Files
CoopAllTheThings/README.md
BlackMark 90f40ae479 Audio: operator re-measure + format override (host<->hook op channel)
Add a per-stream op channel in AudioRingHeader (op_seq + op_* fields, version
2): the host posts re-measure / override commands, the hook applies them and
re-publishes (bumping format_generation), and the host rebuilds its render
client live on the change. The Audio panel (under Debug details) gains a
"Re-measure rate" button and a rate/channels/bit-depth/format override -- for
when detection is wrong or the channels/bit-depth were unrecoverable.

Also add a debug-only IPC test harness (-DCOOP_TEST_HARNESS, off by default,
absent from the shipped host): a file-based command channel that drives the
host's real UI code paths (inject / audio / re-measure / override / screenshot
/ status) for scripted validation, instead of unreliable synthetic mouse input.
Used to validate live: late-attach to coop_tone@44100 -> measured 44100,
promoted to hooked; override -> 2ch state, re-measure -> reconverge.

Trim the README roadmap to what's left; document the harness + rate_estimator_test.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-06-22 01:46:59 +02:00

403 lines
26 KiB
Markdown

# CoopAllTheThings
Steam **Remote Play Together (RPT)** for any XInput game — without breaking DRM,
achievements, or playtime.
Existing "donor game" tools (e.g. RemotePlayWhatever) copy a target game's files
into a donor game's folder and rename the executable so Steam streams the target
under the donor's appid. That breaks DRM-protected games, breaks achievements,
and credits playtime to the donor.
CoopAllTheThings takes a different approach: the **real game runs normally under
its own appid** (so DRM, achievements, and playtime all work), while a lightweight
**mirror app runs under the donor appid**. The mirror presents a borderless
window that is a live copy of the game's video + audio, and forwards the guests'
input back into the real game. Steam's RPT captures the mirror window — so any
XInput game becomes Remote-Play-Together-able.
The end-to-end path is working: launched under a donor appid, the host streams a
live video + audio mirror of a separately-running game over Remote Play Together
and forwards guest controllers back into it.
## Architecture
| Concern | Mechanism | Component |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Receive guest input | XInput (RPT delivers guest pads to the focused window); optional, opt-in Steam Input when built with the Steamworks SDK | `coop_host.exe` |
| Forward input to game | DLL injection + XInput hook (SafetyHook) — game sees *only* our pad | `coop_hook.dll` |
| Forward mouse + keyboard | Opt-in MKB subsystem: host streams its window's clicks/keys, the hook posts the matching window messages and synthesizes `GetAsyncKeyState`/`GetKeyboardState`/`GetCursorPos` for polling games | `coop_hook.dll` + `coop_host.exe` |
| Keep game running unfocused | Hook spoofs focus so the game polls while the host holds OS focus | `coop_hook.dll` |
| Mirror video (default) | Windows Graphics Capture of the game window, letterboxed into the host window | `coop_host.exe` |
| Mirror video (hooked) | Injected Present / OpenGL hook copies the backbuffer into a shared keyed-mutex texture the host samples (lower latency, no capture border) | `coop_hook.dll` + `coop_host.exe` |
| Mirror audio | Injected render-hook copies each of the game's WASAPI render streams into its own shared ring and silences the game locally (no echo); the host mixes the streams (soft-clipped); WASAPI process loopback is the automatic fallback | `coop_hook.dll` + `coop_host.exe` |
| Host ↔ hook IPC | Named shared memory (seqlock for input, status back-channel, video/audio/log shares) | `common/` |
The hooked video path has two producers: **Direct3D (DXGI)** hooks
`IDXGISwapChain::Present` / `Present1` and copies the backbuffer — directly for
D3D10/11 games (the backbuffer is an `ID3D11Texture2D`), and via a **D3D11On12
bridge** for D3D12 games (wrap the `ID3D12Resource` backbuffer, `CopyResource` into
the shared texture); **OpenGL** hooks `SwapBuffers` / `wglSwapBuffers` and reads the
backbuffer with `glReadPixels` (for games that never touch DXGI, e.g. Phantom
Brave). The host samples the copy as plain UNORM (`srgb_to_unorm`) so
`*_SRGB`-backbuffer games mirror at correct brightness. **WGC remains the default**
and covers anything the hooked path doesn't (Vulkan, D3D9 — see Roadmap).
## Limitations
- **Anti-cheat:** the input path injects `coop_hook.dll` into the target game.
