resuming broken in steam big picture mode #276

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1. NotProtonNot commented on Oct 31, 2026

   

   NotProtonNot

   on Oct 31, 2026

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   Does this occur with native macOS games? I think it does/is a Steam issue. Something I can work on, though.
2. rapheljr commented on Nov 2, 2026

   

   rapheljr

   on Nov 2, 2026

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   I investigated the disassembly of Steam's steamui.dylib (ActivateApplication) and steamclient.dylib (ActivateProcess), confirmed the exact root cause, and submitted PR #283 fixing this:

   Why this happens:

   • When clicking Resume Game, Steam invokes [NSRunningApplication runningApplicationWithProcessIdentifier:tracked_pid] activateWithOptions:NSApplicationActivateIgnoringOtherApps.
   • For native macOS games, Steam tracks the game's GUI application process directly, which has an NSRunningApplication, so window activation succeeds.
   • For NotProton games, Steam tracks the /bin/sh shell wrapper running compat_run.sh. Because /bin/sh is a non-GUI CLI process (not an application bundle), runningApplicationWithProcessIdentifier: returns nil.
   • Calling [nil activateWithOptions:2] silently returns NO. Steam closes Big Picture anyway, but WindowServer never brings the game forward, dropping focus to whatever inactive background application was behind Big Picture ("switching to the non-active application").

   Fix in #283:

   1. In dylib/hooks/hook_activate.c: hooks +[NSRunningApplication runningApplicationWithProcessIdentifier:] to resolve the child game PID via proc_listchildpids or the newest non-terminated com.notproton.launcher.* bundle in NSWorkspace.runningApplications.
   2. In overlay-shim/overlay_shim.m: dispatches [NSApp activateIgnoringOtherApps:YES] on the main thread inside Wine when the overlay deactivates (np_overlay_shim_set_active(0)).

   👍React with 👍1Reacted by NotProtonNot