Working out some kinks with 2 PCs

[daviddoran]

Ok, so I am mostly up and running, using ISBoxer, with the wizard, using 2 PCs, and FTL (FTL IS AWESOME BTW!)

The issues I am having is

1. Logging in all my toons at once. I get what looks like a bad password error on all but whatever window is the hot one. My password uses special characters, so I think it has something to do with not passing Shift for one of the symbols. I used the built in command Shift Alt R to send all keyboard input to my alts.

2. How do I set my secondary PC which is running 2 toons, not to use the windowsnapper? I rather just select that window if i need to make that my main temporarily. I like using the windowsnapper (is that what its called? in keyclone it was called pip) on my main PC for my 3 toons, however.

3. My main monitor is a regular widescreen, and my 2 other monitors are in the vertical orientation, which makes the alts harder to read, until i make that toon the leader. Also, this affects my second monitor, and mouse passing, as the relative position does not match. Do I have to set all of their resolutions to match for this to work?

4. When I try to cast a spell, the FTL part isn't working between the 2 computers. if I target a mob on my main pc, and press a spell, only the toons on that PC do the spell, the others say "invalid target" Is there something i have to do diferently to get FTL working between the 2 PCs? This also affcts follow, only the main toon from either PC follows the main toon I am using, so when i walk aroud, I have 2-3 toons following one toon, and the other 2-3 toons following the main from the other PC.

Also, the reason I switched to 2 PCs in the first place, was that my motherboard's second PCIE x16 slot is only x4 electrical, and whenever any type of graphic, video, or game is running on any monitor plugged into the other video card, the performance of everything decreased dramatically. I just tested it with ISboxer, and had the same results. Has anyone else had an issue like ths running 5 toons on 3 monitors? The more I think about it, the more it seems that i'd b better off going back to a 2 monitor setup, with a 4+1 setup like the 40 second "getting started" video shows, given that the fast character switching is so seamless. Any thoughts on this?

[alcattle]

I have seen some of the things you are seeing.
1. Make sure Key Maps are off, I cycle mine to make sure. then turn on repeater and enter the password. I watch the alt to counts " * " so it should be close to right.
2. I put in a Key that I have to hold to swap screens, otherwise I can click on an alts and then go on without changing masters.
3. not sure, Ask Lax
4. is the problem only on the first spellcast? Sometimes the alts are slow to pick up the target. I will use an assist key so they are sure to have the same target. Otherwise, your group is telling different toons to follow different masters. Might be in Jamba settings.

[moosejaw]

About the FTL and following. I haven't set up multiple pc's yet but I have an idea. You should setup the whole team on the master pc. I believe there is selection dropdown list on each character as to which pc to launch on. When you push settings it will send the data to Innerspace on both pc's. I think you setup each pc with Isboxer and that will give the results you have listed. When you assist and follow it is doing each pc's characters as if they are the only ones in the group because that is the way you set it up. Wipe the Isboxer on the second machine.

For mouse repeating to click on the same spot the aspect ratios need to be the same. So 16:10 on all instances for example.

I personally use 2 monitors with one fullscreen on the right and 5 thumbnail placeholders on the left monitor. This isn't one of the wizard options but it is part of the layout section when you make your own. Remember you can make your instances layout anyway you want because you can resize and drag them anywhere on the layout setup screen.

[Svpernova09]

You'll need to create a window layout for the remote PC (In ISBoxer on the MAIN PC) and specify which layout is launched on which computer. Otherwise you'll get an error in the console and the instance will not launch.

[Lax]

1. What alcattle said. If you watch the 40 second configuration video long enough to get to where I'm logging into the game, this is specifically described in an annotation. Hit Shift+Alt+M once or twice to disable key maps (it'll say on the screen whether they are on or off) for login -- the auto-assist action bars is active at login so that is interfering, and disabling key maps will prevent that so you can type the numbers in your password.

2. WindowSnapper is the name of the script that runs the "PiP" functionality, although most people do not use it for actual PiP (which would be defined by having one window shown inside the other) because it would block some useful real estate on the main window. Like Svpernova09 said, you'll want to make a Window Layout just for the second PC (make sure to select the second PC from the drop-down that says "Pre-defined Computer" so the monitor layout matches the second PC instead of the first PC), and you will probably want to disable the Swap option (or set it to something other than Always, since disabling it may mess up the resolution for #3)

3. For mouse repeat to be accurate, they do indeed need to be in the same resolution. If they're not in the same resolution, you can't expect things to be in the same place on the different windows anyway. There's multiple ways to ensure they are the same resolution -- if they're on the same PC, leaving Swap enabled (but you can change it to something other than Always) is sufficient. Otherwise, you can always set the Desired Rendering Size to match on all.

4. Unfortunately the way the FTL generation currently works in ISBoxer, it is only generating the FTL for the individual Character Sets. However, you can manually set the FTL macros (the 3 in General key map are Follow, Assist, and Target) to include all of your characters. It will be slightly more difficult to switch between teams, so if you go this route you might benefit from keeping multiple ISBoxer profiles if you want multiple teams.

