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Active: 5359 users

An Automatic SC2 Game Start Switcher

Forum Index > SC2 General
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Zamiel
Profile Blog Joined August 2008
United States211 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-02-28 06:25:32
February 26 2013 21:44 GMT
#1
The StarCraft II Automatic Game Start Switcher
Current version: 0.2
Last updated: Feb. 27th, 2012

+ Show Spoiler [Version history] +
Feb. 27 - v0.2 - R1CH told me to rewrite the program in C#, so I did. It's a lot cleaner now (it doesn't use exec calls to reg.exe or any VBScript).
Feb. 26 - v0.1 - The first version, written in Java.


The problem:
- In between ladder games, I often alt-tab out and browse Reddit. However, I often get distracted and forget to alt-tab back in time, missing out on the first couple seconds of the game.

Existing solution #1 and why it sucks:
- When StarCraft II is set to fullscreen mode, Windows will automatically switch to the loading screen when it begins the map loading procedure.
- This is only a halfway solution, since the loading process can take many minutes to complete. This is especially true when playing particular arcade maps with many players; I should not have to be staring at the screen waiting for the game to load for 5+ minutes at a time.
- In windowed fullscreen mode, this functionality is not present at all. Many people play in windowed fullscreen mode since it is much easier to alt-tab in and out of the game. With some exceptions, windowed fullscreen is also necessary if you want to stream.

Existing solution #2 and why it sucks:
- In the sound part of the options, there is a "Play in Background" checkbox. When this option is selected, StarCraft sounds will still be heard even when you are alt-tabbed out of the game.
- Most StarCraft players disable the in-game music and soften the in-game sounds in order to better hear their own music/Skype. When a game starts, there is hardly any sound whatsoever, just the soft ambient sounds of your workers mining. This is virtually impossible to hear over loud music.
- The countdown timer is generally very loud and can be heard over music. However, this only notifies you to the beginning of the loading of the map, not the actual beginning of the game. To reiterate, the loading process can take many minutes to complete. This is especially true when playing particular arcade maps with many players; I should not have to be staring at the screen waiting for the game to load for 5+ minutes at a time.

My solution:
- I wrote a tiny program to automatically bring the SC2 window into the foreground after a game has finished loading. All you have to do is start the program; you can then minimize the window if you want.

Requirements:
- Windows

Download:
- https://mega.co.nz/#!sdIjzJpQ!TONuu1hxB7k0tmnywErwKWBaK5JIvucedIRRGbLgGIU

Legality:
- This program doesn't read SC2 memory, only the registry entries that the Razer APM peripherals access in order to glow the different colors. Thus, if you use it, you don't have to be worried about being banned for "hacking" or whatnot.

Bugs:
- The game doesn't write the APM to the registry fast enough in order to allow for a completely instant switch. Normally, the in-game timer will read 0:02 by the time the switch occurs. But that's still pretty fast and better than nothing. If anyone knows of a better way, please let me know!
- I've only tested this on my own machine, which is a 64-bit Windows 8. Feel free to provide feedback if it doesn't work for you.

Source (if you want to compile it yourself or see how it works):
+ Show Spoiler [Program.cs] +
using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Threading;
using Microsoft.Win32;

namespace SC2GameStartSwitcher
{
class Program
{
//Import the FindWindow API to find our window
[DllImport("User32.dll", EntryPoint = "FindWindow")]
private static extern IntPtr FindWindowNative(string className, string windowName);

//Import the SetForeground API to activate it
[DllImport("User32.dll", EntryPoint = "SetForegroundWindow")]
private static extern IntPtr SetForegroundWindowNative(IntPtr hWnd);

public static IntPtr FindWindow(string className, string windowName)
{
return FindWindowNative(className, windowName);
}

public static IntPtr SetForegroundWindow(IntPtr hWnd)
{
return SetForegroundWindowNative(hWnd);
}

public static void Activate(string title)
{
//Find the window, using the Window Title
IntPtr hWnd = FindWindow(null, title);
if (hWnd.ToInt32() > 0) //If found
{
SetForegroundWindow(hWnd); //Activate it
}
}

static void Main()
{
int gameState = 0;
RegistryKey MyReg = Registry.CurrentUser.OpenSubKey
("Software\\Razer\\Starcraft2", true);
MyReg.SetValue("APMValue", "1000");