Games protected by kernel-level anti-cheat (Easy Anti-Cheat, BattlEye,
Vanguard, etc.) will detect the injected module and may **kick the player or
issue a ban**. Such games are explicitly **out of scope and unsupported** — do
not use CoopAllTheThings with them. The tool targets single-player and
co-op/local-multiplayer titles without active anti-cheat.
- **XInput only:** the game must read controllers via XInput (the common case).
DirectInput-only / RawInput-only games are not handled.
- **32-bit games supported via a helper:** the host is x64, but the build also
produces an x86 hook DLL (`coop_hook_x86.dll`) and a 32-bit injector helper
(`coop_inject_x86.exe`). When the target is a 32-bit (WOW64) process the host
detects it (`IsWow64Process2`) and shells out to the helper to load the x86 DLL
(a 64-bit process can't cleanly inject a 32-bit one). The shared-memory IPC is
fixed-width / bitness-stable, so the x64 host and x86 hook interoperate.
- **Local audio echo on the fallback path:** when the render-hook is active it
silences the game's local playback while mirroring it, so there is no echo. If
the hook can't attach or the game uses an unhooked render path, the host falls
back to process-loopback capture, which does *not* mute the game — so the local
machine hears the audio twice (guests hear it once). The Audio panel shows which
path is active.
- **Hooked audio can only recover a pre-existing stream's *sample rate*, not its
channels/bit-depth.** The tool injects into an already-running game, so the audio
render-hook usually never saw the game's `IAudioClient::Initialize`. It recovers the
true **sample rate** by measuring the render cadence (so playback pitch is correct,
e.g. Godot/Brotato's 44100 Hz on a 48000 Hz endpoint), but **channels and bit-depth
can't be detected** — with `AUTOCONVERTPCM` `GetBuffer` returns a fixed staging
buffer (no buffer stride to measure) and WASAPI exposes no API for a pre-existing
client's format — so they're *assumed* to match the device mix format. That's correct
for the common case (engines render stereo float, matching the endpoint, differing
only in rate). A game rendering a *different* channel count or bit depth than the
device would be mirrored with the wrong layout (garbled audio) on the hooked path —
but never an over-read/crash (a `VirtualQuery` clamp guards the copy), and the
loopback fallback is always format-correct. The Audio panel shows each stream's
format provenance (*known* / *measuring* / *measured rate* / *low-confidence* /
*override*) so the assumption is visible, and (under Debug details) lets the operator
**re-measure** the rate or **override** the format when the guess is wrong. Streams
created *after* injection are captured exactly.
- **Debug-oriented UI:** the ImGui overlay is laid out for diagnosing the
pipeline, not for end use. F1 hides it entirely so the window is a clean mirror
for RPT; F2 frees the operator cursor; **F10 saves a PNG screenshot** (back buffer,
written next to the exe) regardless of window focus or occlusion.
## Roadmap
### Planned (next up)
- **Per-game persisted audio overrides + auto-learn.** The Audio panel already lets
the operator re-measure or override a stream's format (Debug details → *Fix the
primary stream*), but the override is session-only. Persist overrides **keyed by game
image name** to a small store next to the exe so a known-bad game is auto-corrected on
its next launch, and **auto-save a format caught exactly at `IAudioClient::Initialize`
as that game's override** (ground truth) so a later late-attach is corrected
automatically. If a caught format overwrites a stored override that *differs*, log a
warning.
- **Auto re-attach the same game on relaunch (session-only).** A checkbox on the
attached (or just-terminated) target, default off, *not* persisted, **always visible**
(it's the recommended recovery path, not a diagnostic). While on and the target has
terminated, the host watches the process list for the same image name and injects the
moment it reappears — built on the existing re-attach-by-image-name path, so there's no
target to type. Workflow: if audio came out wrong (late attach forced the guess), tick
the box, kill and relaunch the game, and the host re-attaches *early* — early enough to
catch `IAudioClient::Initialize` and read the exact format. A dependable fallback, not
the intended primary path (hardened first-launch detection should get it right anyway).
- **Mock game + stress-test suite.** A bare-bones test game that renders an animated
(non-static) pattern — so dropped/duplicated/torn frames are obvious — with a
selectable graphics backend (DX11/DX12 now; structured to add OpenGL/Vulkan) and a
configurable audio output (rate/channels/bit-depth/format, like `coop_tone`). Then a
comprehensive suite that drives it through the real capture + audio + hook paths:
verify both capture backends, every audio variant, hook/unhook cycles, and that
nothing races or crashes under stress.
