keyclone v1.3c - hotstrings, extended keys, and more

[keyclone]

I have updated the main page for keyclone for the new version, v1.3c

some of the improvements with this version:

* improved (hopefully fixed) alt/ctrl/shift keys
* hotstrings
* limited extended keyboard support
* mapped mouse clicks (with scaling)
* more right-click menu options
* absolute name matching for auto-add
* upgraded setup dialog

i will also be updating the page (about time) to include some explaination on how to use hotstrings.

the mouse click mapping should be good to go... depending on the game (you can get mouse click info in numerous ways). if its not working, let me know. also, you can selectively remove one clone from receiving mouse clicks.

download and play... feedback is welcome.. just tell me what more you need.

edit: update from v1.3b to v1.3c

[Runiat]

First off let me just congratulate you on the improvements you've made to this. I've still got more hardware than CD-keys, but as soon as I decide to 3 or 4-box you'll be going to the pub yet again.

Now I do have a few questions (or, if the answer is negative, requests):

1) How well does this program work with other games? In specifics I'm thinking of lotro, World of Conflict beta, WAR beta, and WAR gold. Oh and both betas we're talking about open ones as I didn't get in the closed for either one :'(

2) How's it holding up in Vista? All I'm looking for as for stability is that it's better than the OS, which shouldn't be hard to achieve. Now that my harddrive isn't working I'm considering to switch away from Vista, but XP is too expensive and Linux too different to borther with before DX10 is out.

3) "Extended keyboard support" = ?
Non-English characters or programmable keys? If programmable; X-keys, ZBoard, or G15?
Oh and I'd love to know what the hotstrings are, too, so if you could copy-paste it when you've written it?

[keyclone]

re: other games
it is programmed to work with general windows applications. now, if the game in question is actively trying to discourage such behavior, i'm not trying to defeat their efforts.

as such, it works with shadowbane, wow, and eq2 (with inner space)... that i have heard of. if anyone has validated it with other games, hopefully they will be kind enough to share.

re: vista
as i don't have vista, and have no current plans to upgrade my hardware in order to run vista, i am unable to verify it myself. i have been told it works by people running vista, but that's all i have.

re: extended keyboard
as in programmable keyboards. if they can issue any combination of keys, keyclone should pick it up. i was in vent with someone that had a logitech G15 and he said keyclone was picking up his G keys. It wasn't assigning 'G1'.. but it was getting the 'LSHIFT+A' he associated with it. obviously i haven't tested keyclone with all the keyboards out there, nor i have tried the x-keys style yet (need a special USB hook as far as i understand.. it's on the list)

re: hotstrings
check this thread for a discussion
http://www.dual-boxing.com/forums2/viewtopic.php?t=650&highlight=hotstring

[zanthor]

On vista the mouse clicks broadcast actually moves the mouse... so after I click in my main window it ZIPS to the 2nd and then 3rd and leaves all 3 toons facing a VERY random direction.

[keyclone]

whoa.. that's.. unexpected.

nice to see the guys in Redmond are still doing quality work. I have no idea why they would force the mouse move when a mouse click is pushed to a window. brilliant.

sorry about that, zanthor, and thanks for letting me know.. i'll see if i can do anything about it

[Notes]

Love it, keep up the good work 8)

[Hypermoo]

I'm running 3 versions of WoW on XP. There are a few things that aren't working for me.

1. I have my mount command tied to Left Ctrl + G. However, when I press that, only the character in the active window mounts. Not getting anything on the other two.

2. Round robin appears to cycle through more than just my three WoWs. Lets say I have Silence tied to the '=' key. If I spam the button enough, all 3 will cast it, but I have to hit it a lot more than 3 times.

3. Not getting my mouse clicks. My hearth stone is in the same location in all 3 character's bags. Right or Left clicking has no effect. After enabling mouse clicking and clicking something, and then trying to select another window, my non-main's views spin all over the place.

Sorry if I misunderstood how any of these are supposed to function, but that's what I'm getting so far.

Otherwise it's great. New setup is nice, and everything else works well from what I can tell.

