MultiBox

[Ellay]

Created by Micah who frequents the boards. Taken over by Shockbeta for the time being.

Check this forum for updated client download
http://www.dual-boxing.com/forums2/viewtopic.php?t=402

MultiBox Client & Server: http://ultrashare.net/hosting/fl/ffeff6c466/
MultiBox Client & Server & Source: http://ultrashare.net/hosting/fl/f148a7baff/ (out of date)
MultiBox w/ Display Shortcuts (modified by Shockbeta) : http://ultrashare.net/hosting/fl/69107c171c

Features:
* One mouse/keyboard can control multiple computers without any additional hardware.
* Specifically designed to allow you to play 3D games that use the mouse for looking around.
* Ability to toggle "broadcasting" with a hotkey that will allow your keystrokes or mouse movements to be broadcast to all connected computers.
* Simple UI: Setting up monitor layout is very easy.
* Runs in the taskbar so it's out of the way.

Run MultiBoxServer.exe on the machine with the mouse/keyboard. Run MultiBoxClient.exe on every machine (including the one with the mouse/keyboard). Set the port on the server machine to something and match it on all the clients (including the one with the server software running on it). On the clients, enter the hostname of the server into the Server Name (this is the name of your computer if you are on a local area network) and press enter.

Note: Be sure to connect the client on the same machine as the server first, otherwise you won't be able to get back to that machine without quitting all the others first. :p

Pressing escape 8 times in a row will exit the server in case something breaks and you have lost control of the mouse/keyboard somehow.

There are a few things that need worked on but on a whole it should work pretty well. This version is fairly large because it's compiled in debug mode (release mode crashes for some reason) but I'm assuming anyone multi-boxing has a big enough internet connection to download a 10MB executable. Smile

The source code requires wxWidgets 2.8.0 to compile and run as well as the Windows SDK. It currently only works on Windows XP (95/98 probably won't work and 2000/Vista are untested). It definitely won't work on a Mac or Linux but it is mostly written with portability in mind (wxWidgets API instead of .NET) so if someone is interested a port isn't terribly unrealistic.

Learning Curve - Medium

Post Reviews, Suggestions, and Comments below.

[kadaan]

Is there a tutorial on setting this up? When I run the server exe on one computer and the client on the other, the keyboard and mouse connected to the server are now controlling the client with no obvious way of switching back.

[Torrid]

Micah actually did a very good job at making this extremely easy to setup. His first post in the following thread has the info you are looking for I believe.

http://www.dual-boxing.com/forums2/viewtopic.php?t=29

The most important thing seems to be making sure you first run the server AND client on the main machine first, then launch the client on any of the secondary machines.

[Micah]

New version out, update thread at earliest convenience:
http://ultrashare.net/hosting/fl/ffeff6c466/ (source code for this version available on request, it's a pain to get together in a .zip so I don't do it for every version).

[Hydrocool]

HELL yeah, man this rocks.

Thx's for the update

[Ellay]

Done.

[Ukon]

awsome man. alltought it was some delay. may that have something to do with that stuff where it were written 2200ms or something?

is it possible to get an reaction within o,1 seconds or something?

anyways. nice program and nice work :)

or is it just that my mom's computer realy sucks? :lol:

[ocaTwins]

So the massive lag that was mentioned before, is it gone with the new version?

I'd really like to try out Multibox, but last time I checked, I hat the 10 seconds lag as soon as I tried to switch from my client computer back to the one running client AND server.

[Micah]

I still haven't figured out what the cause of that lag spike is/was so I don't know if it's been "fixed" or not. I have changed a bit of code related to screen switching so it's possible that the lag is gone and if you get a chance I would recommend giving it another try to see if that is the case or not.

[Ukon]

I still haven't figured out what the cause of that lag spike is/was so I don't know if it's been "fixed" or not. I have changed a bit of code related to screen switching so it's possible that the lag is gone and if you get a chance I would recommend giving it another try to see if that is the case or not.

The "lagg" is more like unstable, but i guess that is prolly because the other computer is realy suckey.

but the thing that is mostly anoying is that the mouse laggs some times.

and that it sometimes takes like 10 minutes for the other computer+thisone to connect to the server.

but some times it works realy smooth ^^

to bad that the other computer is in like 2 etg's over my comp :roll:

so i have to run up and down the stairs xD

[ocaTwins]

I still haven't figured out what the cause of that lag spike is/was so I don't know if it's been "fixed" or not. I have changed a bit of code related to screen switching so it's possible that the lag is gone and if you get a chance I would recommend giving it another try to see if that is the case or not.
Just gave it a try again and the problem remains: as soon as I switch from one Desktop to another, there is this 5 second timespan, where the mouse cursor position is only updated only once a second. If it is an actual lag of the whole computer or just of the mouse driver, I can not tell.

