Wow Open Box Software Thread

[Moorea]

Wow Open Box is released - fully functional open source, free, verifiably compliant multiboxing software

1.3 is out and includes graphical window layout

https://wowopenbox.org/WowOpenBox-WindowLayout.gif

And as usual you can control mouse follow settings, have hotkeys for focus, swapping, etc...

See full list of features on
https://WowOpenBox.org/help
Get the latest release on
https://github.com/WowOpenBox/WowOpenBox/releases
File issues and suggestions, influence the roadmap
https://github.com/WowOpenBox/WowOpenBox/issues
Installation:
https://github.com/WowOpenBox/WowOpenBox#installation

Preview release thread and first user impressions https://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/58040-new-opensource-compliant-wow-software

[Moorea]

https://openmultiboxing.org/ and https://github.com/OpenMultiBoxing/OpenMultiBoxing/releases is the continuation of WOB for other games, with some limited broadcasting capabilities (for wow we recommend you use wowopenbox (v4.x) that doesn't have any key/input sending capabilities - and can be even exited after window placement and turning on mouse focus so nothing at all is running while you play)

[jak3676]

I like it. Played with it briefly today. I think its actually easier to set up than JMB. Simple and effective for mouseover focus or keybind focus control. I set up a 'round-robin' type control by using synergy and my keypad - which also worked well to just spam a single button and have focus rotate between screens to do 1 button press per window, then swap to next window on the same button press.

[nodoze]

1.4+ is really great for exact windows maximizing space utilization yet making them the same ratios for all common formats (as well as an "any" option). Much better than when I sized and placed my windows manually. For 1.4 I had it manually ignore my other monitor and great that 1.5+ the Graphical User Interface (GUI) should allow me to ignore the monitor that I don't want to use/include.

[jak3676]

I would suggest that if anyone is still doing the 'roll-your-own' approach with ShiftWindow, FancyZones or other window managers, and X-Mouse or Microsoft accessibility (focus-follows-mouse) options, WoW Open Box is a much better solution - it easily integrates the functionality of all those other tools.

I'm sure there's some argument that people will make between JMB and WoW Open Box, and there are some minor differences. But in my opinion they are very feature-comparable. If you're going with non-broadcast software multiboxing, I think those 2 are the only viable options right now. (If you're going full hardware - that's a whole other discussion).

*edit* sorry - posted this in the wrong thread. Essentially everything we were experimenting in this thread (No broadcast software ideas for multiboxing (dual-boxing.com) (https://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/57977-No-broadcast-software-ideas-for-multiboxing)) is pretty much obsolete. I meant to put this there.

[[BR]DarkFalcon]

I like it. Played with it briefly today. I think its actually easier to set up than JMB. Simple and effective for mouseover focus or keybind focus control. I set up a 'round-robin' type control by using synergy and my keypad - which also worked well to just spam a single button and have focus rotate between screens to do 1 button press per window, then swap to next window on the same button press.

Hi @jak3676!

I really interested in that idea. How you configure your 'round-robin', the playstile and config.

[Moorea]

WowOpenBox 1.6 is just out with resizable/moveable windows through the UI, in addition to the intelligent auto layout and the manual text exact coordinates entries. Enjoy.

https://github.com/WowOpenBox/WowOpenBox/releases

[Moorea]

1.8 is now out with better resize of wow windows UI, ability to exclude multiple monitors and more

https://wowopenbox.org/sshotWindowLayout.png

[jak3676]

I generally play on a razer keypad. I use a razer tartarus pro, but its the same concept as the orbweaver, nostromo, etc. One benefit of the keypad is that I already use a 3rd party tool to map the keypad keys to something on my keyboard. Razer's program that does this is called synapse. You can do the same thing with any programable keyboard or some other 3rd party tools that let you remap your own keys. (How to remap keys using Windows 10 PowerToys Keyboard Manager - TechRepublic (https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-remap-keys-use-windows-10-powertoys-keyboard-manager/#:~:text=Version%200.18.0%20of%20Windows%2010%20Po werToys%20includes%20a,Manager%20and%20then%20use% 20it%20to%20remap%20keys.))