[Fog]

Yeah, my alt, ctrl and shift still aint working either, even though I'm only using one computer and XP.

[keyclone]

re: LCtrl+G for mount
for grins, try making a keymap and add LCtrl+G with the string 'mount', save it under some name, then try right-click/load keymap on each of the clones. once the keymap is on every clone, try doing a LCtrl+G from any of them.

re: round robin not passing keys
very odd. i didn't check that as i wasn't working that area. i'll look into it

re: mouse clicks
mouse clicks across machines not working? i think i know what's causing that one... (runs off to code...)

[keyclone]

Fog, try using them with a keymap.

i was focused on the keymaps/hotstrings all weekend and didn't look back at the 'normal' key stuff. i think i've got a handle on it and will look into it tonight

[Mannyman]

o.O new version, nice:)

[Hypermoo]

re: LCtrl+G for mount
for grins, try making a keymap and add LCtrl+G with the string 'mount', save it under some name, then try right-click/load keymap on each of the clones. once the keymap is on every clone, try doing a LCtrl+G from any of them.

re: round robin not passing keys
very odd. i didn't check that as i wasn't working that area. i'll look into it

re: mouse clicks
mouse clicks across machines not working? i think i know what's causing that one... (runs off to code...)

Mouse clicks not working with only 1 computer. Not sure, but that might be more complicated than going across computers.

Also, I saved the keymap, then went back to the main screen. Right click on one of the WoW clones and click load key map. The file type is set to keymap, with the name default as txt, and no files are visible in the keyclone folder. I change file type to view all, and click to open my keymap. Then keyclone crashes :(.

[keyclone]

hmm... are you using a foreign language set (could be wide character issue with file names and all strings)

[Fog]

I'll try that. If I can work out how :P

[Hypermoo]

hmm... are you using a foreign language set (could be wide character issue with file names and all strings)

nope, just a normal keybaord.

I named my string ctrlg, with ctrlg as the string. When I click to open that keymap I'm getting this error now (wasn't getting it before):

Buffer overrun detected!

Program: C:\Keyclone\keyclone.exe

A buffer overrun has been detected which has corrupted the program's internal state. The program cannot safely continue execution and must now be terminated.

[Hypermoo]

When you click 'load keymap', it defaults file type to 'keymaps', and nothing is visible. Do I need to be giving my keymaps a certain file extension?

I also tried making a keymap for a non ctrl key. Still got the same error.

[keyclone]

*sigh*
i'm on it...

[Fog]

*sigh*
i'm on it...

Hehe - It aint easy being green ;) As my hunter used to say. Anyway, I love how simple you have made it, the modifiers is the only thing I miss, really :)

[keyclone]

thx fog.

look for v1.3c. it should have mouse clicks working better and the keymap file selection box working properly.

http://solidice.com/keyclone/keyclone_v1.3c_24jul2007a.exe

try the extender keys with hotstrings... let me know if they are passing properly (or better). one thing i have noticed is the increase in Bps due to the hotstrings. i will be addressing that shortly. for now, on a local network, the bandwidth is irrelevant.

keep pointing out any issues and what you'd like to see, and i'll keep pounding on it.

[Bena]

Still can't get ctrl/shift/alt to work in other windows.

[Hypermoo]

Only difference I'm seeing in 1.3c is that my other windows don't go crazy when I have passing mouse clicks enabled.

still not getting my keymaps to load properly. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. Here is step by step exactly what I'm clicking, starting from the main menu:

'Setup'
'keymap editor'
'new'
In top window between 'load' and 'save', i type 'mount'
for description i type 'blah'
I left click in the box where it says <key>, and then press LCTRL+G
under hotstring, I type 'lctrlg'
click 'add'
click 'save'
click 'Ok'
Right click World of Warcraft, select 'Load keymap...'
(Already in correct folder, file name default is 'kcl', files of type default is 'Keymaps') Nothing is visible in the folder.
I select 'All Files' for file type.
I left click on 'mount' (which has no file type?), and click open.

The result is the error I typed last night, and keyclone crashes.

