How's my Dualbox Setup?

[crunchygroove]

Hi.

I'm totally new to multiboxing but I've read quite a bit about it and dabbled with HotKeyNet with some degree of success. I'm intending to dualbox to take advantage of Blizzard's Recruit-A-Friend promotional device. So, I'm going to describe my intended setup and ask a few questions about it, which I'm sure you guys can answer

DISCLAIMER: These are all questions that I've had trouble finding clear answers to. Reading 4 year old posts and wiki entries can only get you so far. Apologies in advance for asking so many, but I want to be totally sure of my set-up before I proceed.

Hardware/Software solutions

I'm intending to use a single PC (Quad core CPU, decent graphics card but only 2GB of RAM) to run 2 instances of WoW. Using HotKeyNet, I'll be playing on one fullscreen instance with the main and have a small PIP instance of the alt 'embedded' in the main window, which I can switch to instantly using a designated key.

Unless I can find an acceptable alternative to movement, I'll be moving normally with the main and having the alt /follow and /assist for movement and attacks. AFAIK there is no way to broadcast mouse drags to another window, so I'd rather use /follow than have to keyboard-turn. I'll be using a series of AddOns for the main (Carbonite, LightHeaded, Bartender4, Bagnon, TitanPanel, MoveAnything, Quartz etc), but I'll probably not use the same ones for the alt. Maybe just Bagnon (to keep bags organised) and Bartender4 (to set up efficient macros).

Q1: Would it be worthwhile to use a macro to alternate between quality levels of graphics, and if so, is there any way to 'save' my current graphics set-up so I can restore it easily?

Q2: I've read that each instance of WoW requires it's own installation. Is this true and if so, why is it necessary?

Q3: Is there any suitable way to broadcast mouse drags (for the purpose of mouse-turning) using a software-only solution? If not, would you recommend using /follow or broadcasting keyboard movement (including keyboard-turning)?

(This is probably a Q I could find out myself, but I'll ask anyway )
Q4: What is Jamba? And is it worth using for a dualbox setup?

Recruit-A-Friend setup

To take advantage of RAF's triple XP, I'm intending to do the following.

- Create a new e-mail account, and invite it to play WoW using my main e-mail account.
- Accept the invitation, and set up a WoW account (same surname as my main, incase I want to transfer characters).
- Buy WoW Vanilla (or use the spare 'CD Key' I have, if it's still valid).
- Purchase a month's subscription on the new account (technically won't cost me anything since main gets 30 days free).
- Create characters and begin levelling using HotKeyNet (questing and receiving instance boosts).
- At 60, have alt gift levels to other alts on my main account.
- After the month expires, either transfer the toon(s) or, more likely, just ditch the account.

I'll also be purchasing the Shoulder and Chestpiece Heirlooms (the cloth ones, so everyone can wear them) for an extra XP boost.

Q5: Is this plan possible? Are there any catches I've missed?

Q6: Are there any other ways to manipulate this system that i don't know about?

Class setup

This is the part that I really need some input for.

I had intended to do either dual Paladins (1 Prot AoE Grinding and 1 Holy Healbot /following to spam heals) or dual priests (2 shadow priests, simple /follow and /assist).

Q7: Are either of these 'builds' viable for 'solo' questing and grinding? If so, which would be the easiest and most efficient for my first attempt at multiboxing? If not, are there any more efficient dual setups of Priests and Paladins that you can recommend?

----------------------------

So, that's my planned setup. Again, sorry for asking so many questions, but I'd like to get my information first-hand from people who actually know what they're talking about than from age-old posts and wiki entries. If anyone can find the time to read through my intended setup and answer my questions, I'd really appreciate it.

One final question...

Q8: Is there anything I've missed that I should take into consideration before I begin?

Thank you for your time.

[Ualaa]

Q1.
I'm using virtualized config.wtf files, which is a feature IS Boxer offers. Basically have medium settings on the main, and minimal on the slaves. I don't bother with anything to change the settings on the individual clients as I switch from one to the other. But I believe there is an addon that can do this; Zanthor mentioned it in one of his posts.

