batch files don't run on start/exit

[msa397]

i have a batch file to toggle an HDR fix and i want to set it to run when a program starts or exits. autoactions seems to just ignore this when i set it in a profile, even when running as administrator

the batch file is very simple, just 1 line:
".\dispwin.exe" ".\lut.cal"

i tried passing the argument manually in autoactions but it doesn't work for some reason, even if i remove the quotes or ".".

[Fr0stX76]

Have you tried converting the bat to exe first? Then make the exe run as admin

https://github.com/l-urk/Bat-To-Exe-Converter-64-Bit/releases

[msa397]

Have you tried converting the bat to exe first? Then make the exe run as admin

still didn't work for some reason, even though the exe file works when i run it on its own. even with both autoactions and the exe running as admin.

[Fr0stX76]

So you have a profile that calls the exe to run on "application start action/application close action", and the profile is selected under the application correct?

I usually run my tests with notepad.exe as my application. I would use this until it works, makes testing much easier.

Depending where you store the batch/exe, I would move it somewhere where admin rules are less tight (program files is quite strict under win11 for exemple). You're runing batch or exe file from within another exe. Windows can be finicky about privileges, especially Win 11

[msa397]

So you have a profile that calls the exe to run on "application start action/application close action", and the profile is selected under the application correct?

yes, i also tried creating an action shortcut, which had the same results.

notepad.exe works fine, and it's not a special folder with privilege issues either.
is there possibly an issue with passing another file as an argument like this? i can use other arguments like "-c" with "dispwin.exe" just fine in autoactions, it only stops working when i try to use "./lut.cal" as an argument.

[Fr0stX76]

Ok I`m not sure how you setup your action, but here is a step by step of how mine are

First create a .bat with the command you want, including the argument(s)

Convert from bat to exe in 64-bit format with admin privilege.. I think you already did that

Store the resulting exe in a folder without too much privilege requirements

Create a profile in the Profiles tab of Autoactions. Let’s call it HDR Fix.

Add 2 actions:
-Application started action
-Application closed action

`Select the type "run program"

.

Go to your exe file. and open. Do the same for both

.

Go to the Application tab of Autoactions and create you application you want to tie your profile to

.

Select the profile

. .

This should work. Now if that works for notepad but not your game, it`s a different thing. Are you doing any other changes to your display state within your game profiles? Ex resolution, HDR on/off, etc.?

If yes, then I would suspect you’re sending too many command to your display at the same time, and it just ignore some when already in the middle of a state change. I would remove all other actions from the game profile and only leave the HDR fix action to see if this makes it work. If it does, then I would consider adding pauses to the HDR fix batch file to leave the display enough time to apply the changes in series instead of in parallel.

[Ghokury]

For whatever reason some types of bat and converted bat to exe files don't work. Ex. silent pythonw execution didn't work (but launching pythonw directly with arguments worked), but sc stop service worked fine. Perhaps writing c# app to do it from there would work, but I didn't bother to check.