Octopus Tutorial

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This guide is updated for Octopus 1.3.8a. --Ughmahedhurtz 13:24, 21 August 2009 (CDT)

Contents

Installation

  1. Grab the .NET Framework 3.5 and the Visual C++ 2008 redistributable and get those installed.
  2. Download 1.3.8a from Ugh's server and install it.
  3. On your main (server) machine, launch Octopus. NOTE: Vista/Win7 users, you may need to launch this as administrator if you experience problems with Octopus not saving configuration settings properly.

Main Unit (Server) Initial Configuration

  1. Go to the server tab
  2. Click the Keys sub-tab
  3. Click the “New” button

KM Configuration

(Note: If you do not want to use octopus to move your mouse over to other PC screens and control them with your main PC's mouse/keyboard, skip down to the “General Broadcast Configuration” section below.)


  1. When done, click the KM sub-tab. This is where you will configure the desktop position and resolutions of your main and alt PCs.
  2. Click the “Configure” button.
  3. Let's assume you have two PCs. Your main PC is a steroid-addled beast of a machine with a 26” or larger display set to 1920x1200 resolution. Your first alternate PC is a modest quad-core PC with a 24” LCD at 1920x1200 sitting just to the left of your main PC. You have another alt PC left of that one that's a normal PC running a 1280x1024 desktop.
  4. In the "Screens" panel on the left, click the "New" button.
  5. In the "Name" box, type in "Main" (or whatever you want to name your main system).
  6. In the “Display” box, type “localhost:1” NOTE: this list MAY auto-populate but if it doesn't, just type it in as noted.
  7. In the subregion section, type in 1920 for the width and 1200 for the height.
  8. Again under the SCREENS section, click the “New” button.
  9. Type in “work” in the Name box and type in 1920 for the width and 1200 for the height. (note, use whatever you want instead of “work” as that's what mine is.)
  10. In the “Display” box, type “work:1” (or whatever the network name is for your left PC; NOTE: network name is the name you type when mapping a network drive to that machine; I.e.: \\work\c$ or something like that)
  11. Again under the SCREENS section, click the “New” button.
  12. Type in “play2” in the Name box and type in 1280 for the width and 1024 for the height. (note, use whatever you want instead of “play2” as that's what mine is.)
  13. In the “Display” box, type “play2:1” (or whatever the network name is for your next left machine is)
  14. Now, under the LINKS section, click the “New” button.
  15. In the “A” section, set the “Side” pulldown to “Left” and the “Screen” to “Main.”
  16. In the “B” section, set the “Side” pulldown to “Right” and the “Screen” to “work.”
  17. Now, under the LINKS section, click the “New” button.
  18. In the “A” section, set the “Side” pulldown to “Left” and the “Screen” to “work.”
  19. In the “B” section, set the “Side” pulldown to “Right” and the “Screen” to “play2.”
  20. Now, under the LINKS section, click the “New” button.
  21. In the “A” section, set the “Side” pulldown to “Left” and the “Screen” to “play2.”
  22. In the “B” section, set the “Side” pulldown to “Right” and the “Screen” to “Main.”
  23. Your setup should look like this.
  24. This completes the KM setup and you can close the “KM” window.

