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I am writing a game for the Microsoft PixelSense written in Unity, communicating with the table through the SurfaceToTUIO Bridge and the unity3d-tuio Unity Plugin.

I am currently trying to get the game to play nicely with the Microsoft PixelSense launcher. I have been able to get my application to appear in the launcher by mimicking the Surface Bing Application - duplicating a link to an XML file in C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Surface\v2.0\Programs and creating the corresponding XML in the proper format.

When I go into Surface Mode - either through a dedicated Surface User Account, or through the Surface Shell on the Administrator's Profile, the game appears correctly on the launcher bar with the custom icon I set in the XML. The game launches correctly from the bar, and I can play it without any errors for about two minutes.

At that point, the Launcher closes my game. With a little research, I learned that its the Application's Responsibility to dismiss the Launcher.

Being that this is part of the Microsoft PixelSense SDK and not accessible to Unity, I've tried various methods to get around this:

  • I tried running the game in Single Application Mode. It turns out there is a different timeout that still waits for the SignalApplicationLoadComplete call.
  • I tried using the CriticalProcessMonitoring Disable and ApplicationProcessMonitoring Disable keys in the Registry.
  • I tried setting the LoadingScreenTimeout and SingleAppLoadingScreenTimeout Registry Keys to 0 - below their valid threshold.

What I want is to provide my users with the smoothest experience getting into and out of the Unity game. Currently we have to launch our game from the Windows Desktop, which can frustrate users due to the fact that Windows can't differientiate between a finger touching the screen, and a palm hovering above the screen.

Does anyone have a workaround, an good understanding of how I could spoof a SignalApplicationLoadingCall from Unity, or a suggestion of something to try?

Thanks!

Update: I've found some more things that didn't work:

  • I found the Microsoft.Surface DLL at C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\assembly\GAC_MSIL\Microsoft.Surface\v4.0_2.0.0.0__31bf3856ad364e35. I imported it into my Unity project, but recieved a System.TypeLoadException that appears to be that the DLL is compiled with .NET 4.0, which Unity does not currently support.
  • I have been unable to find any COM objects that would allow me to communicate with the launcher without needing the DLL.
  • I cannot use a XNA wrapper program, as System.Diagnostics.Process.Start doesn't work in Surface Mode according to this post.
JasonMArcher
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JoeProgram
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  • The unity tag is for Microsoft Unity. Please don't misuse it. – Lex Li Oct 31 '12 at 07:47
  • Sorry! I didn't know that was a thing. I'll remember next time. – JoeProgram Nov 01 '12 at 15:10
  • did you need to include any dlls to run it in Surface Mode? I have an AIR app that I'm trying to use. I have the icon appearing in the Pixel Sense launcher but I can not run the application. I get an error "Application did not dismiss loading screen" – robbie Dec 15 '14 at 21:53
  • You don't need the DLL to run it in Surface Mode, but to keep it in surface mode, as you've experienced. I believe the Microsoft.Surface DLL I reference above is the one you want, but I wasn't able to figure it out with Unity3d. – JoeProgram Dec 17 '14 at 21:47

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