Three boxing advice?

[Greyhawk6]

Tried three boxing last night just to see if it was both possible and playable however I ran into some problems running three clients on one comp.

The main problem was the constant HD accessing plus the extremely long load times. Normally this game loads zones really quickly but with three clients - even zoning one at a time I can be sat with an empty load bar for 5 minutes or more. The Marketplace is especially bad.

I'm running one client on each monitor in the lowest possible detail setting and its practically unplayable. My machine is no slouch - I can run 4 Everquest 2 instances with no lag, slowdown or time delay in zoning - zoning all clients at once easily.

Has anyone else tried this and found a setting which runs things adequately? I'm not using any scripts and whatnot to run my toons, just using the other accounts to get some xp, more loot chances and farm guild xp drops when things are quiet.

Game looks really cool on three monitors when I'm just running one client by the way :D

[Zenako]

Well when I "three box", I use the brute force method. New Gaming machine, next to the old gaming machine and the laptop hookup and sitting nearby. Runs fine that way...:) Now I have heard a lot of people have gotten two clients going without issues, and it seems you can too, but do not recall anyone trying to do a 3 in 1 like you are. I suspect the load on the memory in your system might be too much, and you are seeing a lot of file swapping or virtual memory having to be used and that often slows things down a lot. Does it get worse and worse as you run? There are some memory type leaks still kicking around from what I see as the client keeps getting bigger over time on my machine when I check. Doing 3 at once will probably magnify that problem even more.

[karpedieme]

I'm running one client on each monitor in the lowest possible detail setting and its practically unplayable. My machine is no slouch - I can run 4 Everquest 2 instances with no lag, slowdown or time delay in zoning - zoning all clients at once easily.

Game looks really cool on three monitors when I'm just running one client by the way :D

Your post is confusing.....

So what is it 3 clients or just 1? :)

DDO is pretty much an anomaly for multi-boxing. Since most other MMO's have you log onto a server account and most information is processed from the server itself with files on your CPU.

EX: WOW with battlenet accounts can run up to 6-8 accounts at once with very little performance issues.

DDO runs off pretty much on all stored files in your hard drive as a static client... It spools info from your computer and shares with the server from what I have come to understand. Running multiples can be very ressource intensive with 2 clients and imagine even more so with 3 clients running all that raw data shared with DDO servers.

I can run 2 clients with max graphics setting and zero performance issues on my main machine. 2 seperate clients have been installed ( copying your main DDO folder as renamed can work and respects the EULA as well its not a manipulated form of the original files)

I tend to run 2 on my main box and 1 on a laptop. I tend to run 2 boxes as active and have become accustomed and enjoy running multiples in shroud and see if anyone notices. None pike all participate :) all parts too

I can suggest possibly running an original DDO file folder renamed and off a USB 2.0 drive key this has in many cases helped some *** performance issues ran a smoother base client.

Hope this helps and enjoy the multi-boxing environment.

Laters

[GeneralDiomedes]

Telling us your computer is 'no slouch' doesn't tell us anything. Need more specifics, especially the amount of RAM. I am guessing you need about 12 GB of RAM to run three clients without major swapping issues as I barely can run two with 8 GB.

I occasionally triple box, but when I do the third client is on a laptop.

[Greyhawk6]

I run three clients on one box with one client per monitor or one client on all three monitors. I have three game installations on my main drive.

Two boxing I have two clients on two monitors and DDO wiki open on the third.

No fault of the game if its slow since it's never been designed to run this way but was just wondering if anyone had a tip for running it with better performance. I have 6GB memory but I guess its the video card memory that might be suffering.

[GeneralDiomedes]

I have 6GB memory

DDO is a memory hog .. I would increase this to 8 GB at least, preferably 12 GB.

Other possibilities for improving performance

- Add 16 GB and copy the DDO files for one of those instances to a RAM drive (see https://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=365842)
- Add an SSD and run all DDO instances off that drive as well as your swap partition. I run DDO off an SSD and experience no client lag that I am aware of.