Console.WriteLine("\nWelcome to the StarCraft II Automatic Game Start Switcher.\n");
Console.WriteLine("Game scanning initiated. Feel free to minimize this window.");

while (true)
{
if (gameState == 0) { // in menus
Thread.Sleep(2000); // pause for 2 seconds
if ((int)MyReg.GetValue("StartModule") == 1) {
gameState = 1;
}
} else if (gameState == 1) { // a game is loading
Thread.Sleep(10); // pause for 10 milliseconds
if (!MyReg.GetValue("APMValue").Equals("1000")) {
Activate("StarCraft II");
gameState = 2;
}
} else if (gameState == 2) { // in a game
Thread.Sleep(2000); // pause for 2 seconds
if ((int)MyReg.GetValue("StartModule") == 0) {
gameState = 0;
MyReg.SetValue("APMValue", "1000");
}
}
}
}

}
}


Enjoy!
"Mech is at the store buying groceries and you attack him at home. You burn his house down. And then he comes home and puts out the fire, and then you burn down the grocery store so he can't buy more groceries."
Nuclease
Profile Joined August 2011
United States1049 Posts
February 26 2013 21:48 GMT
#2
I'm currently studying Computer Science in my university studies.

I can say that I'm very impressed with how simple this program is! I haven't looked through all the code yet, but I see no problems with it. I'm gonna try it later today and see how it goes. Thanks for writing this and letting it be known. Cheers!
Zealots, not zee-lots. | Never forget, KTViolet, Go)Space. | You will never be as good as By.Flash, and your drops will never be as sick as MMA.
501TFX
Profile Joined March 2011
Austria345 Posts
February 26 2013 21:51 GMT
#3
Awesome little program!

I know that doesn't really help all that much, but I just wanted to say, SC2 actually does exactly that in fullscreen mode (Just that you get thrown into the loading screen, not the game), but yeah I know, a lot of people play in windowed fullscreen, so this could get pretty handy
Never let your dreams fade, run after them, run until you get them !
dsjoerg
Profile Joined January 2012
United States384 Posts
February 26 2013 21:56 GMT
#4
I had no idea that Starcraft is writing your APM into the registry. Seems to be so that some Razer peripheral can somehow glow based on your APM or something? Very interesting.

I wonder if that APM is just as bugged as the Score Screen APM?

Nicely done
card-carrying grubby fan. developer of GGTracker.
DanTastiX
Profile Joined July 2011
Germany36 Posts
February 26 2013 22:00 GMT
#5
Im using the Starcraft sound in the background, so I will automatically hear when a game starts. Didnt disappoint me until today :p
Zamiel
Profile Blog Joined August 2008
United States211 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-02-26 22:09:44
February 26 2013 22:03 GMT
#6
SC2 actually does exactly that in fullscreen mode (Just that you get thrown into the loading screen, not the game)


Correct, but I think that the default behavior should be to switch when the game has finished loading, as opposed to when it starts loading. This is especially true in Arcade games, since people can often take up to 5+ minutes to load, and there's a significant amount of Reddit that I can consume in that time!

Seems to be so that some Razer peripheral can somehow glow based on your APM or something?


Yes. See http://www.razerzone.com/licensed-and-team-peripherals/starcraft-2-hots
I am fond of Razer for their various eSports sponsorships, but having a mouse that glows different colors based on your APM is probably the most bullshit computer product ever conceived. =)

I wonder if that APM is just as bugged as the Score Screen APM?


I haven't tried, but I would assume that it's the same thing as the in-game APM.

Im using the Starcraft sound in the background, so I will automatically hear when a game starts.