General Broadcast Configuration

  1. Go back to the "Server" tab.
  2. Recommended but not required: Click the “Sounds” sub-tab and configure the sounds for “Broadcast Pause,” “Broadcast Resume,” “Broadcast Keys On” and “Broadcast Keys Off” so you can easily note when Octopus thinks it should be sending keys and when it thinks you have paused it. (Makes debug MUCH easier.) Don't forget to click the “Enabled” checkbox to get them to actually work. ;)
  3. Click the “Options” sub-tab.
  4. Make sure the boxes for “Hook mouse” “Hook keyboard” “Keyclone anti double-key” “Broadcast pausing whilst alt tabbed” and “Share clipboard” are all checked. This is the default, so we're just making sure, here. ;)
  5. Click the “Toggles” sub-tab.
  6. Click the “Key broadcast” button (says “None”), then press your “Pause” key on your keyboard and click “OK”. The button should now show “Pause” on it. NOTE: Make sure you clear the “Pause” binding from the “Bypass” key before setting this, or set another key, whichever you like. ;)
  7. Click the “Click broadcast” button, then press they key you want to use for it (I chose TAB) and then click OK. The button should now show the key you chose on it. Check the box for “Hold” next to it. This means it will only broadcast your keyclicks while you hold down the key (much better, IMO, than having click broadcasting on 24/7 due to targeting/deselecting issues in-game).
  8. Click the “Client” tab.
  9. Click the “Windows” sub-tab.
  10. Check the box for “Auto add windows.”
  11. In the “Window title” box, type “World of Warcraft” -- alternatively, you can put the process name in the next box if you'd like (example: the process name for DaoC is “Game.dll” and not “Camelot.exe” as you might think, so it's easier to just add the window title here. If it does not seem to work, check the box for “Substring match.”
  12. Click the “Options” tab.
  13. Check the box for “Start minimized” if you want Octopus to show up as a tray icon when you run it. You'll have to click the icon in the tray to show the UI if you do this. (recommended)
  14. Check the box for “Auto start server” if you want Octopus to automatically set itself up as your “server” and start connecting clients as soon as you run it. (recommended)
  15. Check the box to “Close to systray” if you want the program to minimize to a system tray icon instead of exiting completely when you click the “X” button on the main window. (recommended)
  16. In the box under "Autosave config" change it from 10 minutes to 1 minute while we're getting set up. You can change it back later.
  17. Go back to the "Status" tab and click the "Start" button to start up the server.
  18. If you run a software firewall, you may get a popup here asking you to allow Octopus to act as a server or connect to the LAN/Internet. Allow it.
  19. It should be looking for clients.
  20. Now it's time to setup your alternate PCs. If you only have one PC, you can stop here. Just launch your individual WoWs and it should pick them all up and off you go!
  21. On the machine to your left (should be “work” or whatever you named it) launch Octopus.
  22. The “Status” tab should be selected, if not, select it.
  23. In the “Client” section, type in the network name of your main machine. In my case, it's named “play”
  24. Then click the “Connect” button.
  25. Confirm your firewall permission request if applicable.
  26. You should see a message on your alt PC saying “[20:34:26][C] Connected to play : 7612.” Substitute the current time for the timestamp and whatever your main's network name is for “play.”
  27. Your main/server machine should look something like this.
  28. This is GOOD! :)
  29. Go to your alt PC.
  30. Click the “Client” tab.
  31. In the “Name” box, type in the name you want to recognize this PC with. (will show up as this name in the server's connected clients list)
  32. Then select the “Windows” sub-tab.
  33. Check the box for “Auto add windows” and type in “World of Warcraft” or whatever into the “Window Title” box and check the “Substring match” box, just like you did for your main/server PC. (Or set it up for the wow.exe process instead, however you like.)
  34. Click the “Options” tab.
  35. Check the boxes for “Auto start minimized,” “auto connect client” and “Close to systray” as desired.
  36. Close the Octopus window, then right-click the tray icon and select “Exit” if you selected the “Close to systray” option.
  37. Re-launch Octopus on your alt PC and verify that the status window on your main/server PC shows “work” (or whatever you named it) has connected again.
  38. Great! Almost done!
  39. Repeat the alt PC steps for any other PCs you configured in the “KM” section so they have the same settings as the PC to your left.
  40. Now, ideally, you should be done.
  41. Go to the “Status” tab on your main/server PC and you should see each of your alt PCs listed in there. Now, move your mouse off the left side of your main screen and you should see the cursor pick up on the right side of the PC to your left. If it worked, you should be able to zoom the mouse left across all of your other PCs and eventually end up back on the right side of your main PC. If this works, you're almost done!

