point me in the right directiion

[pak]

I recently split my account just for the sake of saving time when doing dailies, emissaries, etc... Right now I just auto follow, alt tab as necessary, but mainly play on one toon t to share quest progress which has been really time effecient to me. Well I didnt know this world of multi boxing existed so now Im interested in playing around with it.


For starters, Id like to be able to activate abilities on a background toon with out alt tabing. Preferably with buttons on my main screen. Can this be done with macros? Is 3rd party software necessary? What would be the "easiest" and "most legal"(if that's a thing) way about doing this.

I have read and watched some youtube guides on this, but they all seem to be taking it to a whole other level. Id just like to be able to activate another toons abilities with out al tabing. I don't need movement, mouse, looting or anything like that being done.

[Wubsie]

Hello and welcome!
For starters, Id like to be able to activate abilities on a background toon with out alt tabing. Preferably with buttons on my main screen. Can this be done with macros? Is 3rd party software necessary? What would be the "easiest" and "most legal"(if that's a thing) way about doing this. I have read and watched some youtube guides on this, but they all seem to be taking it to a whole other level. Id just like to be able to activate another toons abilities with out al tabing. I don't need movement, mouse, looting or anything like that being done.

You can not really control the spells of another character through macros or addons. This is not something the Blizzard addon API allows for and naturally it would be bad if you could just make macro to control someone else's character.


While old school multiboxing setups did not require software and relied on hardware instead, essentially all multiboxing nowadays is done with the assistance of software as long as the game in question allows for it. All multiboxing software allow you to send keystrokes to all, or specified ones of your game clients. This is sort of the core function behind it all.


There's plenty of software out there, but generally only a few are in use nowadays. If you are willing to pay for software, ISBoxer is the best option. It's the most feature rich, has the biggest community of users and is one of the few that still has active development. As you're just dipping your toes in, you might be unwilling to go this route, which is understandable. It's not required by any means, but something to keepin mind if you ever plan on diving deeper and getting the max out of your experience. I would advice against paying for any other software though, as as far as I know the other paid options are either our of development (even if they still accept your money) or just do not measure up,or offer a price significantly lower enough.

A fairly common free alternative is Hotkeynet. The current version is about 12 years old at this point, but still functional. It requires scripting to set up but is fairly easy to learn. I do feel like I should point out that there is currently an issue where some users are reporting having been banned for botting while multiboxing using hotkeynet. Seems like a false flag, but something to keep in mind definitely.

Autohotkey is somewhat commonly used as well, although finding active support for it (in the specific context of multiboxing) might be hard as it's a bit niche. Personally I have no experience with it, so I can't comment much further than that.

[pak]

How safe is ISBoxer? Are there features in the program that can get you banned?

Im not looking to even duplicate keystrokes. I'm just trying to reduce the amount of al tab I'm doing.

[Wubsie]

In WoW, multiboxing is perfectly allowed as long as you do not attempt to automate gameplay. Sending keypresses simultaneously to multiple clients does not fall under that definition. Blizzard has been abundantly clear about this over the years. I.e. as long as you are the one in control and each action taken is the direct result of you, the player, pressing keys, then you are generally fine.

To date there hasn't been a single ban for multiboxing itself, even with the use of multiboxing software, as it is not a violation of the terms of service. False positives for botting are always plausible, but unlikely. And of course the normal rules still apply, so griefing, zone disruption, economy manipulation and so forth can be actioned. I've been using ISboxer for close to 7 years now and I've not had any issues with it. There's plenty of people on these boards who have been at it for even longer than me with nothing happening to them.

As far as functionality, I believe everything in the ISBoxer suite is allowed by Blizzard, as it offers no automation features such as auto-firing or repeating key presses, delayed actions and it does not attempt to know anything about what is happening in the game.

[pak]

Understood.

How or what options does ISBoxer have for allowing me to control characters in the background? For example, I think what would be easiest, could I bind my keypad to 1-0 so when I press them, it keystrokes 1-0 on my background character.

[jak3676]

Can this be done with macros? Is 3rd party software necessary?


No, as pointed out there's no way in-game to pass commands or keystrokes in between different windows. Yes, you need some form of 3rd party software (its still technically possible with hardware - basically connecting 1 keyboard to 2 PC's. But no one does that anymore, its just quicker, cheaper and simplier to do it in software.)

I know it's not popular here, and I may be the last holdout, but I'm still a fan of Keyclone - been using it off and on since 2009. It is a 1-time $20 payment, but the license is yours for life. I think it's the quickest and simplist way way to get started in multiboxing, and over the long term its one of the cheapest options as well. Essentially all keyclone does it handle the key broadcasting and it has a window managment feature if you want to display multiple WoW windows at the same time. It doesn't have any of the more advanced features of other software - and I consider that a feature. I wish they still offered the 24-hour trial license so people could test it out for free - but they don't.

https://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/57144-Download-Installation-and-Activation-Instructions-for-Keyclone
https://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/57220-Keyclone-Basic-Setup-Wizard

[Wubsie]

It's not exclusive to ISBoxer but you can definitely set up hotkeys that send keypresses to specific game windows. What you've described is perfectly viable, if you find that comfortable and suiting your needs.

The fun part is that it's very much all down to preference. There's a near endless way of how you could choose to set things up and try to handle different aspects of gameplay. Finding what works for you and fiddling with the setup to get the most out of your team and being able to handle what the game throws at you is a large part of the experience for a lot of us.

[jak3676]

If you haven't already I'd start poking around the ISBoxer setup threads to see what is involved. As stated there's a million ways to do it. None of the software solutions are just a matter of installing and clicking "Next, Next, Next" until its done, but they are generally something that everyone can figure out as they go through it. And if you do get stuck or have a specific question somewhere - just ask.
https://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/20643-ISBoxer-Toolkit-Zero-to-Hero-in-30-minutes-Setup


Multiboxing does involve a lot of hands-on, learning-by-doing type of work. And I'd argue that learning/work is never done as just about every week or so I think of slightly better way to do some specific action. While some people may want something that "just works", I think a lot of draw to multiboxing is figure it out and then figuring out how to make it better.

[MiRai]

And if you do get stuck or have a specific question somewhere - just ask.
https://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/20643-ISBoxer-Toolkit-Zero-to-Hero-in-30-minutes-Setup
In addition to everything that's been said, I just want to say that we prefer if people use the official documentation for setting up ISBoxer, seeing as it's changed a little since 2009.

EDIT: Sorry, I completely forgot to attach the link I was referring to:
https://isboxer.com/wiki/WoW:Quick_Start_Guide

[Purpleflavor]

Start here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWYUvNGoEQI&list=PLtaeemZCwSPwkxriTJCQW09Av4yPDNXiU


Multiboxology
https://www.youtube.com/user/Multiboxology/featured

it's the very second place every new multiboxer should go.

[pak]

Can logitech "G" keys be programmed to accomplish what I am trying to do?

[jak3676]

Not sure what you're referring to - key broadcasting to multiple windows/clients? No, I don't know of a way to program that within logitech's key programming system.