[Bogenbroom]

I run a similar config to what you are shooting for except that I am running on one-monitor. Mine is a Dell XPS laptop with 8 Gig of RAM. It is about 2 years old now.

My opinion is RAM. 8 Gigs at least for 3 clients.

My experience is that initial load times going into the game are awful, yes. But once in game they really are not too bad. Periodically it does jump up, especially if I have all three loading into a zone at the same time... especially if it is someplace like the Marketplace. Even then, though, 30, maybe 45 seconds on a really bad load.

The thing I can't speak to is what the impact of running three separate monitors versus 3 overlapping instances might be. I am sure it wouldn't impact the initial game load, and probably not instance loading, but might impact game play.

[Bogenbroom]

- Add an SSD and run all DDO instances off that drive as well as your swap partition. I run DDO off an SSD and experience no client lag that I am aware of.

Really? I have been hesitant to go in that direction, because I fear the failure rate of those drives with disk intensive apps. Has that improved?

I thought SSDs were great in arrays, but stand-alone too risky... but will admit I haven't looked into that in a good while.

[Yamato-San]

Your video card memory is another bottleneck.
in my case (1GB graphic card), i have to lower the graphic settings and the resolution (play in windowed mode and resize the windows) for a smooth run or suffer permanent disc lag.

[cdr]

I have a decent video card, 8GB ram, SSD, single install of DDO w/pyLOTRO launcher. I can run 6 clients at once on low graphics with no issue.


Really? I have been hesitant to go in that direction, because I fear the failure rate of those drives with disk intensive apps. Has that improved?

I thought SSDs were great in arrays, but stand-alone too risky... but will admit I haven't looked into that in a good while.

This is completely untrue. High-quality SSDs (Intel, Crucial, etc) are extremely reliable. And DDO is in no way "disk intensive", the only time it does any large number of writes is when it updates.

[squishwizzy]

Tried three boxing last night just to see if it was both possible and playable however I ran into some problems running three clients on one comp.

The main problem was the constant HD accessing plus the extremely long load times. Normally this game loads zones really quickly but with three clients - even zoning one at a time I can be sat with an empty load bar for 5 minutes or more. The Marketplace is especially bad.

I'm running one client on each monitor in the lowest possible detail setting and its practically unplayable. My machine is no slouch - I can run 4 Everquest 2 instances with no lag, slowdown or time delay in zoning - zoning all clients at once easily.

Has anyone else tried this and found a setting which runs things adequately? I'm not using any scripts and whatnot to run my toons, just using the other accounts to get some xp, more loot chances and farm guild xp drops when things are quiet.

Game looks really cool on three monitors when I'm just running one client by the way :D

Your problems are going to be memory, network access, and access to the graphics card.

The type of graphics that runs DDO relies on (essentially) direct access to the graqphics card for speed purposes. Usually, that means 1 game running at a time, and maybe the Windows background stuff (the Desktop) which runs at a slightly lower priority. The desktop is actually fairly removed from direct access to the video card, so the game usually has more speed and more time with the system.

However, depending on who wrote your DirectX drivers (which, for simplicity's sake, is what gives the DDO client direct access to the video card), your performance may be fantastic, or it may be really, really poor. So, that's weak spot number 1.

Memory? Everything else not graphics related (and even some graphicas stuff) gets dumped into main memory. And that can be a lot. What Windows can't hold in main memory gets swapped to disk, and the OS manages that. All of this can create performance lags in any system. So, weakness #2.

Network traffic. Three clients all go through the same pipeline to the DDO servers, and that is your network card. Any Ethernet system, or even wireless for that matter, is nothing more than a high-speed serial port. There is nothing magical about network packets zinging across the wire, and in fact you can indeed overload even a very fast network card. Plus, add to this that you have zero control over the speed of the network packets after they leave your router, and you're going to have a real problem. In fact, probably a bigger problem than memory and the graphics card. Weakness #3 - big time.