This is true, but I would go as far as to say that most StarCraft plays disable the in-game music and listen to their own.
"Mech is at the store buying groceries and you attack him at home. You burn his house down. And then he comes home and puts out the fire, and then you burn down the grocery store so he can't buy more groceries."
DanTastiX
Profile Joined July 2011
Germany36 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-02-26 22:19:35
February 26 2013 22:19 GMT
#7
Well, Im not talking about the ingame-music, Im talking about the actual sound. I also got the music disabled. Or do you even play without the sounds? Would be quite a pain in the ass for me not having any sound in battles for example.
Horuku
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
United States405 Posts
February 26 2013 22:19 GMT
#8
Is there a reason you made all the methods statics? Also, why do you do reader.readLine() 3 times in a row? Also, use enums instead of numbers to represent your game states :D .

Nit picks really, good job!
d<^^>b
R1CH
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
Netherlands10342 Posts
February 26 2013 22:23 GMT
#9
I'm a bit worried about the performance concerns of spawning 100 reg.exe processes per second, especially from Java. Isn't there a native method you can use to access the registry? Or maybe use C# to avoid all the horrible interop?
AdministratorTwitter: @R1CH_TL
TL+ Member
Zamiel
Profile Blog Joined August 2008
United States211 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-02-26 22:36:13
February 26 2013 22:34 GMT
#10
Well, Im not talking about the ingame-music, Im talking about the actual sound. I also got the music disabled. Or do you even play without the sounds?


I play with the sounds. I see now that you are referring to the "Play in Background" check-box that appears in the sound options. This is not optimal because, during the beginning of a game, there is hardly any sound whatsoever, just the soft ambient sounds of your workers mining. If you are playing loud or complex music, there's no way that you will be able to hear these sounds.

Is there a reason you made all the methods statics?


No.

Also, why do you do reader.readLine() 3 times in a row?


To get the line that specifically has the data that I want. (Type in "reg query HKCU\Software\Razer\Starcraft2 /v APMValue" into a command prompt.)

I'm a bit worried about the performance concerns of spawning 100 reg.exe processes per second, especially from Java. Isn't there a native method you can use to access the registry? Or maybe use C# to avoid all the horrible interop?


Haha, I'll try rewriting it in C#. Give me a few hours. =p
"Mech is at the store buying groceries and you attack him at home. You burn his house down. And then he comes home and puts out the fire, and then you burn down the grocery store so he can't buy more groceries."
DanTastiX
Profile Joined July 2011
Germany36 Posts
February 26 2013 22:46 GMT
#11
Actually I was talking about the Countdown-Noise which is quite catchy in my opinion :D Anyways, I guess this programm can be handy for some people out there.
mousewiz
Profile Joined February 2013
Canada18 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-02-26 22:52:05
February 26 2013 22:48 GMT
#12
*runs off to put a rootkit called "reg" in everyone's download directory*
Well, not really, but exec("notAFullPath") is sketchy as hell. Actually, exec is sketchy as hell, but full paths make it a little better. Edit: Actually I was thinking Java did something that Java probably doesn't do, so download directory would not be sufficient, but it's still definitely exploitable.

I'd also be worried about leaking file descriptors with all your exec calls. You also leak if is.read throws, for example. I'm not sure how big an issue this is on Windows, but I know you're risking trouble on Unixy systems.
Zamiel
Profile Blog Joined August 2008
United States211 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-02-27 06:12:05
February 27 2013 06:09 GMT
#13
Here it is in C# (my first C# program, yay). As R1CH indicated, it's much cleaner this way since it has no exec calls to reg.exe or usage of VBScript at all.