However, when I rename the file to mount.kcl (adding file type), then I can select and load it for each clone without getting any error. After doing this, clicking LCTRL+G still only mounts in my active window, but it is at least one step closer.

I don't know if this is possible or not. However, could you create the keymaps internally, instead of making them user generated? Could you concatenate whatever the user types when they are pressing Ctrl or Alt or whatever, save it as a string, and then provide the map that reforms that string as the proper instructions? I'm new to programming, so I don't have a good grasp on the magnitude of what I'm asking, but I don't see much of a difference between having the keymaps created automatically, and having the user save them. Something like: If first 4 letters of string are ctrl, then press Ctrl plus whatever the rest of the string is? Just thinking out load, it's interesting...

[Mannyman]

I get a weird bug from time to time. I have my other characters follow me using a /follow macro. Then I hit another key to toggle run, which is on the do not pass list. Sometimes when I stop, some or all of the other toons keep running, and when I go into their window to hit the S key to back them out of follow, they keep going. When I quit out of Keyclone, it stops.

Only noticed this on the latest version, wasn't seeing this before. Other than that, works great:)

[Mannyman]

Hmm, think it might be on my end. I had some keystrokes on the do not pass list on 1 computer, and not on the other keyclone. Disabled them, seems to work now. My bad.

[keyclone]

ah, i see... if you don't type anything between load and save, then when you hit save, it will ask for the file name. having something in that box will take it completely and literally as the absolute file name.
(fix filename already in box... check)

i usually leave that box blank and type in the description. i also put a number of hotstrings together in a single map.

re: internally generated
i'm not quite sure what you mean... but the point would be to allow the user to generate the keymaps in order to allow an almost unlimited set of keys to associate with the various actions. for your main window, load a key map that does LCtrl+G='mount' ... and for the clones, load a different keymap that does F2='mount' (or any key... try without the alt/ctrl/shift).. and just have their F2 tied to mount.

i'm assuming the other clones are on other machines. hmph. (pita)

[Shogun]

Every time I sit down to try and work out Hotstrings etc, I've either had less than 3hrs sleep and a long day at work, or like last night (and all this week) my mother in law is visiting and it's impossible to focus on anything with the yapping -.-

I'd kill for an easy step by step tutorial (with pics for the mentally impaired like me ^^ )

Hoping to get time on the weekend if nothing else where I can actualy be awake and work it out :P

[keyclone]

when i get home tonight i'll put up some diagrams describing how it works.

[Shogun]

when i get home tonight i'll put up some diagrams describing how it works.

Thanks mate, I know it's mostly me being tired/otherwise distracted that's the main problem, but some decent tutorials would help alot, and improve the product 10x over imo :)

[madsteintist]

Ditto. :D

Looking forward to seeing them myself.



when i get home tonight i'll put up some diagrams describing how it works.

Thanks mate, I know it's mostly me being tired/otherwise distracted that's the main problem, but some decent tutorials would help alot, and improve the product 10x over imo :)

[Adronson]

I purchased two copies a couple of days ago and I'm pleased with the simplicity of this program. I'm running 3 WOW's on my main machine and one on my lap top, and keyclone works like a charm. After months, off and on, alt-tabbing (and getting my butt fried as often as not) this thing makes it so easy running my party of four (mage, priest, paladin, and druid) that I wonder that it must violate SOME policy. Seems too good to be true.

A documentation sheet would be nice but not strictly necessary -- my biggest task right now is working out the macros and key assignements to use.

[Mannyman]

This program is great, can't say enough about it.

I have a question about round robin keys + hotstrings. I have 2 mages, and I'm not playing either one as the main. I want them to cast frost nova, sheep, etc one at a time. So if I hit the button once, mage#1 casts, I hit it again, mage#2 casts, etc.

I tried putting these keys in the round robin section in 1 keyclone, then both. Can't quite figure it out. Both mages cast at the same time.

The way I get around it at the moment is to make sheep1, sheep2, nova1, nova2 etc commands.

[zanthor]

Feature Request: AutoKeymap Loading.

Can you set it so if the keymaps exist it automaps...

IE: I rename the 3 instances to my toons names: Aazan, Bazan and Cazan... so if keymaps exist with Aazan.kcl it would autoload once I renamed?