I haven't tried this with PowerToys, but in Synapse you can combine multiple command on each key. So I tried the command to swap windows on the same key as the keypress going to the game client - e.g. when I pressed "1", it would actually do "alt+F1, 1". WoW Open Box takes the alt+F1 part and changes the focus to window 1, then the game receives only the "1". So I'm executing 2 command with each keypress, but only 1 in-game command per keypress. (The 'legality' of this approach could be debated. Blizz says only 1 command per keypress, and I'm doing 2 command, but the 1st of that happens outside the game - so I think I'm OK, but *shrugs* who knows.)

I originally made my commands on multiple keys, 1 for each char. Such that I had 1 that did "focus window #1", send game keystroke "1". 2 did "focus window #2", send game keystroke "1". 3 did "focus window #3", send game keystroke "1", etc. Then I could just spam 1-4 from anywhere and that chard would execute whatever I had on my 1 key. That worked pretty well, I could even just rapidly roll my fingers across 1-4 and each command executes correctly. It somewhat worked to even just mash all 4 buttons at the same time. I think it quick enough that it captures most of the commands a split second apart, but it seems like I do loose some keystrokes some of the time. I was happy, but this didn't really let me get more than about 3 or 4 sets of keys that I could work this way - you just run out of keys quickly if you're setting each key for each window. (it works, but round robin may actually perform better)

For a "round robin" type approach with WoW open box, I've been playing with different approaches. At a basic level, round robin is just alternating commands between the command for "next window" and whatever keystroke you want to send to the game. There are a few different ways to combine these though.

1: Simplest way is just to set an easy to hit key to be your "next window" command - say "1", then you can use 2,3,4, etc for whatever you want to to go to the game. Then your "rotation" just becomes 12121212, 131313, 14141414, etc. You can do this all within WoW Open Box - no additional software needed.

2: With a program like Synapse (or anything that lets you remap keystrokes) you can combine the command to swap windows on the same key as the keypress going to the game client. I did the window swap command, before I did the command going to the game which is a little odd in that the next clients acts on keypress, not your current one. But I'm generally driving from my tank - and mouse clicking his buttons, but then when I start clicking I want my mages and priest to act, so this works for me. Then when I want to regain focus on just my tank - I just move the mouse to regain, focus-follows mouse.

3: I experimented with sending 1 command on the key down, and the other command on the key up. Putting them both on the same key down command did work when I pressed the keys individually. But when I was mashing multiple keys at a time, some keystrokes would be lost. Switching command between key down and key up (similar to how JMB does its round robin approach) is pretty good, but then you can't just roll your fingers across multiple keys - you need to complete the key up on 1 key before beginning the key down on the next key. I find I loose a few commands doing it this way, as apparently I'm slow to release my keys.


I think its largely a matter of personal preference, and it even works well to combine some approaches. I'm generally doing a round robin approach, but I just set my "`" key to be a "switch focus to my healer's window, /cast flash heal on current target (which is generally my tank). I'll probably do something similar for a taunt button once I log back in. I do find that every time I play I keep adjusting something, either on WoWOpenBox or Synapse, or in-game macro.

[[BR]DarkFalcon]

I generally play on a razer keypad. I use a razer tartarus pro, but its the same concept as the orbweaver, nostromo, etc. One benefit of the keypad is that I already use a 3rd party tool to map the keypad keys to something on my keyboard. Razer's program that does this is called synapse. You can do the same thing with any programable keyboard or some other 3rd party tools that let you remap your own keys. (How to remap keys using Windows 10 PowerToys Keyboard Manager - TechRepublic (https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-remap-keys-use-windows-10-powertoys-keyboard-manager/#:~:text=Version%200.18.0%20of%20Windows%2010%20Po werToys%20includes%20a,Manager%20and%20then%20use% 20it%20to%20remap%20keys.))

I haven't tried this with PowerToys, but in Synapse you can combine multiple command on each key. So I tried the command to swap windows on the same key as the keypress going to the game client - e.g. when I pressed "1", it would actually do "alt+F1, 1". WoW Open Box takes the alt+F1 part and changes the focus to window 1, then the game receives only the "1". So I'm executing 2 command with each keypress, but only 1 in-game command per keypress. (The 'legality' of this approach could be debated. Blizz says only 1 command per keypress, and I'm doing 2 command, but the 1st of that happens outside the game - so I think I'm OK, but *shrugs* who knows.)

