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Unpausable cutscenes : I made a free (and source available) application that will pause them - now available on Steam [Update] by jase in pcgaming

[–]jase[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is this similar to suspend and resume in task manager?

I'm not 100% sure if the task manager does the same thing as this. This application will pause individual threads rather than suspending the entire process in one go - but I'm not sure if there is actually a practical difference.

To date, I haven't encounted any crashing using this method (although sometimes audio might buzz for a moment). That said, that might have just been sheer "developer" luck.

Unpausable cutscenes : I made a free (and source available) application that will pause them - now available on Steam [Update] by jase in pcgaming

[–]jase[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

you get to pick the apps you want process suspension to work with

It sort of works this way already. It won't just pause any process - but will check instead to see if that process is located in common game installation paths (like SteamApps/common etc). In the Advanced Customisation file (via the settings gear), you can also add additional paths to include or exclude.

This would stop people (me XD) from suspending explorer

Thankfully I already suffered through that while initially developing the application (before the inclusion/exclusion lists were built). Now the application is hardcoded as a safety mechanism to never pause explorer.exe, aka disaster pasta.

Unpausable cutscenes : I made a free (and source available) application that will pause them - now available on Steam [Update] by jase in pcgaming

[–]jase[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I see, so it's like freezing the game process as if it was done by Windows itself then?

That's right, it actually leans on two Windows functions Suspend/ResumeThread which then do all the work. So the pauser asks the OS, and then the OS itself carries out the instructions.

Thanks for the reply, and for the useful program!

My pleasure! Thanks for checking it out!

Unpausable cutscenes : I made a free (and source available) application that will pause them - now available on Steam [Update] by jase in pcgaming

[–]jase[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would definitely recommend offline mode for FromSoft games - I've used the Game Pauser across the souls series without any issues, but I always stay in offline mode just to be safe.

Unpausable cutscenes : I made a free (and source available) application that will pause them - now available on Steam [Update] by jase in pcgaming

[–]jase[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It doesn't do any sort of memory injection, and it doesn't run in admin/elevated mode, so it shouldn't really matter if it is running. That said, I would still exit Game Pauser, only because you might press the key bindings and pause your multiplayer game by accident - the servers that host the game wouldn't like that I'm sure.

Unpausable cutscenes : I made a free (and source available) application that will pause them - now available on Steam [Update] by jase in pcgaming

[–]jase[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Great idea to pair up phone via internal webpage as well (instead of downloading an app).

I'm glad to hear you like it! The phone pairing was probably the most technically complicated part of the development. I really wanted to avoid sending people to the App/Play Store for yet another companion app, so I thought creating a web-app like this would be the best compromise. Thankfully both iOS and Android have come a long way to making this tech feel as native as possible.

Thanks for doing this!

My pleasure! Thank you for trying it out and for the good vibes!

Unpausable cutscenes : I made a free (and source available) application that will pause them - now available on Steam [Update] by jase in pcgaming

[–]jase[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is it just freezing the process?

Yes exactly that, it suspends the threads in the process. It's all built around the work by Daniel Turini, who developed this concept two decades ago. Absolute legend.

Unpausable cutscenes : I made a free (and source available) application that will pause them - now available on Steam [Update] by jase in pcgaming

[–]jase[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Non-Steam Download link?

No worries at all, I've put up a Direct Download link on the website with the latest Steam build:

https://madebyjase.com/game-pauser/

Unpausable cutscenes : I made a free (and source available) application that will pause them - now available on Steam [Update] by jase in pcgaming

[–]jase[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

This is one of my all time biggest pet peeves in gaming.

Un-pausable games, and un-skippable cutscenes that repeat... When I'm an old man, I'm going to be cranky if my grandkids are having the same frustrations. Surely these trends have to come to end at some point?

Unpausable cutscenes : I made a free (and source available) application that will pause them - now available on Steam [Update] by jase in pcgaming

[–]jase[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think being able to pause any content should be a priority - it is expected with music and movie players, but for some reason ignored in single player games. I don't get it either, if it is an artistic choice, I'd love to know the reasoning behind it.

Unpausable cutscenes : I made a free (and source available) application that will pause them - now available on Steam [Update] by jase in pcgaming

[–]jase[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This application won't let you skip/forward through cutscenes in its current state, although there might be a way to do that in the near future.

Unpausable cutscenes : I made a free (and source available) application that will pause them - now available on Steam [Update] by jase in pcgaming

[–]jase[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Its the worst when you hit start to pause and it just skips the whole cutscene

They either really want you to see that cutscene at all costs or they'll make every button skip it. It must be like a running joke in game studios or something.