[Los]

I still haven't figured out what the cause of that lag spike is/was so I don't know if it's been "fixed" or not. I have changed a bit of code related to screen switching so it's possible that the lag is gone and if you get a chance I would recommend giving it another try to see if that is the case or not.

The "lagg" is more like unstable, but i guess that is prolly because the other computer is realy suckey.

but the thing that is mostly anoying is that the mouse laggs some times.

and that it sometimes takes like 10 minutes for the other computer+thisone to connect to the server.

but some times it works realy smooth ^^

to bad that the other computer is in like 2 etg's over my comp :roll:

so i have to run up and down the stairs xD

Why not remote desktop it? http://www.realvnc.com/ is really nice, and you could also try the remote desktop windows provides. Saves you from running up and down ;)

[Ukon]

I still haven't figured out what the cause of that lag spike is/was so I don't know if it's been "fixed" or not. I have changed a bit of code related to screen switching so it's possible that the lag is gone and if you get a chance I would recommend giving it another try to see if that is the case or not.

The "lagg" is more like unstable, but i guess that is prolly because the other computer is realy suckey.

but the thing that is mostly anoying is that the mouse laggs some times.

and that it sometimes takes like 10 minutes for the other computer+thisone to connect to the server.

but some times it works realy smooth ^^

to bad that the other computer is in like 2 etg's over my comp :roll:

so i have to run up and down the stairs xD

Why not remote desktop it? http://www.realvnc.com/ is really nice, and you could also try the remote desktop windows provides. Saves you from running up and down ;)

exercising :P
it's the exercising

[Ukon]

alright. something has happened now :S could anything tell me what's wrong now? :/

it comes a message that says "04:30:39: Connection lost: Next attempt in 2 seconds." evrytime i try to connect from another computer now.
and the computer that it is hosted on gets connected easily.

is there something wrong with my nettwork or something? :/

i have tested it on 2 different computers now

[Micah]

It sounds like your connection is getting dropped for some reason, try installing VNC (tightvnc, realvnc, etc.) on the machines and see if that works.

As for the lag issue, I recognize the symptoms, it means Multibox is lagging on the server but I don't have any idea why. :(

[RandyS]

Hi Everyone,

This dual boxing stuff is great. I tried Synery and it works great between my desktop and laptop PCs. I have need for the broadcasting feature for a presentation. Simultaneous English and French presentations on 2 separate screens.

Anyway, I'm trying the ultrashare.net links but none of them seem to work for me. :?: Is there another download site for this? Or is this an ultrashare blip?

TIA,
RandyS

[Micah]

I just tried the link and it works for me. Are you trying to download the program or the source code?

[RandyS]

Hi Micah,

I'm trying to download the program itself, not the source code. I can't even get http://utrashare.net to come up on my browser by itself. I have regular cable modem access and I can't imagine that my ISP would be blocking it.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
RandyS

[Micah]

I can't even get http://utrashare.net to come up on my browser by itself.It looks like you have a typo in there, missing the 'l' in http://ultrashare.net/. I just tried it again and it is still working for me. Is anyone else having trouble accessing http://ultrashare.net/?

[RandyS]

Ah .... that was just a typo, clicking on your link gets me this.

Hmmmm ....

Nevermind, its working now. I was using Firefox and it wasn't working. Then I tried IE 6 and it did work. I went back to Firefox and now it works too. :lol:

Thanks for your help, time to test the goods.

Cheers,
RandyS

[Rapha]

Hello, Thank you very much for Multibox! I use the program daily and appreciate it greatly. I used to use Synergy but It had some problems with Wow. I then changed to Multibox and it works much better. Please keep up the good work!

I was wondering if there were any plans to make Multibox work with Vanguard. I recently started playing Vanguard and can't seem to get Multibox or Synergy to work with it properly. I have problems with the screen staying open, or the cursor getting locked.

Thanks again for your efforts!

Cheers!

Rapha

[Micah]

Multibox *should* work with Vanguard. What problems exactly are you experiencing with it?

