Running three instances of wow on one PC.

I've been reading alot of the forums and trying to decide what to do. I'm going to start with running three WoW instances. I plan on playing two locks and a priest. In the beginning I will obviously be doing PvE. I plan on testing this setup with pvp when I hit lvl 19 but was curious if anyone here runs three accounts and what there CPU specs are? Do you do any PvP?

I will be using AutoHotkeys and two monitors on one PC.

I think in the end I will go with the dedicated hardware setup, but this will get me started since I already have the three accounts.

Don't bother PvPing at 19. Casters are useless and are 2 shotted.

2 Wows is pushing it - really depends on the video card and if you have a second x8 or x16 pci-e slot. Also what you consider to be playable. For PvP, 10 fps and load time lag is going to get you killed.

3..... is not really going to be playable.

If you bought a quad core, 4 gigs of memory and 2x x16 1x x8 mobo (most do not do this - thats a $300 mobo) with 3x mid to high end video cards.... and 3 monitors then maybe. But thats a 4-5k box, vs $500 per box for 3.

Personally, I would buy 3 boxes. Try it with some trials but I think you will be disappointed.

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Originally Posted by Xzin

Don't bother PvPing at 19. Casters are useless and are 2 shotted.

2 Wows is pushing it - really depends on the video card and if you have a second x8 or x16 pci-e slot. Also what you consider to be playable. For PvP, 10 fps and load time lag is going to get you killed.

3..... is not really going to be playable.

If you bought a quad core, 4 gigs of memory and 2x x16 1x x8 mobo (most do not do this - thats a $300 mobo) with 3x mid to high end video cards.... and 3 monitors then maybe. But thats a 4-5k box, vs $500 per box for 3.

Personally, I would buy 3 boxes. Try it with some trials but I think you will be disappointed.

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Right now I run two instances on my single core computer with 1.5 gigs of ram. Little to no lag, the fps gets a little low on one of them at at times, but for the most part its pretty smooth. I just have all the settings cranked down, but the game still looks surprisingly nice.

EDIT: The reason I do that is because I don't have the money to get a second or third computer. If I had the money to get the computer, I would.

Ok - so try three. If that works (it most likely will not) then I can't really help you any further. If you can play with 3 then go for it. I just don't think even with minimum settings that its going to be workable with the hardware you currently have.

Thanks for the feedback. I'll mess with running three while starting to level my little crew. In time I will order and put together the other PC's.

Xzin, have you used Autokeys at all? If so, how much of a difference did you notice in latency for keys on the other characters? I'm going the hardware route, I'm just curious. :)

I have never used AHK. I thought about it - would make things a lot simpler but to me it would still be cutting corners for several reasons. I hear good things about it though but I still always prefer the hardware approach given the current state of software / hardware at the moment.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Xzin

Ok - so try three. If that works (it most likely will not) then I can't really help you any further. If you can play with 3 then go for it. I just don't think even with minimum settings that its going to be workable with the hardware you currently have.

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Yeah I know lol. I'm not gonna try for three, right now I'm just trying to find a decent class combination for now.

I just ran two and it was ok. I tried to run three but one always crashes. I'm now making a seperate copy of WoW and running two from that. I plan to dumb down the graphics on these other two as well to save some resources.

I just want to start three-boxin before I dump 2k into equipment.

I run one instance of wow from my first install, two other instances from the second install. I can play for 2-3 hours before the entire CPU restarts.

I'm now making a third install and going to try running a wow from each install.

I'm having a blast configuring AHK and playing the three characters though. So much better then solo. :)

ok im running 2 instances of wow with up to 60FPS on both running them dual screen with full graphics settings and full AA and AP filtering on

never had a problem computer handles it fine,

pc specs are

Core 2 Duo E6600 (2.4 ghz)

2 gig ram

XP home edition

Geforce 8800GTS 640mb

i think your graphics card is the main factor here you need something powerful to handle 2 3D applications at once

i regularly do boring grinding on wow on my secondary monitor and wathc a film on my main monitor without any hiccups or lag.

just attempted to 3 box on my setup.

