Is it possible to make profile run when a game launches without focus?

[EA-SK8ER]

So Basically to the first question. I use the autodetect feature for many many games and for the most part it works great. However I soon discovered that if you alt-tab out of the game the virtual controller stops working, and if you alt-tab back into the game it resumes working. Meaning that as long as the app is in focus it is working. That has caused many issues for me and I was wondering if there was a way to have the autodetect feature work without the game even being in focus, of course while the game is running obviously, but something like alt-tabbing wouldn't stop the virtualization simply because the game is not in focus. Doing this causes many issues with many games and I just want the autodetect to be running even if the game is not in focus, because I alt-tabbed out of it to go to YouTube for a bit or something.

Sorry if I over explained I just wanna make sure my question gets understood.

And also to my second question, REWASD is yet to work properly on the Windows 11 Beta, obviously I'm aware that the Windows 11 Beta is well, a BETA, but I figured I would let people know the issue I receive with it which is, the first time I use REWASD to emulate like say an Xbox controller for a game, it will work fine. However if the profile stops running and then I start a different profile or start the same profile again, it says there is a virtual Xbox 360 controller running in the background but no game will ever detect it. I just figured I would let the awesome REWASD people know and maybe there might be a fix, simply because the Windows 11 Beta is pretty awesome but because of this I've had to move back to Windows 10.

Anyway I'm mostly concerned about the first question, but an answer to the second (if any) would be awesome as well.

[Support Agent]

Disable [Remove applied config from slot on exit from the associated app] option at [Preferences > Tray agent]. This will keep the config running until you trigger another config, that has [Autodetect] feature enabled for it.

As for "detecting if process is running and triggering the config for it" there is an unsolvable issue: when two apps mentioned in different profile`s associated lists are running - which one of the profiles should work? While many apps can run at the same time, only one app can be focused, so unless a better alternative is found, current logic behind Autodetect won't change.

For Windows 11, I suggest checking [joy.cpl] for an actual number of available controllers in the system. There should be only one for games to detect it properly. And it is not recommended to toggle profiles while the game is running.

[EA-SK8ER]

"As for "detecting if process is running and triggering the config for it" there is an unsolvable issue: when two apps mentioned in different profile`s associated lists are running - which one of the profiles should work" - No is is talking about running two games at the same time, and when you put it that way it definitely would cause an issue but I'm only talking about one game. And when we're talking about one game there is no issue there. witcher3.exe is running ok then activate the profile for that game and that's that, no other game running. I'm guessing there is no option for that besides [Remove applied config from slot on exit form the associated app] but an option would be nice, with a big warning sign telling players to not run two games at once, especially if both are associated with separate profiles.

With regards to the Windows 11 question, I am not toggling between profiles, not sure why would anyone do that. I'm not sure if others do that but I don't. However I haven't checked the joy.cpl for actual number of available controllers in the system. But I doubt that will be the issue seeing as how I've never had an issue on Windows 10 and I use REWASD every single day. Still I might give it a try next time I'm on Windows 11. Thanks for the help.

[reWASDer]

Hello!

We can't distinguish which is running now: a game, another game or some other process. That is why reWASD links the config to the process that is in focus (only one possible). But, if you uncheck Remove applied config from slot on exit from associated app, it seems to be pretty much the same you want to have here: the config with the virtual controller will be on until you actually switch to another game with another config. I do hope it will help you.

As for the Windows 11 issue, I am not quite sure that I understood you properly.

it says there is a virtual Xbox 360 controller running in the background but no game will ever detect it

Do you mean there is an error message or something? The joy.cpl screenshot will help us understand what happens here. There is a possibility that we have different issues with the beta build, I just need to get all the steps that lead to the issue, so we could reproduce it from our side.

[EA-SK8ER]

Thanks for the reply so I just got back to windows 11 and the same thing happens so let me try and better explain what happens. Before I start just to let you know I had the "remove applied config from slot..." option turned on but I have tried it turned off as well. So basically what will happen is I start the computer and reWASD is running in the background. No issues there. Then I start a game, Fallout 3, (game doesn't matter I've tested it with several games) and reWASD turns my PS5 Controller into an Xinput controller because I have a Fallout 3 profile and I have the autodetect associated apps option turned on so when the game starts my controller is working. The controller turns from a "Wireless Controller" to a "Controller (Xbox 360 For Windows)" controller as it should and joy.cpl confirms it. Unfortunately it only works the first time any profile is run.

