A new software solution needs your help!

[Bollwerk]

If you can make your new software both powerful/feature rich AND simple/easy to use, then you'll likely have a winning combo.
Easier said than done though.
I love ISBoxer, but my biggest complaint is that it's not simple/easy to use.
Granted, there is a wizard to get you started, but anything beyond that requires a substantial time investment to learn and understand.

[JackBurton]

I've only used ISboxer so i really cant testify if other software solutions are better than it. I'm gona appolgize ahead of time because i may erk some folks. I love you community but i do have some gripes.

Plugins
ISBoxer works great right out of the box. But only for simple World Content. The biggest thing i struggle with is incorporating the community based improvements into is-boxer. Currently the primary way someone share's their innovation and breakthroughs is by doing it through a lengthy step by step worded explanation. Implementing the instructions is sometimes problematic because if one of the many steps is not fully understood or carried out correctly what we end up with is something that doesnt work right if it works at all. Making many people frustrated.

RTFM
ISBoxer's manual is somewhat convoluted. I understand you'r pretty much an indie developer working out of your garage though. Teaching my not be one of your strongest points. You have video tutorials that contradict the current release. Although those videos provide some good inspiration points they may be confusing to a noob. At least reencode them explaining that they are obsolete and should only be used for certain purposes.

Community Wiki/Guides
Some OP's dont update their front page threads. Good stuff is placed in hyjacked threads and not started in a new thread. I dont understand why the latest advanced stuff is more talked about, vbloged about, stickies etc.. alot of the videos are geared towards beginner to mid-ranged skilled boxers.There is only a tiny fraction of people making quality guides, mega threads, video tutorials, and wiki's like Liquid's awesome wiki or wowwiki Alot of good stuff is buried and forgotten. People like Ualaa, Mirai, Khatovar and many others strive to keep the site going. For one reason or another these people are gona stop writing guides. They may play another game, spend more time on work family etc... Without much recognition It must be difficult at times to keep the momentum.

Macro key combo conflicts
Sometimes i feel like a beta tester. I've been almost religiously doing my homework on the db forums. Incorperating macros into ISboxer can be a headache. Lately (as in the last two months) i've been spending more time setting up isboxer, testing it and going back to the drawing board. and starting over again. ISboxer has a built in keycombo duplicate catcher but its doesnt seem to catch everything because sometimes my macros dont work or when i hit one hot key an ability i dont want fires off. Sometimes one change i make in isboxer i make today will break another function in isboxer that i wont realize is broken hours days or even weeks later. Sometimes the only way to fix issues like this is to totally start over from scratch because the whole profile is corrupted. ISBoxer XML KeyMap Parser v4.0.1xlsm was just introduced to the public a week or two ago. I just realised it says version 4.xx. Why hasnt Lax incorperated something like this into his project that is much more comprehensive than his system. It would be nice if ISboxer picked keycombos for you based on what it see's at the least amount of key-conflict based on all varables FTL modifiers, Blizzard binds, Addon Binds, OS key-combos, and so on. maybe it cant do that because if it was looking at your computers files it would be like violating my privacy but i guess i could waiver this when installing or select an advance installation option if i didnt want that option at install.

Macro building
There is so much unbelievable power in macros. While ISboxer supports macros it doesnt help you build them. http://www.macroexplain.com/ Fitcairn's macro explainer is great. It would be even awesome if there was a program that did it backwards. I mean it would be great if you could tell have a program spit out a script/macro based on the variables that you select. Aragent furthered the work Mercurio started but the stable is not released yet. Or maybe it is and its buried under other threads.

[traedoril]

The main thing I would like to see in a newer program is what gamecommanderpro does about keymapping. On GCP you literally get a keyboard and you can click which keys get sent to all toons/ some toons/ one toon. I like the way ISB lets you map keys to do different things but I use every key on the left side of the key board for binds and its a serious pain going through and making a key that sends the same exact key to every single character.

Ex:

I use A, D, Z, X, C, V, F, G, R, T, Y, the shift and ctrl equivalent to all of these, and I have a razer naga that uses all the number pad keys. I bind pretty much every key the same (all my interupts are f3, aggro drops are f8, mount is f7, Trinkets and big dmg CD's naga button 5 etc...)

My only problem with ISBoxer is I had to setup all of these keys manually and it took quite a long time. GCP software is far inferior to ISB but I loved the keyboard that I just clicked the key and clicked who to send it too and was done.

[Lax]

Macro key combo conflicts
Sometimes i feel like a beta tester. I've been almost religiously doing my homework on the db forums. Incorperating macros into ISboxer can be a headache. Lately (as in the last two months) i've been spending more time setting up isboxer, testing it and going back to the drawing board. and starting over again. ISboxer has a built in keycombo duplicate catcher but its doesnt seem to catch everything because sometimes my macros dont work or when i hit one hot key an ability i dont want fires off. Sometimes one change i make in isboxer i make today will break another function in isboxer that i wont realize is broken hours days or even weeks later. Sometimes the only way to fix issues like this is to totally start over from scratch because the whole profile is corrupted. ISBoxer XML KeyMap Parser v4.0.1xlsm was just introduced to the public a week or two ago. I just realised it says version 4.xx. Why hasnt Lax incorperated something like this into his project that is much more comprehensive than his system. It would be nice if ISboxer picked keycombos for you based on what it see's at the least amount of key-conflict based on all varables FTL modifiers, Blizzard binds, Addon Binds, OS key-combos, and so on. maybe it cant do that because if it was looking at your computers files it would be like violating my privacy but i guess i could waiver this when installing or select an advance installation option if i didnt want that option at install.

