Quick ISBoxer question =)

[FlyBoy311]

So far I am LOVING ISBoxer... I switched from "that other program" and won't go back..

I followed the guide here (http://isboxer.com/index.php/guides/34-wow-video-tovya-interact) for setting up IWT and got it working great... but then I stopped to wonder... how can I have 3 separate actions in 1 keystroke?

Isn't that not allowed or something? I tried poking around the forums for an explanation but I didn't find one... if they is one please point me in the right direction.

http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/3946/stepsd.jpg (http://img248.imageshack.us/i/stepsd.jpg/)

Thanks for the awesome software!

[FlyBoy311]

Maybe because the 1st 2 work together as a single macro on only the main window and the last line is a keypress sent to all the other windows? So it is still 1->1 action on a per window basis?

[Lax]

This topic has been beaten like a red-headed step child riding a dead horse for some time now. Different people have different interpretations of a specific part of a conversation with a GM, being: "1 Key = 1 Action". When taken completely out of the context of the conversation the GM was having, this statement is generally taken to mean that when you push a key, only one key can be pushed in any given window in response.

However, in the context of the thread that is taken from, the players were trying to find out the difference between botting and not botting, where the EULA and/or ToS/ToU are concerned (because violating these rules is specifically what gets you banned). The GM gave some strange analogies involving levers and gears and whatnot and eventually said this "1 Key = 1 Action" thing when the players couldn't interpret what he had originally said.

So. Here's a question. Alt, Ctrl, and Shift are keys, do you find it acceptable to pass Shift+1 if you press 1? But that's 2 keys! Okay, so obviously it's not "1 Key = 1 Key". Some people have made an argument that "shift is just a modifier" but most people also have no idea how these things are actually handled by your computer, Windows, and this or other games. If "shift is just a modifier" then a specific check for whether Shfit is held down or not (e.g. GetKeyState or GetAsyncKeyState windows API calls) will report that it's not held down. That would make it useless (not work) in most of the games we multibox.

Okay so let's move on to the "1 Key = 1 Action" and how it relates to botting. Let me talk about FTL for a moment. The traditional implementation of FTL is to create a WoW macro for every single button you want to press, and that WoW macro is going to use WoW macro conditionals to determine which character you're playing from; This is done by giving a different character name to assist depending on which modifier keys are held down, e.g. Shift might mean character 1, Ctrl might mean character 2, and so on.

There's another huge drawback to this implementation of FTL. You severely limit your keyspace by requiring that every single macro you assign has no modifiers on the key binding, or it would break the assisting. Some keys aren't even compatible in the first place, like the numpad doesn't play nicely with Shift.

ISBoxer's implementation of FTL -- which has been built into the Quick Setup Wizard since ISBoxer 33 and before that was manually created by following Zanthor's guide (which was popular for quite some time) -- eliminates this keyspace problem, does not require making new macros, and lets you use your existing Action Bar (and other) hotkeys. It provides these benefits specifically by first pressing a FTL Assist hotkey -- that's all the macro does is /assist -- and then the hotkey for the spell to cast (e.g. an Action Bar hotkey). So, it's been demonstrated that the macro can both /assist and /cast, but specifically to eliminate some problems, we separate the /assist from the /cast. Combining the two provides no unfair advantage -- any random person can press 1 key to /assist and /cast. If that's the case, then why would using 1 key to /assist and /cast be considered "botting" if it's done with 2 keys instead of 1? The answer is simple: it's not botting. It's not even close to botting.

So.. the GMs want you to not be botting, and we've established that 2 keys from 1 as described different ways above is not botting. What is the actual intended meaning of "1 Key = 1 Action"? The answer is that they don't want you to press 1 key, then a second and a half later it presses another key with no additional input, and again another second and a half later, and so on. Anything that happens at the instant you press or release your key is fine, assuming it does not violate the other rules defined by the EULA and ToS/ToU (e.g. if it adhered to this rule but broke the rule about reading game environment information from memory, that would obviously be bannable).

So.. believe what you will, but the above is what you will get told by any GM that is familiar with the rule. Ebony posted as much on "the other site" when Tim claimed that ISBoxer was violating the rules and got her suspended, but then she found out that her suspended was for a naming policy violation and actually asked some GMs. In fact here's what she told me from her conversations:

But he did stay just be carefully but the 11 would be ok as its spamming keys would be the same and no way any think could pick it up its more like the fact if I pressed one key and it made my char jump spin round and Nuked someone and then jump and run off (maybe that’s a ban) [ . . . ] I did phone billing and they said they know is-boxer really well and its great software and a lot in the office use it. And changed my surnames for me.(forgive the dyslexia. the 11 thing is about pressing a key twice from 1 key, and obviously the jump spin nuke jump run was an example of things happening much later than when you press a key)

Game on!

Edit: p.s. it's also important to note that WoW already throttles your key spam with the Global Cooldown