5 Boxing Setup - Grasping the Concepts

[Slats]

Hi all,

I am so excited I found these forums - the wealth of information here is awesome. I totally love the various setups that people have and want to build one of my own.

The combo that interests me the most is 5 Elemental Shamans - like what Xbox does. Steph I see you are starting to do the same thing.

I have read Xzin's guide a few times and I like the way he sets it all up and I am considering doing the same, however I was wondering if there is a cheaper yet still just as efficient way of doing things?

Does anyone know how Xbox runs his setup or how you do your Steph?

I would never want to expand beyond 5 characters - so I am hesitant to order two of the mutliplexers - and I'm wondering if the software solutions are as good or if they have some pretty major downsides.

Thanks for any help anyone posts. =)

-Slats

[Slats]

OK Bradster I just found your blog and am eagerly reading it - nice website btw. =)

[Xzin]

You can do what I did in pure software and on one machine. As with all things in life, there are compromises.

I do not have the time / desire to delve into all of them. I would suggest looking at the ideal and then making whatever compromises you deem necessary to enable YOUR setup.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

Using wireless keyboards that allow binding one keyboard to all 5 machines is inexpensive and definitely works well (I've been 4-boxing with 'em for ~1.5 years now). You can get decent keyboards for about $20 each, so $120 total instead of the $400 figure I seem to recall. Not as cheap as software multiplexers but gives you hardware reliability/latency and has zero issues with extended keybinds and even works with stuff like multimedia keys so you can mute all 5 boxes at once.

The only downside is that some of these tend to be very cheaply made and/or atrocious quality control, so you may have to take a couple back and exchange 'em to get working ones.

[Slats]

OK done alot more reading and I am leaning more and more to Xzins setup - my main confusion is over mouse input to individual machines.

What do you do when say Box C crashes and you need to restart its WoW etc, yet one mouse controls 4 of the machines?

I understand how you are using the KM --> Y-Mouse --> Broadcaster though I might PM you on that to try understand it a little more and to double check I'm ordering the right hardware.

My other question is does your main PC run a higher resolution - or say widescreen vs your clones which are running 4:3 aspect ratio? Does this ever cause any issues?

[Xzin]

You simply have either A) synergy to mouse over to that screen B) a separate dedicated USB mouse or C) a KVM that also controls a mouse.

You can have the main PC run a higher resolution. I have typically not done so in case I wanted to add a 5 mouse or 10 mouse system - they would all be the same resolution.

[Bradster]

Glad you like the site.


I've been making a write up, going on four hours so far today. On my exact setup. Xzin invested a lot of time making his guide. Which pretty much covers everything. What I’m trying to do is show my setup, how everything is wired and present a known good configuration to base hardware questions on "what to get". It’s a long process trying to figure out CPU Power and brands to go with.

Besides, anything I can do to help Xzin.

Give me a day or two and i'll post it. I need to take a lot of pictures.

Upcoming Movie UPDATE:

ZF lvl45 PVE run almost done 20mins long

PVP video lvl20-46 almost done 15mins long (waiting for main machine to be returned to me)

[Slats]

I was thinking of doing the 1 Wireless Mouse to 4x Recievers - and then maybe a seperate mouse to just KVM switch a basic usb or ps/2 mouse to whichever pc needed to be manually 'moused' on.

I am thinking I want to go for as much of a hardware solution as possible vs software - in case of OS compatibility issues and for simple ease of use I guess.

I like your idea of having a 6th machine - one that runs your media/your thottbot/msn/irc web browsing above your main game window.

My gf is going to have some questsions when I turn our study into a Nasa Control Center hehe.

Is it OK if I PM you a list of hardware that you could check over for me Xzin?

-Slats

[Bradster]

my main confusion is over mouse input to individual machines.

I use 2 KVMs. I have 1 thats connect to my four "Alt" PCs so I can have individual control. That was the last thing I added to my setup. I got it going and noticed right away it's a must have to be able to work on each individually. Before that I'd turn off all the other PCS and just use 1 mouse to do whatever. That was no good, made my eyes look like this :shock:



I understand how you are using the KM --> Y-Mouse --> Broadcaster though I might PM you on that to try understand it a little more and to double check I'm ordering the right hardware.
Just give me a day or two. I have this covered on my write up, on what it looks like. Have faith :)

[/uote]
My other question is does your main PC run a higher resolution - or say widescreen vs your clones which are running 4:3 aspect ratio? Does this ever cause any issues?
[/quote]

For Keystrokes not at all. For the mouse yes that would be a problem. I never use the mouse on my Alt PCS, just my machine one. One Keyboard to rule them all! :Evil laugh.



