Video Feed and Cursor Feed Tutorial

[Alge]

Hi folks,

Note: This is a technical guide. For discussion of how or why you would want to use this, see some of the comments below the guide.

I played around with video feeds and cursor feeds quite a bit in the ISBoxer 38 beta and they've changed the way I setup my windows, so time for a guide. Here is a screenshot to give you an idea of where we are headed:

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c238/AClay/ISBoxer/FeedGuideTeaser.jpg


In the above there are 4 full screen video feeds(along the bottom), 4 smaller video feeds (just above them, showing my bags/repair on my slaves) and a cursor feed (of my mages' action bars).

A video feed is a static window into another character slot. A cursor feed is just a dynamic video feed that follows the mouse cursor. All feeds have two components: a source and an output.

Firstly, if you wish to use either video feeds or cursor feeds and have the feed region not appear at a lower resolution than your main window you may have to change your window layout so that all of the regions in your layout are the same size. To do this, delete your window layout from your character set. Using video feeds like I do in this guide means you don't need to use a window layout.

This results in all 5 game windows being the same size and being stacked behind each other. I swap between mine with hotkeys. See below for a technique to use for those of you who change windows by clicking.

See post 2 for how to setup up the feeds.

[Alge]

We are going to use a set of mapped keys to create and manipulate our feeds. I'd suggest creating a new Key Map to hold these. I called mine "video Feeds".

First we'll create the full screen feeds along the bottom. Make a New Mapped Key. Add a New Video Feeds Action. Set it up as below. The copy that action a further 4 times, changing the "Feed name" and "Position". The feeds is1, is2, is3, etc are created automatically by ISBoxer and are full screen feed sources for the corresponding slot. You should get something like this:

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c238/AClay/ISBoxer/CreateFeed1.png

You could use a hotkey directly to activate that mapped key. I activate it automatically every time I swap windows with my window-swapping hotkeys.

Each slot in my character set does a mapped key when I switch to that character, as shown here:
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c238/AClay/ISBoxer/ActivateCharacter.png

So in my Follow/JambaMaster Mapped Key I just add another action (Do Mapped Key Action) to do my CreateScreenFeeds Key Map.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c238/AClay/ISBoxer/JambaMaster.png

There are other ways to set this up.

What if you are used to clicking on windows to swap to them? We'll place a click bar underneath our feeds so that when we (seemingly) click on them we swap windows. Create a new click bar like the one below. You'll need to modify the cell dimensions to match your feed dimensions. Make sure to add the appropriate character sets. I use a transparent image for my buttons.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c238/AClay/ISBoxer/VideoFeedClickBar.png

Now save and export to Inner Space. Fire up your character set through Inner Space and open the ISBoxer Control Panel (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+G by default). Position the click bar under your video feeds (you may need to adjust dimensions in ISBoxer and re-export to get it just right). Make sure to sync and save in the control panel before closing it.

Now back in ISBoxer, do both a left click and a right click on each button in your click bar so that you can add mapped keys to those actions. We now need to create some more mapped keys in our Video Feeds keymap. For me, left-clicking opens a cursor feed and right-clicking switches to the appropriate slot.

[Alge]

The mapped keys to swap to a particular slot are easiest, so we'll create those first. Add a New Mapped Key to your Video Feeds keymap. Call it SwitchSlot1. Set it up as shown below. The action is a Window Action: New Window Focus Action.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c238/AClay/ISBoxer/SwitchSlotMappedKey.png

Then copy the key map, changing the name and slot number until you have 5 mapped keys (or one per slot). Now you can go back to the click bar (in ISBoxer) add add the just-created mapped keys to the buttons. You can see what that should look like in the last image of the previous post.

To add the last of the functionality shown in the aforementioned image, we need to set up some mapped keys for creating cursor feeds. I call mine SlotxCursorFeed. They have one step with two actions. The first action is a Repeater Action: New Repeater State Action. Set it up as shown:

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c238/AClay/ISBoxer/CursorFeedAction1.png

The second action controls which slot is supplying the source for that cursor feed. It is a Repeater Action: New Repeater Target Action. Set it like this:

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c238/AClay/ISBoxer/CursorFeedAction2.png

Then just go through creating the other mapped keys for the other slots, ensuring you change the repeater target in the second action. Then go back to your click bar again and assign those newly-created mapped keys to the appropriate buttons. Refer to the last image in the previous post for what the result should look like.