I originally made my commands on multiple keys, 1 for each char. Such that I had 1 that did "focus window #1", send game keystroke "1". 2 did "focus window #2", send game keystroke "1". 3 did "focus window #3", send game keystroke "1", etc. Then I could just spam 1-4 from anywhere and that chard would execute whatever I had on my 1 key. That worked pretty well, I could even just rapidly roll my fingers across 1-4 and each command executes correctly. It somewhat worked to even just mash all 4 buttons at the same time. I think it quick enough that it captures most of the commands a split second apart, but it seems like I do loose some keystrokes some of the time. I was happy, but this didn't really let me get more than about 3 or 4 sets of keys that I could work this way - you just run out of keys quickly if you're setting each key for each window. (it works, but round robin may actually perform better)

For a "round robin" type approach with WoW open box, I've been playing with different approaches. At a basic level, round robin is just alternating commands between the command for "next window" and whatever keystroke you want to send to the game. There are a few different ways to combine these though.

1: Simplest way is just to set an easy to hit key to be your "next window" command - say "1", then you can use 2,3,4, etc for whatever you want to to go to the game. Then your "rotation" just becomes 12121212, 131313, 14141414, etc. You can do this all within WoW Open Box - no additional software needed.

2: With a program like Synapse (or anything that lets you remap keystrokes) you can combine the command to swap windows on the same key as the keypress going to the game client. I did the window swap command, before I did the command going to the game which is a little odd in that the next clients acts on keypress, not your current one. But I'm generally driving from my tank - and mouse clicking his buttons, but then when I start clicking I want my mages and priest to act, so this works for me. Then when I want to regain focus on just my tank - I just move the mouse to regain, focus-follows mouse.

3: I experimented with sending 1 command on the key down, and the other command on the key up. Putting them both on the same key down command did work when I pressed the keys individually. But when I was mashing multiple keys at a time, some keystrokes would be lost. Switching command between key down and key up (similar to how JMB does its round robin approach) is pretty good, but then you can't just roll your fingers across multiple keys - you need to complete the key up on 1 key before beginning the key down on the next key. I find I loose a few commands doing it this way, as apparently I'm slow to release my keys.


I think its largely a matter of personal preference, and it even works well to combine some approaches. I'm generally doing a round robin approach, but I just set my "`" key to be a "switch focus to my healer's window, /cast flash heal on current target (which is generally my tank). I'll probably do something similar for a taunt button once I log back in. I do find that every time I play I keep adjusting something, either on WoWOpenBox or Synapse, or in-game macro.

Thank you so much for sharing!!!

[Moorea]

Happy Holidays everyone, just in time for xmas, happy to give you WowOpenBox 1.14 with optional overlay to keep track of which window/slot is where and which has focus at the moment:

https://wowopenbox.org/sshotOverlay.png

Enjoy!

[Moorea]

Now in v3, optional and separate Round Robin support!

https://github.com/WowOpenBox/WowOpenBox/releases/

Now has the most features and the best UI (as far as I'm told/know) of any Wow allowed software, still free, still opensource, still safest.

https://wowopenbox.org/sshot3_0.png

Enjoy!

[Moorea]

v3.7 is out with a revamped faster RoundRobin (option), simplified UI (moved less used options into the Options menu instead of main window)

Also supports "Stacked" layout in addition to all the other layouts already existing before.

It works with many games too in addition to safe, fast, compliant World of Warcraft multiboxing (Eve, Path of Exile, SWTOR, Browser games, etc...)

https://wowopenbox.org/sshot3_5.png

[Moorea]

Requested many times, here is finally a video intro showing installation, configuration and game play


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4sCBdkXqUk

(as of 3.7)

[Tiny_d]

I can't believe this software is free! It's really good, way easier and better to use than anything else since the TOC changes.
I still have a sub to the other paid software and I use this free option, its just way better so well done thanks.

[Xist]

I installed this the other night and felt excited to finally multibox again. It is annoying to need to spam one ability that only one character does, but it is free, and the hardware solution is ridiculously expensive (while my desktop can run 5 copies of WoW). Open Boxer worked great, but M.A.M.A didn't work at all.

My girlfriend asked to see and I spent 15 minutes just trying to get the windows right. I would change the arrangement and I would get crazy errors like one of my windows didn't show up at all or two were in the same spot. I opened and closed Open Boxer and 5 instances of WoW 3 times and finally used Window Layout to drag the window where it was supposed to be and then carefully line it up right.

It would be nice if I could click a button and each window snapped to the grid.

So, the space is a key that gets sent out. When I am writing a message, adjusting a macro, or struggling with DBox and M.A.M.A. I need to use the space, it switches to another window, and sometimes comes back, but sometimes it doesn't. Often if I wait one second it will come back, but half the time I will resume what I am doing and another window goes crazy because it didn't return.