Q2.
You only need one installation of warcraft. The only advantage of multiple installs is different game options. A virtualized config file takes up a lot less space then another install of warcraft. However, you can do Symbolic Links (I used this tool: http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinks...kshellext.html or use the MKLink command), where you copy the entire folder, but delete the Cache, Data and Interface folders, and then link them from a full install. I'm running five instances off of one install, and not using symbolic links anymore.

Q3.
IS Boxer has strong mouse broadcasting options. You can broadcast the mouse with Hot Key Net, Mojo, Octopus, and probably other software options too. You could mouse turn, but generally mouse broadcasting is to click things such as portals or bonfires, or accept on a dialogue box, and for ground target spells. Follow is generally far superior for movement.

Q4.
Jamba is not essential, but it is extremely handy. It is quest mirroring, where any option you pick with an npc, the slave will do the same. You can have the slave take the same rewards from quests, or force it to have you pick on each toon. You can set it to auto buy reagents when at a vendor, to sell gray quality items, to have the slave take the same flightpath as you. You can have an indicator, showing slave/master follow status, experience into the level, current health. You can have warnings when low on health or mana, and can customize this for a large team with a message like, "Press G4 to Heal Bob". A very useful boxing addon, and highly recommended.

Q5.
Log into account management and send yourself an invite; you won't need a new email, I used the same for a 5 account RAF chain. Use the emailed information to create the account, and then upgrade with a retail copy of the game. If you are ditching the account, just go with Classic Warcraft. If you're keeping the account, go with a Battlechest. In the case of ditching the account, you can create a Human/Orc on the ditching account, and if need be summon your Draenei/Blood Elf to zones that disposable toon has access to. I'd recommend leveling two sets to 60th, per link in your chain (in your case it is one link, so level toons in pairs); that will let you boost toons to 60th from 1st. Also when boosting, get a toon 90% into the level, say almost 3rd or almost 4th. Then grant levels, and you'll be 60th and almost 61st.

Q6.
If you care for a Zhevra mount (it is an achievement too), pay for the 2nd month on the disposable account. Then one toon on the existing account gets the mount. RAF goes for 3 months, so a game card is a decent option as that gets you the free month and the mount, and 2 months to RAF with. You have the option to pay for the 3rd month if you like/want the time.
You could also go with one keeper account, and two disposable accounts. Chain them together... A -- B -- C. Include a Prot-Pally or Feral-Druid on A (keeper account). Level the first set as three toons together, and take them through Outlands (or possibly solo outlands with only the keeper toon). Then use the Pally/Feral, to "boost" B/C through instances, and they'll get RAF experience because of being grouped together. If you boost three sets of toons (plus the initial three toons as a team), that adds up to: A x1 -- B x4 -- C x4. A then gets two toons from B and one toon from C (cascade granted levels). You can boost toons from 1st to 60th, in a weekend quite easily.

Q7.
With two toons, just about anything will work. However, I'd recommend spec'ing for DPS. If you have two pallies, go with both of the as Ret. Or possibly Prot + Ret, once you're high enough for Holy Shield. You can use both of them to heal during down time, but a healer spec is pretty much a waste. Just about any combination of two will work.

Q8.
Boxing can be extremely fun. There's a high probability that if you try it, you'll want to permanently go with 2 or 3 toons, which eventually leads to 5 toons. Be aware of that, going in.

[crunchygroove]

Q1.
Q6.
If you care for a Zhevra mount (it is an achievement too), pay for the 2nd month on the disposable account. Then one toon on the existing account gets the mount. RAF goes for 3 months, so a game card is a decent option as that gets you the free month and the mount, and 2 months to RAF with. You have the option to pay for the 3rd month if you like/want the time.
You could also go with one keeper account, and two disposable accounts. Chain them together... A -- B -- C. Include a Prot-Pally or Feral-Druid on A (keeper account). Level the first set as three toons together, and take them through Outlands (or possibly solo outlands with only the keeper toon). Then use the Pally/Feral, to "boost" B/C through instances, and they'll get RAF experience because of being grouped together. If you boost three sets of toons (plus the initial three toons as a team), that adds up to: A x1 -- B x4 -- C x4. A then gets two toons from B and one toon from C (cascade granted levels). You can boost toons from 1st to 60th, in a weekend quite easily.

