hax11

Hackbrary to Hook and Augment X11 protocol calls.

Allows customizing the behavior of and fix common annoyances of X11 applications:

• exclusively grabbing the mouse or keyboard
• forcibly pausing the game when the window loses focus
• forcibly changing the screen resolution
• not restricting the mouse cursor to its window/monitor

Additionally, attempts to fix game and full-screen application issues on Linux, such as:

• starting on the wrong monitor
• spanning too many monitors
• spanning one half of a tiled (MST) monitor (such as some 4K/5K/8K monitors)
• refusing to allow selecting a desired resolution

See the configuration section for more details.

Building

Build the library:

$ make

The Makefile assumes you have a 64-bit system. You will need gcc-multilib to build the 32-bit version.

Usage

To try this library, build this library as above, then in the same directory, run the following in a shell:

$ export LD_PRELOAD=`pwd`/\$LIB/hax11.so

Then, from the same shell session, start the desired game or application.

To temporarily disable hax11, unset LD_PRELOAD before running a program, e.g.:

$ LD_PRELOAD= xrandr

Configuration

By default, this library will not do anything.

For every application using the affected API, it will create an empty configuration file under $HOME/.config/hax11/profiles/. Each file corresponds to one program, and will be named after the program executable's absolute path, but with forward slashes / substituted with backslashes \.

Additionally, a default configuration file (in the same directory as above) will be loaded before the program's.

The syntax is one Name=Value pair per line.

Supported configuration options:

Name	Values	Description
Enable	0/1	Boolean - Intercept the X11 connection (required for any other settings to have any effect)
JoinMST	0/1	Boolean - For monitors which present each half as one MST panel, join them and present them as one monitor to the application
MaskOtherMonitors	0/1	Boolean - Whether to hide the presence of other monitors from the application
ResizeWindows	0/1	Boolean - Whether to forcibly change the size of windows whose width is equal to DesktopW
ResizeAll	0/1	Boolean - Resize (stretch) all windows, not just those matching the size of one MST panel
MoveWindows	0/1	Boolean - Whether to forcibly move windows created at (0,0) to the primary monitor
Fork	0/1	Boolean - Move processing to a separate forked process.
FilterFocus	0/1	Boolean - Filter out FocusOut events, making games think they always have focus.
NoMouseGrab	0/1	Boolean - Filter out GrabPointer requests, preventing games from exclusively grabbing the mouse pointer.
NoKeyboardGrab	0/1	Boolean - Filter out GrabKeyboard requests, preventing games from exclusively grabbing the keyboard, and thus disabling global hotkeys.
ConfineMouse	0/1	Boolean - Confine the mouse to the program's window while it is focused. Focus must then be changed with the keyboard.
NoPrimarySelection	0/1	Boolean - Disable getting (pasting) or setting (copying) the PRIMARY X selection (usually done by middle clicks).
NoResolutionChange	0/1	Boolean - Disable setting screen resolution.
NoMinSize	0/1	Boolean - Disable minimum window size restriction.
NoMaxSize	0/1	Boolean - Disable maximum window size restriction.
MainX/Y	Integer	The X11 coordinates of your primary monitor (or left-top-most monitor to be used for games)
MainW/H	Integer	The resolution of your primary monitor (or total resolution of monitors to be used for games)
DesktopW/H	Integer	The resolution of your desktop (all monitors combined)
Debug	Integer	Log level - Non-zero enables debugging output to stderr and /tmp/hax11.log
MSTnX/Y/W/H	Integer	Coordinates and sizes of additional MST monitors (n can be 2, 3 or 4).
MapK/Binteger	Key	Map keys or buttons - see below

Beware that your window manager and shell use the same APIs, thus having other options enabled for such programs may make other monitors unusable.

A sensible configuration is to have JoinMST=1 and the Main* / Desktop* settings in the default profile, and per-game settings in their executables' profiles.

Example

Here is an example configuration for a two-monitor system. On the left is a 1920x1200 monitor; on the right, a 4K monitor which presents itself as two 1920x2160 panels. The goal is to have games running full-screen on the 4K monitor.

In ~/.config/hax11/profiles/default:

JoinMST=1

# Top-left coordinate of your main (4K) screen
MainX=1920
MainY=0

# Width and height of the 4K screen
MainW=3840
MainH=2160

Then, in ~/.config/hax11/profiles/path\to\game\binary:

Enable=1

# If this is insufficient, you can also try:
# ResizeWindows=1
# MoveWindows=1
# ResizeAll=1
# Check the status section for example configurations for some games.

Key / button mapping

You can map a key or mouse button to one or more keys / mouse buttons using configuration lines in the form Map ( K | B ) integer = ( K | B ) integer. The integer is the key or button code, and can be found using e.g. the xev utility. Defining the same key or button on the left side of = allows mapping it to multiple keys / buttons. The original key / button event is suppressed. To include it, map the key / button to itself.

Example - reverse the Left and Right arrow keys:

MapK113=K114
MapK114=K113

Example - making the left mouse button click also generate an F4 key press (in addition to sending itself):

MapB1=B1
MapB1=K70

Installation

You can install this library system-wide, so that it is loaded into all applications on start-up.

Warning! This project may or may not be compatible with your system. Installing this library system-wide may put your system into an unusable state. Before installation, make sure you're capable of uninstalling this library if X, your desktop environment, etc. refuses to start.