Is there any way of working around that besides reassigning the jump keybind and having OpenBoxer send out that key and not the space?

[Moorea]

I installed this the other night and felt excited to finally multibox again. It is annoying to need to spam one ability that only one character does, but it is free, and the hardware solution is ridiculously expensive (while my desktop can run 5 copies of WoW). Open Boxer worked great, but M.A.M.A didn't work at all.

So outside of the fact I write both, wob and mama are quite unrelated, we can debug mama issue in the mama addon thread or come to discord to figure it out


My girlfriend asked to see and I spent 15 minutes just trying to get the windows right. I would change the arrangement and I would get crazy errors like one of my windows didn't show up at all or two were in the same spot. I opened and closed Open Boxer and 5 instances of WoW 3 times and finally used Window Layout to drag the window where it was supposed to be and then carefully line it up right.

It would be nice if I could click a button and each window snapped to the grid.

What did not work with the automatic layout? you can use a custom if you want (curious to what didn't work for you with the default layouts you can see) and there is a snap to grid option already also.



So, the space is a key that gets sent out. When I am writing a message, adjusting a macro, or struggling with DBox and M.A.M.A. I need to use the space, it switches to another window, and sometimes comes back, but sometimes it doesn't. Often if I wait one second it will come back, but half the time I will resume what I am doing and another window goes crazy because it didn't return.


So first thing is that nothing is "sent out" - wowopenbox does not ever send anything; that would be software broadcasting capabilities.
If you mean that you used the default settings, turned on Round Robin and then started chatting, you just have to turn off RR before chatting? you can also remove SPACE from the sample RR keys if you don't want it - it's just a default to show how to input RR keys.

That's why there is a big arrow circle round robin indicator; so you remember it's on (maybe you turned off the overlay and didn't notice, turn it back on)

I set my logitech keyboard to send Ctrl-Shift-R (the default but changeable RR toggle) to my G6 so I can easily toggle
(G1-G5 I use for instant swap)



Is there any way of working around that besides reassigning the jump keybind and having OpenBoxer send out that key and not the space?
See above, hopefully that clarifies

I also have in mind adding a configurable "dead zone", you would draw for instance your chat area, that would auto turn off RR like it already does if you switch to say discord (and it turns it back on when you switch back to wow windows)

[Xist]

Turning off Round Robin and Always on Top didn't always work. It was thrilling when I turned off Always on Top in the main window and Windows Layout, but one of my WoW windows was always on top of OpenBoxer, so I needed to use [Win] + Down to minimize the game in order to mess with the options again.

I could struggle with the add-on or I could use my macros from 2008. [shrug]

[Moorea]

Turning off Round Robin and Always on Top didn't always work. It was thrilling when I turned off Always on Top in the main window and Windows Layout, but one of my WoW windows was always on top of OpenBoxer, so I needed to use [Win] + Down to minimize the game in order to mess with the options again.

I could struggle with the add-on or I could use my macros from 2008. [shrug]

Use the hotkey to toggle always on top if it's hiding the main window: Ctrl-Shit-T

In general it's rare that it is useful unless you're doing very fancy layouts for mouse focus efficiency. You haven't replied to my question above (What did not work with the automatic layout...).

If you can ever reproduce "X didn't always work" please come to discord or open a github issue as I fix all reported bugs rather quickly but I can't fix things that never happen to me and aren't reported.

About MAMA did you follow the steps at https://github.com/mooreatv/MAMA-multiboxing/blob/master/README.md#setup

[cerruption]

Hi, thanks for the great software!

I've been using it for a while and reactivated my 5 accounts for the first time since Nov.

Is it possible, using the 'Profiles' to have 2 seperate Window profiles setup. One for using a 2 window profile, and one for using a 5 window profile? Sometimes I am 5 boxing on 2 monitors, and my profile splits up 4 clients onto one screen.

Sometimes I just want to play 2 accounts, ie: my main toon, and my auction toon on the other screen. Or do some professions. When I'm only playing 2 clients, I don't want that 2nd client taking up only a quarter of my second screen. Just wondering if this is possible, or if I need to use the Window Layout tool every time.

[Moorea]

Hi, thanks for the great software!

I've been using it for a while and reactivated my 5 accounts for the first time since Nov.

