I had the same problem, but only after creating the binary distribution using the dist command from the activator, when I try to start the playback application using the Bat file and add some configuration parameters, I make the same error.
Here is the error I get
Bad application path: -Dhttp.port=9009
So I solve this by editing the Bat file. I manually add all configuration parameters to APP_MAIN_CLASS and before "play.core.server.NettyServer"
sort of:
set "APP_MAIN_CLASS= -DapplyEvolutions.default=true -Dhttp.port=9009 play.core.server.NettyServer"
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