Beginner questions: Synchronous/asynchronous char control

[Silberdrache]

Hello

I'd like to ask some basic questions about "simple" dual boxing.
I just started to play a "dual-mage"-team. I chose this setup
for - at a first glance - it seems to be easier to control 2 equal chars
synchronously.

That works like a charm for single or even focus targeting as long
as I want to execute exactly the same actions.

For example:

Char A is targeting mob 1
Char B is targeting mob 1

Press "1"

Char A "1" = cast fireball
Char B "1" = cast fireball

As long as all is synchronous it's really simple. Now my question:

How are you controlling your chars if it comes to "asynchronous"
actions ?

For example:

Char A is targeting mob 1
Char B is targeting mob 2

Char A shall cast fireball on mob 1
Char B shall cast polymorph on mob 2

Do you setup extra keysets for leader and follower ?
Or do you controll char A only with mouseclicks on actionbars
and char B with keys (shortcuts) ?

I'd still like to be able to use "synchronous" and "asynchronous"
actions depending on the situation. If I need double firepower
on one target I wanna cast with both chars synchronously firebals on the
target, but if I need to polymorph one target and at the same
time cast firebals on another I'd like to be able to switch my
"control mode" fast and smoothly.

I really hope I made myself clear and please have patience for I am
at the very beginning of dual boxing ;-)

[Djarid]

it is all down to key bindings.

you either have totally separate bingings on each instance or you have some common and then individual bindings.

Xzin's write up goes into this, he uses X-keys Pro to set individual keys for spells on separate characters.

with a simple keyboard you could use 1-0 for synchronous spells

then Shift 1-0 for char 1 spells
and CTRL 1-0 for char 2 spells

even with the built-in key bindings system this is possible.

a useful addon called bindpad allows you to map key bindings directly to macros, but unfortunately only allows one binding per macro.

Bongo Bars, if I remember correctly, will allow you to map multiple keys to each bongo bars button.

[Simulacra]

Hi - I read through the forums here and copied the following macros. Before I do anything my first macro is:

/focus party1
/follow focus

then when I want to cast fireball :
/cast [target=focustarget, harm, nodead] fireball; [target=party1target, harm, nodead] fireball; fireball

and then for polymorph:
/cast [harm, nodead] Polymorph; [target=focustarget, harm, nodead] Polymorph; [target=party1target] Polymorph
/stopmacro [harm, nodead]
/assist focus
/stopmacro [harm, nodead]
/assist party1

which seems a bit long winded but works in a lot of situations. I'm not utilising the full benefit of this poly macro as I preset my poly targets by going to the mage screens and targeting them. Because my mages are going to fire on my focus' target they can sheep through the fight as they are sheeping their own target, it works really well.

[Silberdrache]

@Djarid

Great ! Indeed that's already the solution ! It's really as simple
as configuring one set for both chars and switching the individual keysets
with CTRL and SHIFT.

I have to try this later at home (btw. I am living in switzerland, too).

@Astrid

I'll try that, too.

Thanks a lot for your fast answers !