Shocktrot's 4 Box Setup

[shocktrot]

Well I just hit 20 on my 4 trial accounts and I'm still waiting for my wow copies to arrive from Amazon. So to pass the time here are a few pictures of my multibox setup.

Hardware:
22" LCD
Quad Core Core-Duo (2.66 @ 3.2GHZ)
4 GB DDR2
2 x Nvidia GTX 710 (768MB memory each) SLI
RAID-0 1TB Hard Drive

My Messy Desk:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/xorkh/desksetup.jpg

I'm running 4 copies of WoW on a 22" LCD. For now I'm running all instances at 700 x 510 because while questing I like to switch from one character to another when doing the easier collection quests. I'll probably bump my main window to at least 1024x768 soon. I'm debating on whether I should play my main on my laptop but I like to watch movies while leveling. The monitor to the far left isn't connected to anything, I use that (and the surrounding space) exclusively for fixing PCs which I do part time.

Screenshot & UI setup
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/xorkh/Sham_4box.jpg

For naming, I decided to give them distinct names since my dyslexic ass has trouble with names that are too similar. I distinguish them by the first letter in their name S,T,U,V and I have my windows setup in a exact clockwise manner (starting from bottom left if you look at the desk again).
To make things easier on myself, I added the first letter of each party member's name in big bold font over their class. I made some tweaks to my regular UI setup which I use in BGs, instances and arenas on my 70s. I moved over to flexbar2, removed unnecessary mods to reduce memory and made some minor tweaks here and there. I'm probably going to move things around to better fit my reduced resolution (from 1680 x 1050 to 700x510 is a big difference).

Suggestions and constructive criticism ... hell even flames are welcomed. I 've used only 3 out of my 10 trial and I need time to kill till the 3rd. Might start another 4/5 box team of priest and locks/mages while I wait.

[Slats]

That is a fantastic idea on the icon, how did you do that?

[shocktrot]

Two steps:

Add one line of code into the DogTag 2.0 (Ace Lib) LUA file so that using the tag [NameShort] returns the first character of the string. (DogTag doesn't have this feature)

Then
Using PitBull, make a new text and use the text [NameShort:Color(ff00000)]
resize, position and your done.

The line of code that needs to be added is in:
\Interface\Addons\LibDogTag-2.0\LibDogTag-2.0.LUA
(might be different if using Externals or copy from cursed site)

Search for: Tags.Name
Should get: Tags.Name = {"value = UnitName(${unit})", ret = "string", events = "UNIT_NAME_UPDATE;PLAYER_ENTERING_WORLD", globals = "UnitName"}

Paste Under this code (make new line) this paste the following:
Tags.NameShort = {"value = string.sub(UnitName(${unit}), 1, 1)", ret = "string", events = "UNIT_NAME_UPDATE;PLAYER_ENTERING_WORLD", globals = "UnitName"}

Only downside is that I have to do this each time I update the DogTag Library (or Pitbull if it needs it). This function above only works for the first character. You could make it work with last character or middle but the code is a bit more involved.

[Diamndzngunz]

Nice Setup Man. Now my question is.. you trying to show off the uber laptop by making it know it can have 4 wows open, a movie playing and Firefox? hehe

[shocktrot]

Oh my laptop is just running the movie and firefox. I just included that in the picture because I wanted a clear shot of my desk. After leveling numerous 70s (solo) I usually just watch a movie or two while playing. I aligned my 22" and my laptop so that the movie is within easy viewing distance as my main toon (bottom left wow window).

My PC with 4 WoW windows is that big black box at the far right under my desk. I wish that laptop could run 4 copies, it has enough trouble with just 1. :lol:

[Diamndzngunz]

Ahh ok. Yeah once my g/f gives me back my monitor I should be able to get my other comp back up and running make it my DJ box and use it for multimedia. Hell yeah

[Skuggomann]

Seems liek your wacing Harold and Kumar og to whiote castle!

..BEST MOVIE EVER!!

[Xzin]

Multiboxing not enough for you.... gotta watch movies too :) ?

[Ilion Sturmlied]

I'm usually Watching moves to while playing.

There is no other way I can keep up with all the interessting stuff *g*

Extream Multitasking *g*

[shocktrot]

Movies are easy they don't require any sort of interaction ... it's when I get IMs from friends is when things start getting a bit tricky.

Also, I'm looking into upgrading my setup to a new mouse for comfort and extra buttons. I'm tired of using that stupid old 3 button dell mouse and dell keyboard.

I'm thinking of going towards xkeys pro but I'm so used to my key bindings. Besides I abuse my keyboards so much, I'd rather not pay $170 for one. Maybe once I level and get more spells I might try it out. The G15 looks promising but is a bit too big for my taste.

After I make some more UI tweaks I might start a 5 box setup (same machine) while I wait for my WoW boxes to arrive. Never played a priest, so I'll probably try 1 priest and 4 locks or mages.