I was thinking of doing the 1 Wireless Mouse to 4x Recievers - and then maybe a seperate mouse to just KVM switch a basic usb or ps/2 mouse to whichever pc needed to be manually 'moused' on.

Great idea, that's what I do.



I am thinking I want to go for as much of a hardware solution as possible vs software - in case of OS compatibility issues and for simple ease of use I guess.
[quote]

I can't speak of software because i've never tried it. But from a hardware point view I can say its painless once you set it up.

[quote]
My gf is going to have some questsions when I turn our study into a Nasa Control Center hehe.


haha!


[quote]
Is it OK if I PM you a list of hardware that you could check over for me Xzin?
[quote]

Post it here, that’s what were for =). I can't imagine how many messages he gets but it must be over whelming. He must get beaten like a redheaded step child with requests. :D


Edit: Work has been busy as heck lately. It always is this time of the year. On that note I must get going, but as things get back to normal I'll basically live here once again.

[keyclone]

if you are looking for the cheapest route, software and a good core system would be it.

these were taken while i was 8-boxing shadowbane using a desktop, a laptop, and 2x keyclone.

http://solidice.com/keyclone/screencaps/shade_army_24apr2006a.jpg

http://solidice.com/keyclone/screencaps/shade_army_24apr2006a_thumb.jpg

http://solidice.com/keyclone/screencaps/shade_army_24apr2006b.jpg

http://solidice.com/keyclone/screencaps/shade_army_24apr2006b_thumb.jpg

and here is a kill list (only stores the last 10 kills per character.. 80 kills listed here)
http://solidice.com/keyclone/screencaps/shade_army_kill_list_27April2006d.jpg

[Bradster]

Have any screen shots of people crying about 8 boxing Keyclone? That would be a fun read :lol:

[keyclone]

yea, i should have screen capped the whining in global. and some of the comments in ventrilo were pretty good as well. :)

[Slats]

I used to quad box Shadowbane also. However I would have a 'leader character' and then run a Druid/Priest/Bard (sometiems two Druids) and my main. I used to use a little chinese program called EZScript that could send keypresses to individual windows - it was a pain to get going because you had 5 window titles called 'Shadowbane' and I would use wait statements between casts to time cooldowns and basically I could go afk for like 3 days and have my little team powerlevel anything to 65-70.

I played the Asian Servers (ET) and the Ubi Servers. I forget which paticular servers I played on their were a few - but I played a Magebard called Latency. =)

OK I also have just been flat out at work but I'm putting this together and might do a little ascii-art diagram to show how I want to connect it and if that is correct.

I was aiming to buy 4 PC's (for my clones) that are identical hardware setups - that will run WoW at 1280x1024 on say a 17" or 19" 4:3 LCD. Was going to use Windows XP as the OS and strip it down as much as possible and my laptop would be my 'main' PC which sits on a dock at home plugged into my main screen - which is a widescreen which is what I was talking about above.

I was going to add a 6th PC - with a decently sized hard drive to run all my music and to ghost an image for all the clone PC's to use - in case I have to replace hardware or I stuff one of them up software wise.

What kind of PC/Cases are you guys using for the clones? I saw a few screenshots where people are using those Micro-ATX baby PC's - are any of you guys using them?

-Slats

[Slats]

OK here is my list so far:

VIP-848-BC8 - 8 Port Multiplexer
VIP-708-KM - 8 Port KM
X-Keys Professional
X-Keys Stick
1 x YKey
5x USB --> PS/2 Adaptors

Other than my PC's and Screens - I think the only other things I would need would be a keyboard to use, a micro-keyboard to use, 4 wireless mouse.

I would also need a simple mouse kvm switch - any recommendations?

Would that give me everything that I need?

-Slats

[Lost Ninja]

Using wireless keyboards that allow binding one keyboard to all 5 machines is inexpensive and definitely works well (I've been 4-boxing with 'em for ~1.5 years now). You can get decent keyboards for about $20 each, so $120 total instead of the $400 figure I seem to recall. Not as cheap as software multiplexers but gives you hardware reliability/latency and has zero issues with extended keybinds and even works with stuff like multimedia keys so you can mute all 5 boxes at once.

The only downside is that some of these tend to be very cheaply made and/or atrocious quality control, so you may have to take a couple back and exchange 'em to get working ones.

I went down this route at first only to find the keyboards (Logitech Cordless Internet Pro) were not gaming safe, as in press several keys at once and after a few are held down new key presses are not registered. It would be worth going slightly more expensive (these were £20 each new) to get keyboards that will work well in games.

In the end I sold one keyboard to my dad and use multibox and synergy along side a Belkin n52 which performs better, is easier to set up and costs nothing. :D