Here's what you do:
Make sure that the selected FTL Modifiers for the characters on the second PC are different than those on the main PC. These are selected per Slot in your Character Set. Go to the FTL Follow Key, in Step 1 where the actual follow action is defined, and select one of the two teams by hitting the * button next to the Target drop-down. You should see the "final macro text" change. Select the final macro text, and copy it to clipboard with the keyboard shortcut CTRL+C (right click won't give you a menu to select copy from in this case), and paste it into notepad or some other convenient text editor. Then select the other team the same way you selected the first. Then select just the FTL sequence from this team, and make sure it goes after the original sequence you pasted in notepad. Paste the completed FTL follow command into the Commands box, and make sure there are no "targeting options" selected

Repeat the same thing for the Assist and Target keys. Make sure there are no targeting options selected for any of them once you are done, so the final macro text shows exactly what you put in the Commands box.

Then everyone will be able to follow, target, or assist each other.

5. The performance hit you're talking about is most likely caused not by your video card itself, but by the way DirectX works. If you move a window from a display controlled by one video card, to a display controlled by another, it will be software rendered, resulting in a massive system slowdown. Rumor has it that if you use Windows 7, that you can do this without that performance hit (I have not tested this myself, but Zanthor reported good performance with a 3 monitor setup on Windows 7, and I heard a similar story from at least one other person). Anything prior to Windows 7 and you definitely get the performance hit.

[inire]

Hey Lax...

I can confirm that build 7600 of Windows 7 Professional x64 with multiple monitors and SLI with 2x NVIDIA GeForce GTX260 does NOT experience the performance hit that I previously had with Windows XP Professional x64 when moving windows between displays.

[daviddoran]

1. What alcattle said. If you watch the 40 second configuration video long enough to get to where I'm logging into the game, this is specifically described in an annotation. Hit Shift+Alt+M once or twice to disable key maps (it'll say on the screen whether they are on or off) for login -- the auto-assist action bars is active at login so that is interfering, and disabling key maps will prevent that so you can type the numbers in your password.

2. WindowSnapper is the name of the script that runs the "PiP" functionality, although most people do not use it for actual PiP (which would be defined by having one window shown inside the other) because it would block some useful real estate on the main window. Like Svpernova09 said, you'll want to make a Window Layout just for the second PC (make sure to select the second PC from the drop-down that says "Pre-defined Computer" so the monitor layout matches the second PC instead of the first PC), and you will probably want to disable the Swap option (or set it to something other than Always, since disabling it may mess up the resolution for #3)

3. For mouse repeat to be accurate, they do indeed need to be in the same resolution. If they're not in the same resolution, you can't expect things to be in the same place on the different windows anyway. There's multiple ways to ensure they are the same resolution -- if they're on the same PC, leaving Swap enabled (but you can change it to something other than Always) is sufficient. Otherwise, you can always set the Desired Rendering Size to match on all.

4. Unfortunately the way the FTL generation currently works in ISBoxer, it is only generating the FTL for the individual Character Sets. However, you can manually set the FTL macros (the 3 in General key map are Follow, Assist, and Target) to include all of your characters. It will be slightly more difficult to switch between teams, so if you go this route you might benefit from keeping multiple ISBoxer profiles if you want multiple teams.

Here's what you do:
Make sure that the selected FTL Modifiers for the characters on the second PC are different than those on the main PC. These are selected per Slot in your Character Set. Go to the FTL Follow Key, in Step 1 where the actual follow action is defined, and select one of the two teams by hitting the * button next to the Target drop-down. You should see the "final macro text" change. Select the final macro text, and copy it to clipboard with the keyboard shortcut CTRL+C (right click won't give you a menu to select copy from in this case), and paste it into notepad or some other convenient text editor. Then select the other team the same way you selected the first. Then select just the FTL sequence from this team, and make sure it goes after the original sequence you pasted in notepad. Paste the completed FTL follow command into the Commands box, and make sure there are no "targeting options" selected

Repeat the same thing for the Assist and Target keys. Make sure there are no targeting options selected for any of them once you are done, so the final macro text shows exactly what you put in the Commands box.

Then everyone will be able to follow, target, or assist each other.

5. The performance hit you're talking about is most likely caused not by your video card itself, but by the way DirectX works. If you move a window from a display controlled by one video card, to a display controlled by another, it will be software rendered, resulting in a massive system slowdown. Rumor has it that if you use Windows 7, that you can do this without that performance hit (I have not tested this myself, but Zanthor reported good performance with a 3 monitor setup on Windows 7, and I heard a similar story from at least one other person). Anything prior to Windows 7 and you definitely get the performance hit.

1. Ok, I only saw the part that turned on broadcasting all keys, not disabling the other keymaps.

2. If I disable swap, is that for both PCS? or just for one? If so, i think going back to one PC is best for me.

3. ok. I suspected this. I guess my monitor configuration (2 monitors are vertical on the left and right of a regular orientation widescreen) Again, For it to work properly in isboxer, i think i need to go back to one pc.

4. Ok, makes sense. Ill try that out.

5. Hmm, I just happened to get a copy of Windows 7 from Technet at work... ill have to check it out