[Matt007]

Hi,

bought today a copy of your app and sending the pressed key to the other windows works fine and very easy to setup :)

But, i didn't get pressing Strg, Alt or Shift to work, none of them will be sent to the other windows. Even Mouse Clicking doesn't work. I created a custom UI and copied it to the other WoW Copy's, so everything is on the same place. Now when i press on a button, it will not be pressed on the other windows (just a simple macro with /a <charname>).

[Hypermoo]

ah, i see... if you don't type anything between load and save, then when you hit save, it will ask for the file name. having something in that box will take it completely and literally as the absolute file name.
(fix filename already in box... check)

i usually leave that box blank and type in the description. i also put a number of hotstrings together in a single map.

re: internally generated
i'm not quite sure what you mean... but the point would be to allow the user to generate the keymaps in order to allow an almost unlimited set of keys to associate with the various actions. for your main window, load a key map that does LCtrl+G='mount' ... and for the clones, load a different keymap that does F2='mount' (or any key... try without the alt/ctrl/shift).. and just have their F2 tied to mount.

i'm assuming the other clones are on other machines. hmph. (pita)

Very cool. I renamed the keymap for the clone, and set the mount hotkey to F12 instead of LCtrl+G. It's so fun to see everyone mount at the same time. So others are aware, there is a slight delay between the main and the other windows, so if you press keys too quickly, the windows will get out of sync. I think this is happening because the main gets the command while the other windows are still casting the first thing.

As others have said, this is a very very nice program. It is simple, and provides very useful features. The basic keys get sent to all windows perfectly, so other than a few kinks with the details, it is absolutely amazing.

[keyclone]

I'm home now and will start to put some docs together.

Manny, after reading your post i think i'll revisit the round robin stuff. i think it might be easier if the round robin worked with the hotstrings, thereby having 'sheep' in the round robin instead of 'F9'.

i'm also not sure how the round robin would work with hotstrings that are using different keys.

re: autoloading keymaps
that would be cool, but i would have to know which character was logged in on that instance of wow. BTW, this is where the command strings are suppose to come in. basically, a command string could have a series of actions on a clone.

ie:
run:c:/program files/wow/wow.exe;load:joe.kcl

you might name it 'load joe' and have that command on machine-2. then from machine-1 you'd be able to do something like 'run machine-2: load joe' and a new instance of wow would run on machine 2, automatically add it to the clone list and then load the keymap(joe.kcl) for that clone (you would still have to do the login yourself... dancing a fine line here with macroing ;)

and maybe a few other things. haven't quite got there yet, but that's the intention.

[keyclone]

re: mount latency
when you see the others mount, they should all mount at the same time (+/- about 5ms)... so watching the other instances, you should see that... BUT, on your main instance, they might seem to be behind a bit. the reason is latency.

the command to mount went direct and is very fast (your cpu load causing a bit of a delay, but nothing major)... BUT when the clone mounts, that info is sent up to the server from the clone then down to your main instance... that would be animation latency and is a bit of a pita. if you have a bad network connection, your clones could seem to run way ahead... when in reality they could be behind you and your main instance has not received that information yet.

watch your latency... as it increases, these effects will become more pronounced

[Shogun]

Picked up the 3rd copy to spread the accounts over the 3 PCs tonight. Will give it a proper look tomorrow while my wife's out and I have some peace n quiet ;)

[Matt007]

Anyone has i idea why at my system Strg, Shift and Alt are not broadcastet to the other windows?

One question to the Pass-Mouseclick-Option. Means that, if i click at the master client anywhere this click will be simulated at the same place at the other client? This would be great, because than i could create buttons on some places for example for healing and only the healer has no dummy entries there :) But this is not working on my system too!

[Mannyman]

The Ctrl key works fine, that's what I use for now. I'm sure Rob will get around to looking at alt and shift sometime soon:)

I'm not sure about the mouse click feature, haven't used it yet. I was thinking of an AOE wonderland group, but gave up on that idea. Maybe I'll revisit it later, the Honor Hold instances can be finished pretty quick with a pally tank and lots of aoe.

