Overlapping Windows...Bad?

[dbick]

I have been software tri-boxing on one PC for several months now using Keyclone. I have never used the Maximizer functionality though, I just wasn't happy with the 3 box layouts that I could create. (I never thought that I really needed to see all of the slaves screen) I have been starting up my 3 clients then manually resizing the 2 slaves over to the left of the screen and resizing/moving the main to the right of the screen, almost full screen, with just a inch or two of the 2 slaves peeking out on the left side of the screen. I have allot of overlap. Now, reading another thread someone said that overlapping is very bad for performance. Can someone explain this further please? My performance isn't great but its liveable(for now, haven't been to Dalaran yet).

I am running win xp with 4 megs of ram
Nvidia 8600 gt

[elsegundo]

im not sure if this is a problem really. where was this mentioned?

[Catamer]

my suggestion is learn how to use maximizer and to start your clients through keyclone.
Create the maximizer regions as overlapping if you want ( I do ) and setup the PIP so you can bring any client up to your main region as needed.

I think the so called problem with overlapping regions in Vista has to do with the one of the advanced areo features ... transparency or something like that. Just turn if off.
I'll try to find a link to it

[dbick]

It was mentioned in this thread: What is my biggest pc problem? Dual boxing graphics issue

"You really do need to be careful with the overlap; even 1 pixel of overlap can throw your performance out the window.


I hope this clears some things up for you, good luck on your upgrades.

- Aldercy "

So it is possible to set up maximizer regions that overlap? I thought that I had tried that when I first started using maximizer and I couldn't get it to work, I'll go back and try it again. What I would really like to be able to do is set up my main client as full screen, with the 2 slaves as very small pip's, with the ability to bring any slave to the front main region on a keypress. I see that there is a premade layout that has pip with 2 clients, I will look at that and see if I can learn how to make another pip. Thanks

[elsegundo]

What is my biggest pc problem? Dual boxing graphics issue[/url]

"You really do need to be careful with the overlap; even 1 pixel of overlap can throw your performance out the window.


I hope this clears some things up for you, good luck on your upgrades.

- Aldercy "

So it is possible to set up maximizer regions that overlap? I thought that I had tried that when I first started using maximizer and I couldn't get it to work, I'll go back and try it again. What I would really like to be able to do is set up my main client as full screen, with the 2 slaves as very small pip's, with the ability to bring any slave to the front main region on a keypress. I see that there is a premade layout that has pip with 2 clients, I will look at that and see if I can learn how to make another pip. Thanks

you can very easily do this in keyclone. just have the smaller windows inside the main (maximized) window, and set to always on top. have hotkeys to switch windows and you're set.

i suggest getting button/interface mods so you can move things around in order for you to "fit" your PiP windows in.

[emesis]

BTW, the answer to the question 'are overlapping windows bad' is . . . . . . maybe.

It really depends on the idiosyncrasies of your hardware and software working together. For some people it can be.

It's obviously pretty simple for you to test yourself if you see any performance difference with overlapping versus non-overlapping windows. That's what I'd recommend. This forum is a fantastic resource for experiences and suggestions, but yes/no answers ... not so much. Way to much variability in everyone's setup.

[Aldercy]

Actually thinking back on it that may have been a little bit of misinformation as it’s been quite a long time since I tried to 5 box from one rig. My current setup consists of 3 rigs and 3 monitors running a total of 5 accounts; I use X-keys with a Vetra switch and multiplexer along with HotkeyNet to bring everything together. But back when I first tried 5 boxing I wanted to make sure I would enjoy it enough before I outlaid on the major gear so I simply purchased two 20” widescreen monitors to supplement my existing 24” widescreen. I ran all 3 with 5 accounts from one rig using extended desktop. Being the gamer I am I really wanted reasonable frame rates on my slaves without losing too much in the way of detail (especially spell detail and distance) so I did a lot of research into the pitfalls of using extended desktop/duel view etc with DirectX apps. One of the major issues that came up was the positioning of the apps across the monitors, and this was where I confused myself the other week when I replied to that post. Whilst it is true that any amount of overlap will cause a decrease in your frame rate, it will not affect it any where near as much as having one of your game windows sitting partly between two monitors, even if it’s only by 1 pixel.

I apologies for that confusion, I was simply trying to target as many issues as possible for the OP of that thread to help him solve his issue. I do still make sure that neither of the windows on my rigs overlap, and this does help a little with the overall frame rate (I have them locked at 30 maxfps and 30 maxbkfps which both windows run consistently with all but shadow detail on full). If you play around with it let me know if you notice any difference, I would be curious to see your own results on this.

Hope that clears things up
-Aldercy

[Kel]

I'm dual-boxing at the moment and my monitor is really not a good size/shape for having both toons showing at the same time. I originally tried both screens in maximizer at full resolution (which had worked previously for me with keyclone) but I had issues with pipping with that set-up. Now I have one main screen at full size (i.e. the toon I'm currently focused on) and the second screen is tiny and in one corner. Normally this second screen is hidden, but occasionally it likes to stay 'on top', but I've just moved my addons so that they are not obstructed by the second screen.

This doesn't seem to be causing me any performance issues, pipping is reasonably quick etc, my comp is decent spec (but nothing super) and running xp.

[Aldercy]

I'm dual-boxing at the moment and my monitor is really not a good size/shape for having both toons showing at the same time. I originally tried both screens in maximizer at full resolution (which had worked previously for me with keyclone) but I had issues with pipping with that set-up. Now I have one main screen at full size (i.e. the toon I'm currently focused on) and the second screen is tiny and in one corner. Normally this second screen is hidden, but occasionally it likes to stay 'on top', but I've just moved my addons so that they are not obstructed by the second screen.

This doesn't seem to be causing me any performance issues, pipping is reasonably quick etc, my comp is decent spec (but nothing super) and running xp.

Not sure if your just replying to the OP or if you've read the follow up posts, but I did clear this issue up by correcting myself (being the person that the OP originally quoted) and explaining that the issue I was talking about had to do with multi monitor configurations. It's also been explained that you may not notice much of an issue with window overlay; it could only be a few frames gain. If things are running fine as they should be in a two box setup with a reasonable system then you really won’t miss it at all. This does becomes a bigger issue however when you move to 5 boxing from one rig and your trying to push every last bit of performance from your system. It’s likely that the OP will not experience much gain at all on his rig, however the poster that my original comment was for had been running an absolute minimum system and needed to get every last bit of performance even with duel boxing.

- Aldercy