Bug - stops passing keystrokes

Just started boxing about 3-4 weeks ago but I've been a long time visitor to the site. I am using Keyclone on 1 computer running 5 instances of wow, symlinked. Windows 7 64bit OS. Basic Keyclone setup with default keymap and maximizer on dual monitor. I've been using keyclone for past 3 weeks without issue questing with 3 new shamans and boosting with my Paladin. But I have now reached lvl 70 and I've begun running instances with tank, healer, 3 dps. When I get into a real heated battle where im spamming 3-4 keys at the same time. Keyclone will just stop sending keystrokes ... midfight. When its just my 3 shamans out questing I have no problems at all but without fail every time I get into an instance with my group of 5 I need to reload Keyclone multiple times to get through an instance. And it always seems to fail at the worst times too, like on boss fights. It still responds as in I can bring the window to the front but if I click on setup or override it locks and I need to close it with task manager. I then restart keyclone it works until the next fight where i get into a situation where I start spamming buttons.

I've been trying for the past week to try and reliably duplicate the issue so I can come here with a little more info than it just crashes but the only thing I can say for sure is it seems to happen when its really being put through its paces and passing multiple keystrokes. Another thing I noticed is after it crashes I start to get some horrible lag where my key and mouse seems to just lock for a sec. Its possible the lag is the cause and not an after effect? Possible but its pretty powerful computer. I7, 6gb ram, ssd drive etc. And I have a flawless playing experience otherwise.

Anyway this has become a deal breaker for me. Tonight I had to restart keyclone 4 times to get through OK instance. I need to figure this out or start looking at other alternatives. Any suggestions for what I should be checking would be appreciated. I just noticed there is a keyclone alpha available as I was typing this up. I'll give that a try tomorrow and report back.

There have been quite a few reports of problems with Windows 7 and Keyclone. Some people seem to get by just fine, and others have problems like this.

I found these examples with a quick search:

[Keyclone] Windows 7 + keyclone -> WoW windows crashing, and keyclone stops responding.

Need Help: Windows 7 RC1 Dual-Boxing w/ Keyclone - Primary Client Crashing Randomly!

The common theme in the 100's of posts with Windows 7 keyclone problems is there is always someone who posts they have Windows 7 and its working fine. Anyways I appreciate the reply but there are no answers in those threads although it was in reading one of those threads that lead me to thinking about what eventually fixed the problem.

I was able to replicate the problem pretty reliably by walking into OK instance and it would fail at the 1st boss encounter. So i just started messing with the variables and actually found a fix. All I did was limit the fps on all my windows maxfpsbk 10 & maxfps 30. Seems strange that this would fix the issue but I've been able to repeat the problem by removing the fps change and then fix it by putting the fps change back in play.

So the problem I was experiencing seems to be that the cpu was being overloaded? Anyway I'm just glad that I can continue using keyclone without issues.

Jamesu, for future reference, can you post your system specs? please include any relevent OS info (build number?) thx

Window 7 RC 7100 64bit
Inteli7 920 @ 2.8ghz
6GB RAM
x58 chipset
Radeon 4800

hmph. that seems like a nice box.

were you using cpu affinity to spread out the load across the cores?
do you have shadows turned on?

No I wasn't using affinity although I've started to look into it. I noticed that everything is running on 1 core in task manager. Seems like a waste when I have 8 to spare. Most of what I have read on affinity has confused me more than it has helped so I haven't really tackled that yet. But it is something I plan to address. Is it as simple as choosing a separate core for each wow instance in Keyclone?

For video I think I had the master window on "good" setting and the slaves where on minimum setting. Not sure if that means shadows where on the master but I suspect they were. I've since turned the video settings down to minimum. As i find time I'll try to ramp it up and see where the limit is. When I raid on a single Wow window I can run it at ultra without so much as a hiccup.

I spent a good 4 hrs wrestling with this yesterday so I'll just pass on a little more info that may or may not be useful to you. When Keyclone failed for me it never actually crashed. It was still fully responsive including being able to go into setup and command editor, I could even use the override button and the mute window would appear on my master wow window, the override hotkey did not work. It would simply stop passing keystrokes and require me to restart Keyclone after which it would start working normally. I have had it become unresponsive on me in the middle of an instance in the past but yesterday when I was able to recreate the problem over and over it never became unresponsive. The lag I experienced was the cause and not the effect it would seem. I did upgrade to the alpha yesterday but that alone made no difference.

yes, just select 2 cores in the cpu affinity for each command. wow operates better on 2 cores. (anyone know which hyperthreads are actually on separate cores? 0+1 == core 0? or is it 0+4?)

also, make sure to set your maxfpsbk and maxfps fields within the command. this will radically reduce your cpu and gpu requirements.

also, make sure to turn off shadows. to do this, open a single wow.. turn them off.. then exit completely. this will force the settings to write to disk so the next time you run, all your wows will pick up the new setting.

also, watch for the update... it will provide a few tweaks that will make setting up a bit easier.