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Disable Screen Saver while running Big Box


Spyral

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Not sure if this is a noob issue or a feature request. I'm really loving Attract Mode on Big Box, but after 15 mins of attract mode my screensaver kicks in and ruins the experience.

I certainly know how to disable the screensaver permanently, but what about having Big Box disable the screensaver while it is running?

Thanks!

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Depending on your monitor, a screensaver isn't necessary. I'd imagine attract mode sort of works like a screensaver anyway even on CRT monitors (but don't quote me on that). I don't think there is a way to implement this through launchbox, but it is possible through Windows.  A quick google search brought up a bunch of results. 

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Actually, I think that's partially why attract mode was implemented. It does two jobs, attract the user and act as a screensaver for a CRT that's on for 8+ hours a day.

If there isn't a request for this though at our BitBucket, feel free to request it by clicking Issues/Requests at the top. If it does exist though, please vote on that ticket first.

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7 hours ago, Spyral said:

Not sure if this is a noob issue or a feature request. I'm really loving Attract Mode on Big Box, but after 15 mins of attract mode my screensaver kicks in and ruins the experience.

I certainly know how to disable the screensaver permanently, but what about having Big Box disable the screensaver while it is running?

Thanks!

Use Caffeine: http://www.zhornsoftware.co.uk/caffeine/

You can start/stop it with a simple Autohotkey script/batch file when you start a game.

 

Edited by Crush
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So Caffeine is a great idea, but I don't need it to run when a game starts, as I run 99% of my games though RetroArch and it already has a setting to suspend the screensaver. I suppose I could run an AHK script to enable Caffeine, launch Big Box, and then disable Caffeine when I close Big Box.  I always sucked at triggering that kind of thing in AHK, though.

The problem is that i run Big Box on a laptop which is not used only for gaming.  I want the screensaver to behave normally when browsing the web and email, but then have it keep the screen on when Big Box is running.  Programs like RetroArch and even YouTube.com can keep the screen alive, so it should be possible for Big Box, right?

I also hadn't considered fromlostdays's point that my laptop LCD wouldn't need a screensaver.  But all the same, without a screensaver the laptop screen would still turn off after a predetermined time. I don't want my screen staying on all night in case i forget to shut it off. Just keep the screen on while playing Big Box.

I suppose I'm in the minority so using an AHK script with Caffeine would be my best bet.

EDIT:  So Caffeine works to stop the screensaver, but with a caveat: it does this by sending a simulated keypress every 59 seconds.  This keypress interrupts the screensaver timeout, but it also interferes and cancels out Attract Mode.  Oh well.

Edited by Spyral
decaffeinated
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If Attract mode depends on your PC being idle, then Caffeine will also disable it since it sends a keystroke. You can change the time to activate it, or temporarily disable it or make it exit after a specific amount of time using the command line parameters listed in the program's web site.

 

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