C2D E6400 (barely pushing 60% at full load load 10% idle w/ all 3 running and ventrilo and firefox)

1gig Dual Channel DDR2 RAM (95%, was 75% w/ 1 copy running)

ATI Radeon X1300 PRO (nothing to monitor this)

Im constantly monitoring my system atm via G15 keyboard screen and temp gauge on my box. Currently running at a fairly cool 85F (~30C)

Using default gfx settings, no mods to save ram.

Its running pretty smooth, the only lag comes when one of the accounts is logging in (of course)

I must say i'm pretty impressed w/ the performance considering my pc is far from top end, but running 3 copy's fairly easily. Maybe im just lucky?

Now i need to learn to control all 3 windows at once >.<

PS: I honestly think that an extra stick of ram would make things run even smoother, tho as i said, its running pretty ok atm.

Hey, if it works for you then go with it. WoW is not a very intense game but I am a bit surprised you can 3 box with 30+ fps at all times with UI mods and in populated areas (my criteria to be minimally playable) on a single machine - WoW is fairly GPU intensive.

But hey, if you can do it then thats great :)

When the 10 day trials come back online, I am going to try to run 40 of them across 10 computers and see how that goes.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Xzin

Hey, if it works for you then go with it. WoW is not a very intense game but I am a bit surprised you can 3 box with 30+ fps at all times with UI mods and in populated areas (my criteria to be minimally playable) on a single machine - WoW is fairly GPU intensive.

But hey, if you can do it then thats great :)

When the 10 day trials come back online, I am going to try to run 40 of them across 10 computers and see how that goes.

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35-38 FPS according to fraps. Not in populated area too much atm. Just referred myself 2 alts. Got a lvl 30 Priest and 2 lvl 2 locks atm. Been having to alt-tab and manually work things atm (alt tabbing is running very fast and smooth, a good sign imo). Until i get some tools setup to help send keys to the other 2 windows.

Kinda need a lil help getting software setup ect.
I don't plan on using any UI mods that are not 100% needed, this should help keep the ram usage to a min.

Im still not brave enough to attempt to Fraps, i guess everything is worth a try. Once i get control of the other 2 windows that is, lol.

I must say, im as surprised as anyone that this actually works. But then when you consider the fact that WoW is designed to run on 5 year old dells if need be, it almost makes sense.

I have a feeling that a lot of WoW data is cached (hence the high ram use) therefore enabling all 3 instances to share the data.
Something along those lines. maybe

Your 4 char over 10 cpu's may be an awesome feat, and a record breaker. Look forward to seeing it lol

Also i was inspired due to seeing one of your friends on mag. in XR earlier, lol. cmeh,dmeh something like that. Thought wth, ill give it a shot.

I made a couple of self referals. for 10 day trials. You should be able to do the same :) Im pretty sure a lot of ppl wouldnt mind refering you for 10 day trials either. Would be quite something to see imo


=mufar=
Proud Leader Of Soul Society
www.ssclan.net

This just gets better, decided to turn down the gfx, since it looks the same on low w/o shaders ect ect. My FPS is pushing the 80's in still unpopulated areas. Also my ram usage is down by a few %
Did, it after i manged to get a crash whille loading up 5 Firefox tabs and A you tube video (with wow graphics still set on default)


=mufar=

Is that whilst running 2 versions of wow?

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Originally Posted by chase

Is that whilst running 2 versions of wow?

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If you read up (my previous posts) , im running not 2 but 3 copies of wow atm.

UPDATE:
Also, just headed to Orgrimar (populated area) pretty smooth.
RAM use went up (couple %), 1-2 lag spikes at first, but FPS settled close to the 100's

Nice =]

i might try turning down the gfx on mine too see what sort of fps i can get my record is just over 300 FPS that was whilst staring at a wall in the champions hall =p however that was also only running 1 version of wow

and forgive me if you have covered this but are you running all 3 on seperate screens and are those screens all being run from the same gfx card? or do you use one screen with only 1 maximised at a time or just the other 2 running behind the main window?