My thoughts are your load times are related to network traffic. While I'm no expert on the internals of DDO itself, an extremely chatty app on the network can be problematic. Three of them would probably bring the best PC to its knees.

Plus - and this is somewhat indicative of either graphics and/or network issues - I have a specific problem with lag when I die. Say I'm not watching my HP bar, and I get hit by a Meteor Swarm from a boss, I have no way to move out of the way - the PC lags horribly...and then the next thing I know I'm a soulstone. This could be due to the excessive graphics utilization (which I kinda doubt) OR it could be additional network traffic going back and forth between the server and the client for a brief moment, updating my death status, changing my status on the server, and updating damaged items in my inventory. All of this happens in a burst, which would account for the lag.

So, I'm thinking it is network related. DDO does a lot of communications overhead, and that clogs packets past your switch / router.

[KapnKrunch]

I run 3 boxes without any issue... All off a single install using the method listed here: http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=365842

Current Specs:
i5 750 stock
8gb ram
2x 560gtx in sli
3x 24" 1920 x 2000 monitors
120gb ocz ssd
Maxed graphics, fast load times.
One ddo window per monitor all running in windowed mode.
Although, the two windows that aren't currently active do look a bit choppy, but the active one is flawless.

Not sure if that helps at all, but upgrading to an ssd is a gargantuan upgrade.

[Greyhawk6]

I sorted my problem - I just played each client in a smaller window :D

Runs perfectly fine now with three. Though this game isnt exactly multibox friendly, its a good way to fill the wait times waiting for a grp to form. I wouldnt 3 box in a grp unless I warned the grp first amd they said it was ok.

[Marcus-Hawkeye]

I quad box normally, but have run six clients on one machine at times. I've primarily been using SSD drives, but I had to swap to a mechanical drive for a while there and it was noticable but nothing serious with what I've found out. However there as some things I'm doing that most people do not.

First off, I'm using one installation. I'm not exactly 100% sure exactly how my method functions (the underlying technical aspects I've never researched but I understand the basics), but changing from multiple installs to my method I noticed a significant increase in performance allowing 6 clients to run at the same time. I discovered and use symlinks for this (vista or 7, no native XP support). Great thing is, one client to update. I could just imagine the downloading for multiple clients for that expansion pack recently.... ouch.

Secondly, one of the things the client checks for is windows names. Change the window name and running another client won't find the previous window.

I was running quad box on an old dual core AMD athlon X2 if I remember. Had a 512MB Nvidia something or other in it (8gb RAM). Four ran choppy (min graphics settings, except for draw distance), and cpu access was hitting 100% frequently. I found a setting in the game itself that helped alleviate it. In the options section, under troubelshooting, there is an option called "engine speed". Turning that down seems to help alleviate some issues.

With Windows 7, I suggest 2gb for your system to run all of it's junk in and 1.5-2gb per client. Running four clients and my RAM usage barely goes above 8gb with all my other **** running like streamed music, IE and other things.

Another thing that has helped me in the past used to be called gamebooster:
http://www.razerzone.com/gamebooster/signup
But Razer bought it up recently and will be free when they are done with it, but currently is in a limited beta of some kind. It has the ability to turn off unused services and things while you game. It really helped out on my old system trying to run 4 clients before I found the "engine speed" setting.

I've written a script that makes all this automatic for me, even resizes and poisitions the windows the way I like it for me. (and no it doesn't violate EULA because it doesn't automate anything in game) But yeah, multiboxing in group is not suggested unless yer crazy insane and the group is okay with it.

[locus]

Are you running them all off of one install? I assume you are - copying the folders over, each for each instance that you want to start up, works better in my experience. I tend to have to close all other programs until DDO(s) load up and then open them back up again. This is most noticeable with firefox being open. Even if it's not using a lot of memory a second DDO instance invariably loads and then loses connection after 5minutes of thinking. Having it on a separate hard drive helps a ton too.