[Amo]

Hey Micah,

I got your program running on my computer. I can't seem to get it working though, maybe you could help me out. This is what I've been doing:

1. Start the Server on Computer 1.
2. Start the Client on Computer 1.
Client Connects to the server.
3. Start the Client on Computer 2.
Client Connects to the server fine.

Mouse/keyboard don't work. This is my first time trying anything like this, I hope I don't sound much like a noob -.-

Hope you can help, and I can't wait to get it working, I'm going to be trying for like... the next 4 hours, cus I have nothing better to do. -.-

What am I supposed to be doing with the blank boxes, I can click them and the drop down menus show the names of both my computers. I've tried setting them in every random order. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. I'm only trying to hook these two computers together.

[saetia]

I'm also having an issue, all connects fine but it doesn't seem to work. It never broadcasts anything to the other PC after they are both succesfully connected. Sometimes if I disable the broadcasting of keyboard/mouse mine will be disabled on the server and still won't do anything on the other pc.

[Amo]

I'm also having an issue, all connects fine but it doesn't seem to work. It never broadcasts anything to the other PC after they are both succesfully connected. Sometimes if I disable the broadcasting of keyboard/mouse mine will be disabled on the server and still won't do anything on the other pc.

This is my problem.

[EdwardN]

Hi, I have just run this software.

1 Started the server
2 Started the Client - no indication of any connection between Client and server on same machine?
3 Started the client on remote machine - no indication of connection.

I have put in the server name as the name of the machine running the server software.

I have disabled the windows firewall.

Can't get it to work? What am I missing please?

[way]

This is so much better for me than Synergy (for WoW at least). I'm very impressed so thanks for the incredible software.

No more mouse-look issues!

[shockbeta]

Not that the forums big and people wouldn't see this "IF" they looked, but figured a link to the modified version was approriate...

modified version of Multibox...

http://www.dual-boxing.com/forums2/viewtopic.php?t=402

And check the general forum for more on what's been added and everything...

[Elixir]

Just wanted to pipe in here with a thank you for continuing support.

I do have 1 issue I am encountering. I couldn't find any info on it at all.

my current config is 3 systems using the updated code from may

keyboard is a Logitech G15

I lose my numlock key when using multibox. When I close down the server, I get my numlock back. have I messed up some setting in the server that I may have missed?

thanks for any advice you may have.

~Lix

[stoffe_ffs]

vista is the future.... please i whant it :(

[Teejayv]

i'm just wondering, if i use multibox. can i still use the mouse and keyboard on one my client computers as well? Hence the possibility of having 2 mouse cursors on the screen at once?

I think this would be the ultimate way to play a 2box mage-mage combo in WoW.. and also if i was playing with my little bro or something, i could still slide my mouse over to his screen to point something out to him.

That would be neat if it was possible...

[ytrehod]

You can use the attached keyboard and mouse on a client system, but if you move the server mouse over to a client, it takes over the cursor instead of creating another. You'd end up fighting for control of the mouse if someone else was playing on the client computer.

[Apocolyse]

Hey just starting and trying to figure out the hardware/software stuff before I buy stuff. I think this is what I am looking for but, I have a few questions.

1. Does this let you use mouse look to steer the character on whichever screen the mouse is over or just the server? I have read people complain of spinning uncontrollably. If so, does it cause all characters to use mouse look or are mouse commands only usable on the screen the mouse is on?

2. Are there any performance issues on the server that would prevent it from rendering graphics optimally?

3. Do you have to have WoW on all of the computers/screens? I.E. can one screen be for web browsing, vent etc.

4. Does this work over machines with 2 or 3 monitors?

5. Are there any issues with using various resolutions on the monitors of different machines?

6. Can I have WSAD and auto run work only on the screen the mouse is on while broadcasting all other keystrokes?

7. Will this work on 2 clients running on 1 machine with WoW displayed in windowed mode over the 2 instances?

8. Does this work with the Nostromo N52? Assuming each machine has the Nostromo software and the same key mappings installed?

What I am looking to do is have 6 machines, maybe more depending on what is able to be done, one the "server" really nice, great graphics, with 3 large monitors. 5 bareboned boxes, 4 for WoW 1 for web/vent, with 6 smaller 17" monitors, 4 for WoW clients and 2 for web browser, vent etc.

Thank you for your help. I realize this is open source and free, I am just trying to research before I do anything. I am sorry if the answers are staring me in the face, I will continue to investigate myself, but appreciate any help anyone may be able to provide.