### Future work
- **Vulkan video hook.** Vulkan games present via `vkQueuePresentKHR`; hooking
them needs a Vulkan layer / device-dispatch hook plus a `vkCmdCopyImage` to a
readable image. Use WGC in the meantime.
- **D3D9 hooked path.** Covered by WGC today; a dedicated `IDirect3DDevice9::Present`
hook would be the lower-latency upgrade.
- **Mouse + keyboard forwarding for Raw Input / DirectInput games.** The MKB
subsystem forwards via window messages (`PostMessage`) plus synthesized
`GetAsyncKeyState` / `GetKeyboardState` / `GetCursorPos`, which covers message-loop
and polling games. Games that read keyboard/mouse via **Raw Input** (`WM_INPUT` /
`GetRawInputData`, e.g. Trails through Daybreak) or **DirectInput**
(`IDirectInputDevice8::GetDeviceState/GetDeviceData`) don't see it. Add hooks for
those paths to synthesize the forwarded input there too.
## Building
Requirements: Windows 10/11, Visual Studio 2022 (MSVC + C++ workload), CMake ≥ 3.21.
```sh
git clone --recurse-submodules <repo-url>
# or, if already cloned:
git submodule update --init --recursive
cmake -S . -B build -G "Visual Studio 17 2022" -A x64
cmake --build build --config Debug
# output: bin/Debug/coop_host.exe (+ coop_hook.dll, test exes)
```
The x64 build also drives a nested Win32 sub-build (CMake `ExternalProject`,
configured into `build/x86/`) that produces `coop_hook_x86.dll` and
`coop_inject_x86.exe` for 32-bit games, staged next to the x64 binaries. Disable
it with `-DCOOP_BUILD_X86_HELPER=OFF` if you don't need 32-bit support.
Third-party dependencies (Dear ImGui, SafetyHook) are git submodules under
`third_party/`. No vcpkg / package manager is used.
**Steam Input is optional.** It's enabled automatically when the Steamworks SDK is
vendored at `third_party/steamworks_sdk/` (extract the `steamworks_sdk_*.zip`
there). The SDK isn't redistributable, so it's gitignored and never committed; if
it's absent the host builds XInput-only (no other features depend on it). When
present, the build links `steam_api64.lib`, stages `steam_api64.dll` and the
action manifest next to the host, and also builds `coop_steam_input_probe`.
Steam Input is **off by default and XInput is the primary path**: merely
initializing Steam Input activates Steam's in-process XInput interception, which
hides controllers from XInput unless they're bound to our action set for the
running appid. Enable it (Controllers panel → **Use Steam Input**) only once a
controller is bound to Steam Input for the donor appid.
### clangd / IDE setup
The Visual Studio CMake generator does **not** emit `compile_commands.json`, so
clangd has no include paths and reports false errors. Run
[`gen-compile-commands.bat`](gen-compile-commands.bat) once (and after adding
sources or include dirs); it configures a parallel Ninja build in `build-clangd/`
that produces the database, which [`.clangd`](.clangd) points clangd at. clangd's
clang-cl driver resolves the MSVC / Windows SDK system includes on its own.
## Tests
```sh
ctest --test-dir build -C Debug --output-on-failure
```
- **`hook_selftest`** — in-process check of the IPC + XInput hook core (no game,
no controller needed).
- **`audio_ring_test`** — unit test of the shared audio ring (lock-free SPSC
push/pop, wrap-around, format handshake, overrun/drop). No device needed.
- **`audio_mix_test`** — unit test of the multi-stream mixer math (decode / sum /
soft-clip / encode for float32 + int16). No device needed.
- **`rate_estimator_test`** — unit test of the robust sample-rate estimator (the fix for
the wrong-rate bug). Feeds synthetic, adversarial render cadences and asserts it
converges to the right standard rate, rejects burst windows (never commits to a wrong
neighbour, incl. the real 46205 misread), flags a genuinely non-standard rate
low-confidence instead of spinning, and ignores idle windows. Pure logic, no device.
- **`audio_hook_test`** — in-process self-test of the WASAPI render-hook's **format
detection**, the part that gets pitch right. Using a shared configurable
`ToneSource` (the same render helper `coop_tone` uses), it renders tones at a matrix
of common formats (44100/48000/96000 Hz, mono/stereo/5.1, 16-bit PCM / 32-bit float)
and asserts the hook reports the right rate/channels/bits + provenance for **both**
code paths: **see-init** (hooks installed first → exact `Initialize` format) and
**guess** (render client pre-exists → device-mix guess whose true rate is measured
from the cadence, the Brotato/Godot case). Also checks the frames reached the ring
non-silent. Skips cleanly with no audio endpoint.
