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I'm trying to run a Windows batch file from inside a full screen game, however the game intercepts the keys before a program like AutoHotKey can. I'm not particular to using AutoHotKey, any program or method would be fine.

For example I want to do the following from a game:

#a::Run www.google.com
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which benchmark app are you using? – Xantec Apr 29 '11 at 21:53
xperf (command line) – srand May 4 '11 at 18:42
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2 Answers

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Some games intercept nearly all keyboard commands, and it is likely that there is nothing you can do to stop them (Crysis et. al. are notorious for this, as well as most EA games. Valve games, on the other hand, generally let hotkeys through. Its luck of the draw). Usually ctrl+alt+del still works (though sometimes you have to press it twice), and from there you can launch the task manager, effectively minimizing your game and letting you do whatever you want. Additionally, some games disable alt+tab only if there is not another task open into which you can switch, so leaving something running before you launch the game can help.

As for actually letting global hotkeys through, you might be out of luck. What game is giving you this trouble? Perhaps there is a method specific to that game that might work for you.

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Not a particular game. I want to run some benchmarks on games without having to alt+tab / ctrl+enter the game because it tends to make the game or benchmark to act up. – srand Apr 29 '11 at 20:15
I'm afraid you might be out of luck for the time being. This is a problem I've fought with for a long time as a gamer. I've used various applications to control the system volume with global hotkeys, and certain games just intercept those keys. I even went as far as writing my own app (fopedush.com/?page_id=50) to make sure keys were being bound at the win32 level, and still no love. A friend of mine is working on an open source project that might alleviate this problem, called "Kaptivate" (github.com/FunkyTownEnterprises/Kaptivate), but is it still far from completion. – Fopedush Apr 29 '11 at 20:28
It occurs to me that Fraps has always been very good at letting its hotkeys pass through to games... perhaps it would suit your purposes? – Fopedush May 2 '11 at 19:46
yeah, I was wondering about that: how is Fraps able to intercept keys in games so well – srand May 2 '11 at 22:36
Looks like some key combinations work, such as Windows+Spacebar, and some don't, such as Windows+A in games. I sort of had to fiddle around to find the right combination, but now it works. – srand May 4 '11 at 18:51
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What type of benchmarks? There are some applications which provide in-game overlays displaying FPS, CPU/GPU loads and temps, etc. I can't think of a specific app name right now... Although I know there was something that installed along with MSI Afterburner which worked well. Maybe it was RivaTuner?

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xperf, command line, runs in the background (no overlays) – srand May 4 '11 at 18:47
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