Thanks for the site, it is great! :)

[Autofollow]

I've been playing with Multibox for the last couple of hours, and have a feature request.

I'd like to be able to change the server on the fly instead of having to make a registry change.

I'd like to be able to grab my laptop and head over to a fellow multiboxer's house for LAN night, or have them over. Vent is nice and all, but LAN night still exists for a reason.. (to get out of the house.. sorta).

It's not a big deal for me to make the registry change, but some friends are best not knowing there is a registry editor. I don't need the middle of the night call that goes "You know that registry thing you showed me? I deleted something by accident, and I don't know what it was".

So, could you add in a profile option, or at least allow the server entry field to modify the registry entry if one already exists?

Thanks in advance.

[Suribusi]

I've been playing with Multibox for the last couple of hours, and have a feature request.

I'd like to be able to change the server on the fly instead of having to make a registry change.

I'd like to be able to grab my laptop and head over to a fellow multiboxer's house for LAN night, or have them over. Vent is nice and all, but LAN night still exists for a reason.. (to get out of the house.. sorta).

It's not a big deal for me to make the registry change, but some friends are best not knowing there is a registry editor. I don't need the middle of the night call that goes "You know that registry thing you showed me? I deleted something by accident, and I don't know what it was".

So, could you add in a profile option, or at least allow the server entry field to modify the registry entry if one already exists?

Thanks in advance.

Hmm...Can't you just change the option on the client to which server you want to connect to? Just click, edit textbox and press enter, done? Or am I missing something about your question. :wink:

-S

[Autofollow]

Hmm...Can't you just change the option on the client to which server you want to connect to? Just click, edit textbox and press enter, done? Or am I missing something about your question. :wink:

-S

The setting doesn't stick. If i need to reboot the machine, end the process, whatever.. it reverts back to the original entry entered when you run the executable the next time.

Short term it's just annoying to have to do it every time.

Long term, when I upgrade the machine running the server portion, and turn it into a client machine I'll have to go track down the registry entry on every client machine to make the change.

[Suribusi]

Hmm...Can't you just change the option on the client to which server you want to connect to? Just click, edit textbox and press enter, done? Or am I missing something about your question. :wink:

-S

The setting doesn't stick. If i need to reboot the machine, end the process, whatever.. it reverts back to the original entry entered when you run the executable the next time.

Short term it's just annoying to have to do it every time.

Long term, when I upgrade the machine running the server portion, and turn it into a client machine I'll have to go track down the registry entry on every client machine to make the change.

Yeah, now that you mention it I see your point. I have ran into that myself, and I don't have an answer :? . Perhaps if I finish my multibox app it will be another solution for people to use. :wink:

-S

[TMPlayer]

Any progress on the issue of the mouse jumping between left and right computers, skipping the middle one? It happens to me quite frequently and is my only nag with this software right now.

What are others doing to work around this issue?

[Ellay]

Any progress on the issue of the mouse jumping between left and right computers, skipping the middle one? It happens to me quite frequently and is my only nag with this software right now.

What are others doing to work around this issue?

I have found that a mix of this application combined with Synergy makes the perfect tool.

I let Syngery do the movement to other screens since it does it perfectly and let Multibox broadcast keystrokes which it does perfectly.

[Niko33]

Ermm got a serious problem.. At the computer i run the "server" on i cant stear the mouse or use the keyboard but it works fine on the client computer.. What is wrong O.o ?

[Los]

prolly set it up wring, fiddle a bit with the settings.

Totally agree with ellay btw, synergy for mouse movement across pc's and keyclone/multibox for replication of keys, works perfectly

[Niko33]

Well could you tell me how to set it up (: ?

[Autofollow]

Ermm got a serious problem.. At the computer i run the "server" on i cant stear the mouse or use the keyboard but it works fine on the client computer.. What is wrong O.o ?

Multibox requires you to run the server *and* client on the machine that is the server.

From what I understand of it (please note: I have very little programming experience) the server intercepts your keystrokes, and only broacasts them to clients connected to the server. The client then sends the keystrokes to the operating system.

If there is no client running on the server machine, the operating system never receives the keystrokes.

[Xarry]

I go this up and running, the PC's see each other, they are connected to the server ( client running on both PC's ) but I cannot get to my other screen, any ideas?

[Suribusi]

I go this up and running, the PC's see each other, they are connected to the server ( client running on both PC's ) but I cannot get to my other screen, any ideas?