Before you go testing that in-game it is a good idea to make a way to turn the cursor feeds off. Make a new mapped key in your Video Feeds key map. I call mine CursorFeedOff. This one will need a hotkey. I use Ctrl+Mouse3. Pick something within easy reach. It has one action a Repeater State Action, set up thusly:

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c238/AClay/ISBoxer/CursorFeedOff.png

Notice how you can only modify some properties of the repeater state by only checking the properties you wish to modify.

OK, if all that is set up correctly, save, export and test it out in-game.

[Alge]

What if you need to get at part of your screen/UI under the feeds? We create a mapped key to toggle them off and back on again. This mapped key is called VideoFeedsToggle. It will also need a hotkey. I use Ctrl+Numpad+. It will have two steps, in the first step we hide all the feeds and also the click bar. In the second step, we re-create the feeds and turn the click bar back on.

In step 1, create a New Video Feeds Action, set up as below:

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c238/AClay/ISBoxer/VideoFeedsToggle1a.png

Then copy that action for each slot, changing the "Feed name". The last action in the first step is to turn the click bar off. That needs a Click Bar Actions: New Click Bar State Action, like so:

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c238/AClay/ISBoxer/VideoFeedsToggle1b.png

When re-enabling in the second step we already have a mapped key to turn the feeds back on and we can just use a Do Mapped Key Action:

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c238/AClay/ISBoxer/VideoFeedsToggle2a.png

and finally turn the click bar back on

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c238/AClay/ISBoxer/VideoFeedsToggle2b.png

Go test that in-game before going any further.

[Alge]

And finally, here is how to set up your own feed sources and get them to display.

I use these to display the bag space and repair status of my slaves on my main. I use a LibDataBroker display addon (Docking Station) with a panel which just contains my bag space and repair status. It is 150x20 pixels. This helps me to know how large my feed sources and outputs must be.

OK, once again we create a new mapped key in our Video Feeds keymap. I call mine CreateBagFeeds. First we will create the feed sources. Add a New Video Feeds Action, set up so.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c238/AClay/ISBoxer/BagFeedSource.png

Note that the target is a character slot (the one we want to create the source for). A unique feed name is required for each source. Copy that action 4 more times, changing both the target and the feed name. Your position and size should be the same for each slot if you have your UI set up identically for each character (always a good idea).

The output feeds are similar:

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c238/AClay/ISBoxer/BagFeedOutput.png

Note that the target is now Window: Current and you must reference the just-created feed names. Also the position of the output feed will need to be different for each slot or they will just overlap.

Now make sure to go back and add this mapped key (CreateBagFeeds) as a Do Mapped Key Action to your mapped key that is activated whenever a window gets swapped.

That's it for now. I hope you found this tutorial helpful. Please let me know of any errors or omissions or any feedback you may have. Many thanks to Lax for this great new functionality in ISBoxer 38.

Alge

[Multibocks]

Can you explain the advantage of this vs my regular 5 windows at bottom of monitor setup? It looks similar...

[Alge]

Can you explain the advantage of this vs my regular 5 windows at bottom of monitor setup? It looks similar...

Yeah, it is similar, but better. The advantage is I can have not only the small slave windows along the bottom but other video feeds and cursor feeds at the correct resolution. To do that you need all the game windows the same size, which means you can't have them small along the bottom, unless you emulate that with more video feeds.

[Multibocks]

So different resolutions buy cursor responds as though they are the same? Maybe a video of this would help....

[JackBurton]

Can you please start your guide with a discription of why we would want this feature? What it does. You want to change your readers minds.

Some great uses i know for the Video Feed Features

1. Minimap Sharing
Great for sharing important slave minimaps that track mining, herbs and other things

2. Global Cooldowns
Have five hotboxes next to each other showing showing the global cooldowns of each character. hopefuly this is all in real time.

3. Real Time Updates
Show the targets of each toon in real time. No one to two second waits for the data to go back and forth to the servers and to the clients

4. Click based actions.
See the ground where the slaves mouse is for click based AoE. Use the cursor acurately to activate ground spawns. Remotely mine a node or pick up herbs.

5. Conserve Screen Real Estate
For those of us that dont have 3 or more screen to display our toons on having only the important pieces of information on our center screen is great. Think Titan, Broker, or FuBar.

6. Farming
Track # of certain items you've gathered from looting. Drop items like cloth or Volatiles on Jamba Item bars and video feed them to your primary screen. it will show the quantity of those items across all your toons.

anyways this is what comes to mind right away. a great video of what this does here. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjeyMz_0lbU)

[Alge]

Can you please start your guide with a discription of why we would want this feature? What it does. You want to change your readers minds.

I'm not really a salesman. I'll leave that to those more that way inclined.