What the heck are you doing to get 100 fps (avg?) with 3 WoWs going in a populated area? What resolution?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by chase

ok im running 2 instances of wow with up to 60FPS on both running them dual screen with full graphics settings and full AA and AP filtering on

never had a problem computer handles it fine,

pc specs are

Core 2 Duo E6600 (2.4 ghz)

2 gig ram

XP home edition

Geforce 8800GTS 640mb

i think your graphics card is the main factor here you need something powerful to handle 2 3D applications at once

i regularly do boring grinding on wow on my secondary monitor and wathc a film on my main monitor without any hiccups or lag.

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Hmmmm...

I have the similar specs of your computer except my vid card is 768 mb one ... but it's impossible to run dual screens and break 20 FPS.

Really curious how you did it. Please post screen shot of both your dual screens using a camera if possible. You are one out of the 20+ people I spoke with who can break 20 FPS using 1 vid card and 2 monitors running 2 wow clients.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Xzin

What the heck are you doing to get 100 fps (avg?) with 3 WoWs going in a populated area? What resolution?

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This was just in Org for some reason, its avg FPS outside is ~70-80. Running at 1280x1024. It seems the ram is doing a lot of the work. Since the ram jumped up before the FPS increase in Org.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by chase

Nice =]
and forgive me if you have covered this but are you running all 3 on seperate screens and are those screens all being run from the same gfx card? or do you use one screen with only 1 maximized at a time or just the other 2 running behind the main window?

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Im running 3 clients (2 in background) and one maximized at a time alt+tab atm, 'til i get AHK working. On single monitor. I am tempted to plug in my other monitor, but cba. lol
=mufar=

Muf, how many install directories of WoW do you have? I haven't played beyond an hr since I went with three. Its worked so far but so did a single install point.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tech249

Muf, how many install directories of WoW do you have? I haven't played beyond an hr since I went with three. Its worked so far but so did a single install point.

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One install, just running multiple WoW .exe

I have had wow running 4 times on 1 pc and 1 installation of wow. It was running at 20fps in an instance but my pc needs a new gfx card.

I had it on full graphics settings and had all my usual addons installed

Pc specs

AMD x2 4400
4gb ram
6800gt 128mb AGP
4x 200gb hdd's


Im currently setting up a 2nd pc for my 1st time dual boxing

I run 3 smoothly for PVE purposes, I don't imagine it would be much different for PVE.

Three instances of WoW running in Shatrah gives 15FPS on all three with the settings low but view distance maxed.

System Spec's:
Athlon 64 x2 6000+
2GB DDR2
nVidia 7900GT with 256MB Ram.
Windows Vista Ultimate

I'll probably bump the ram up to 4gb soon.

i will start a new 3 instances run on 1 pc on monday!

Warrior, Meleeshaman, Holypala.....

autohotkey + some micro rocks! :D ( a new sport are born :) )

2,1 ghz C2D
2gb Ram
x950xt


no problems on all 3 instances! i will post a screen tonight!


last night i play CnC:TW on 2 instances on 1 pc.....30 fps on low details
played some 2on2´s online (i won some matches :D ). autohotkey ftw :D

If I shrink my WoW windows to all fit on one 1680x1050 screen, the frame rate is quite acceptable with 3 windows. I have to jack up the font on all the chat boxes, and turn down the resolution/effects on each, but it works.

I was thinking of running 2 copies of WoW like this on my other computer, while I play my main character on this computer. But I play a priest & a warlock now, and I can't see how a 3rd toon is necessary cause the priest and lock absolutely mow down everything in sight with no rest. Elites, red level mobs, 7-8 mobs at a time, no matter. I haven't sat to drink water since I was level 5 I think, the lock is now level 35.

I've always been enamored with a warrior/shaman/paladin combo for pvp though. Can you imagine an MS warrior with Stormherald/Deep Thunder, backed up with Windfury and a Pally? Nasty.