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.

[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.

[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.

[PineBeach]

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.

Thank you very much, I didn't realise HotKeyNet did that. I'll definately have a look at it.

[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]

I really don't want to talk badly about HKN. I am truly thankful for all the work Freddie put into it, and I had lots of fun configuring HKN.

I'd rather just talk positively about ISBoxer. The mouse broadcasting is amazing. The PiP swapping is amazing (yes, I had both of those implemented in HKN, but the way ISBoxer handles it is superior for multiboxing). I love the macro generatino in ISBoxer that allows me to mix and match my teams easily. It takes about 25 seconds to add a new macro to all my toons, which includes FTL modifiers, and can be done on the fly. It's extremely easy to go from 5 priests to 3 druids a priest and a warrior, since all the macros are generated when you load up WoW.

HKN can do everything ISBoxer can from a broadcasting standpoint (though ISBoxer is better at some things as mentioned before). But HKN isn't customized for WoW, nor should it be given Freddie's goals. ISBoxer is customized to WoW (and other games) and has features not available in other software I've seen.

[Khatovar]

You can generate macros and do FTL in Jamba. And WoW is not the only MMO out there where people box. It's really rather irritating to see so many posts that have a tone like ISBoxer is the only option for multiboxing, period. Lax made a nice product that people like, and that's wonderful. But that is no reason to put digs in at other programs that are part of this community.