Window Mode Low fps

[Greenthumbs]

Hi im new to Multiboxing and im trying to make 2 mages but when im in windowed mode anything above 800x600 my computer get extremely laggy and unplayable.


My specs are-Amd 5600+ / 8800 gts 320mb / 2gb ram/ Windows vista 32 bit
I have 2 monitors i have a 21 inch lcd 1650x1050 and i have a 19 inch CRT 1280x1024
The game is playable in fullscreen 1650x1050 without the crt on i can play 2 clients with 40-50 fps but it is hard to multibox in fullsceen any suggestions.

[chazz]

There could be something else at play here that I wouldn't know about, but if there's not; that's windowed mode for you and there's nothing to be done about it unfortunately.
Windowed Mode in WoW is known to destroy fps, some say it's a minor difference and others, like me, claim it's huge. Either it's different for us all or, and more likely so, some people are actually fine with playing the game below 50-60fps.

[Greenthumbs]

I just find it wierd that my computer gets all laggy and choppy and stuff is there anyway to set up the crt monitor not in dualview mode dualview =tehsuck imo There is no honest way i could play wow in 800x600 for 2 clients i cant even read chat or barely see the hotbars lol.

[The_Whack]

Someone else was having a similar problem in this ('http://www.dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&postID=74574&highlight=#post74574') thread ('http://www.dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&postID=74574&highlight=#post74574') .....

Personally, I don't see any problem with your set-up, but then again I have never run 2 monitors at one time.....

[keyclone]

Howdy Greenthumb and welcome to the forums!

if you are using keyclone, in the command editor set the maxfpsbk and maxfps to 15/40 respectively (rise and lower depending on hardware quality).

if you have any other questions, please feel free to drop me a note

have a great day and welcome to the addiction :D

Rob

[Greenthumbs]

Cool yes i am using keyclone got it last night its a nice program you got there was telling my it instructor about it he was impressed. But yes ill give that i try when i get home im just wondering why my comuter is so stable with 2 800x600 clients and craps out with anything else running. My computer can handle it it can run AOC on high setting with 40-66 fps 1650x1050. But yeah ill let you know how it works.

[keyclone]

if you don't set BOTH the maxfps and maxfpsbk, then each wow will try to get as many frames per second as it can...
no matter the resolution of the screens

[Greenthumbs]

I do have 2 pc's so i might just try running it on 2 pc's instead of one might be more easy for looting and quests exct. is it easy to setup keyclone to work on 2 differnt pc's.

[Syro]

Are you displaying both windows on one screen? Or are you putting one window on the 21" and the second on the 19"

Splitting up the instances between monitors like that will definitely kill the performance.

[keyclone]

@Greenthumb
yes.. setup keyclone on both machines like normal, then just put the ip:port into the command area (to the right of the connect button) and hit 'connect'

that's it

[apeskalle]

If you're running nvidia chipset on your grahpics card, you can try to use horizontal/vertical span instead of dualview. The nvidia chipset is known to have performance issues in dualview.

I'm not sure how span works with different sized monitors and resolutions, but if it dont work out, you can try to set the OpenGL Hardware Acceleration mode to Single-display

Hope this helps

[takiat]

I am seeing the same problem as you are. I am running winxp with 2gb ram, amd 5600+ (2.8 ghz) and 2 bfg 8800 gt oc's. I have a 26" samsung and 22" samsung hooked up to each card on the primary slot of each graphics card with SLI disabled.
the 26" is the primary and the 22" is the secondary monitor and I have each set to their native res.
I am getting a solid 60 fps everywhere in wow pretty much with just the 26" mon running one client of wow and windowed mode.
I am getting 25 fps on the extended desktop (22" mon) when running 2 wow clients and my 26" drops to 20fps.
I started testing power connections and swapping cards with the pcie slots and the same thing happened no matter which card was in which slot or which power cable was connected. Both cards produced a solid 60fps when they were running the primary monitor only and one wow client running on it.
However, I noticed something, when I run one instance of wow on the primary, i get 60fps but when I run the same one instance, (dragging it over to the secondary monitor) I drop to the same 25-27 fps I am getting with 2 wow clients running !!!! I can get about the same 25fps when running only one 8800 gt!!!!!
If I run single monitor in nvidia control panel and click extend desktop in windows display properties to run both in windowed mode I should be fine as I am not running dual view, but for some reason I am not.
Also, why would the 22 (running 1680x1050) native on 22" run the exact same fps when nothing but the desktop is running on my 26" running at 1920x1200 (native for 26")?
I have 2 8800 gt ocs and would expect the same fps on each if each have their own dedicated graphics card or???
I have googled and googled and still have not found an answer, can you guys offer any suggestions?
Thanks

[keyclone]

the level of detail your wows are trying to achieve will also kill your fps

check out these macros. set all your alts to low detail and see if that helps

http://www.dual-boxing.com/wiki/index.php/Ingame_Graphic_Detail

[takiat]

thanks keyclone, i didnt have the mid, but I had the high detail and low detail macro already. Unfortunately, I am already using the low detail macro for a couple of months prior to adding the 2nd graphics card. I verified and still have the same problem.
Do you have any idea why one instance of wow running on the extended windows desktop in windowed mode would net me the same fps results as if I was running 2 instances of wow.
When I only run my primary monitor/1st 8800gt oc , and nothing on my secondary monitor/2nd 8800 gt oc I get a steady 60 fps even in org, shat, etc...
But when i run one instance of wow on the secondary monitor, I get the same 25fps that I get with 2 instances of wow running. One on primary and one on secondary.
Logic would tell me that if I have one instance running on a larger and higher resolution on my primary mon/card then one instance running on a lower res on 2nd mon/ 2nd exact same model card would give me at least the same fps?
Is there something with the winxp extended desktop limiting my fps?

[keyclone]

it sounds like the driver is limiting your fps.

i would test it like this:
run 2 wows on primary... not overlapped but windowed... watch the fps. then i would drag one of them to the secondary and see if the fps drops

if it drops, that would be either a graphics card hardware problem, or something in the driver.

are you using dual-view or horizontal span? try the above test in both situations and see if it effects the fps

[takiat]

ok, i ran both in windowed mode on the primary monitor and got about 55fps on each, no matter which one i had highlighted, and I did not overlap them.
When I drag one of the windowed mode instances to the 2nd monitor, it drops both fps by 15-20 fps...
As far as horizontal or dual view, since I am running 2 cards I don't have the dual view option in the nvidia control panel anymore. I can run SLI, or disable SLI. I have SLI disabled and only option in the nvidia control panel is single monitor mode. I don't have the horizontal span option in the control panel.
The way I am able to use both monitors is to go into the windows display properties and check the box "extend my windows desktop onto this monitor" while having the 2nd monitor highlighted.
So I am stuck at this point.