As a note to admin: as you can see below, this OBS program they speak of (if configured correctly) is always "scanning for hotkeys"
It seems to work well for me personally (brand new user, only been at it a few hours so far)...
To both of you having focus issues, you should First check within OBS. OBS has settings under "advanced" that control "hotkeys" and their behavior. The THREE different settings are:
-Never disable hotkeys
-Disable hotkeys when main window is in focus
-Disable hotkeys when main window is not in focus
That could actually be the singular explanation to Both of your problems, if you have that setting incorrectly set! Your best bet is to set it to NEVER DISABLE HOTKEYS, if that is the functionality you seek!
That being said, I (so far) have had no issues with OBS picking up on my hotkeys either way: while not in focus, or while in focus. I also have my settings set to "never disable hotkeys".
You two may also want to assure that you're using the most up to date version of OBS - which as of this writing is v26.0.2
Furthermore, also make sure you're not running OBS "as admin" - I'm not 100% sure that could be causing the issues you speak of, but I do know I have never ran OBS as admin... I literally just checked to see if I could replicate this problem though two seconds ago: I ran OBS as admin, and despite the settings being set to "never disable hotkeys" it NO longer worked WHILE OBS was IN focus. So indeed, do NOT run as admin. I must add that, while running OBS as admin, it DID still "pick up" the hotkey shortcuts ONLY so long as it was NOT in focus (while ran as admin)... So, that being said - DO NOT run as admin! Note: I am also NOT running LUAM "as admin" either...
[spoiler]not that I personally understand why you want or need the hotkeys to work while it's in focus anyway, since I presumed the whole idea or necessity for hotkeys was so that you could still control it while in other programs/games - especially for those not fortunate enough to have multiple displays... If you're already "IN" the program, why would you need "hotkeys" - since almost everything (while IN focus) is like literally TWO clicks away!
but, to each their own
[/spoiler]
TL;DR
At any rate: if having issues like described in this thread you will want to assure a few things: First) that all of your settings are correct, Second) that you are NOT running OBS or LUAM "as admin" - or maybe that you're running BOTH "as admin"? Haven't tried that one yet either. But I am almost sure (logically thinking anyway) that if you are only running one OR the other as admin, that you WILL most likely have "issues"...! So I would say either make sure to run both as normal user, or run both as admin!
That being said, LUAM seems SO much better than HIDM - I had a problem with OBS not picking up hotkeys from HIDM while out of focus. Using LUAM, I have had NO issues as of yet
Now back to the script I am writing for the very same primary purpose (OBS)