Auto Pause/Resume script for providing console grade experience with Apollo

pause.ahk

#Requires AutoHotkey v2.0
#SingleInstance Force
DetectHiddenWindows true

; Globals to manage the suspend/resume state
global IsProcessSuspended := false
global IsProcessResumed   := false

LockFile := A_Temp "\AutoPauseResume.lock"

; Ensure we clean up on script exit:
OnExit(Cleanup)

; Check if the lock file exists before deleting it
if FileExist(LockFile)
	FileDelete(LockFile)

; --------------------------------------------------------------------------
; 1) Define excluded processes as a map (key-value)
;    - The key is the process name in lowercase, mapped to `true`.
; --------------------------------------------------------------------------
excludedProcesses := Map()
excludedProcesses["explorer.exe"] := true
excludedProcesses["csrss.exe"]    := true
excludedProcesses["winlogon.exe"] := true
excludedProcesses["svchost.exe"]  := true
excludedProcesses["dwm.exe"]      := true
excludedProcesses["cmd.exe"]      := true
excludedProcesses["chrome.exe"]   := true
excludedProcesses["powershell.exe"]      := true
excludedProcesses["sublime_text.exe"]    := true
excludedProcesses["sublime_merge.exe"]   := true
excludedProcesses["steamwebhelper.exe"]  := true
excludedProcesses["openconsole.exe"]     := true
excludedProcesses["windowsterminal.exe"] := true
excludedProcesses["playnite.desktopapp.exe"]    := true
excludedProcesses["playnite.fullscreenapp.exe"] := true


; --------------------------------------------------------------------------
; 2) Get the active window's PID & Process Name, confirm it's not excluded
; --------------------------------------------------------------------------
if !WinExist("A")
{
	MsgBox "No active window detected. Please focus a window to suspend."
	ExitApp
}

pid := WinGetPID("A")
if !pid
{
	MsgBox "Failed to get the active window's PID."
	ExitApp
}

processName := WinGetProcessName()
if !processName
{
	MsgBox "Failed to retrieve the active window's process name."
	ExitApp
}

; Convert the process name to lowercase for case-insensitive matching
procLower := StrLower(processName)

; Check if `excludedProcesses` has this process in its keys, and if the value is true
if excludedProcesses.Has(procLower) && excludedProcesses[procLower]
{
	; Excluded process, so do nothing and exit.
	ExitApp
}

; --------------------------------------------------------------------------
; 3) Suspend the process & start checking for the lock file in a timer
; --------------------------------------------------------------------------
SuspendProcess(pid)
IsProcessSuspended := true  ; Mark that we have indeed suspended a process

; Optional: show a short tooltip or do a quick beep instead of a MsgBox
; MsgBox "Process '" processName "' (PID: " pid ") suspended. Waiting for lock file..."

SetTimer(CheckLockFile, 500)  ; check the lock file every 500 ms
return

; --------------------------------------------------------------------------
CheckLockFile(*)
{
	global LockFile, pid, processName, IsProcessResumed
	if FileExist(LockFile)
	{
		ResumeProcess(pid)
		IsProcessResumed := true

		; MsgBox "Process '" processName "' (PID: " pid ") resumed. Exiting."
		FileDelete(LockFile)
		ExitApp
	}
}

; --------------------------------------------------------------------------
SuspendProcess(pid)
{
	PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS := 0x1F0FFF
	hProc := DllCall("OpenProcess", "UInt", PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS, "Int", 0, "UInt", pid, "Ptr")
	if !hProc
	{
		MsgBox "Failed to open process (PID: " pid ")."
		ExitApp
	}

	hNtdll := DllCall("GetModuleHandle", "Str", "ntdll.dll", "Ptr")
	if !hNtdll
	{
		MsgBox "Failed to get module handle for ntdll.dll."
		ExitApp
	}

	NtSuspendProcess := DllCall("GetProcAddress", "Ptr", hNtdll, "AStr", "NtSuspendProcess", "Ptr")
	if !NtSuspendProcess
	{
		MsgBox "Failed to locate NtSuspendProcess in ntdll.dll."
		ExitApp
	}

	DllCall(NtSuspendProcess, "Ptr", hProc)
	DllCall("CloseHandle", "Ptr", hProc)
}

; --------------------------------------------------------------------------
ResumeProcess(pid)
{
	PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS := 0x1F0FFF
	hProc := DllCall("OpenProcess", "UInt", PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS, "Int", 0, "UInt", pid, "Ptr")
	if !hProc
	{
		; Process may no longer exist, don't do anything.
		; MsgBox "Failed to open process (PID: " pid ")."
		ExitApp
	}

	hNtdll := DllCall("GetModuleHandle", "Str", "ntdll.dll", "Ptr")
	if !hNtdll
	{
		MsgBox "Failed to get module handle for ntdll.dll."
		ExitApp
	}

	NtResumeProcess := DllCall("GetProcAddress", "Ptr", hNtdll, "AStr", "NtResumeProcess", "Ptr")
	if !NtResumeProcess
	{
		MsgBox "Failed to locate NtResumeProcess in ntdll.dll."
		ExitApp
	}

	DllCall(NtResumeProcess, "Ptr", hProc)
	DllCall("CloseHandle", "Ptr", hProc)
}

; --------------------------------------------------------------------------
; Automatically resume the process if the user manually exits the script
; or the script ends unexpectedly.
; --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cleanup(exitReason, exitCode)
{
	global pid, IsProcessSuspended, IsProcessResumed
	; If the process was suspended and hasn't been resumed via the lock file,
	; auto-resume it here.
	if IsProcessSuspended && !IsProcessResumed
	{
		ResumeProcess(pid)
	}
}

resume.ahk

#Requires AutoHotkey v2.0
#SingleInstance Force

LockFile := A_Temp "\AutoPauseResume.lock"

; Simply create the lock file and exit
FileAppend("", LockFile)
ExitApp

Does this work if I use apollo to run steam big picture and launch the games from there? Not sure if the child processes will also get suspended

Yes, it fetches the currently focused window each time it tries to pause, so no matter how the game is started it'll always pause the frontmost one.

this script has been amazing! I appreciate how simple it is.
Perhaps you know better than me, is there a way to tell the host machine to allow sleep/hibernate while the game is suspended?

edit: I played with this for a few hours to see if I can get the host machine to suspend. I initially thought it it had to do with the timer in the script. I tried rewriting it to not rely on the timer, but it still won't permit sleep/hybernate. now I think it has to do with the steam audio driver Steam Streaming Microphone, but I'm not sure what to do about that.

edit #2:
during gameplay the audio driver is Steam Streaming Speaker, but on suspend, it is replaced by Steam Streaming Microphone. I still strongly suspect this is the reason it prevents host PC from sleep/hibernate. I still have no clue how to disable this on session pause.