New to Multi-Boxing, just a few questions.

[JOhnnyR]

Hi all,

I'm going to try my hand at dual-boxing, to see how I like it. Right now I have two High-end PC's, with one 24inch monitor.

I'm looking to have each computer host a client. They are both on the same network.

Can you guys recommend the best software for this setup? I'm assuming either Keyclone or InnerSpace. I don't know if either of these programs support two pc's with only one monitor or not.

What I envision is 90% of the time doing one of these two things:

a)Main fullscreen, with the secondary in a PIP

b) Main fullscreen, button to switch to secondary full screen (So only one screen at a time)

Is this possible using two computers? Is b possible at all?

Also, I am running Win7 64-bit on the main PC, and XP 32-bit on the secondary.

Please let me know if I'm not explaining this well and I can clarify what I'm trying to do.

Thanks very much guys!

[Brocher]

If you have a high end PC it would seem sensible to me to run both instances on one PC. Not sure how you are going to get the video signal from the second PC to the first to be able to show PiP, if you attach a DVI cable from one PC to monitor and VGA cable from other to other monitor input then I'd imagine you can only show one screen or the other, not PiP.

Your PC will run two copies of WoW easily, I'd certainly be looking to do that, or your other option would be to have two monitors next to each other and a software keyboard / mouse switcher so you can control one then the other. You'd need a copy of keyclone running on both PC's though. Can't say anything about InnerSpace as I've only used Keyclone and that only on one PC.

[zanthor]

PIP with 2 computers isn't possible, you would need a 2nd monitor OR a switchbox to change between them.

As long as you have enough ram and a dual core you shouldn't have much trouble running 2 clients on a single box. Personally I'd recommend picking up a copy of Innerspace on a 1 week trial and seeing what you can make work on the single box.

[JOhnnyR]

Thanks for the input guys. My main PC is a i7 (Quad core) 6GB Ram, with an 8800GT, so hopefully that will be good enough to run two instances smoothly.

Can you guys address the second part of my post, regarding the screen configuration?

a)Main fullscreen, with the secondary in a PIP

b) Main fullscreen, button to switch to secondary full screen (So only one screen at a time)

I know A is doable in both Inner and Keyclone, but Is B possible to do?

I see one vote for Innerspace so far =)

[zanthor]

Yes, you can set it up so both can be fullscreen with a hotkey to switch which one is in front.

With your system specs you can likely 5 box...

[JOhnnyR]

Yes, you can set it up so both can be fullscreen with a hotkey to switch which one is in front.

With your system specs you can likely 5 box...

Lol wow! Ok cool. Can I ask what most of you guys do? Do you use PIP? A second screen? Just one full-screen a time?

I'm going to keep lurking here and continue to read the Guides/FAQs, etc. to get a handle on the hard part of multi-boxing...the macros =)

[Jooch]

I just started Multiboxing about 3 weeks ago, I have my main on a 22" monitor and my alts on my second monitor split into 4 screens using keyclone. my system is a C2D @ 3.3 OC'd, 4 GB RAM and a 8800 GTX and i have no issues running 4 at a time. i have PIP bound to my f9, f10, f11, and f12 keys so i can switch between my alts and my main screens.

[Sychosys]

Keyclone comes with some window layouts. While I have not tried doing a full screen on top of a full screen you can just alt-tab to do that in theory though if they are windows screens that just happen to fill up your desktop they will likely work faster.

Keyclone can also swap pips around as need be, just bind the keys to them.

I will say however, two screens == awesomeness. One for your main and one for your slave(s) is a very nice way to roll.

[TeamZØØL]

Thats the way I roll too, one high-end quad core running two matching 22" widescreens next to each other, one for my main and one for the slaves.

[Brocher]

I started off like you thinking along the lines of if I want to run multiple copies of WoW I will need to use two computers but I started off with two on one PC and just kept adding more and found if I played about with the detail settings I can run 5 comfortably on my PC (upgraded from 4Gb to 8Gb to help).

One other thing I have learned in my short time multi-boxing is that it really is rather simple. I was very apprehensive when starting as I've never played any MMO with the attitude hit attack then wait but I always tried to push all my characters to the limit so I thought if I am working with one character non-stop how much more difficult must it be to do 5, and different classes set up different ways, as well as co-ordinating.

I looked for a step-by-step guide in starting and never really came across one, but you read here about macros, IS, keyclone, switchers, etc. and it all looks daunting. Once I actually started though and bought a copy of keyclone, just messing about over a night or two it's amazing how easy everything becomes and what seems like a black art rapidly loses it's mistique.

In a nutshell my advice: suck it and see and don't be awed by all the guides / options / stickied info you find here.

[jak3676]

I think the best single monitor solution for dual-boxing is to flip your monitor sideways (portrait mode - if it will support that) and then split the screen in half, top and bottom. You monitor may not have a swivel feature with its built in stand, but it probably (90% chance) it has a VESA mount so you can attach an external stand. Of course two monitors work as well :)