Overview

Sometimes games are best with companion apps. Launching those apps and closing them every time is tedious. This project is simple in scope, but takes away the tedium by giving you a single exe that can launch and close companion apps for you. Now with custom cmd support!

Getting Started / Download

You will need both a compiled multilaunch.exe and multilaunch.json file.

You can find the latest multilaunch.zip on the releases page under "Assets".

Config

The multilaunch.json configuration file has the following sections and values:

• app: This is the configuration section for the main program you intend to launch.

  • watch_process_for_exit is the process name as it appears in task manager for the main application while running.
  • launch_path is the full path to the main application's executable.
  • arguments is an array of arguments you want to feed to the main application.

• before & after: Entries in these sections execute actions either before the main application is launched or after it has closed.

  • kill_tasks an array of tasks to kill by name as they appear task manager (without extension)
  • run_programs an array of programs to run given the full path/to/the/file
    • Simple format:

      • "C:/Program Files/Google/Chrome/Application/Chrome.exe"

    • Advanced format:

      • {"path":"C:/Program Files/Google/Chrome/Application/Chrome.exe","cwd":"C:/Program Files/Google/Chrome/Application","arguments":["--disable-sync","--incognito"]}

      • Note: cwd and arguments will cause an error if they are empty. Omit those keys if you do not need them.
  • run_commands an array of command line scripts to run

• extras: This section holds extra configuration options.

  • wipe_sys_tray: Can be true or false. If true, Multilaunch will swipe your mouse across the system tray to remove ghost icons from killed processes.

Example multilaunch.json

{
  "app": {
    "watch_process_for_exit": "PathOfExile_x64",
    "launch_path": "C:/Games/Grinding Gear Games/PathOfExile.exe",
    "arguments": ["--nologo","--waitforpreload"]
  },

  "before": {
    "run_programs": [
      "C:/Users/frosthaven/AppData/Local/Programs/Awakened PoE Trade/Awakened PoE Trade.exe",
      {"path":"C:/Program Files/Google/Chrome/Application/Chrome.exe","arguments":["--disable-sync","--incognito"]}
    ]
  },

  "after": {
    "kill_tasks": [
      "Awakened POE Trade",
      "chrome"
    ]
  },

  "extras": {
    "wipe_sys_tray": true
  }
}

In the example above, we are launching the game Path of Exile with two command line arguments that the game supports. We are also telling Multilaunch to keep an eye on the process named PathOfExile_x64.

Before the game launches, we have Multilaunch start up a useful trade macro companion app - Awakened PoE Trade.exe and an incognito Chrome browser window.

After the game is closed (and the PathOfExile_x64 process no longer exists), we are closing our trade macro by killing the task Awakened POE Trade in task manager and doing the same to chrome.

Finally, in the extras section, we are telling Multilaunch to swipe the mouse across the system tray when everything is done. This is because killing the trade macro leaves a ghost icon in the tray, and moving the mouse over it fixes it.

Using A Different Config File

You can run multilauncher with a command line argument to provide your own config file. All of these are valid:

powershell

Start-Process multilaunch.exe -ArgumentList "-config path/to/the/config_name.json"

cmd

multilaunch.exe -config "path/to/the/config_name.json"

game launcher "arguments" or "parameters" box

-config "path/to/the/config.json"

Building from Source

First, you want to install the ps2exe powershell module. Open a new powershell window (as admin) and run this command (selecting yes to all options):

Install-Module ps2exe

Then, you will want to call the build script to begin compilation:

ps2exe .\build

Why Compile To EXE?

Although powershell scripts are very agile on their own, game launchers are quite picky. By compiling to an exe, we can feed the exe to game launcher libraries such as GoG & Steam.