(Oh and sidenote: if you guys think the memory issues are bad in DDO, you should really check out Lotro since it's expansion. At least with DDO killing the client eventually returns your pc to normal, but lotro requires a frequent hard reboot as there are files in use that are never let go (not visible on process explorer, just on shutdown)).

[Greyhawk6]

I'm using three seperate installs

[AtomicMew]

I sometimes run 7-8 boxes for fun. Not because it's practical or anything, but just because it can be fun. The limiting factor is RAM RAM RAM. For 3 boxes, 8 GB RAM is a minimum. With 16 GB, you could probably do ~9 boxes without problem.

I don't believe disk speed is a big factor. The reason your HDD is getting accessed so much is because you're overloading your RAM and the data is being written to the windows page file instead. At that point, it doesn't matter if you're using an old HDD or the fastest and newest SSD, it just isn't fast enough to play DDO.

In short, if you want to three box effectively, get more RAM ;)

[GeneralDiomedes]

And DDO is in no way "disk intensive", the only time it does any large number of writes is when it updates.

Don't the DDO files fragment at the application level over time? Or at least that's a problem I thought the LOTRO defrag tool fixed. That is what I thought the SSD brought - fragmentation is no longer an issue because any sector is equally fast to access.

[Nodoze]

Note: I have seen blue posts (http://forums.ddo.com/showpost.php?p=2941693&postcount=2) on the forum that multi-boxing is legal but never seen an official thumbs up or down whether third party tools that help you manage resources are fine... That being said the tool I have used is www.isboxer.com and my understanding is that "as long as you are at the computer(s) while actively playing you [shouldn]'t be violating any Terms of Service. This topic is often a point of confusion due to "unattended macros" being banned. As long as you are actively playing you [should be able to] run as many characters as you want without fear of being in violation of the rules." That being said I am not a blue gent/lady so I don't make the rules...

www.isboxer.com allows you to run multiple clients from one folder and the run in full screen mode in frames established by the program. You can put the frame windows where you want them (multi-monitor or single monitor) and swap between clients as desired. I run with one main window and have had up to 6 total running easily and you can see mini-versions below or to the side of your main window (or on multiple below and on side). It allows you to throttle the back-ground and fore-ground windows and, for example, you can set the main foreground window to 40fps & back-ground windows to 4fps and it will free up tons of resources. Even when running a single instance I prefer isboxer as without it my laptop would overheat on high settings with no limiting of frame-rates...

The best setup I have come up with is a party of 4 with two active WF Artificers. The 3rd is a wizard who runs up and recon/repair as needed and then recasts rage/haste before the next encounter to keep everyone moving fast. The wizzy can also cast disco ball in the door & web or whatever. With no autofollow melee would be hard but ranged classes are doable.

I basically put one Artificer almost exactly on top of the other and slightly behind and then toggle a button to steer them together simultaneosly. With a toggle button for turning on/off mirroring commands to the 2 windows I can turn mirroring off to reposition as needed and the get going quickly again. In U14 (or before) they finally added "target my targets target" which makes sure they both send their intimidating/evasion pets to the same target and make sure they range on that same target together (tab targeting previously was unreliable). There is a slight delay in turning but you get used to it.

I keep the 4th divine toon in reserve to run up and rez when/if needed.

Hope that helps some of you.

[cdr]

Don't the DDO files fragment at the application level over time? Or at least that's a problem I thought the LOTRO defrag tool fixed. That is what I thought the SSD brought - fragmentation is no longer an issue because any sector is equally fast to access.

Updates "fragment" the DDO dat files, that's what the dat defragment tool was designed to address - moving all the files within the giant dat archive files to sequential order. And yes, dat fragmentation is not really an issue for a SSD, just mechanical HDDs.

The advantage of an SSD with multiboxing is the super-quick random access - a HDD will bog down with all the disk access from multiple clients, but a SSD can handle it swimmingly. There's a ton of advantages for SSDs with gaming.