[Hypermoo]

I tested out round robin with two Notepad windows, and it works perfect. For some reason it still isn't working with spells in WoW though. I'm running multiple windows on one machine. If I set a simple spell on my bar, pressing that key repeatedly will trigger both windows sometimes, but neither window consistantly (when the key is listed as round-robin).

As far as hotstrings, they're still not gettnig passed 100% either. I have verified that it is not the delay that is causing this, and my latency is fine. Sometimes only my main will cast the desired spell, and the others don't respond, so I have to press the button multiple times, which causes my main to recast the spell.

Has anyone else experienced either of these things?

[keyclone]

i'll be looking into that tonight. the round-robin hotstrings i did not test and am not sure how that will go together (round-robin the strings instead of the keys?)

i'm also testing a fix for the extended keys. hopefully it will solve the issue.

i have also worked with a person that had the G15 keyboard. keyclone recognized and worked with it properly... (his wow had an issue with key bindings beyond keyclone).

if anyone has the x-keys extender pad and wouldn't mind working with me, i'd love to try and get that working.

[aurelieshagwell]

Ive set round robin to the comma key. Ive got the comma bound to fear in 4 windows (1 pc setup 5 windows) and whenever I press the comma key, all i hear is a little windowsy ding and nothing happens in game in any of the windows.

I have managed to get it off a couple of times but ive no idea what ive done differently. Even when the fear went off in one window, the cycling didnt work.

this is both with 1.2 and 1.3. Also, on the status in keymap i get !s appearing, one by one till they are on all the wow windows.

[Stabface]

How about a way to toggle broadcasting? Like if I'm at the bank doing some tradeskills stuff, I would prefer to switch to each WoW instance individually and control them without broadcasting keys. OR, better yet a way to selectively toggle broadcasting to individual instances...

[Dandarius]

i was wondering if any other had the problem that the other chars that is cloning the keybindings open chat @push Enter@ even if you got Enter on do not pass list ?

ist quite anoing when my other 2chars just stops doing since chat have been opened

[keyclone]

re: round-robin and comma
its on the list for this evening, just after un-keymapped extended keys to remote machines. at that time i'll also be looking into round-robin for hotstrings.

re: toggle broadcasting
that is what 'override' does... (maybe i should re-label the button to 'broadcast')... by default, it is tied to the VK_PAUSE key. you can modify which key toggles override in the setup dialog. just remember to re-enable override once you are done chatting

re: enter and chat modes
while i was in shadowbane, chat modes were always an issue. my solution was to hit the override button.. THEN enter, type chat, enter, and toggle override again.

btw, even if you put VK_ENTER on the do-not-pass list, all the other keys you would be hitting while chatting would be broadcast to the other clones.

With clones and multi-boxing, the override button is essential

[aurelieshagwell]

thanks :) with that ill be able to comfortably do instances.

re enter - i have it on do not pass and it doesnt pass. make sure your "r" key and your "/" key are on do not pass (for wow) as well.

[Stabface]

Aha, I must have missed the override option... will look into it :)

[view]

Maybe I'm doing something very stupid.... but I can't get the roundrobin stuff to work.

I'm running two WoW clients. Have made macros on the pally, and bound them to the numpad buttons. I play on my mage and have unbound the numpad buttons.

I hit the buttons... but nothing happens!

In the setup i've added all the numpad in the round robin list but nothing seems to work.

I've tried using the keymaps but the program doesn't seem to like it (am using the newest version). I can make them and save them - but whenever i try to load one (either in the keymap editor or to a window) then keyclone crashes.

[Jezebel]

im a SB player.. i still use keyclone in SB and its awesome.. something id really appreciate is if it worked with TargetMacro.. if youre an old SB player youve probably used the application. its a simple macro program created to send keystrokes to an SB client, but the client doesnt have to be in focus to receive keys.

currently keyclone works fine if i press a key on keyboard, but doesnt recognise keystrokes sent from this application..

if its too much trouble to work in support for TargetMacro specifically, are there any macro programs that dont require window focus that you could suggest that DO work with keyclone?