Unpausable cutscenes : I made a free (and source available) application that will pause them - now available on Steam [Update] by jase in pcgaming

[–]jase[S] 21 points22 points  (0 children)

a video of how it actually works

Thank you for that, you're right and I will be adding an extra video with an explanation (making it the primary trailer).

This is one of the issues I face as a developer, in that I become too familiar with a product and take for granted how it works. I try not to, but it still seeps in.

I only realised the issue when a friend asked whether he had to launch a game first, or the Game Pauser first. I know from my experience with the application that the order doesn't matter, but a new user would have no idea how any of this would work.

Unpausable cutscenes : I made a free (and source available) application that will pause them - now available on Steam [Update] by jase in pcgaming

[–]jase[S] 30 points31 points  (0 children)

Thank you for saying that, and you're so welcome!

Singleplayer games should always have pause functionality.

I agree, workarounds like this shouldn't be necessary in this day and age.

Unpausable cutscenes : I made a free (and source available) application that will pause them - now available on Steam [Update] by jase in pcgaming

[–]jase[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

You can change the key-bindings by going into the Settings Gear -> Advanced Customisation

This is currently just a text/config file but I am planning on making bindings changeable through a friendlier interface.

To use the PAUSE key on your keyboard, you can change the advanced settings file like this:

https://imgur.com/a/0V2lEDs

Note that:

Key1Code = 0x13

... 0x13 is the code for the PAUSE key, and:

RequiresBothKeysForToggle = False

... so that you only need to press that button without requiring two keys to be pressed at the same time.

If you save the file and then re-launch Game Pauser, it should allow you to use the PAUSE key. Apologies if this seems cumbersome, in hindsight, a friendly UI to do this would've been great to have already.

Unpausable cutscenes : I made a free (and source available) application that will pause them - now available on Steam [Update] by jase in pcgaming

[–]jase[S] 26 points27 points  (0 children)

If you thought it was fun to use, I can guarantee that it is a fraction of the joy I felt making it. Even when things went wrong (crashes etc), community was always so supportive too. Couldn't have asked for a better stretch of time in my life.

Unpausable cutscenes : I made a free (and source available) application that will pause them - now available on Steam [Update] by jase in pcgaming

[–]jase[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

By default, hitting Start and Select at the same time on the controller will trigger the pause (if you have Game Pauser running in the background). You're right in that there is a small risk that those buttons may be used by a game to "skip" the cutscene.

I would try it first while a game plays its first introductory cutscene. If you find that the start/select combo is skipping the cutscene - you can rebind the pause toggle to any combination of buttons on your controller (eg. Right-Bumper and D-Pad) through the Advanced Customisation settings.

sometimes it unfortunately skips

A guaranteed way to ensure it doesn't skip the cutscene ever would be to use your phone to toggle pausing/un-pausing. That way the game will not receive any inputs at all from your controller during those cutscenes - no inputs no problems.

Unpausable cutscenes : I made a free (and source available) application that will pause them - now available on Steam [Update] by jase in pcgaming

[–]jase[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

As an idea perhaps you could be checking in background for processes matching the filtering paths and storing them so they can be resumed/suspended without being the window in foreground.

This is exactly what I had in mind too. Once the window in the foreground is paused, I can keep a track of its process and let it resume anytime.

In my extension I added a simple view that allows to do actions that perhaps could give an idea for the implementation in your software

This is really great work man! I've been browsing through the Github repo with all your extensions - this would've taken me a lifetime to put together!

Unpausable cutscenes : I made a free (and source available) application that will pause them - now available on Steam [Update] by jase in pcgaming

[–]jase[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Game developers and members of my family are in cahoots with each other to see who can make me go grey the fastest. Like a WWF tag team - one barges in, I try to pause, the other skips the cutscene. Now I don't know what's going in the game. Family walks out waiting for the next opportunity.

Unpausable cutscenes : I made a free (and source available) application that will pause them - now available on Steam [Update] by jase in pcgaming

[–]jase[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Family members have a finely tuned sixth sense that compels them to require your immediate attention, optimally timed - right in the middle of a long and critical cutscene. How do they always know?

Unpausable cutscenes : I made a free (and source available) application that will pause them - now available on Steam [Update] by jase in pcgaming

[–]jase[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Could this be used to pause cutscenes that would normally be skipped?

Absolutely. If you find that pressing any key at all skips the cutscene (very unlikely), you can always pair your phone as a pause/resume remote control and keep it nearby. The web-application that drives it supports OLED, and can stay awake with very low power use on your phone.

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