OptiSensor extends OptiScaler's FPS overlay with additional hardware telemetry. It publishes one plain-text line to a shared-memory feed that a patched OptiScaler build appends to its on-screen FPS counter.
Two editions are available:
- Desktop Edition — for general supported Windows PCs, using either HWiNFO or LibreHardwareMonitor as its sensor source.
- Claw Edition — for supported MSI Claw handhelds, using a fully native Windows / MSI EC / Intel IGCL telemetry stack. The Claw edition does not use HWiNFO or LibreHardwareMonitor.
Both editions require the OptiSensor-compatible patched OptiScaler.dll —
see Install the OptiSensor-Compatible OptiScaler Build.
| Desktop Edition | Claw Edition | |
|---|---|---|
| Source branch | main |
claw |
| Target | General supported Windows PCs | Supported MSI Claw models only |
| Sensor backend | HWiNFO or LibreHardwareMonitor | Windows + MSI EC + Intel IGCL |
| HWiNFO | Optional; required only when the HWiNFO source is selected | Not used |
| LibreHardwareMonitor | Built-in alternative sensor source | Not used |
| Windows native telemetry | Not the Desktop telemetry path | Used |
| MSI EC | Not a Desktop telemetry path | Used |
| Intel IGCL | Not a Desktop telemetry path | Used |
| Velopack update channel | win |
claw |
| Installer | OptiSensor-win-Setup.exe |
OptiSensor-claw-Setup.exe |
The two editions share the OptiSensor external-overlay contract and the same patched OptiScaler consumer, but their telemetry backends are entirely different and are described separately below.
Desktop Edition Claw Edition
HWiNFO or LibreHardwareMonitor Windows + MSI EC + Intel IGCL
│ │
▼ ▼
OptiSensor OptiSensor
│ │
▼ ▼
Shared memory Shared memory
Local\OptiScalerExternalOverlay Local\OptiScalerExternalOverlay
│ │
▼ ▼
patched OptiScaler.dll patched OptiScaler.dll
The Desktop edition targets general supported Windows PCs and reads hardware sensors from one selectable sensor source.
- Windows 11 (Windows 10 and older are not supported)
- If HWiNFO is selected as the Desktop sensor source, a separately installed copy of HWiNFO is required. HWiNFO is not bundled with or licensed by OptiSensor; users are responsible for complying with the applicable HWiNFO license terms.
- LibreHardwareMonitor is the alternative built-in sensor source and does not require HWiNFO to be installed.
The Desktop edition lets you choose either HWiNFO or LibreHardwareMonitor as the active sensor source. OptiSensor discovers sensors from the selected source, lets you choose which values appear in the overlay line, and publishes the formatted line to shared memory.
The Desktop edition does not include the MSI Claw-specific Intel VRR Range Fix; that feature remains available only in the Claw edition.
Install OptiSensor-win-Setup.exe (Velopack win channel). It installs per-user under LocalAppData
and updates in place.
The Claw edition is a distinct implementation of OptiSensor for MSI Claw handhelds. It samples telemetry natively from Windows, the MSI embedded controller, and the Intel graphics control library — it does not use HWiNFO or LibreHardwareMonitor, and it does not require any third-party sensor tool to be installed.
The OptiSensor Claw edition supports only:
| Device | Board ID |
|---|---|
| MSI Claw 8 AI+ A2VM | MS-1T52 |
| MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ CG3EM | MS-1T91 |
Other MSI Claw models — including the MSI Claw 7 AI+ A2VM (MS-1T42) and the original MSI Claw
A1M — are not currently supported by the OptiSensor Claw edition. Device names follow the
Steam Addon for Claw project's naming.
| Metric | Source |
|---|---|
| CPU Usage | Windows |
| CPU Temperature | MSI EC |
| GPU Usage | Intel IGCL |
| GPU Clock | Intel IGCL |
| TDP | MSI EC (CPU package power) |
| RAM | Windows |
| VRAM | Windows (Intel GPU memory) |
| FAN | MSI EC |
| Battery | Windows |
FPS is provided by OptiScaler itself. OptiSensor does not sample FPS. GPU power and GPU temperature are not published by the Claw edition.