So let me and explain where the issue starts. I play for a little while (doesn't matter how long it works perfectly) but then I eventually quit the game and when I quit the profile turns off obviously and the controller goes back to being a "Wireless Controller" all well and good. But at this point reWASD is now not working, please let me explain. Yes it is running in the background and all is good, however it won't hook the controller to any game anymore. For instance, after I quit Fallout 3 for the first time and everything was working ok, if I try to run Fallout 3 again here is what happens. The game starts, I get the sound and little overlay on the bottom right corner meaning my controller is no longer a "Wireless Controller" and is now a "Controller (Xbox 360 For Windows)" HOWEVER, the game isn't detecting my controller, meaning I can't use it in game, I can't scroll through menus or move my character none of that. It is completely undetectable by the game. Now Fallout 3 and many bethesda games on PC only support one input on at a time. So either your mouse and keyboard is on and you can only use that, OR, your controller is on and you can only use that. When I start the game the second time like I said it doesn't detect my controller at all, meaning there isn't even an option to turn on controller support in the game, it only shows my mouse and keyboard which work fine but I can't for the life of me get the game to recognize my controller on the second opening of the game.

And this carries over to other games, If I try to start a game like Control (or anything else) AFTER already having started a profile only once on reWASD to emulate an Xbox controller it simply won't work. It seems like the issue is, the first time you run any profile for a game and emulate an Xbox controller it works fine. The issue comes when you stop to profile because you exited the game or stopped the profile for whatever other reason and start either the same game or any other game it simply won't work anymore. Even though joyl.cpl does in fact say your controller is a "Controller (Xbox 360 For Windows)" no game detects the controller even though the computer does. Again this only happens the second time you start emulating an Xbox controller.

I hope I was descriptive enough and also hope I didn't confuse with some of the terminology I use.

[EA-SK8ER]

Also one last thing, yes if I go into the properties for the controller on joy.cpl I am getting input. When I run reWASD and my controller turns from a "Wireless Controller" to a "Controller (Xbox 360 For Windows)" and I go into the properties for the "Controller (Xbox 360 For Windows)" it does work, it's just that games after the second profile run simply won't detect a controller even though windows does.

[reWASDer]

Hey there!

Thank you for the detailed explanation.

It seems that the game first sees the virtual controller, but once it is removed, the game detects your physical one somehow and doesn't respond to the virtual one anymore. In this case, you could try to restart the game with all the launchers it has, and it should be OK again. Strange that the same happens with Remove applied config from slot... option, but if you have other configs with Autodetect (associated with a desktop for example), it also sounds possible.

We will try to check this case on Windows 11, just one more small question: do you play from Steam or do you use other launchers?

[EA-SK8ER]

I have all the launchers, I have all my launchers integrated on GOG and launch from there. For my steam games I mostly use Steam Input so there is no need for reWASD, unless a game has native PS4 controller support like star wars jedi fallen order, in that case I would use reWASD to emulate a PS4 controller since I use a DualSense PS5 Controller. And of course for a game like jedi fallen order I turn off steam input for that game. I have been using Steam input and things like DS4Windows and input mapper and all that stuff since they all first released and am very very well knowledged in them. Once I discovered reWASD however I dropped all those others and only use reWASD and of course steam input. Never ever use them at the same time obviously. reWASD is just my favorite.

But yes basically the first time you emulate any controller on Windows 11 it will work, however once you turn it off and try it again, it doesn't work anymore.

[reWASDer]

Got it. Sorry for asking so many questions but I have the one again

You mentioned that there are a few games in addition to Fallout 3 that could not detect the gamepad. Could you please list them all? I see now what we should test (the games from GOG), but if you give us more examples, I think it should help.

[EA-SK8ER]

Right now Fallout 3 seems to be a big culprit but other games like Control have been working. I'm gonna mess around a bit more and make sure there isn't something wrong with my fallout 3 profile. Because back in the dev build of windows 11 I was having issues with many games, but now in the beta build of Windows 11 it seems to be mostly fallout 3, I'm still looking at other games to see if I can replicate the issue. I also tried steam big picture mode to see what would happen with my fallout 3 profile and even though steam detected that the controller was plugged in, it didn't actually let me move around in the menus so there is that. But hopefully this is an issue on my end and not indicative of reWASD.

[reWASDer]

We will try to check what happens here from our side too. Hope to get it perfectly working closer to the Windows 11 release date