JackBurton, I can't count the number of times I've tried to get you to do your macros differently. (Okay, I probably can count them, but it's several times.)

I just went and counted your macros from the last config you sent me and it's something like 140, and you have every single one of them applying to all of your characters. You've got duplicate macros that you don't need, like 8 that are exactly the same but with different Action Target Groups specified inside the macro. That's a bunch of key combos you could free up just by sending the key combo to a different ATG (so as to tell someone to need and someone else to greed, etc) instead of hardcoding it into the wow macro. Why not one macro for need and one macro for greed? Most people wouldn't even have considered the possibility of making a ton of different macros for that. In a world where you couldn't send a key for need to one window and a key for greed to a different window, sure...

I can pick key combos for you because it's really not that difficult... I just have a limited amount of time to spend developing and creating documentation and posting helpful information to people who want to know how to do something specific and answering questions from guys who have too many wow macros and want to figure out why it's busted, etc. And, well, this one only applies to WoW. I am planning on hiring soon though.

My only problem with ISBoxer is I had to setup all of these keys manually and it took quite a long time. GCP software is far inferior to ISB but I loved the keyboard that I just clicked the key and clicked who to send it too and was done.

Sounds like you (traedoril) didn't use Many New Mapped Keys (or, now, Mapped Key Wizard). http://isboxer.com/wiki/WoW:Quick_St...th_auto-assist -- the Mapped Key Wizard is easier than the old (linked) method. If you don't have the wizard, you can get it by updating through Help->About.



Edit: Oh and all of this feedback is great. thanks guys.

[traedoril]

Sounds like you (traedoril) didn't use Many New Mapped Keys (or, now, Mapped Key Wizard). http://isboxer.com/wiki/WoW:Quick_St...th_auto-assist -- the Mapped Key Wizard is easier than the old (linked) method. If you don't have the wizard, you can get it by updating through Help->About.

I have been with ISB for a year now I, When I set my keys up that handy feature wasnt availible. I wasn't trying to knock your software lax just giving the new guy some feedback.

[HydraCoder]

Thanks for side-jacking my thread, Lax :P jk

[HydraCoder]

Interesting to see some of the system calls, thanks Norrin. Right now I'm working on "video feeds". Those seemed the most interesting to me, just a bit hung up on the DX hooking and what not. I'd like to use the same methods as FRAPS, snag a rectangle as a source, etc, just not as pervasive

The UI is getting a bit of cleanup at the moment, so that I can actually throw something at someone and let them give it a whirl, and not be so embarrassed about the pre-alpha state of the UI

[HydraCoder]

Been fleshing out some more of the UI and features after working hard on researching how I'm going to do video feeds, here's a sneak peak! (Warning, pre-alpha UI design, be nice!)
Capture1.jpgCapture2.jpg

[ebony]

nice to see your still going at it

[Mokoi]

I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't care about money... the cost of multiboxing software is VASTLY less than the cost of... multiboxing!

Make software better than ISboxer, and you have my money. I'd pay a LOT more than I currently do for software that's easier to use.

I don't use Hotkeynet because.. i cant program, and I have no experience with it. It's not worth the hassle of learning complicated software for free. ISboxer is cheap as hell, and it's a bit easier to use.

NOW, as a long-time boxer.. even pre-dating these forums, I'd like to see some not-so-simple changes:

I mix and match teams a lot. I create new teams, and I find it a pain in the ASS to do so. I'd like to see a software package that does the following:

Since I know LAX is following this thread, I want to first say .. Lax is a genius, and he is the man.. I love him. I have never found someone so dedicated, and who rushes to support his product. That being said, there are (as always) places that I think need improvement, and that's not to say he couldn't do it, but he's off solving much more difficult problems than these, and giving us functionality i cant even imagine until it's downloaded in my software automatically

(I understand some of these might be out of the scope of possibility, and I apologize in advance, I am not aware of the limitations)

1. Better GUI than ISboxer.

I would like to see an interface that is intuitive, and powerful (i know.. i know). I want to be able to drag and drop icons of characters, organized by account, class, level, etc to easily match the characters I want to play in the software without the hassle of having to first create new characters, or use the wizard (in ISboxer) to add the characters and then to delete a team i just made so I can use the characters in a team i copied because all my settings are already setup in a different team (hotkeys to switch, follow commands etc).

2. add-on integration.

I'm not sure if it's possible, but I would like (and pay for) software that keeps my addon preferences for commonly used addons for multiboxing available on all installs, and to all characters i play. ie: I'd like to start a new team, log in for the first time, and hit my mini-map button for (boxer program name here) and then click on a preset profile for addons, interface, etc. So my grid acts the same on all toons if I want them to. Addon's often allow this, but they are install and account-bound, which is more hassle for setting up a new team.

3. Window swapping from other computers. As Ughma said, I would also like to swap the windows on my second PC around. Not from PC2 to PC1 or anything, but certainly I'd like to be able to hit a hotkey from PC1 and have PC2 swap a window. I haven't had this working in ISboxer yet, not sure about the limitations.