[kanbeki]

Pretty confused on how you guys are pulling these ram minimums out of the air, I've been triple boxing for years of 4gb of ram on med settings with little issue, using flash drive/ssd cut down on load times dramatically since thrashing doesn't occur, USB can still bottleneck though but it really isn't that bad. You can run 3+ copies of ddo off one installation with little issue, I've even done it off a 7200rpm drive when times are tough too. I just don't understand why people feel the need to make up numbers

[BossOfEarth]

I can suggest possibly running an original DDO file folder renamed and off a USB 2.0 drive key this has in many cases helped some *** performance issues ran a smoother base client.

Would that help me singlebox? I'm singleboxing on an oldish computer. No complaints but I wouldn't mind doing an easy & cheap upgrade.

[AtomicMew]

Note: I have seen blue posts (http://forums.ddo.com/showpost.php?p=2941693&postcount=2) on the forum that multi-boxing is legal but never seen an official thumbs up or down whether third party tools that help you manage resources are fine... That being said the tool I have used is www.isboxer.com and my understanding is that "as long as you are at the computer(s) while actively playing you [shouldn]'t be violating any Terms of Service. This topic is often a point of confusion due to "unattended macros" being banned. As long as you are actively playing you [should be able to] run as many characters as you want without fear of being in violation of the rules." That being said I am not a blue gent/lady so I don't make the rules...

www.isboxer.com allows you to run mutiple clients from one folder and the run in full screen mode in frames established by the program. You can put the frame windows where you want them (multi-monitor or single monitor) and swap between clients as desired. I run with one main window and have had up to 6 total running easily and you can see mini-versions below or to the side of your main window. It allows you to throttle the back-ground and for-ground windows and, for example, you can set the main foreground window to 40fps & back-ground windows to 4fps and it will free up tons of resources. Even when running a single instance I prefer isboxer as without it my laptop would overheat on high settings with no limiting of frame-rates...

The best setup I have come up with is a party of 4 with two active WF Artificers. The 3rd is a wizard who runs up and recon/repair as needed and then recasts rage/haste before the next encounter to keep everyone moving fast. The wizzy can also cast disco ball in the door & web or whatever. With no autofollow melee would be hard but ranged classes are doable.

I basically put one Artificer almost exactly on top of the other and slightly behind and then toggle a button to steer them together simultaneosly. With a toggle button for turning on/off mirroring commands to the 2 windows I can turn mirroring off to reposition as needed and the get going quickly again. In U14 (or before) they finally added "target my targets target" which makes sure they both send their intimidating/evasion pets to the same target and make sure they range on that same target together (tab targeting previously was unreliable). There is a slight delay in turning but you get used to it.

I keep the 4th divine toon in reserve to run up and rez when/if needed.

Hope that helps some of you.
Whatever floats your boat, but Isboxer doesn't offer you anything that you can't get with free tools. It might have a nice interface and all, but if I wanted to pay an annual due for a game, I wouldn't be playing DDO.

[karpedieme]

Would that help me singlebox? I'm singleboxing on an oldish computer. No complaints but I wouldn't mind doing an easy & cheap upgrade.

In some cases yes it has helped.

Running off a usb 2.0 key and port will help keep files uncluttered. Not a CPU wiz in any way but reading up on this USB running means a lot of buffer files do not get written and cluttered on your hard drive and slow things down.

Hope this can help you.

Laters

[AtomicMew]

Pretty confused on how you guys are pulling these ram minimums out of the air, I've been triple boxing for years of 4gb of ram on med settings with little issue, using flash drive/ssd cut down on load times dramatically since thrashing doesn't occur, USB can still bottleneck though but it really isn't that bad. You can run 3+ copies of ddo off one installation with little issue, I've even done it off a 7200rpm drive when times are tough too. I just don't understand why people feel the need to make up numbers
I've found that 4 GB for 3 boxes is cutting it kind of tight. Windows 7 itself takes 1-2 GB, so you aren't left with much to play with. It might be good at first, but DDO takes more and more RAM the longer you play, so you'll eventually get throttled on only 4 GB.