+ Show Spoiler [Program.cs] +
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Threading;
using Microsoft.Win32;

namespace SC2GameStartSwitcher
{
class Program
{
//Import the FindWindow API to find our window
[DllImport("User32.dll", EntryPoint = "FindWindow")]
private static extern IntPtr FindWindowNative(string className, string windowName);

//Import the SetForeground API to activate it
[DllImport("User32.dll", EntryPoint = "SetForegroundWindow")]
private static extern IntPtr SetForegroundWindowNative(IntPtr hWnd);

public static IntPtr FindWindow(string className, string windowName)
{
return FindWindowNative(className, windowName);
}

public static IntPtr SetForegroundWindow(IntPtr hWnd)
{
return SetForegroundWindowNative(hWnd);
}

public static void Activate(string title)
{
//Find the window, using the Window Title
IntPtr hWnd = FindWindow(null, title);
if (hWnd.ToInt32() > 0) //If found
{
SetForegroundWindow(hWnd); //Activate it
}
}

static void Main()
{
int gameState = 0;
RegistryKey MyReg = Registry.CurrentUser.OpenSubKey
("Software\\Razer\\Starcraft2", true);
MyReg.SetValue("APMValue", "1000");
Console.WriteLine("gameState = 0");

while (true)
{
Thread.Sleep(50); // pause for 50 milliseconds
if (gameState == 0) { // in menus
if ((int)MyReg.GetValue("StartModule") == 1) {
gameState = 1;
}
} else if (gameState == 1) { // a game is loading
if (!MyReg.GetValue("APMValue").Equals("1000")) {
Activate("StarCraft II");
gameState = 2;
}
} else if (gameState == 2) { // in a game
if ((int)MyReg.GetValue("StartModule") == 0) {
gameState = 0;
MyReg.SetValue("APMValue", "1000");
}
}
}
}

}
}


One problem with this kind implementation is that it won't actually switch until 0:02 on the in-game timer, presumably because it takes that long for the APM change to pulse to the registry. So it's not really a bug I can fix.

Now before I go update the OP, R1CH (or whomever), is there a relatively easy way to figure out in-game status in another (better) manner? Hopefully there is a more elegant solution than finding and then reading some random memory offset.
"Mech is at the store buying groceries and you attack him at home. You burn his house down. And then he comes home and puts out the fire, and then you burn down the grocery store so he can't buy more groceries."
R1CH
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
Netherlands10342 Posts
February 27 2013 07:01 GMT
#14
Why not just switch to the game as soon as StartModule changes?
AdministratorTwitter: @R1CH_TL
TL+ Member
Zamiel
Profile Blog Joined August 2008
United States211 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-02-27 07:23:29
February 27 2013 07:21 GMT
#15
StartModule changes to 1 shortly after the game starts to load the map. This is simply unacceptable. To quote myself:

the default behavior should be to switch when the game has finished loading, as opposed to when it starts loading. This is especially true in Arcade games, since people can often take up to 5+ minutes to load
"Mech is at the store buying groceries and you attack him at home. You burn his house down. And then he comes home and puts out the fire, and then you burn down the grocery store so he can't buy more groceries."
Xapti
Profile Joined April 2010
Canada2473 Posts
February 27 2013 09:23 GMT
#16
Why don't you alt-tab a few seconds after the countdown timer reaches 1 or 0?

It's easy to do when you have play sounds in background enabled; just listen for when you're opponent has been found and the timer starts. That's what most people seem to do, and I don't see why anyone would do anything else. Program seems kinda useless
"Then he told me to tell you that he wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire" — "Well, you tell him that I said that I wouldn't piss on him if he was on Jeopardy!"
Scarlett`
Profile Joined April 2011
Korea (South)2399 Posts
February 27 2013 09:26 GMT
#17
On February 27 2013 18:23 Xapti wrote:
Why don't you alt-tab a few seconds after the countdown timer reaches 1 or 0?

It's easy to do when you have play sounds in background enabled; just listen for when you're opponent has been found and the timer starts. That's what most people seem to do, and I don't see why anyone would do anything else. Program seems kinda useless

Music ! I have to leave a lot of ladder games at start because I don't hear sound and tab in 30sec late
Progamer
Rioru
Profile Joined January 2013
11 Posts
February 27 2013 09:52 GMT
#18
Cool program! Thanks for sharing it with the community!
pStar
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
996 Posts
February 27 2013 12:36 GMT
#19
What does this part of the code do?