Tbh, I'm only intending to boost to 60 and ditching the recruited account after the month is finished (including the character on the account). In other words, I'm using this only as a quick method to level alts on my main to 60. I don't intend to buy any more than one month and WoW Classic for the recruitied account :P I can't afford to keep 2 or 3 WotLK accounts running.

Q7.
With two toons, just about anything will work. However, I'd recommend spec'ing for DPS. If you have two pallies, go with both of the as Ret. Or possibly Prot + Ret, once you're high enough for Holy Shield. You can use both of them to heal during down time, but a healer spec is pretty much a waste. Just about any combination of two will work.

How would /follow work with two Ret Paladins? Wouldn't it be very difficult to effectively melee mobs with the alt Pala? Also, how well would two Shadow Priests work?

Thanks for the detailed reply

[zenga]

Tbh, I'm only intending to boost to 60 and ditching the recruited account after the month is finished (including the character on the account). In other words, I'm using this only as a quick method to level alts on my main to 60. I don't intend to buy any more than one month and WoW Classic for the recruitied account :P I can't afford to keep 2 or 3 WotLK accounts running.



How would /follow work with two Ret Paladins? Wouldn't it be very difficult to effectively melee mobs with the alt Pala? Also, how well would two Shadow Priests work?

Thanks for the detailed reply

You can setup a different key for 'interact with target' on your second toon. Then enable 'click to move' in the main options menu. Once you engage combat you just click that 'iwt' key and your second toon will run towards the target and attack it. Another option is to just run back with the target to your slave (who stops following you after you hit any movement key).

[Ualaa]

The easiest way to control 2+ toons is with focus based assist.

With a two toon party, create two macros for focus.
On both toons.

Have them on the same keybind.
When you press the keybind for #1 on one, they both get it, and the same for focus macro #2.

/focus [target=ToonA]

and

/focus [Target=ToonB]

Then your attacks can be:
/cast [target=FocusTarget] Judgement of Light

Heals can be:
/cast [target=FocusTarget,Help][target=FocusTargetTarget,Help] Holy Light

Follow is:
/follow [target=Focus]

I'd bind a key to Interact With Target.
And enable Click to Move (mouse options).
Do both of these for both toons.

In PvE, press IWT once (and again if the mob moves).
And spam your dps moves once in range.
In PvP, you'll need to spam your IWT key to stay in range.

[MiRai]

Tbh, I'm only intending to boost to 60 and ditching the recruited account after the month is finished (including the character on the account). In other words, I'm using this only as a quick method to level alts on my main to 60. I don't intend to buy any more than one month and WoW Classic for the recruitied account :P I can't afford to keep 2 or 3 WotLK accounts running.

Give it 6 months...you'll be 5 boxing.

[Pocalypse]

Also, you mentioned Heirlooms. Keep in mind that currently you can only mail them between your main account. If you want to transfer some to your new account, you'd have to use a paid character transfer to transfer a character over with them.

Having only one character with 2 heirlooms will make him outlevel your other character significantly. Up to you if you want to do that or not.

[alcattle]

Q1 As for seperate settings, HKN will allow that. You run 2 folders and point to which folder you want to run which toon. Easy.
Q2 No. Just make a copy of the main folder, rename the top level folder and you're set

RAF When you sign up your "friend", the game/cd key gives you 30 days game time. Then a game card will fill the 90 days and give the main account the bonus.

Ualaa has answered most of the rest, as always the best person for any question

[crunchygroove]

Hey guys, me again.

I'm trying to set up a HotKeyNet script that will allow me to launch 2 Wow windows in one go. I have a quick question though.

In this link, it says to copy and paste the 'World of Wacraft' folder in my Program Files and name the second one 'World of Warcraft1' and it's .exe 'WoW1.exe'.

As far as I know, this will effectively allow me to have different configurations for my main and my alt, in terms of graphics settings and AddOns, which is good.

However, I don't know how to set up a HKN script to launch the first (main) window from the original folder and the second (alt) window from the second (World of Warcraft1) folder.