This will install the libraries under /usr/local/lib{32,64}, and a script under /etc/profile.d:

$ make install

Log out and back in (or reboot) to apply the hack to all applications.

Status

The following table represents the results of testing this library on the author's machine, consisting of a 1920x1200 monitor at (0,0), and a 4K monitor in MST mode (thus presenting itself as two 1920x2160 panels) at (1920,0). The 4K monitor is the primary one.

The desired result (and solution listed to achieve said result) is to launch the game in full-screen on the 4K monitor, at 4K resolution if the game supports it.

Game	Status
10,000,000	Works (MoveWindows + ResizeWindows)
140	Works (Unity - MoveWindows)
3089	Java. Resolution selector is completely broken, throws NullPointerException
Adventures of Shuggy	Works (not needed)
And Yet It Moves	Works (MoveWindows + ResizeWindows, then set <Resolution>...</Resolution> in ~/.Broken Rules/And Yet It Moves/common/commonConfig.xml)
Anodyne	Adobe Air version doesn't start (exits with code 5); standalone (.swf) version can't get past the calibration screen
Antichamber	Works (not needed)
Aquaria (Steam)	Works (ResizeWindows, then set resx and resy in ~/.Aquaria/preferences/usersettings.xml)
Aquaria (tarball)	Works (as above)
Avadon: The Black Fortress	Works (MoveWindows + ResizeWindows)
Bad Hotel	Works (ResizeWindows + ResizeAll)
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth	Works (not needed)
BIT.TRIP RUNNER	Does not actually have a Linux port on Steam
Blueberry Garden	Works (ResizeWindows)
Bridge Constructor Playground	Works (Unity - MoveWindows)
Card City Nights	Works (Unity - MoveWindows)
Crimsonland	Works (ResizeWindows, then change the resolution)
Darwinia	Works (MoveWindows + ResizeWindows, change the resolution to fix AR)
DEFCON	Works (MoveWindows + ResizeWindows, then change the resolution)
Dota 2	Works (ResizeWindows + "Use my monitor's current resolution")
Dungeons of Dredmor	Works (MoveWindows + ResizeWindows, set resolution in the launcher)
Dust: An Elysian Tail	Works (ResizeWindows, then change the resolution)
Dynamite Jack	Works (MoveWindows + ResizeWindows, then change the resolution)
Escape Goat	Works (ResizeWindows + ResizeAll)
Eversion	Works (not needed)
Faerie Solitaire [Beta]	Works (ResizeWindows)
Garry's Mod	Works (Source - ResizeWindows, then change the resolution)
Gigantic Army	Works (not needed)
Gone Home	Doesn't start at all on my machine
Guacamelee! Gold Edition	Works (ResizeWindows, then change the resolution)
Half-Life 2: Deathmatch	Works (Source - ResizeWindows, then change the resolution)
Heavy Bullets	Works (not needed)
Hexcells	Works (Unity - MoveWindows)
HyperRogue	Works (MoveWindows + ResizeWindows, then set the resolution on the first line of ~/.hyperrogue.ini)
Intrusion 2	Works (not needed)
Jazzpunk	Works (MoveWindows)
Lugaru HD	Works (ResizeWindows, then set the resolution in ~/.lugaru/Data/config.txt)
Lume	Works (ResizeWindows, then Ctrl+F to exit full screen, drag to correct monitor, Ctrl+F to enter full screen)
The Magic Circle	Works (MoveWindows)
Multiwinia	Crashes after the splash screen on my machine
Osmos	Works (not needed)
Outlast	Works (ResizeWindows, then change the resolution)
Papers, Please	Works (not needed)
Perfection.	TODO - Queries resolution via proprietary NVIDIA protocol extension
Psychonauts	Works (MoveWindows + ResizeWindows, then set the resolution on the first line of $XDG_DATA_HOME/Psychonauts/DisplaySettings.ini)
Quest of Dungeons	Works (ResizeWindows)
Risk of Rain	Works (not needed)
Satazius	Works (not needed)
Shatter	Works (ResizeWindows)
Sigils of Elohim	Doesn't seem to have a full-screen mode. Works otherwise
Snuggle Truck	Works (Unity - MoveWindows)
Soul Axiom	Works (Unity - MoveWindows)
Starbound	Works (MoveWindows + ResizeWindows)
Sunless Sea	Works (MoveWindows + ResizeWindows + ResizeAll, then set the resolution to 1920x1080)
Super Hexagon	Works (MoveWindows + ResizeWindows)
Superfrog HD	TODO - Wrong scaling
Teleglitch: DME	Works (not needed)
Terraria	Works (not needed)
Teslagrad	Works (Unity - MoveWindows)
They Bleed Pixels	Works (ResizeWindows)
Tiki Man	Works (Unity - MoveWindows)
TIS-100	Works (MoveWindows)
Uplink	Works (MoveWindows + ResizeWindows + ResizeAll)
Voxatron	Works (ResizeWindows), though the KDE panel remains on top for some reason.
VVVVVV	Works (not needed)
World of Goo	Works (MoveWindows + ResizeWindows, then copy .../World of Goo/properties/config.txt to ~/.WorldOfGoo/config.txt and set screen_width/screen_height)