5 boxing on one box

[PineBeach]

A few days ago I started 5 boxing for the first time, just on one machine though. I have five windows open on the screen and swtich between them to control the characters during combat. Out of combat I use macros to set the focus of each character and then to follow the one with the focus.

I've found it quite challenging to control five characters at once but I think I'm getting better at it and I really enjoy it.

Each time I start playing I open all the instances of wow, then resize the windows, then login, I've been experimenting with a few different resolutions to find the ones that works best, at the moment I'm using the lowest one on all five windows and I've arranged them so that there are two small windows, two slightly larger windows and one large window, this seems to work quite well for questing, though I haven't tried it in an instance yet.

Sometimes I want to change the windows around, so that one of the small ones becomes the big one, this involves moving and resizing them manually, which is a bit of a pain to do every five minutes, are there any programs that would do that for me, allow me to save the positions and sizes of each window and invoke a particular set easily? I've looked on search engines but can't find anything ready made, I can see that it's possible to create an application that would do it but I'd rather use something that was already made rather than get stuck into programming and try to make my own. I'm using windows 7.

Also, I dont use any type of keyboard or mouse broadcasting software, has anyone tried playing 5 box that way with any success? I quite enjoy it so far, it's a bit like playing warcraft 3, very hard though, I often find myself concentrating on one window while at least one of my characters is just standing there facing the wrong way! I'm confident that with practice I can get better at it.

[Owltoid]

Either you're intentionally trying this playstyle for the challenge, or you haven't been introduced to multiboxing software. If you're doing it on purpose, then I hope you're having fun! I know I wouldn't be. If you just didn't know about multiboxing broadcasting software, then check out ISBoxer... it will change multiboxing as you know it.

[PineBeach]

Either you're intentionally trying this playstyle for the challenge, or you haven't been introduced to multiboxing software. If you're doing it on purpose, then I hope you're having fun! I know I wouldn't be. If you just didn't know about multiboxing broadcasting software, then check out ISBoxer... it will change multiboxing as you know it.

I've intentionally decided not to use multiboxing bradcasting software, though I might try it one day. I started off on my macbook with three windows at the same time, I created an addon to make it easy for the characters to switch who they follow, I tried some broadcasting software for a short time also but didn't like it, it seemed qutie limited, didn't allow certain keys to be excluded from broadcasting, even though the source code for it is available I can't be bothered to get involved in trying to change it. I quickly moved onto my more powerfull windows machine that has a larger monitor and tried 5 boxing without the broadcasting software, I'm having fun, but there are a few little things that make it tiresome, such as following after combat, I guess I could get an addon to deal with that or write one.

[MiRai]

I've intentionally decided not to use multiboxing bradcasting software

The rest of what I quoted gave your multiboxing history, not a reason as to why you'd making it harder on yourself. So I am curious...

Why?

Perhaps you are you trying to prove a point?
What level are you, or, what is the the highest level of content you've experienced as a multiboxer?

[PineBeach]

The rest of what I quoted gave your multiboxing history, not a reason as to why you'd making it harder on yourself. So I am curious...

Why?

Perhaps you are you trying to prove a point?
What level are you, or, what is the the highest level of content you've experienced as a multiboxer?

I'm not trying to prove a point, I'm honestly asking for help.

I'm not a high level multiboxer, I just started a matter of days ago, perhaps 1 week, I dont remember.
I haven't been playing wow for long either.

So far I've found that I dont like using key broadcasters to move the characters, because there are different latencies between the windows, they all dont move at the same time, I think casting spells would be alright though.

[MiRai]

So far I've found that I dont like using key broadcasters to move the characters, because there are different latencies between the windows, they all dont move at the same time, I think casting spells would be alright though.

If I created a character on your realm and watched your characters /follow each other around using any key broadcasting software they'd all be the same. What you're seeing is your own visual lag. Unless your computer is not able to handle 5 instances of the game at once I'm not sure how key broadcasting software would give you in game movement issues? If that is the only reason you're not using key broadcasting software I can only suggest to start trying some or else you might end up quitting before you even get a chance to begin. To each his own though.

[Owltoid]

Many people enjoy different things, and if you get your kicks out of starting from scratch, then I wish you the best.

If you ever get tired of reinventing the wheel, there are some extremely nice programs out there that make our lives easier. I would have been burned out a long time ago, and not able to easily mix/match and create new teams if it wasn't for ISBoxer and the add-on Jamba. Other programs were wonderful in the past (HotKeyNet for example, plus it's free) but the perks ISBoxer brings to the table makes nearly everything about multiboxing enjoyable.

[PineBeach]

Many people enjoy different things, and if you get your kicks out of starting from scratch, then I wish you the best.

If you ever get tired of reinventing the wheel, there are some extremely nice programs out there that make our lives easier. I would have been burned out a long time ago, and not able to easily mix/match and create new teams if it wasn't for ISBoxer and the add-on Jamba. Other programs were wonderful in the past (HotKeyNet for example, plus it's free) but the perks ISBoxer brings to the table makes nearly everything about multiboxing enjoyable.

I get what your saying about reinventing the wheel, but there's always a balance with such thngs, the way I see it I'm not really inventing anything, just doing a bit of DIY, which so far, I quite enjoy.

I dont really know much about ISBoxer, but I might give it a try one of these days. I'll definately check their website.

[Khatovar]

Other programs were wonderful in the past (HotKeyNet for example, plus it's free) but the perks ISBoxer brings to the table makes nearly everything about multiboxing enjoyable.

What exactly is wrong with HKN? Anything I've ever wanted to do, I have been able to do with HKN.

[Owltoid]

Also, if you just want a free program to resize and rename your windows, then check out HotKeyNet. You can delete all the extra stuff that is for key broadcasting and just keep the window resizing part of the script.