I'd eventually like to be able to load both windows, with appropriate names, one from each location and have them positioned properly all in a single keydown once the script is loaded into HKN. Is this possible?

The code I have so far...

//-----------------------------------------------------------
// SUBROUTINE TO LAUNCH AND RENAME A COPY OF WOW.
//-----------------------------------------------------------
<Command LaunchAndRename>
<SendPC %1%>
<Run "c:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\WoW.exe">
<RenameTargetWin WoW>
<RemoveWinFrame>
<Run "c:\Program Files\World of Warcraft1\WoW1.exe">
<RenameTargetWin WoW1>
<RemoveWinFrame>

//-----------------------------------------------------------
// HOTKEY TO LAUNCH AND RENAME BOTH WOW'S.
//-----------------------------------------------------------
<Hotkey ScrollLockOn Alt Ctrl L>
<LaunchAndRename Local "C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\WoW.exe" WoW>

//----------------------------------------------------------------
// RENAME WINDOWS AND REMOVE BORDERS
//----------------------------------------------------------------
//<Hotkey Ctrl R>
// <toggle>
// <TargetWin WoW1>
// <RemoveWinFrame>
// <TargetWin WoW2>
// <RemoveWinFrame>
// <toggle>
// <TargetWin WoW1>
// <SetWinFrame Caption Border>
// <TargetWin WoW2>
// <SetWinFrame Caption Border>

//----------------------------------------------------------------
// SET PIP CONFIGURATION
// Usage: <SetPip BigWindowName LittleWindowName>
// This command is called by <Hotkey F1> which is defined below.
//----------------------------------------------------------------
<Command SetPip>
<TargetWin %2%>
<SetWinSize 400 300>
<SetWinPos 775 515>
<TargetWin %1%>
<SetWinPos 0 0>
<SetWinSize 1200 900>
<TargetWin %2%>
<SetForegroundWin>
<UpdateWin>
<TargetWin %1%>
<SetWinRegion 775 515 400 300>
<SetForegroundWin>

//----------------------------------------------------------------
// TOGGLE PIP CONFIG WITH HOTKEY
//----------------------------------------------------------------
<Hotkey ScrollLockOn F1>
<Toggle>
<SetPip WoW WoW1>
<Toggle>
<SetPip WoW1 WoW>

//-----------------------------------------------------------
// DEFINE MAIL LABELS FOR SENDING KEY STROKES
//-----------------------------------------------------------
<Label w1 Local SendWinM WoW>
<Label w2 Local SendWinM WoW1>

//-----------------------------------------------------------
// DEFINE HOTKEYS FOR ALL KEY COMBINATIONS THAT WILL GET
// SENT TO BOTH WOWS. ADD MORE KEY COMBO'S IF YOU WANT.
//-----------------------------------------------------------
<Hotkey ScrollLockOn A-Z, 0-9, Plus, Minus, F2-F12 except E, S, D, F, F1>
<SendLabel w1, w2>
<Key %Trigger%>

//-----------------------------------------------------------
// DEFINE MOVEMENT KEYS THAT WILL GET SENT TO BOTH WOW'S.
// ADD MORE KEYS IF YOU WANT.
//-----------------------------------------------------------
//<MovementHotkey ScrollLockOn E, S, D, F>
//<SendLabel w1, w2>
//<Key %Trigger%>

//-----------------------------------------------------------
// BROADCAST MOUSE CLICKS. HOLD DOWN OEM3 (ON U.S. KEYBOARDS,
// THAT'S THE SQUIGGLE KEY IN UPPPER LEFT CORNER) WHEN YOU
// WANT TO BROADCAST.
//-----------------------------------------------------------
//<UseKeyAsModifier Oem3>
//
//<Hotkey ScrollLockOn Oem3 LButton, MButton, RButton, Button4, Button5>
// <SendLabel w1, w2>
// <ClickMouse %TriggerMainKey%>

PS: Why does this example have the 2nd to 5th WoWs loading from a temp folder? If it was done this way, would it be possible to have different graphics settings per character?

Thanks.

[Dorffo]

If it was done this way, would it be possible to have different graphics settings per character?

yep, independent settings for each account is the main reason for loading from different dirs