Process p = rt.exec("reg query HKCU\\Software\\Razer\\Starcraft2 /v APMValue");
Zamiel
Profile Blog Joined August 2008
United States211 Posts
February 27 2013 16:06 GMT
#20
Xapti, please closely read the post directly above yours.

Hi Scarlett!

What does this part of the code do?

Process p = rt.exec("reg query HKCU\\Software\\Razer\\Starcraft2 /v APMValue");


It is basically the same as typing "reg query HKCU\Software\Razer\Starcraft2 /v APMValue" into a command prompt.
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/reg.mspx?mfr=true
"Mech is at the store buying groceries and you attack him at home. You burn his house down. And then he comes home and puts out the fire, and then you burn down the grocery store so he can't buy more groceries."
Vallz
Profile Joined March 2011
41 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-02-27 16:32:58
February 27 2013 16:28 GMT
#21
As far as I know Warden does not care if you read the process memory from Sc2 (since already some acknowledged tools uses it), might aswell find the memory address which indicates that you're ingame(fully in the game), that way you can do it much cleaner.


tehemperorer
Profile Blog Joined June 2010
United States2183 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-02-27 16:49:25
February 27 2013 16:44 GMT
#22
Hey Zamiel, cool work... I refactored it a little for you according to my own little professional guidelines I do have a few questions though, if you don't mind!
1. Why the multiple s = reader.readLine();? You have 3, which means I think that only the last readLine() is actually stored. Wasn't sure if you were trying to do a StringBuilder.append kinda thing or not
2. You spawn a lot of threads, not sure if it's necessary... Main is a thread, then you invoke an anonymous Runnable (another thread), which then spawns a new thread every time Runtime.getRuntime().exec(command) is read. Check back over those!
3. There are other ways of course to do things. One of which could be taking a few command line arg into main and using those as the values that drive the program.

Here is the refactored code!
+ Show Spoiler +

/* Created by Zamiel on Feb. 26, 2013 */

import javax.swing.*;
import java.io.*;

public class SC2GameStartSwitcher {
private static void createAndShowGUI() {
//Create and set up the window.
JFrame frame = new JFrame("StarCraft II Automatic Game Start Switcher");
JLabel label = new JLabel("Detecting SC2 game starts. Feel free to minimize this window.");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.getContentPane().add(label);
frame.setSize(500,100);
frame.setVisible(true);
}

public static int getStartModule() { // returns 0 if not in a game, 1 if in a game
String s = getValue("reg query HKCU\\Software\\Razer\\Starcraft2 /v StartModule");
if (s.contains("0x1")){
return 1;
} else if (s.contains("0x0")){
return 0;
} else {
return -1;
}
}

public static int getAPMValue() {
String[] splits = getValue("reg query HKCU\\Software\\Razer\\Starcraft2 /v APMValue").split(" ");
return Integer.parseInt(splits[12]);
}

public static Process execute(String command){
try {
return Runtime.getRuntime().exec(command);
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
return null;
}
}

public static String getValue(String regValue){
try {
Process p = execute(regValue);
p.waitFor();
java.io.InputStream is = p.getInputStream();
java.io.BufferedReader reader = new java.io.BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(is));
String s = null;
s = reader.readLine();
s = reader.readLine();
s = reader.readLine();
is.close();
return s;
} catch (Exception e){
return null;
}
}

public static void main(String[] args) {
int gameState = 0;

//Schedule a job for the event-dispatching thread:
//creating and showing this application's GUI.
javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
createAndShowGUI();
}
});

while (true) { // run forever
try {
Thread.sleep(10); // pause for 10 milliseconds
}
catch (InterruptedException E) {
Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
}
switch (gameState){
case 0: // not in a game
if (getStartModule() == 1) { // we are now loading the game
gameState = 1;
}
if (getAPMValue() != 1000) { // set the current APM to an arbitrary value so that we can detect a change once the game starts
execute("reg add HKCU\\Software\\Razer\\Starcraft2 /v APMValue /d 1000 /f");
}
case 1:
if (getAPMValue() != 1000) { // the APM has changed which means that loading is done
execute("wscript activateSC2.vbs");
gameState = 2;
}
case 2: // we are playing a game
if (getStartModule() == 0) { // we have left the game
gameState = 0;
}
}
}
}
}