Game Client Remote Launch Configuration

  1. Now, let's setup your WOW games so Octopus can launch them from your main PC on demand.
  2. Go back to your main/server PC.
  3. Click the Client tab.
  4. Click the “Games” sub-tab.
  5. Click the “New” button.
  6. In the “Tag” box, type in the name of your main copy of WoW.
  7. In the “Path” box, type in the full path to WoW.exe (or click the “...” button to browse to it and select it that way).
  8. Click the “Server” tab and select the “Maximize” sub-tab.
  9. Now, I have mine set up to maximize my WOW window to be at the top left corner of my screen and with a 1280x1024 resolution (so I can browse MSN chat or interwebz on the rest of my 1920x1200 display). So this will set you up the same way. Adjust your settings to taste below.
  10. Click the “New” button.
  11. In the “Tag” box, type something like “WoW” (doesn't matter; can name it “Main” or “Foobar”)
  12. In the “Region” area, leave X and Y at 0 and change “Width” to 1280 and “Height” to 1024.
  13. OK, now go to the “Status” tab and click the “...” button to add/change your Profiles.
  14. In the “Name” box at the top, type in whatever you want to name it (it isn't used anywhere else so name it supercalafragalisticexpialadocious if you want. :P)
  15. Click the “New” button.
  16. You should see a new entry appear in the list named “[k] (@/1)”
  17. In the “Instance” section at the bottom, type in a name for your main WoW copy. I named mine “WoW.”
  18. In the “Game” dropdown, click the down arrow and select “localhost:WoW” where the “WoW” after the colon will be the same name you used in the Client-->Games tag a few steps ago.
  19. In the “Maximizer” dropdown right beneath that, click the down arrow and select the
  20. In the top list, select the “WoW (localhost:WoW@/1” entry.
  21. Click the drop-down list for “Maximizer” and select “WoW” or whatever you named it on the Server-->Maximize section.
  22. Check the boxes for “Receives broadcast keys” and “Receives broadcast clicks.”
  23. Now, go to your left PC.
  24. Click the “Client” tab and select the “Games” sub-tab.
  25. NOTE: I have two instances running on my left machine, which I will call WoWright and WoWleft on my 1920x1200 display.
  26. Click the “New” button and we'll add the right-side game.
  27. Tag the right game as “WoWright” and put the path in for that game's wow.exe.
  28. Click the “New” button again and we'll add the left-side game.
  29. Tag the left game as “WoWleft” and put in the path for that game's wow.exe.
  30. OK, now let's go setup the maximizer regions for those two games.
  31. Go back to your main/server PC.
  32. Select the “Server” tab and click the “Maximize” sub-tab.
  33. Click the “New” button and tag this one “WoWright” for the right side.
  34. Set the X value to 960, Y to 0, Width to 960 and Height to 1100.
  35. Click the “New” button again and tag this one “WoWleft” for the left side.
  36. Set the X and Y values to 0, Width to 960 and Height to 1100.
  37. Should look like this.
  38. Now, let's see if it worked.
  39. On the server/main PC, if your Profiles window isn't still open, click the “Status” tab and click the “...” button to open it.
  40. You should still see the “[k][c] WoW (localhost:WoW@WoW/1)” item in the top of the list.
  41. Click the “New” button.
  42. In the “Instance” section, type in the name “work right.”
  43. In the “Game” box, type “work:WoWright”
  44. In the “Maximizer” box select the “WoWright” item.
  45. Click the “New” button again.
  46. In the “Instance” section, type in the name “work left.”
  47. In the “Game” box, click the down arrow and select “work:WoWleft” from the list.
  48. In the “Maximizer” box select the “WoWleft” item.
  49. Close the Profiles window.
  50. In the Status tab of your server, “work” should still be connected. If not, get it reconnected as per above.
  51. Click the “Instances” button. You should see something like this.
  52. Click the “WoW” item in the popup menu. You should see your main copy of WoW launch on your main/server. If not, go through the above steps and see where you flubbed it. ;)
  53. Click the “Instances” button again and select the “work right” item.
  54. The right-side WoW on your left PC should run and maximize to the right side of the screen.
  55. Click the “Instances” button again on your main and select the “work left” item.
    The left-side WoW on your left PC should run and maximize to the left side of the screen.

Mouse Click Broadcasting

Next, let's setup click broadcasting so you can target AoEs, click buttons, select NPCs, etc.


  1. Click the Clicks sub-tab
  2. Click the “New” button
  3. In the box just under the New/Remove buttons, type in a name for this click configuration
  4. Click the text that says “enter click combo”
  5. Then click all the buttons that you want to be able to send to your alts
  6. Go to the "Client" tab and select the "Mouse" sub-tab. For some games, you may need to disable the "WoW mode" option if it does not pass mouseclicks properly.
  7. In the main Octopus window, check the "Clicks" checkbox down at the bottom of the window to enable click broadcasting.
  8. Optionally, go to the "Server" tab, select the "Toggles" subtab and select a click broadcast toggle key you can use to turn it on and off. As an example, you can set the Tab key to broadcast clicks, check the box for "Hold" next to it and Octopus will only broadcast clicks while you are holding down the Tab key. This works great if you want to just broadcast a click now and then and don't want to worry about forgetting to disable clicks.
  9. Switch to the game window and double-check that clicks are broadcasting as expected.

If it looks good, you're done! Just setup your other PCs like your left one, add the maximizer and profile sections to your main/server's configuration like you did for WoWright and WoWleft and then click Instances-->Run all and it should launch everything for you and be ready to run.

Recap

  • Set up KM window edges
  • Connect clients to server
  • Add WoW games to the Client tab for all copies
  • Add maximizer regions for each WoW
  • Add profiles to the server with games/maximizers for each PC/WoW
  • Click instances-->Run all and enjoy.

Hope this helps! Let me know if I flubbed any of the instructions.


Cheers,

Ughmahedhurtz

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