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Let SFM multirun with other source games at the same time
By Thespikedballofdoom
Source game already running? bah, sfm is a tool... I'll run as many as I want...
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Thespikedballofdoom
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Languages: English
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31 Jul, 2024 @ 4:31am
24 Jun @ 3:26pm
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Overview
Better way discovered by anonym00se, try this workshop addon first. 
Just to make it run with TF2 
About running multiple of SFM in particular 
Comments
Better way discovered by anonym00se, try this workshop addon first.
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3481598701

Or,

Hex edit launcher.dll
00 00 83 CB FF E8 D6 D9 FF FF 84 C0 75 D3 FF D6

to
00 00 83 CB FF 90 90 90 90 90 84 C0 EB D3 FF D6

"This skips mutex from even being created, and skips the check for it, no need for -multirun or .bat launchers. So you can just run multiple SFMs without any extra steps."

Thanks to anonym00se for showing this in the sfm 'cord.
Just to make it run with TF2
Nevermind this section really, you can just add -multirun to TF2 or most games to make it work. You have to launch that game first though. Below is now just left for reference and cases where -multirun is impossible.

The main reason you'd want to do this is if you were integrating your SFM workflow with TF2 and HLAE, and exporting between the two when you can only have one open at a time can be annoying.

anyways go to Sourcefilmmaker/game/bin and open launcher.dll in a text editor like notepad++.
Go to line 764 column 1421. SFM is never updating so we can pretty much garuntee it will be there.

Change hl2_singleton_mutex to hl2_bingleton_mutex. Or something else that isn't hl2_singleton_mutex. But leave the characters to the sides of this string alone.

"And don't forget to hit CTRL+S to save your work."
About running multiple of SFM in particular
So this is more programming heavy which I don't understand well enough to meaningfully explain, but basically SFM creates this thing called a mutex which is I think a process handle that it tries to take when launcher.dll spawns SFM in. If it can't get hl2_singleton_mutex, it assumes there is another instance of source running and refuses to launch.[github.com]

There's a mutex-killing tool aptly named MutexKill[web.archive.org] by Robert Sacks.
The working download is here, [mojoware.org] or here, saved by the ever-holy internet archive.[web.archive.org](32-bit)[web.archive.org]
I'm not sure why his site was down but it seems up, for now...

I would only do this after you've done the above step, otherwise VAC might get suspicious that you're doing strange things to the EXE while it's running if you accidentally run this without the -insecure launch option. If you type it correctly here it should only search for bingleton anyway.

Write a bat file in sourcefilmmaker/game.
start "" "sfm.exe" -your -standard -launch -options -like -sfm_resolution 2160 Timeout /T 5 REM wait for launch REM Don't forget to put the correct path to KillMutex_64 below. "C:\Program Files\MutexKiller\KillMutex_64.exe" "\Sessions\1\BaseNamedObjects\hl2_bingleton_mutex"
From now on, whenever you wanna multirun SFM, use this .bat file to launch it.

I think this is the best way if you want to multirun SFM, even though now you have to launch it from a bat file. If you want to get the convenience of library launching it, simply add a non steam game and choose the .bat file. It should turn into a monitor icon on Windows 10 if you did it right.
You'll need to allow any file type to show it.



14 Comments
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Glue addicted slugcat 24 Feb @ 2:20pm 
Ah, alright, found out how to do it
Kind of annoying that it's all just a jumbled mess, really confusing
Thanks ^^
Thespikedballofdoom  [author] 24 Feb @ 2:14pm 
It is a jumbled mess. It's machine code
Glue addicted slugcat 24 Feb @ 2:13pm 
launcher.dll just shows up as a jumbled mess when opening with Notepad++, any fix for this?
Harlequin 5 Sep, 2024 @ 4:21am 
Ah. Yeah, it doesn't work for SFM itself, but it does work on other Source apps. So you can multibox them with SFM at least. Multiboxing SFM instances still requires the edits you've provided, however.
Thespikedballofdoom  [author] 5 Sep, 2024 @ 4:20am 
Ok, it actually does hint at doing it this way, but it would really have helped if it just said SFM doesn't support it. I just try it, see it doesn't work and write a guide about it not knowing.
Thespikedballofdoom  [author] 5 Sep, 2024 @ 4:17am 
I'm not being sarcastic! I had no clue! The vdc doesn't make this even the least bit clear
Harlequin 5 Sep, 2024 @ 4:15am 
There's no need to be sarcastic, I'm just clarifying.
Thespikedballofdoom  [author] 5 Sep, 2024 @ 3:51am 
Holy shit. Why does no wiki page ever mention this?!
Harlequin 5 Sep, 2024 @ 3:48am 
-multirun DOES work to enable you to run other Source games such as GMod or TF2 or HL2 etc, but it does not enable you to run multiple SFM instances at once - which this guide is still very valuable for. You need to put -multirun in the launch option of the other program though, it doesn't work in SFM's launch options.
Sanches 3 Sep, 2024 @ 3:31am 
interloper guide