[FindMyMouse] Option to disable on full screen windows

[htcfreek]

@jaimecbernardo How does this game mode works? Is automatically on regardless of the game I play? Does it work for old games from the XP time?

Otherwise we should allow blocking it optional on full screen windowd too. (Off by default.)

I think it's checking whether there's a fullscreen app with an exclusive CG context (native fullscreen).
The main reason for not doing full screen was that this feature can still be useful on other full screen uses like doing presentations.
We won't add fullscreen option right now since we're getting this wrapped for 0.49, but I think the suggestion with default off is a good one.
Do you mind adding a issue for tracking?

Originally posted by @jaimecbernardo in #13990 (comment)

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cc: @crutkas , @mcullifer

[VulcanTourist]

First, this new Find My Mouse feature should not have been enabled by default, catching distracted people not closely following development lately by surprise... and not in a good way. I had to discover it entirely by accident while I was playing a Steam survival game, when accidentally tapping [Ctrl] twice during the game activated this mystifying lightened circle around the targeting reticle in the game.

Second, as I not-so-subtlely hinted above, the Game Mode option, which is also active by default, does not work when the mode fails to recognize that the focused process is in fact a game. Please don't implement that option at all unless you can further generalize it to work for all games. Alternative suggestion: check the active Power Profile; if the current profile is High Performance or similar, it's probably a better bet than the unreliable Game Mode that a game is being played.

[crutkas]

@VulcanTourist What is the game name.

powertoys is an incubator for ideas. Pretty much everything will be on by default. Why we have an OOBE and soon to be scoobe for new features when you upgrade for awareness.

We also do our best to clearly make people aware of what is new / changed.

[htcfreek]

The plan of this issue here is to add a second setting for blocking this feature on full screen windows too.

@VulcanTourist
This might help you then with your game.

[VulcanTourist]

The plan of this issue here is to add a second setting for blocking this feature on full screen windows too.

@VulcanTourist This might help you then with your game.

I expect that this would have helped greatly if that had existed from the outset - and also been enabled by default - but my general intention is to disable the feature now that I know of its existence, so this would be of less benefit to me personally now. It will doubtless benefit those people who want the feature but who spend substantial time gaming. There are probably some instances where full-screen non-windowed applications might benefit from the feature, but I'm at a loss to cite any examples.

[crutkas]

@VulcanTourist what is the name of the game so we can verify this has been fixed

[crutkas]

@htcfreek while at a large level I don’t disagree with the request but I feel we need real world examples as well here

we’ve been out for weeks and I think this is the first report of a real world game trigger

[htcfreek]

@crutkas
Games were the reason I suggest this feature. Because I thought about if really all games are detected by/activating game mode. (Especially older games.)

[crutkas]

For sanity, i tested against age of empire 4 to be sure we weren't false triggering. (it did not trigger) @VulcanTourist, fyi, i game, i worked on a game too for a bit :)

PowerToys really works under real world versus hypotheticals typically. This is the first report to best of my knowledge of a trigger in a game. Understanding scope of impact lets us prioritize and validate.

Right now, we don't know what game causes this for testing.

[jaimecbernardo]

This will still trigger on games that don't use native full screen, since that's the kind of full screen we're checking for.

[htcfreek]

@jaimecbernardo
The FindMyMouse utility is ignoring the Citrix Fullscreen window. Citrix is configured to forward all key inputs in Fullscreen. But FindMyMouse is opening regardless.

[jaimecbernardo]

@jaimecbernardo The FindMyMouse utility is ignoring the Citrix Fullscreen window. Citrix is configured to forward all key inputs in Fullscreen. But FindMyMouse is opening regardless.

Likely not a native full screen.
Need to get that "any kind of full screen" option for that, I think.

[htcfreek]

@jaimecbernardo The FindMyMouse utility is ignoring the Citrix Fullscreen window. Citrix is configured to forward all key inputs in Fullscreen. But FindMyMouse is opening regardless.

Likely not a native full screen.
Need to get that "any kind of full screen" option for that, I think.

The interesting point is that only FindMyMouse module has this behavior: FimdMyMouse and Citrix Receiver => RDP are reacting both.
All other PT modules (FZ, ColorPicker, PT Run, Shortcut Guide) doesn't react as expected. (Citrix is configured to forward all shortcuts into cotrix session.)

[jaimecbernardo]

This is because FindMyMouse is using a different input method (Raw Input) than the other modules (Low Level Keyboard Hook).
Interesting that it causes these issues.

[VulcanTourist]

@VulcanTourist what is the name of the game so we can verify this has been fixed

The game that was affected was Empyrion: Galactic Survival. It's a Unity game, still in active development.

I just updated the PowerToys version to the latest release, and it's not fixed and still appears around the targeting reticle in the game.

Sorry for the delayed response.

[htcfreek]

Why not solving this by adding a block list like we have for Shortcutguide?

[VulcanTourist]

Why not solving this by adding a block list like we have for Shortcutguide?

I don't think a block list is ideal here, since there is unlikely to be any full-screen application where find-my-mouse is a useful feature. It would be irritating to users to be forced to blacklist every full-screen game they own from this feature. A single setting that affects all is more practical.

[quyenvsp]

Why not solving this by adding a block list like we have for Shortcutguide?

I don't think a block list is ideal here, since there is unlikely to be any full-screen application where find-my-mouse is a useful feature. It would be irritating to users to be forced to blacklist every full-screen game they own from this feature. A single setting that affects all is more practical.

It perfect if have both option. And block list on higher prioritize. Current many games I play at fullscreen but findmymouse still enabled (Agrou, Gameloop,...)

[crutkas]

I think we should see if we can tap into the Xbox list as well as have a don’t activate list like shortcut guide.

I think the don’t activate list needs to be moved to general tab as well

[htcfreek]

I think we should see if we can tap into the Xbox list as well as have a don’t activate list like shortcut guide.

I agree and wrote it somewhere else too. 😉 We should have it for both mouse utilities. But I think one list for both is enough.

I think the don’t activate list needs to be moved to general tab as well

I don't agree in this point. I think we should keep per utility for more flexibility.

[quyenvsp]

Current in time wait PowerToys team make change I have change the shortcut Find my mouse to Right Ctrl
and it good now
You can check my guide:
PowerToys change the shortcut Find my mouse to Right Ctrl

Modified file 100% safe, I just changed 1 bit which define RightCtrl instead of Left. You can check by cmd:

cd /d C:\Program Files\PowerToys\modules\MouseUtils
fc /b FindMyMouse.dll FindMyMouse.dll.origin

It will show changed 1 bit 74 -> 75

[crutkas]

@jaimecbernardo should this be pivoted into exclude list versus disable full screen.

[VulcanTourist]

@jaimecbernardo should this be pivoted into exclude list versus disable full screen.

I think an explicit exclude list may be necessary rather than merely an option: what of applications e.g. games that are "fullscreen" but windowed and borderless? That is a commonplace option now. If the fullscreen detection logic would fail to include those then it would be insufficient to the task.

[jaimecbernardo]

That gives the users more options, I think it makes sense.

[crutkas]

@jaimecbernardo how easy is it to take the AoT code for exclude?

[jaimecbernardo]

Should be straight forward. Assigned myself.

[crutkas]

This is fixed with 0.561. Please head over to https://aka.ms/installpowertoys