Features

External Monitoring & Auto-Start Apps

Monitor external processes running on your PC and trigger actions when they start or stop. Optionally launch apps automatically when VMSC starts and close them when VMSC exits.

Overview

External Monitoring is a new sidebar page introduced in v1.2.58. It provides two related features: Process Watchers that monitor running processes and react to state changes, and Auto-Start Apps that launch external applications alongside VMSC.

Together, these features let you build automation workflows that extend beyond VMSC itself. For example, you can detect when OBS starts and automatically begin your stream setup, or launch VRChat every time you open VMSC.

Process Watchers

A Process Watcher monitors a specific Windows process and fires actions when the process starts or stops.

Creating a Watcher

  1. Navigate to the External Monitoring page in the sidebar.
  2. Click + New Watcher.
  3. Enter the process name (e.g., obs64.exe) or click Scan to browse currently running processes and select one.
  4. Set a polling interval (in seconds) — how often VMSC checks whether the process is running.
  5. Assign actions for the On Start and/or On Stop events.
The Scan button shows a list of all currently running processes. Select one and VMSC will fill in the process name automatically.

Triggered Actions

Each watcher can trigger any VMSC action on two events:

  • On Start — Fires when the process is detected as running (was not running during the previous poll).
  • On Stop — Fires when the process is detected as no longer running (was running during the previous poll).

Actions are selected from the standard action picker, so you have access to the full range of VMSC actions including rule triggers, sounds, overlays, OSC messages, and more.

Enable / Disable & Auto-Start

Each watcher has two toggles:

  • Enabled — When disabled, the watcher stops polling entirely.
  • Auto-Start — When enabled, the watcher begins polling immediately when VMSC launches.

Auto-Start Apps

The Auto-Start Apps section lets you register external applications that VMSC will launch automatically when it starts up.

Adding an App

  1. Click + Add App.
  2. Browse for the application’s .exe file, or click Scan to select from currently running processes.
  3. Optionally enable Close on VMSC exit to terminate the app when VMSC closes.

Detached Child Processes

Auto-started applications are launched as detached child processes. This means:

  • The app runs in its own process tree, independent of VMSC’s main process.
  • If VMSC crashes, the launched app continues running normally.
  • The Close on VMSC exit toggle controls whether VMSC sends a termination signal to the app during a graceful shutdown.
Close on VMSC exit only works during a graceful shutdown. If VMSC is force-killed (e.g., via Task Manager), auto-started apps will continue running.

Use Cases

  • Auto-launch OBS — Add OBS to Auto-Start Apps so it opens alongside VMSC every time you begin a stream session.
  • Detect VRChat — Create a Process Watcher for VRChat.exe. When VRChat starts, trigger a rule that switches your overlay to a VR-specific layout.
  • Streaming software detection — Watch for TikTokLiveStudio.exe and automatically connect to TikTok when it starts.
  • Game detection — Monitor a game process and trigger scene changes or sound effects when you launch or close the game.