On the server you need to set your layout options in the bottom right area to how you have your monitors arranged. This creates little drop-down boxes in the middle. At each of those boxes select the PC name that is that monitor.

e.g. I have my layout set a 2x3, but I only have 4 monitors atm.
So my first row is... Toon1....blank.....Toon2
my second row is....Toon3.....X......Toon4
X is my main box... toons 2 and 4 share a monitor.

-S

[Xarry]

Ahh, thank you. One problem though, the server seems to freeze when clients connect to it other than the main pc and i cant select the other pC :(

[Tionkje]

Ahh, thank you. One problem though, the server seems to freeze when clients connect to it other than the main pc and i cant select the other pC :(

i had that to solved it by turning off all the other network interfaces like wireless and network cards i didn't use.

[deltaroy]

Love Multibox!

I tried synergy with the f1 and f2 buttons for screen switching. This was to laggy and slow for me.

Multibox has the advantage to assign keystrokes so you dont need any Hotkey or other programs. (have a laptop and a pc with dual screen)

Hooray to the makers of Multibox and keep up the good work!

[Xarry]

How do you have both toons following each other? When using multibox, and loading up 2 WoW's on diff machines, they dont follow each other at all, they are just not matching up in game and they eventually run away from each other.

[Wilbur]

Don't pass movement keys to the clone and /follow.

[Xarry]

Duh, thanks for that, brain freeze :) I knew it was going to be something simple.

[mikedoggy]

im new to this and trying to search for how these things work for daoc and am having a hard time finding mcuh information about daoc, it seems you all play wow :P

currently i play 3 accounts on 3 pcs with no software and am able to play all 3 better thenmost play one, which doesnt say much we all know theres alot of bad players in mmorpgs.

i would like to be able to use one keyboard to control all the pcs and accounts... but id really love to play 6 accounts on 3 pcs and not have to alt tab for every little thing.

so my question is will i be able to do either of those with this program for daoc? im going to dl and try but servers down :P but if any tips or experience to share id appreciate it.

[Ghallo]

Mike, try out Octopus listed in the stickies. It actually does everything this app does and more.

[Air]

Hi,

I experienced DualBox for about a month now, using Multiplicity, for tests purpose.

However, I experienced several issue, from cursor madness to loosing the server.

I then search on google and find this great forum ;)

I've tested the past 2 days Synergy, Multibox and Octopus.

I've found quite what i was searching with Multibox, but I'm experincing frequent crash issue since i'm using Windows Vista.

As I am a software developper, I would have like to debug the code to had a better Vista support, and if succeded post the changes here for who might be interested.

Is there a way to download the source code ?
As the First link is down I can't find a way to have it.

Thanks for your help

[Otlecs]

I still have the source for the original version (the version I'm running, the most basic "press a key, send a key" incarnation). As I recall, it's freely distributable so PM me with an email address and I'll send it to you.

Be advised, however, that it was originally intended to be in some way portable, so intead of using the MFC or similar it depends on an obscure cross-platform presentation library.

It also depends on a specific version of that obscure library.

It took me a good half day to get it up and running when I was trying to debug a connection issue (turned out to be reverse dns lookup timeout, fixed with hostfile entries), so you may have your work cut out.

Still, drop me a PM and I'll send you the unmolested source. Please do not expect any level of assistance / support though - I haven't touched it since the Spring, and I can barely remember what I had for dinner last night, let alone what hoops I jumped through to get it building back then!

I use a mixed XP/vista setup too, and have occasional crashes, occasional "screen jumps" (you'll know what I mean, I suspect!) and occasional "oh dear, the mouse is stuck on a screen and it's not the main screen" moments, all of which are a real pain when they happen but are infrequent enough that I can't be bothered to actually look at fixing them :)

[Air]

Hi !

First, thanks for your quick answer ! :D

And yes, I've experienced the same issues with the XP/Vista Combo, that's why I wanted to try and fix some of the bugs that may occur on Vista System, before launching my own DualBoxing experience.
(Would not want to start leveling and have to stop again and again because of stability issue)

Concerning the cross plateform library, I would have like to port it to classic MFC, for stability purpose. (and of course ease of coding, since I write MFC code for 7 years know, I rarelly use straigth Win32 code)
If I succedeed in the fix I thinking about, I will post the software here for those interested in.
Do worry, I would not ask for support, I know that the piece of code may not have been supported for a long time now.

I send you a PM right now, thanks again for your help.