Games and launching¶
The game bar¶
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Dropdown | Your saved games. Type to filter. Picking one makes it the target. |
| Add game... | Register an .exe, .bat or .cmd and name it. Adding an existing path lets you rename it. |
| File > Find Steam games | Look through the Steam libraries again (this also happens at every start). |
| Start | Launch the selected game. If a game is already running, asks whether to close it first (a game is never started twice). |
| Restart | Terminate it, then launch it again. |
| Kill | Terminate it. |
The selected game is the target: every button acts on the windows of that program. It is shown at the right of the status bar and remembered for the next start.
Steam games¶
Every game installed through Steam is added to the dropdown by itself, at start-up and with
File > Find Steam games. The app reads Steam's library files (libraryfolders.vdf and the
appmanifest_*.acf files). Proton, the Steam Linux Runtime and the Steamworks redistributables are
left out, and so are games that are still downloading.
- The target is the game's largest executable that is not a crash reporter, installer or anti-cheat
helper. For Unreal Engine games that is the
...-Shipping.exe, which owns the window. If the app picks the wrong one, use Add game... on the right exe: the game keeps its Steam launch. - New games get Steam's name. Rename one with Add game... on the same exe; the name is kept.
- A game you uninstall is taken off the list, but its saved position is kept. Games on a drive that is not connected stay on the list.
Starting a game¶
- Steam games are started through Steam (
steam://rungameid/<AppID>), so Proton, DRM and the overlay work as usual. - Executables are started directly.
- Batch files (
.bat,.cmd) start a short-lived launcher. The app takes a snapshot of the running processes first, then looks for the new game process once a second for up to 15 seconds and switches to it. If nothing is found, the status bar says Batch scan timed out and you can start the game yourself and press Scan. - After a successful start the app waits for the game window and opens the Fit to monitor popup (when that option is on in the View menu).
Terminating¶
Kill, Restart and Shutdown ask first. Tick Don't ask again to stop the prompt; turn it back on under View > Confirm before terminating a game.
Termination is limited to this session:
- the game you launched and everything it started,
- the selected target by full path,
- loader programs (for example TeknoParrot or Dolphin) started after your launch.
A loader or emulator you started yourself beforehand is left alone. Shell and system
processes (explorer.exe, cmd.exe, browsers, ...) are never terminated.
What is remembered per game¶
Everything is stored in windowmanager.json next to the program: the game list, the last
selected game and each game's saved window position. Screenshots go to
snapshots/<game id>/, and each game has its own log. See
Logs and troubleshooting.
You can open the config file with File > Open config file.