it has never caused any problems. The only time the game manager runs is when I install a new game.

"I should check on my old XP computer to see if it shuts down there. The client shuts down completely on my Windows 10 computer."

Shuts down fine on both my WinXP and Win7 machines

No you don't "have" to make a new shortcut instead of editing the old one, but it avoids accidentally deleting the name of the game exe when you meant to copy it. If you have shaky or uncoordinated hands, it's very easy to accidentally delete the name of the game exe while trying to copy it by clicking on it. The alternative is to copy it manually, but this can be tricky for games with long names with spaces, and you can accidentally remove a necessary quote mark.


So you've played a Big Fish game using the client, exited the game, then attempted to move the game folder to another location on your hard drive (not copy it, but move it so it's no longer at the original location). Seeing the client window disappear after exiting the game isn't proof enough. The client window may close on my computer, but I know the client is still running because I get the "file or folder in use" error when I try to move the game folder.

Your computers may very well close down the client properly after exiting a game, but my laptop has a Dell version of XP and who knows what version of Windows the OP (Original Poster) has. Maybe it's a name brand computer like Dell or HP with a slightly different version of Windows from retail versions. Or maybe it's 9 years old like mine and has accumulated subtle registry abnormalities. It's not necessarily worth reinstalling Windows for this type of problem, but I doubt Big Fish will find a fix that works for all computers.

LOL! And I forgot that my XP computer is in pieces right now as I swapped out that motherboard to another machine! All mine are computers I built with original Windows disk installations, so that may not help anyway.

"So you've played a Big Fish game using the client, exited the game, then attempted to move the game folder to another location on your hard drive (not copy it, but move it so it's no longer at the original location). Seeing the client window disappear after exiting the game isn't proof enough. The client window may close on my computer, but I know the client is still running because I get the "file or folder in use" error when I try to move the game folder."

Oh, I haven't ever tried to "move" a Big Fish game folder to another location.
I thought the problem reported was that the game manager didn't shut down after a game was concluded so it could be uninstalled ??

That's right, Mad. And I didn't have any problems when I did the same thing. Didn't try moving a game though as that wasn't what the original poster talked about. Just tried to replicate his actions.

Yes, it can make a big difference, as can the age of the Windows installation and how many programs have been installed and uninstalled on it.


That was only one of the problems, and I'm not sure whether the OP said "delete" when they meant "uninstall." Deleting a folder (or moving it) will upset the Game Manager if it's running. Uninstalling a game through the Game Manager (or Add/Remove Programs) probably won't.

If you want to test, you can always try dragging the game folder to your desktop after playing a game. If successful, you can always drag it right back. The Game Manager won't care if it's not running, but you'll get the "file or folder in use" message if the Game Manager didn't shut down completely.

The OP's worse problems were not being able to start up a game again after exiting (without rebooting in between play sessions), and not being able to purchase a game after playing the demo (without rebooting).

"If you want to test, you can always try dragging the game folder to your desktop after playing a game. If successful, you can always drag it right back. The Game Manager won't care if it's not running, but you'll get the "file or folder in use" message if the Game Manager didn't shut down completely."

If I remember to, I might just "test" like that, Jenny100

I modified the short cuts to use the exe files. One for some reason windows kept saying the location I copied was wrong so I just made a new short cut instead. After changing target to the actual exe I went back in to check run as administrator.