CLaunch - Usage Tips

Information on new features, specific examples of settings, and usage precautions that are not described in the attached help file are posted here.

◆ How to register the store apps or the softwares that cannot be registered by Drag-and-Drop of a shortcut

There are some application shortcuts that cannot be registered properly even if they are dragged and dropped to the buttons. Microsoft Office shortcuts are a typical example. For those applications, register by the following procedure. This method can also be used when you cannot find the location of the program files, such as store apps.

  1. Start the application you want to register in advance.
  2. Right-click on the blank button in CLaunch and select "Register Item" from the menu.
  3. Click anywhere in the target application window.
  4. Confirm that the path name is entered in the "File / URL" field, and click the OK button.

◆ Measures to take when a problem occurs with game software

If CLaunch causes the games to not launch or reduces performance, the following setting changes may be the solution.

 For Ver. 4.10 or later:
  Open CLaunch Options and enable
  "Use low-level mouse hook" option in the Click tab.

 For Ver. 4.06 or earlier:
  Open CLaunch Options and enable
  "Set priority of click functions to high" option in the Click tab and
  "Set priority of circle functions to high" option in the Circle tab.

If the above setting changes do not improve the situation, use Unhook as described in the next section.

◆ Automate unhooking and rehooking

If the problem with the game software is not resolved by changing the settings described in the previous section, it may be resolved by unhook before launching the game.
For details of unhooking, please refer to the "Unhook'' section of the "Useful Features'' -> "Suspending the Functions" page in the attached help.
This section explains how to set up automatically unhook before launching a game, and resuming it after the game exits. However, this method requires that the game be launched from CLaunch.

  1. Display the properties of the button that registered the game and click the "Auto-Unhook Settings" button.
  2. Check "Unhook before launching this item".
  3. Check "Automatically resume the hook when the following program exits".

    * Do not check "Automatically resume the hook when the launched program exits".

  4. Enter the pathname of the main program of the game.

    * Many game software have a structure in which the main program of the game is launched via a dedicated launcher program, so it is not effective to monitor the execution status of the launcher program that is launched directly from CLaunch. The path name of the main program can be obtained by clicking the "Existing Windows" button after the game starts and selecting from the displayed list.

    For VALORANT:
    [Installed folder name]\Riot Games\VALORANT\live
    \ShooterGame\Binaries\Win64\VALORANT-Win64-Shipping.exe

  5. Click the OK button to confirm.

◆ Prevent showing CLaunch while specific programs are running

If you have trouble with CLaunch appearing unintentionally while playing a game or performing other operations, the following settings will help you. Note that this setting only disables the functions while maintaining the hooks, so it is not a solution to problems caused by the hooks.

  1. Start the application you want to disable CLaunch in advance.
  2. Display the "Disabling" tab in CLaunch Options and click the "Configure" button for "Settings to disable for specific applications".
  3. The "Settings to disable for specific applications" dialog box will be displayed, then select the blank line in the list at the top.
  4. Click the "Existing Windows" button on the right side at the lower part of the dialog box.
  5. The "Running Applications" dialog box will be displayed, and select the line for the target application, then click the OK button.
  6. Make sure that the File Name etc. are automatically entered, then click the OK button.

◆ Prevent showing CLaunch while the programs in a specific folder are running

If you find it troublesome to repeat the settings described in the previous section for each game, you can use the following setting method. This method requires that multiple games are installed together under a folder such as "C:\Games" or "D:\SteamLibrary\steamapps".

  1. Display the "Disabling" tab in CLaunch Options and click the "Configure" button for "Settings to disable for specific applications".
  2. The "Settings to disable for specific applications" dialog box will be displayed, then select the blank line in the list at the top.
  3. Enter the path name of the parent folder of the folder where each game is installed (such as C:\Games) to the "File Name" field at the lower part of the dialog box, then click the OK button.

◆ Narrow the target for "Action if the program is already running"
(Activate or Close).

If "Action if the program is already running" is selected to "Activate" or "Close" in the properties of program items, normally all windows created by that program will be target of the Activate or Close. However, you can narrow down the target window by setting advanced options.
Here, I will explain specific usage methods using an example environment in which Google Chrome browser and Chrome Remote Desktop are used together.
Both the Chrome browser and Remote Desktop are run by the "chrome.exe". So, if "Activate" is selected in the properties of the button to which the Chrome browser is registered, when that button is clicked while both the browser and remote desktop are running, both will be activated.
However, if you make the following additional settings, only the browser will be activated.

  1. In the properties of the button that registered the Chrome browser, select "Activate" for "Action if the program is already running" and click the "Advanced Options" button.
  2. At the bottom of the displayed "Advanced Options of Multiplex Launch" dialog box, select "Exclude windows that meet the following conditions" in "Filtering conditions for windows to activate".
  3. Enter "Remote Desktop" in the Window Title field and click the OK button.

On the other hand, Chrome Remote Desktop has a special configuration in which the program "chrome_proxy.exe" launched from CLaunch launches the program "chrome.exe" that is common to the browser. So, if you want to activate Remote Desktop with CLaunch, the following additional settings are required.

  1. In the properties of the button that registered the Chrome Remote Desktop, select "Activate" for "Action if the program is already running" and click the "Advanced Options" button.
  2. At the top of the displayed "Advanced Options of Multiplex Launch" dialog box, check "Change the operation target to the following program", and enter the path name
    "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe"
    to the input field.
  3. At the bottom of the dialog box, select "Limit to windows that meet the following conditions" in "Filtering conditions for windows to activate".
  4. Enter "Remote Desktop" in the Window Title field and click the OK button.

◆ Precautions when using in conjunction with a mouse gesture software

If you use the same mouse button for CLaunch and mouse gesture software, problems are likely to occur. For example, if you use the right button to start a mouse gesture, assigning a function to a right double-click on the CLaunch side will not work properly. MouseGestureL.ahk distributed on this site is no exception.

◆ Limitations of skins that use the alpha channel of the images

The attached skins "Glass" and "Solid Black" use the image's alpha channel for the transparency effect. All skins distributed on websites linked from this site also use alpha channels. These skins have the following restrictions.

If you select a skin that uses the alpha channels in an unsupported version or in an unsupported environment, the Classic skin will be forcibly selected.