Is it possible, using the 'Profiles' to have 2 seperate Window profiles setup. One for using a 2 window profile, and one for using a 5 window profile? Sometimes I am 5 boxing on 2 monitors, and my profile splits up 4 clients onto one screen.

Sometimes I just want to play 2 accounts, ie: my main toon, and my auction toon on the other screen. Or do some professions. When I'm only playing 2 clients, I don't want that 2nd client taking up only a quarter of my second screen. Just wondering if this is possible, or if I need to use the Window Layout tool every time.

Thanks for the kind words. Yes that’s what profiles are for:
Set your 2 box layout, save and apply and then File menu « New Profile » and type eg « 2 box »
Then new profile again, type « 5 box » change layout to 5 and save and apply

After that in Profile menu just pick the right one

You can also pass -profile on the command line to select which one you want at startup (you can combine that with the bat file to launch different setups)

[Alptraum]

Can this software be used for other games...im looking for something to dualbox 4-6 characters in Mir4 ???

I looked at this very quickly but in my testing it didn't seem to capture or focus on my mir4 windows and I didnt want to mess to much with the configure file without asking in here first.

[Moorea]

Can this software be used for other games...im looking for something to dualbox 4-6 characters in Mir4 ???

I looked at this very quickly but in my testing it didn't seem to capture or focus on my mir4 windows and I didnt want to mess to much with the configure file without asking in here first.
It should work with anything, though I don’t know Mir4, see https://openmultiboxing.org for non wow instructions and if you have a problem just check the wob/omb discord

[Alptraum]

It should work with anything, though I don’t know Mir4, see https://openmultiboxing.org for non wow instructions and if you have a problem just check the wob/omb discord

Thank you I will try this again after work and see if I can make it work, Mir4 is similar to wow but very less features.

[Alptraum]

Thank you I will try this again after work and see if I can make it work, Mir4 is similar to wow but very less features.

I've used the capture and add captured focus options...sadly it wont seem to capture my Mir4 windows..is it possible their client is somehow preventing this ???

[Alptraum]

Ctrl+Shift+C is your friend, and loading the game client up outside of its launcher program works wonderfully now I have 4 screens of Mir4 open..but how do I make the mouse move across all 4 screens the same ??? currently I have to move between all 4 windows to get my characters to click on things instead of mirroring what my main is doing??

[Alptraum]

Ctrl+Shift+C is your friend, and loading the game client up outside of its launcher program works wonderfully now I have 4 screens of Mir4 open..but how do I make the mouse move across all 4 screens the same ??? currently I have to move between all 4 windows to get my characters to click on things instead of mirroring what my main is doing??

I have the broadcast mouse clicks option checked..but it dosnt seem to be working in my 2nd characters window

[Moorea]

I have the broadcast mouse clicks option checked..but it dosnt seem to be working in my 2nd characters window

Some games or VMs (or slower PCs) need a small delay, I'll make a release update but in meantime you can try:

Download the OpenMultiBoxing.tcl ; insert "after 50" before line 932 then put that file in same folder as the exe

Let me know if that helps with Mir4 too

Moorea

[Moorea]

Ok, I made the above change and released it try 5.2.6 at
https://github.com/OpenMultiBoxing/OpenMultiBoxing/releases
and let me know if it works fully in this version; if not try to increase the mouseBroadcastDelay setting by 20 until it works reliably and please let me/others know what worked

edit: 5.2.5 had a bug

[Moorea]

Big Change in version 7.0.0 of OpenMultiBoxing: Round Robin is replaced by key Broadcasting!

(stay on 6.0 or WOB for continued optional RR including "wow safe" version with only windows and mouse focus management)

https://github.com/OpenMultiBoxing/OpenMultiBoxing/releases

This quite a fresh / early release so do mention if you encounter any issue or have suggestions etc

ps: mouse broadcasting also improved in 6.0, including right click or left click broadcasting now

[Moorea]

(Not an April's fool) in OMB 7.1.0 I just added multiple PC broadcasting support - feedback most welcome

https://github.com/OpenMultiBoxing/OpenMultiBoxing/releases/

[Moorea]

OMB 8.0 (with broadcasting and multi pc support, unlike the wob variant) now has support for key re mapping feature:

So for instance if you bind Alt-T to Mama's train feature and Alt-L to mama lead.

If you remap L:T then on main you can hit Alt-L and get a train and set lead to the main, without having to have the lead following the last one (which would happen if you just plain broadcast the Alt-T)