Yet another series of dumb questions from a Noob...

[HeethenBH]

So i saw a few of the Magtheridon shaman groups in AV this weekend and it got me thinking about multi boxing. i used to multi box in EQ way back when, and it was a real pain. 3 computers, keyboards, mice, monitors etc etc etc....

my intention is to simply dual box using one computer. i have done it a few times on this rig already, using the second open program simply for buffs or making water etc. the frame rate has been fairly decent. i would like to be able to main box my paladin, and have a healer shaman in tow, not having to switch screens to see/use him.

So my assumption when i saw people multi boxing was that they used some emulator to make it so that any button you mouse clicked etc was done on all the accounts. now i see its a bit more involved, using Keyclone. i have been reading here some and i have some assumptions about the program but would like to be told im an idiot or that i am right before i try this and know what i am getting into.

The videos i have watched all show one screen obviously, and it shows all 5 shaman or mages doing the same thing at the same time, mostly. From looking at the screenshots on keyclone i see that you can pip your multiple accounts. when you choose each one, do you then have control over that window with mouse? is this how you would turn in quests/buy regeants etc?

Am i correct in the assumption that all commands to the clones are done using macros and keybindings? (i told you i was a newb to all this). so if i put something in box 4, it casts box 4 for all toons cloned?

i see in some threads people talk about round robin a spell or ability. does that mean it will use the ability (lets say fear) on warlock 1, then when i hit same macro will do it on 2, then 3, etc etc or does it mean it will cast warlock 1, then pause, then cast warlock 2, then pause etc.

like many people thinking of multi boxing, i am a little intimidated by the logistics and how things work in this. i see people using 2 priests and a lock or vice versa and find it hard to wrap my brain around making all that work while only seeing from the eyes of one of them, and being successfull!

i know i have more questions, but its 5am almost and cant think of them =-) thanks in advance for any answers.

##Edit##

I know what my other question was! how do you manage doing different collection skills between charachters? is there a series of macros to tell one to skin or herb or mine or do you physically have to switch to each toon to do so?

also, one that doesnt really matter but an interesting question, if i jump, do all charachters jump? =)

-HeethenBH

[Wilbur]

The videos i have watched all show one screen obviously, and it shows all 5 shaman or mages doing the same thing at the same time, mostly. From looking at the screenshots on keyclone i see that you can pip your multiple accounts. when you choose each one, do you then have control over that window with mouse? is this how you would turn in quests/buy regeants etc?

Yes, basically, you setup a hotkey which switches your foreground window to the background and brings the secondary window to the front.

Am i correct in the assumption that all commands to the clones are done using macros and keybindings? (i told you i was a newb to all this). so if i put something in box 4, it casts box 4 for all toons cloned?

Essentially yes, Multiboxing is all about how you micro-manage your secondary characters and how adaptable you can be to the situation you are facing, macros and creative keybinds make this possible.

i see in some threads people talk about round robin a spell or ability. does that mean it will use the ability (lets say fear) on warlock 1, then when i hit same macro will do it on 2, then 3, etc etc or does it mean it will cast warlock 1, then pause, then cast warlock 2, then pause etc.

Round Robin goes like this. Press Round robin spell Button - Char 1 casts - Press it again - char 2 casts - press it again - char 3 casts, etc.

like many people thinking of multi boxing, i am a little intimidated by the logistics and how things work in this. i see people using 2 priests and a lock or vice versa and find it hard to wrap my brain around making all that work while only seeing from the eyes of one of them, and being successfull!

Its all about knowing the class and knowing what you need to use when.

##Edit##

I know what my other question was! how do you manage doing different collection skills between charachters? is there a series of macros to tell one to skin or herb or mine or do you physically have to switch to each toon to do so?

Its probably best to have collection skills on your main, this way you dont have to switch windows all the time in order to perform the skill :-S

also, one that doesnt really matter but an interesting question, if i jump, do all charachters jump? =)

If you have your jump key bound to be duplicated then yes.

[ElectronDF]

Everyone may be different, but I use a program to just broadcast keys (HotKeyNet---www.hotkeynet.com). I use all my commands in the game in macros. I used different chars at first, so I have quite a lot of experience at that. Say you want to make one attack macro each. (just pick your own classes and spells) My priest would

/castsequence [target=focus-target] reset=combat Shadow Word:Pain, Holy Fire, , !Shoot (blank spot so wanding ends up same time as warlock)

My warlock would:

/castsequence [target=focus-target] reset=combat Corruption, Curse of Agony, Immolate, !Shoot

My hunter would:

/castsequence [target=focus-target] reset=combat Serpent Sting, Arcane Shot, !Auto Shot

etc. No timing issuses. All use their own spells at their own time. Pretty much take care of themselves and no babysitting.

I focus my main and use /cast [target=focus-target] DPS for my damage and use /cast [target=focus-target-target] for my healing. That way no changing for names or whoever gets aggro.

I try to use roundrobin in my macros instead of outside.

For my hunters I use 1 concussive shot on each one so I can lock down 1 or even 3-4 mobs.

1st -- /castsequence [target=focus-target] reset=13 Concussive Shot, Serpent Sting, Arcane Shot, , , , , , , ,

2nd -- /castsequence [target=focus-target] reset=13 Serpent Sting, Concussive Shot, Arcane Shot, , , , , , , ,

3rd -- /castsequence [target=focus-target] reset=13 Arcane Shot, Serpent Sting, Concussive Shot, , , , , , , ,

13 secs on reset is for 12 sec cooldown on Concussive Shot. Extra commas at the end is dummies so I can spam the macro and it will just do nothing until it reaches 13 secs.



If you have any questions, don't hessitate to ask. Promise we all started off not knowing anything. Experience is the best teacher.

[Freddie]

That's a great summary, Electron. Would you mind if I copy that on the HotkeyNet site?

[HeethenBH]

Ok so i decided to kill a few hours (days?) trying to set some stuff and try it out before shelling out any cash, so decided to try to work with maximizer. i tried to use the set up guide stickied above. he mentions that he uses a 20inch monitor and manually sets his resolution to make the boxes sharper. every time i try to manually set the resolution it defaults back to 1280x1024. i am only trying to dual box and just splitting the screen in half, top to bottom. however when i use maximizer, the picture is very scrunched up. i have a 19inch samsung monitor, what resolution should i be trying to force in the config file? like i said, each time i try to change it, it just goes right back to 1280x1024.

thanks in advance for any help!

[Kel]

For the collection professions you can have skinning on an alt and have it skin something your main is targeting. I don't think this works for mining or herbalism as you can't actually target the node that you gather from (you click on it instead). Skinning macro is fairly simple:

/cast [target=focustarget] Skinning
(change targetting to whatever you will be using for your toons, so you could /assist your main or [target=party1target] and you can also use the [dead] condition, though I don't think it matters, as you can't skin a live target).

For other gathering skills it's easier to have them on your main. I have herbalism and mining on an alt, mining shows up on my mains mini-map (as she's also a miner) and the nodes are plenty big enough to click on the little window that my alts have. Herbalism is much harder for me as I find the nodes very tricky to target on the little screen (and my other toons tend to stand on top of it).

I'd suggest an addon (I think gatherer can do this) which shows you positions for possible node spawns. I'm not using this as I don't think my current machine could handle this, but if you are getting a tracked gathering skill on an alt then you'll benefit from having a way to track possible nodes from your main (my herbalist is lagging behind on skill as most of the time I forget to look, or can't see nodes for her).