[Zenako]

Pretty confused on how you guys are pulling these ram minimums out of the air, I've been triple boxing for years of 4gb of ram on med settings with little issue, using flash drive/ssd cut down on load times dramatically since thrashing doesn't occur, USB can still bottleneck though but it really isn't that bad. You can run 3+ copies of ddo off one installation with little issue, I've even done it off a 7200rpm drive when times are tough too. I just don't understand why people feel the need to make up numbers

I note how you are using medium settings as well. I am sure that helps and probably you have reduced the draw distance and more things too. I have to do that on my older laptop to get any sort of playability but it also hampers the gameplay in that I no longer see stuff as far away for my casters or ranged characters. Most people I know want to see the goodness as well, at least in their main window and that is why on their systems the load is going up.

[Nodoze]

Whatever floats your boat, but Isboxer doesn't offer you anything that you can't get with free tools. It might have a nice interface and all, but if I wanted to pay an annual due for a game, I wouldn't be playing DDO.What free tools allows you to throttle the FPS on the background &/or Foreground windows thus freeing up tons of resources?

What free tool(s) also allows the game to think it is in full window mode at various resolutions and thus run more efficiently and have all those windows in full view in whatever arrangement works for you?

What free tool(s) allows you to assign CPUs to windows and to make sure fake hyperthread "cores" aren't used instead of real cores.

What free tool(s) allows you to easily use a single ddo folder saving you space/complexity on patching & allowing the OS or SSD cache to cache fewer files?

What free tool(s) also allows for advanced key mappings to send various keys to individual or sets of windows?

What free tool(s) also allows for mouse and key broadcasting to selectable multiple windows that can be turned on/off on the fly via a user setup toggle?

Edit: What free tool(s) also allow you to splice in portions of the other windows into your main window? This is very powerful, for example:
- On IS boxer you can make a display panel that sources in action bars from background windows to your main window so you can click on them or see their cool-downs visually if hot-keyed.
- On IS boxer you can make a display panel that sources in the mini-maps from background windows to your main window so you you can see where the others are relative to each other and what directions they are facing. These can be on your main window or you can create a "DX region" next to you main client so you don't lose any real-estate in your main client window and basically you create your on Heads Up Display (HUD) that matches what you care about...

Lastly how easy is that free tool (or more likely sets of disjunctive tools (if they exist at all)) to use compared to ISBoxer?

There are many, many more advantages...

[Nodoze]

I've found that 4 GB for 3 boxes is cutting it kind of tight. Windows 7 itself takes 1-2 GB, so you aren't left with much to play with. It might be good at first, but DDO takes more and more RAM the longer you play, so you'll eventually get throttled on only 4 GB.I agree that 3 boxing DDO on 4gb is tight and couldn't get Win7 to use less than 1.1-1.3 even after killing everything I could. I didn't notice a significant degradation over time except that if I didn't throttle my FPS I would overheat my old system.
Pretty confused on how you guys are pulling these ram minimums out of the air, I've been triple boxing for years of 4gb of ram on med settings with little issue, using flash drive/ssd cut down on load times dramatically since thrashing doesn't occur, USB can still bottleneck though but it really isn't that bad. You can run 3+ copies of ddo off one installation with little issue, I've even done it off a 7200rpm drive when times are tough too. I just don't understand why people feel the need to make up numbersFor years, with and without ISBoxer, I ran 4 copies in 4GB of RAM on a dual-core under DX9 with longer draw distance in my main window (but lower textures/detail/etc) and the rest of the windows on the lowest settings and resolution possible but it was very tight and I had to kill everything else on my computer to do it without swapping memory to disk. A 7200rpm drive helps and I used a Momentus drive which has ssd cache and had no issues. Running from a single folder helps quite a bit as that is 1/4 the number of files to cache. I also tried a pure SSD and it was a tremendous boost.

