Welcome!
Assuming you installed the nvidia graphics driver and it is supported, you can use autorandr or arandr. Here is an easy solution that works for me on i3wm:
I suggest you try boot normal no hdmi connnected. Then connect hdmi when in the system and try this again:
xrandr --output HDMI-0 --auto --left-of eDP-1-1
if it connects your external screen the use these two commands:
autorandr --save workstation1
autorandr --change
This should hopefully do it and save it this time. It may be that you need to disable some of these previously saved scripts you mentioned, back them up.
and additional info on autorandr may help
Make sure to check in terminal using
xrandr
for the correct laptop and hdmi names.
Post the output to check your driver
inxi -G