- **`srgb_format_test`** — unit test of the `srgb_to_unorm` mapping the hooked
video path uses so `*_SRGB`-backbuffer games aren't darkened. No device.
- **`opengl_hook_test`** — in-process self-test of the OpenGL capture path:
installs the swap hooks, drives a real OpenGL context (clears the backbuffer to a
known color, calls `SwapBuffers`), and asserts the detour fired, the frame was
`glReadPixels`'d into the shared texture, and a second device reads the exact
pixels back by name. Skips cleanly without an OpenGL / D3D11 device.
- **`dx12_present_hook_test`** — in-process self-test of the Present hook's **D3D12**
path: drives a real D3D12 swapchain through the (shared) `IDXGISwapChain::Present`
vtable and asserts the D3D11On12 bridge wraps the `ID3D12Resource` backbuffer and
copies it into the shared texture, then reads the exact rendered color back by
name. Skips cleanly without a D3D12 device.
- **`present_hook_test`** — in-process self-test of the Present-hook video path:
installs the hook, drives a real D3D11 swapchain in the same process (clears the
backbuffer to a known color and calls `Present`), and asserts the detour fired,
the backbuffer reached the shared keyed-mutex texture, and a second device can
open it by name and read the exact pixels back. Skips cleanly if the machine has
no D3D11 device.
- **`audio_loopback_test`** — spawns `coop_tone.exe` (a standalone configurable WASAPI
sine-wave source under [`tools/audio_tone`](tools/audio_tone)) at several source
formats (device default, 44100/48000/96000 Hz) and verifies the shipping
process-loopback capture (the fallback backend) receives non-silent audio by PID for
each — confirming loopback is format-agnostic (it captures post-mix at the device
endpoint format). Skips cleanly if the machine has no audio endpoint.
### Debugging the hooks against a real game
[`tools/audio_probe`](tools/audio_probe) (`coop_audio_probe.exe <pid> [seconds]`)
brings up the audio render-hook without Steam / RPT / the host UI: it creates the
IPC block + audio ring the hook expects, injects `coop_hook.dll` into the target
game, then drains the ring and prints per-stream format, captured-frame counts,
peak amplitude (proves the audio is real, not silence), and overruns. It enables
the hook's file trace (`%TEMP%\coop_hook.log`) for the run.
[`tools/input_probe`](tools/input_probe)
(`coop_input_probe.exe <pid> [seconds] [disable_mask]`) does the same for input: it
injects, reports one connected pad, and toggles a button each second so the game's
input layer sees a real state change. `disable_mask` (hex bits `0x1`=input
`0x2`=focus `0x4`=audio `0x8`=video) skips installing a subsystem, so you can
**bisect which injected subsystem affects a game** — this is how the 32-bit
Present-hook crash was isolated.
Both auto-detect a 32-bit (WOW64) target and inject via `coop_inject_x86.exe` +
`coop_hook_x86.dll`, exactly like the host. The probes build into
`bin/<config>/tools/` (the deployable `bin/<config>/` root holds only shipping
artifacts; tests build into `bin/<config>/tests/`) and resolve `coop_hook.dll` from
the root one level up, so run them from there. **Kill the game between runs** — the
loaded DLL locks `coop_hook.dll` against the next rebuild.
A debug-only **test harness** drives the host overlay's own code paths (inject / enable
audio / re-measure / override / screenshot / read state) without simulating mouse input,
for scripted UI validation. Build it with `-DCOOP_TEST_HARNESS=ON` (off by default, so
the shipped host never contains it); the host then reads one command line from
`%TEMP%\coop_test_cmd.txt` and replies in `%TEMP%\coop_test_resp.txt`. See
[`host/src/test_harness.hpp`](host/src/test_harness.hpp).
## Running the tool (manual, end-to-end)
This needs Steam, a donor game that supports Remote Play Together, and a second
person/account to receive the stream.
1. **Launch the host under a donor appid.** Find the donor's appid (the number in
its store URL); the donor only needs RPT support and is never actually played:
```text
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steam.exe" -applaunch <donorAppId> "D:\dev\CoopAllTheThings\bin\Debug\coop_host.exe"
```
The borderless window appears and Steam marks the donor "running". If the donor
ignores the trailing path, set the host as the donor's **Launch Options**
(`"D:\...\coop_host.exe" %command%`) or use a launcher like RemotePlayDetached.