Having said that, you provide a great list of use cases for video feeds and cursor feeds. MiRai's video is what first got me excited about using these features, so thanks for providing a link to it.

[Alge]

So different resolutions buy cursor responds as though they are the same? Maybe a video of this would help....

See the video linked in JackBurton's post below yours. Notice how the the video feeds of the minimaps on the slaves look the same as those on the main? If I understand things correctly, trying to do that with your setup would result in very low-res minimaps because the windows supplying those feeds are small. With the setup I describe above the feeds are at the same resolution as the main window (as they are in MiRai's video) because they are as coming from full-size windows.

Unfortunately, that means you lose the little windows along the bottom of your screen (they are now large and behind your main window). But fortunately (or by Lax's great design), you can recreate them using video feeds. That is much of what I describe in my guide.

That's about the best explanation I can give you. Maybe someone else can have a go at making it clearer.

[crowdx]

See the video linked in JackBurton's post below yours. Notice how the the video feeds of the minimaps on the slaves look the same as those on the main? If I understand things correctly, trying to do that with your setup would result in very low-res minimaps because the windows supplying those feeds are small. With the setup I describe above the feeds are at the same resolution as the main window (as they are in MiRai's video) because they are as coming from full-size windows.

Unfortunately, that means you lose the little windows along the bottom of your screen (they are now large and behind your main window). But fortunately (or by Lax's great design), you can recreate them using video feeds. That is much of what I describe in my guide.

That's about the best explanation I can give you. Maybe someone else can have a go at making it clearer.


So on video feeds, is performance affected due to having full size windows sitting behind the main screen? Also how does the number of video feeds affect performance?

[Lax]

So on video feeds, is performance affected due to having full size windows sitting behind the main screen? Also how does the number of video feeds affect performance?
The majority of ISBoxer users are already using full size windows. The window layouts typically scale them down from the full size, while leaving them rendering at full size. So there will not be a noticeable change in performance from the Window Layout change unless he is rendering the full size of the screen now, where previously a small part of the screen was cut for the other windows.

Video feed performance is likely to be different for different people, probably with a CPU bottleneck. This question is something that will be answered over time as people tell us about their experience.

Also, some documentation on the feature: http://isboxer.com/wiki/Video_Feed
For anyone who wants to try out video feeds, using the in-game interface as explained in that link is going to be the quickest and easiest way to get started (e.g. quickly add a feed showing the minimap in another window, while you play, without having to run ISBoxer, figure out how to set something up, export, etc). The advantage to the method in this thread is additional control and flexibility.

[crowdx]

The majority of ISBoxer users are already using full size windows. The window layouts typically scale them down from the full size, while leaving them rendering at full size. So there will not be a noticeable change in performance from the Window Layout change unless he is rendering the full size of the screen now, where previously a small part of the screen was cut for the other windows.

Video feed performance is likely to be different for different people, probably with a CPU bottleneck. This question is something that will be answered over time as people tell us about their experience.

Also, some documentation on the feature: http://isboxer.com/wiki/Video_Feed
For anyone who wants to try out video feeds, using the in-game interface as explained in that link is going to be the quickest and easiest way to get started (e.g. quickly add a feed showing the minimap in another window, while you play, without having to run ISBoxer, figure out how to set something up, export, etc). The advantage to the method in this thread is additional control and flexibility.

My thought goes to my laptop which I currently use for some light Wow when I am watching tv and so wondering if it was worth looking at feeds for it. From the sound of it the feeds would kill the laptop cpu which is already getting maxed with the regular window setups.
:)

[Siaea]

I noticed my Innerspace updated last nite when I logged on...is this feature implemented yet, or is this from the beta?

[Lax]

I noticed my Innerspace updated last nite when I logged on...is this feature implemented yet, or is this from the beta?
ISBoxer 38 is released (feature available), I am working on updating web pages with current info and announcements. It was quietly released this weekend so I could take care of bugs before everyone rushes in now ;)

[crowdx]

I noticed my Innerspace updated last nite when I logged on...is this feature implemented yet, or is this from the beta?

It got implemented, I only use the release versions and it downloaded for my setup also. My only confusion with the new build is that the multiple window templates are not as intuitive as previous setups were. Otherwise everything seems to be running fine though.

[Alge]

So on video feeds, is performance affected due to having full size windows sitting behind the main screen? Also how does the number of video feeds affect performance?

I can run 4 full screen feeds, 4 small feeds and a 1/9 screen size cursor feed all without any problems. In fact, while I was setting this up I changed from 30/15 FPS to 60/30 and haven't had any issues. I'm planning to add some more feeds and will post if/when I run into issues.

