Automatically launch Cuphead (from Steam) on a Mac when a Nimbus Bluetooth game controller is connected.

1-info.md

The only game I play on the Mac Mini connected to our TV is Cuphead.

I wanted the game to launch automatically when I turn on one of our Nimbus game controllers, which connect via Bluetooth.

This is how:

• Save the .scpt file below as e.g. ~/Library/Scripts/LaunchCupheadIfControllerIsConnected.scpt
  • In the .scpt, change "Nimbus" if your Bluetooth game controllers have some other name.
• Save the .plist below as e.g. ~/Library/LaunchAgents/henrik.launch_cuphead_if_controller_is_connected.plist
  • In the .plist, change media to whatever your username is.
• Load the .plist as a launch agent with launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/henrik.launch_cuphead_if_controller_is_connected.plist

That should be it. When something changes about Bluetooth devices, the launch agent will trigger the script. The script checks if there is a connected device with "Nimbus" in its name (our controllers are named "Nimbus 1" and "Nimbus 2"). If so, it launches Cuphead if not already launched.

On the first run (possibly two runs?) you should get a macOS prompt to confirm permissions.

Works for me(tm) on macOS Mojave.

henrik.launch_cuphead_if_controller_is_connected.plist

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
  <key>Label</key>
  <string>henrik.launch_cuphead_if_controller_is_connected</string>

  <key>ProgramArguments</key>
  <array>
    <string>/usr/bin/osascript</string>
    <string>/Users/media/Library/Scripts/LaunchCupheadIfControllerIsConnected.scpt</string>
  </array>

  <key>WatchPaths</key>
  <array>
    <string>/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth.plist</string>
  </array>
</dict>
</plist>

LaunchCupheadIfControllerIsConnected.scpt

use framework "IOBluetooth"
use scripting additions -- https://stackoverflow.com/a/52806598/6962

on isDeviceConnected(substring)
	repeat with device in (current application's IOBluetoothDevice's pairedDevices() as list)
		if device's isConnected and (device's nameOrAddress as string) contains substring then return true
	end repeat
	
	return false
end isDeviceConnected

-- Nimbus game controller
if isDeviceConnected("Nimbus") then
	tell application "System Events" to set cupheadIsRunning to ((name of processes) contains "Cuphead")
	
	if not cupheadIsRunning then
		-- Steam doesn't seem to like us opening Cuphead.app directly.
		open location "steam://run/268910"
		
	end if
end if

I'm not able to make this works on macOS 12.1. It seems that the com.apple.Bluetooth.plist trigger is never called.

I tried to change the ProgramArguments with a sample script, but still no action performed.

Am I missing something?

Afraid I haven't used this for a while so I'm not sure. If I do I'll try to remember to report back!

I'm, *checks date*, 3 years late. But I'm also trying to set up something else to listen to com.apple.Bluetooth.plist and am also finding that it never triggers. I'm running macOS 14.6.1

@andreabusi / @henrik Were either of you able to get the listening part working?

Afraid I still haven't used this for an even longer while!

I've never been able to get this script working, or it was unreliable for me.

For what I needed, I used a macOS app called Shortery that runs automations when a particular condition is triggered. In this way I'm able to run a shortcut when a device connect or disconnect from the Mac.