CPU 36% 67°C | GPU 98% 2300MHz | TDP 18W | RAM 20.0GB | VRAM 9.4GB | FAN 3540RPM | BAT 72% 2.5h
OptiScaler prepends its own FPS reading; OptiSensor supplies everything after it. Segments are omitted when their source is unavailable.
Install OptiSensor-claw-Setup.exe (Velopack claw channel). It installs per-user under LocalAppData
and updates in place.
The Claw edition runs elevated — reading the MSI embedded controller requires administrator privileges, so OptiSensor requests UAC on launch (or is started elevated by its startup task). Do not install HWiNFO or LibreHardwareMonitor for the Claw edition; they are not used.
See docs/helper-installation.md for installer, startup-task, and lifecycle details.
Normal launch → MainWindow shown
Start with Windows / --startup
→ tray-only startup; telemetry publishing active, no window
Minimize → UI retires to the tray; telemetry continues
X / Close → UI retires to the tray; telemetry continues
Tray → Show → a new UI session opens
Tray → Exit → application exits
MainWindow Exit → application exits
Telemetry publishing is owned by the application host and continues whenever the window is hidden or closed; only Tray Exit or the MainWindow Exit button ends the process.
The single-page window contains:
- Current Overlay Feed — the live line currently in shared memory
- Intel VRR Range Fix — restores the native VRR range on the affected MSI Claw 8 internal panel
- Start with Windows — registers/removes the per-user startup task
OptiSensor telemetry does not appear with a standard OptiScaler build. Upstream OptiScaler does
not contain the external-overlay patch that reads Local\OptiScalerExternalOverlay. You must replace
your OptiScaler.dll with the patched build published by this repository.
The patched builds are published as fixed assets on the rolling
optiscaler-sensor-latest
release ("OptiScaler Sensor Builds"), refreshed automatically after each successful build.
- Open the optiscaler-sensor-latest release on the repository's Releases page.
- Download the ZIP matching the OptiScaler version you run:
OptiScaler-0.9.zip— for OptiScalerrelease/0.9OptiScaler-0.10.zip— for current OptiScalermaster
- Extract
OptiScaler.dllfrom the ZIP. - Back up your existing
OptiScaler.dllif you want to keep it. - Replace your existing
OptiScaler.dllwith the patched one. - Run OptiSensor alongside OptiScaler, and set the OptiScaler FPS overlay type to
Just FPS (+External).
The patched DLL is built against a specific OptiScaler branch and only works with that version:
OptiScaler 0.9 → use OptiScaler-0.9.zip
OptiScaler 0.10 → use OptiScaler-0.10.zip
Always use the patched build made for the OptiScaler version you are running. Do not mix DLLs built against different OptiScaler branches.
Both editions check for updates automatically at startup and have no manual update button.
Desktop Edition → Velopack `win` channel
Claw Edition → Velopack `claw` channel
The repository-wide release workflow on main builds both editions from their own source branches and
publishes them to their respective channels in one GitHub Release.
OptiSensor writes a single UTF-8 line to the Local\OptiScalerExternalOverlay shared-memory mapping,
and the patched OptiScaler reads lines[0] and appends it to the FPS overlay. The payload layout,
sequence-lock algorithm, freshness window, and canonical C++ struct are documented in
docs/optiscaler-external-overlay-protocol.md, which is
the technical authority for the contract.
dotnet build -c Release
dotnet test tests/OptiSensor.Tests -c ReleaseThe app targets net10.0-windows / win-x64 and needs the .NET 10 SDK. CI (app-ci.yml) runs the
build, the tests, and a single-file publish smoke on every pull request.
| Branch | Purpose |
|---|---|
main |
Desktop OptiSensor edition; repository-wide release authority (builds and publishes both editions) |
claw |
MSI Claw OptiSensor edition |
release/0.9 |
OptiScaler 0.9 patch stack and its build workflow |
release/0.10 |
OptiScaler 0.10 patch stack and its build workflow |
OptiSensor is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3.0. See LICENSE.