[ghonosyph]

This seems a little confusing but can you add a video feed off on another. Monitor to mimic a window layout? I prefer to keep my four semi large windows but still want to use video feeds. Can't stand the little windows.at the bottom. Of the screen though

[Lax]

This seems a little confusing but can you add a video feed off on another. Monitor to mimic a window layout? I prefer to keep my four semi large windows but still want to use video feeds. Can't stand the little windows.at the bottom. Of the screen though
You can keep your window layout on multiple monitors, and use video feeds. You don't need to do anything special.

People who use 1 monitor, in order to use high quality video feeds, will want to either not use a window layout at all, or use the Scaled full screen window layout choice from the wizard. Otherwise, the smaller windows will produce very low quality video feeds that don't scale back up. If you're already using multiple monitors, your smaller windows are probably already fairly large so that doesn't apply to you so much.

[ghonosyph]

True but when I set up a couple feeds of my pally holypower and oh shit buttons they came out really crappy. 4 screens on my 19 inch widescreen monitor and main on my 22 inch widescreen

[Lax]

In order for them to look exactly right, the physical size of the video feed needs to be the same in both windows.

By that I mean, if you take a screenshot with both windows showing -- one being large and one being 1/4 of the second screen as per your Window Layout -- open it up in photoshop or something and compare the size of your view on the main screen, to the source on the smaller screen.

If they don't exactly match, then it's either going to scale up or down from that resolution (in the screenshot, not the main window size when the window swaps back to it) to provide your feed. If it has to scale up (because the view bigger than the source is at that time) then it's going to look pixellated.

Which is why Window Layouts are beginning to change, and the Stacked full screen style from the wizard is optimal for video feed usage.

[ghonosyph]

which i understand. But what i'm wondering is, can i make use of high quality video feeds and still keep my multimonitor setup somehow? :D

[Alge]

which i understand. But what i'm wondering is, can i make use of high quality video feeds and still keep my multimonitor setup somehow? :D

From what I can tell the feeds are limited to displaying inside the boundaries of your WoW window (without a window layout) or within the active ISBoxer Window Layout Region (with a window layout). I tried a couple of things but I suspect what you want to do is not *currently* possible. That does not mean it can't be done. Lax would be able to give you a more definite answer.

Alge

[Alge]

which i understand. But what i'm wondering is, can i make use of high quality video feeds and still keep my multimonitor setup somehow? :D
This is now possible (has been for quite a while) by using dxNothing (http://isboxer.com/wiki/DxNothing).

[luxlunae]

??? Necro?

[Alge]

Yes, this post is linked as a guide from the ISBoxer site, so it needs to be kept up to date.

[crowdx]

Yes, this post is linked as a guide from the ISBoxer site, so it needs to be kept up to date.
A quick question of keymaps for video feeds, is it possible to create a video feed in the game and then attach to a keymap to show hide the video feed?

[crowdx]

A quick question of keymaps for video feeds, is it possible to create a video feed in the game and then attach to a keymap to show hide the video feed? EDIT: I figured this out, it seems Video Feeds can now be loaded as sets and also hidden as sets. Very Cool :)

[Kris1234]

Hey Alge, have read the new article with quite some interest and like your setup. If its not to much hassle, could you provide your addons and a tiny explanation of that the boxes do. Thank you

[Alge]

Um, pitbull for unit frames, bartender for bars, carbonite for minimaps and quests, some LibDataBroker stuff along the top, Docs Nameplates, Jamba, Skinner are the main ones. No one ever accused my UI of being pretty.


If its not to much hassle, could you provide your addons and a tiny explanation of that the boxes do.
To which boxes do you refer?

[Kris1234]

To which boxes do you refer?

Thanks for the reply. The ones in the middle that are arranged under your toon names. im guessing this is a click bar setup for click healing. is that correct or is that done using an addon like grid?

cheers

[Alge]

Those are Pitbull unit frames with a Click Bar overlaid for click healing, yes.

You'll find more details of my Click Healing setup here (http://isboxer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=12528).

[deathjester]

Thanks Alge...
I have used this guide to setup my 3 monitor setup:
Using the central window fullscreen with layered game clients and a DXnothing window for each of my 2 other screens...
However: I have 5 box and have setup the following:
Monitor 1
2 Game Clients videofx (IS4/5)
Monitor 2
Main Windows - Client 1
Monitor 3
2 Game Clients VideoFX (IS 2/3)
However I now have it set so that when I switch characters it moves my windows, so if I switch to client 5 I get the following:
Monitor 1
2 Game Clients videofx (IS3/4)
Monitor 2
Main Windows Client 5
Monitor 3
2 Game Clients VideoFX (IS 1/2)
However I also use a 4 boxing setup to level my non-main account to level 10 or so before I start boosting. As such I have created a Virtual VideoFX Keymap which is assigned within each character set to the relevant VideoFX window layout...
This probably will become more advanced as I build up my teams...
I can do a guide for this if anyone would find it useful....!