2. **Start the real game** windowed or borderless (not exclusive fullscreen — see
Lessons learned). In the host's **Injection** panel, filter for the game's
`.exe`, select it, and click **Inject & Connect**. Watch **Hook status** for
**Attached**, a non-zero **XInput polled: N/s**, and **Focus spoof: active**.
3. **Mirror video:** in the **Video mirror** panel, tick **Mirror game window** —
the host window now shows a live, letterboxed copy of the game. **Source**
picks how the frames are grabbed: **WGC** (default, Windows Graphics Capture —
works for any window) or **Hooked (Present)** (the injected hook's shared
texture — lower latency and no capture border, for DXGI / D3D11 and OpenGL
games; selecting it installs the video subsystem in the game).
4. **Mirror audio:** in the **Audio mirror** panel, tick **Mirror game audio**.
With the hook injected, **Source** shows **Hooked (no echo)** and the game's
local playback goes silent while guests still hear it. If it shows **Loopback
(echo)** the hook's render path wasn't caught and you'll hear the game twice
locally (guests still hear it once). The **Render streams** table shows how
many WASAPI streams the game emits.
5. **Start Remote Play Together** from Steam and invite a guest. Verify the guest
sees the mirrored video, hears the audio, and that their controller drives the
real game.
Useful checks while developing without RPT: tick **Forward synthetic test input**
in the Injection panel to make the game move on its own (proving forwarding is the
source), and click away from the game to confirm focus spoofing keeps it running.
> Injection access error → run the host as administrator. A 32-bit (WOW64) target
> is injected automatically via `coop_inject_x86.exe` + `coop_hook_x86.dll`; if
> those aren't next to the host, rebuild (the x86 sub-build stages them there).
## Lessons learned
Non-obvious things that cost time and constrain the design:
- **RPT only streams the *focused* window.** The game can't hold focus itself, so
the hook spoofs it (`GetForegroundWindow` / `GetActiveWindow` / `GetFocus` +
swallowing deactivation messages) to keep the game polling and rendering while
the host owns real OS focus.
- **Run target games windowed or borderless, never exclusive fullscreen** —
exclusive fullscreen minimizes on focus loss (defeating the spoof) and can't be
window-captured. While unfocused the game gets no OS keyboard/mouse, only the
forwarded pad.
- **WGC captures occluded windows but not minimized ones.**
- **Process-loopback capture doesn't mute the source.** Capturing a process's
render doesn't stop it reaching the speakers, so the no-echo path instead injects
a WASAPI render-hook that copies each buffer then releases it with
`AUDCLNT_BUFFERFLAGS_SILENT`; loopback stays as the (echoing) fallback.
- **`ActivateAudioInterfaceAsync` needs an *agile* completion handler.** If the
handler doesn't answer `QueryInterface` for `IAgileObject`, the call is rejected
**synchronously** with `E_ILLEGAL_METHOD_CALL` (`0x8000000E`) — regardless of
apartment, device path, or activation params. (WRL/wil samples make the handler
agile for you.) Process loopback also needs the Win10 20H1 headers
(`NTDDI_VERSION ≥ 0x0A00000B`).
- **COM methods have no exports, so hooks walk vtables by frozen-ABI index — count
exactly.** All instances of a coclass share one vtable, so hooking one object's
slot catches every instance; but `IAudioClient::GetService` is **14**, not 13
(`SetEventHandle` sits at 13 between `Reset` and `GetService`). Count every
inherited `IUnknown`/base method when adding a hook.
- **D3D12 capture copies the *rotating* back buffer, not `GetBuffer(0)`.** D3D11
flip-model keeps `GetBuffer(0)` pointing at the live back buffer, but D3D12 rotates
buffers explicitly — the game renders into the buffer at
`IDXGISwapChain3::GetCurrentBackBufferIndex()`, which advances each `Present`.
Grabbing buffer 0 copies a stale buffer on N-1 of every N frames, so the mirror
silently runs at refresh/N — yet the Present counter, published FPS, generation, and
latency all read full rate (they count Presents, not unique content), so the metrics
look perfect while the eye sees missing frames. Query the current index right before
the trampoline `Present` (that's the just-rendered buffer) and copy that one.