EDIT: aww, all formatting was lost!
Knowing is half the battle... the other half is lasers.
ACrow
Profile Joined October 2011
Germany6583 Posts
February 27 2013 16:53 GMT
#23
I'm confused, the standard behavior of the game is to come to foreground when loading starts?
Is this just to shave off the approx. 10secs of loading screen?
Anyhow, if this helps people, props to you, nice that you're trying to help out!
Get off my lawn, young punks
Dingodile
Profile Joined December 2011
4139 Posts
February 27 2013 16:59 GMT
#24
I dont think we need this in HotS. Everything is silent during the matchmaking and after you found an opponont the loading screen make a loud music like a shock for my ears, is just too loud for me.
Grubby | ToD | Moon | Lyn | Sky
ECA.BruTATroN
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
United States282 Posts
February 27 2013 17:04 GMT
#25
or you can just turn on sounds for sc2 in windows..
http://www.twitch.tv/brutatron
skeldark
Profile Joined April 2010
Germany2223 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-02-27 17:19:35
February 27 2013 17:07 GMT
#26
It does break the TOS!
The TOS dont talk about Ram or registry. It says you are not allowed to collect information about the game.
So it makes no diffrence if you read the ram, read the registry, open the sc2 folder, install the game or play the game.
Its all against the TOS.
TLDR: Blizzard TOS is not worth the bytes it is saved in.

btw you dont have to watch for a change in the apm entry (if you really do that)
there is an "ingame" entry in the reg folder.

Save gaming: kill esport
Godwrath
Profile Joined August 2012
Spain10161 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-02-27 17:10:14
February 27 2013 17:09 GMT
#27
I don't know, the game always had tabbed in automatically when it starts loading. Only reason to use this program is if you actually tab out outside the loading, or for some people it doesn't work the same way it does for me ?
Zamiel
Profile Blog Joined August 2008
United States211 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-02-28 06:31:58
February 27 2013 19:07 GMT
#28
tehemperorer, I appreciate the suggestions, but as you can see from a few posts back, I've already completely rewritten the program in C#, which has subsequently made it a lot cleaner. (I haven't updated the OP yet. I guess I'll do that now.)

All of the other posts contain criticisms or questions that are already addressed earlier in the thread.
"Mech is at the store buying groceries and you attack him at home. You burn his house down. And then he comes home and puts out the fire, and then you burn down the grocery store so he can't buy more groceries."
tehemperorer
Profile Blog Joined June 2010
United States2183 Posts
February 27 2013 19:37 GMT
#29
On February 28 2013 04:07 Zamiel wrote:
tehemperorer, I appreciate the suggestions, but as you can see from a few posts back, I've already completely rewritten the program in C#, which has subsequently made it a lot cleaner. (I haven't updated the OP yet. I guess I'll do that now.

All of the other posts contain criticisms or questions that are already addressed earlier in the thread.

Cool man!
Knowing is half the battle... the other half is lasers.
Zamiel
Profile Blog Joined August 2008
United States211 Posts
February 28 2013 06:29 GMT
#30
Ok, I updated the OP with the C# code and uploaded a new executable to mega.

I didn't bother to make a GUI for it, since its not really necessary, and well, I don't know how. =p

Enjoy!
"Mech is at the store buying groceries and you attack him at home. You burn his house down. And then he comes home and puts out the fire, and then you burn down the grocery store so he can't buy more groceries."
Snoodles
Profile Joined March 2012
401 Posts
February 28 2013 06:52 GMT
#31
This used to bug the hell out of me. My problems were solved when I got a 2nd and 3rd monitor. I have one dedicated to sc2 and browse between games or play streams or open build order guides on the other two.
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