[rfarris]

I can't find the "Video Feed" portion of the ISBoxer Toolkit in build #41. I assume that it has changed since you wrote this guide, Alge. Is it simply a matter of choosing "Stacked full screen on \\.\DISPLAY1 (No Swapping,Avoid Taskbar)" from the Window Layout Wizard now? Or do I completely remove the window layout using the wizard?

[MiRai]

I can't find the "Video Feed" portion of the ISBoxer Toolkit in build #41. I assume that it has changed since you wrote this guide, Alge.
Video Feeds became VideoFX soon after their release.
http://isboxer.com/wiki/Video_FX



Is it simply a matter of choosing "Stacked full screen on \\.\DISPLAY1 (No Swapping,Avoid Taskbar)" from the Window Layout Wizard now? Or do I completely remove the window layout using the wizard?
Using a Window Layout will give you more control over your game windows.

[rfarris]

I've sort of got it working. I ended up with a few extra video sources. How do I delete them (in game?) Also, is there a video or text guide explaining when I would want to save a "Video FX Set?" It seems that my feeds aren't being saved, is this how I save them?

[MiRai]

I've sort of got it working. I ended up with a few extra video sources. How do I delete them (in game?)
With the ISBoxer Control Panel open, you click on the "X" and then save your VFX set.


Also, is there a video or text guide explaining when I would want to save a "Video FX Set?" It seems that my feeds aren't being saved, is this how I save them?
From the link I provided:


Until Saved using the ISBoxer Control Panel, all changes using the in-game Video FX editors are temporary and will be gone when your game instances close. Use the "Save As" button to save a Set of Video FX; each Video FX Viewer and Source in each window will be saved.

[rfarris]

WRT my earlier question about deleting extra video sources. I eventually managed to create a video source that I named is1. Doesn't it say not to do that on one of the videos guides? :) I can tell you that I didn't do it on purpose -- I was trying to create a video viewer and screwed it up.

So in order to fix it I poked around in the InnserSpace/Scripts folder and found a ISBoxer.VideoFeeds.CharSet.ToonName.xml file and managed to delete the extra video sources and converted my is1 video source into a video viewer. Everything was good.

I will admit that it wasn't easy to save that file, probably for a good reason. Can a really bad thing happen when editing the VideoFeeds config files?​ Or is it just a matter of being careful while you're in there?

[MiRai]

So in order to fix it I poked around in the InnserSpace/Scripts folder and found a ISBoxer.VideoFeeds.CharSet.ToonName.xml file and managed to delete the extra video sources and converted my is1 video source into a video viewer. Everything was good.

I will admit that it wasn't easy to save that file, probably for a good reason. Can a really bad thing happen when editing the VideoFeeds config files?​ Or is it just a matter of being careful while you're in there?
It's a basic XML file with straight text and there shouldn't be anything difficult about saving it; that is, unless you aren't familiar with assigning text files their own extensions or you are hiding known extensions within Windows (which is its default behavior). If you use a useful text editor like Notepad++, then you shouldn't have any difficultly editing and saving XML files.

[rfarris]

I have a masters degree in software engineering; I have a handful of text editors. I've used Epsilon (a dos/windows version of emacs) for decades and I'm pretty happy with Sublime Text 2. I also have various specific XML tools (Stylus Studio, XMLSpy) but I don't pull them out for simple tasks.

As I think about it, though, running Windows Server 2012 as my desktop is new to me, and it is probably trying to protect the contents of the Program Files folders. I didn't think about that when I tried to save the file and had to stop and run the editor as an administrator in order to get the file to save. I assumed that Lavish was protecting the files.

[MiRai]

I didn't think about that when I tried to save the file and had to stop and run the editor as an administrator in order to get the file to save. I assumed that Lavish was protecting the files.
I would assume only if you were currently running the Character Set at the time of editing the file, or if your files were installed into the default location of "Program Files" where Windows usually forces write-protection on all files and sub-directories in that folder.

[rfarris]

I first assumed choice a), but after stopping the game (and indeed, stopping inner space) I still couldn't save, but I *did* install into the default Program Files folder tree. Thanks for all the help.