- **Keep the D3D12 capture copy off the game's present queue, but ordered after its
frame.** The D3D11 path copies on the game's immediate context, so it's naturally
ordered after the frame and on the game's own timeline. For D3D12 the D3D11On12
bridge needs a queue: running the copy on the *game's* present queue orders it
correctly but stalls the game's own presents (GPU back-pressure, plus the shared
keyed-mutex `AcquireSync` is a **CPU-blocking** call on the render thread). Running
it on an independent queue avoids the stall but races the game's render → stale
frames. The fix is both: run the copy on **our own** queue, and order it with a
**fence** the game's present queue signals after its frame (a near-free op) and our
queue waits on. The present queue is recovered for late injection by hooking
`ID3D12CommandQueue::ExecuteCommandLists` (the per-frame method, not creation). Make
the producer-side `AcquireSync` non-blocking (`timeout 0`) so a busy mutex drops a
*mirror* frame instead of stalling the game; the Video panel's "Frames lost" line
surfaces both capture- and display-stage drops.
- **A render client that predates our injection has no knowable format — measure it.**
We inject into already-running games, so we usually never see the game's
`IAudioClient::Initialize`; the render-hook then assumes the device mix format for that
stream. That's wrong for games that render at a non-device rate via WASAPI
`AUTOCONVERTPCM` (e.g. Godot / Brotato render 44100 Hz while the endpoint mixes at
48000), so the captured audio plays back **pitch-shifted up**. Fix: treat such a format
as a *guess* and measure the stream's true sample rate from its render cadence
(frames/sec over a short active window, snapped to the nearest standard rate) before
publishing it, deferring capture until verified. Discard the first measurement window:
the moment we attach, the stream's already-queued buffers arrive in a burst that
over-counts (the `audio_hook_test` matrix caught this), so measure the next,
steady-state window. **Only the rate is recoverable, though** — channels/bit-depth can't
be measured (`AUTOCONVERTPCM` hands `GetBuffer` a *fixed* staging buffer, so there's no
buffer stride; confirmed empirically) and WASAPI has no API for a pre-existing client's
format, so they stay the device-mix guess. That's right for the common case (engines
render stereo float = the endpoint), and a `VirtualQuery` clamp on the capture copy
keeps a too-large guessed block from ever over-reading the source buffer. Streams we *do*
watch get created carry their exact `Initialize` format, and the loopback fallback
captures post-mix at the device format (always correct). The Audio panel shows each
stream's provenance (known / measuring / measured rate (ch/bits assumed)) so what the
mirror is using is always visible — see Limitations.
- **Capturing at `Present` decouples the mirror from DWM composition.** The hook copies
the backbuffer inside the game's `Present`, which the game issues at its true render
rate regardless of how DWM composites that *window*. So an unfocused game window can
judder (DWM under-composites background windows; only the focused window gets VRR /
independent flip) while the mirror — which receives every `Present` — stays smooth.
This is why the game window not being focused doesn't matter: it isn't the surface
anyone sees. The same focus rule explains why an unfocused *tool* window can render
below the game's rate (it loses VRR), so in use the mirror is the focused window.
- **SafetyHook on x86 has two traps that froze 32-bit Slaps and Beans.** (1)
`InlineHook::call()` invokes the trampoline as `__cdecl`, but most targets are
`__stdcall` (COM methods like `IDXGISwapChain::Present`, the WASAPI interfaces,
`WINAPI` `SwapBuffers`); on 32-bit that double-cleans the stack → ESP imbalance →
crash (Debug: **Run-Time Check Failure #0**). Use **`stdcall()`** (a no-op on
x64). (2) Don't *inline-hook* COM methods on x86 at all: MMDevApi/AudioSes
prologues do `push ebp; mov ebp,esp; and esp,-8` and read args **EBP-relative**,
which SafetyHook's trampoline relocation breaks (the original then runs with
garbage args and faults). Hook COM methods by **swapping the vtable entry**
instead (`VirtualProtect` the slot, overwrite the pointer, call the saved
original) — no code patching, pristine stack regardless of prologue. Inline
hooking stays fine for `Present`/`SwapBuffers` (clean prologues). Guarded by the
x86 hook tests.
- **Steam Input init suppresses XInput.** Initializing Steam Input turns on Steam's
in-process XInput interception, which hides controllers from `XInputGetState`
unless they're bound to the running appid's action set — defaulting to it
silently broke forwarding. XInput is primary; Steam Input is opt-in.