I am now running regularly up to 6 clients on a 4core with hyper threading (looks like 8 cores but isn't really) and my main window has a dedicated core and the background windows round-robin on the other 3 cores. I use the newest Momentus 7200 hybrid hard drive with the larger SSD cache and everything loads fast. I also have 16GB of RAM which I thought was going to be overkill but with high/ultra settings & moving up resolutions to 1080p+ I find I am using 12GB+ at times. My HP Envy 17 laptop monitor is 1920x1080 and actually supports 120 FPS & I use an external 30"+ screen running 1920x1200 when not traveling.

[AtomicMew]

What free tools allows you to throttle the FPS on the background &/or Foreground windows thus freeing up tons of resources?
You can actually limit the FPS of DDO with the in game settings. Trouble shooting -> FPS settings. As for background windows, they're auto-throttled to 15 FPS in my experience. EVGA precision, MSI afterburner, NVidia Inspector, DXtory (not free, but trial version has the function) to name a few 3rd party programs that can limit FPS as well.


What free tool(s) allows you to assign CPUs to windows and to make sure fake hyperthread "cores" aren't used instead of real cores.Windows task manager?


What free tool(s) allows you to easily use a single ddo folder saving you space/complexity on patching & allowing the OS or SSD cache to cache fewer files?
Any number of DDO launchers. See my sig.


What free tool(s) also allows for advanced key mappings to send various keys to individual or sets of windows?

What free tool(s) also allows for mouse and key broadcasting to selectable multiple windows that can be turned on/off on the fly via a user setup toggle?
AutoIt, AutoHotKey etc.


Edit: What free tool(s) also allow you to splice in portions of the other windows into your main window? This is very powerful, for example:
- On IS boxer you can make a display panel that sources in action bars from background windows to your main window so you can click on them or see their cool-downs visually if hot-keyed.
- On IS boxer you can make a display panel that sources in the mini-maps from background windows to your main window so you you can see where the others are relative to each other and what directions they are facing. These can be on your main window or you can create a "DX region" next to you main client so you don't lose any real-estate in your main client window and basically you create your on Heads Up Display (HUD) that matches what you care about...

Interesting. I admit I don't know of any programs to do that. Can you post some screen shots?

[Nodoze]

You can actually limit the FPS of DDO with the in game settings. Trouble shooting -> FPS settings. As for background windows, they're auto-throttled to 15 FPS in my experience. EVGA precision, MSI afterburner, NVidia Inspector, DXtory (not free, but trial version has the function) to name a few 3rd party programs that can limit FPS as well.

Windows task manager?

Any number of DDO launchers. See my sig.

AutoIt, AutoHotKey etc.

Interesting. I admit I don't know of any programs to do that. Can you post some screen shots?You are obviously very talented to be able to write scripts and master all these various tools.

I did it the way you are suggesting and could not finely control FPS as I can now and things like CPU assignment wasn't automated nor adjusted as I changed my main window. I used scripts & hodgepodge tools but after trying ISBoxer I will not go back.

I have a degree in Computer Science and Masters in MIS and program for a living and don't want to have to do it for my games (and my time is worth more than that).

Even after working with that slew of disjunctive tools that I tried to to duct-tape together I honestly got suboptimal results...

To get really fancy with isboxer does take some advanced configuration and thinking outside the box but there is a fabulous community and support and once setup it is priceless...

The following advanced setups are NOT at all required and the basic 'start wizard results' are a huge improvement over anything else (and takes just a few minutes). Being able to see your whole team at once and instantly swap between them with automatic FPS throttling and auto CPU management real-time behind the scenes is priceless not counting all the other benefits...

The following are some screenshots (this is what I used for SWTOR):

http://i.imgur.com/qb8HG.jpg

The following is another advanced one:

http://i.imgur.com/YHqfh.jpg

Here is another cool example:

http://i.imgur.com/H6ifP.jpg

The possibilities are endless. The following are the best guides I found to do these advanced setups:

This is the forum post (http://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/46088-Ease-the-physical-pain-of-follow) that got me introduced into doing my own HUD.

This thread (http://isboxer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=1222)allowed me to take the above idea and fully implement it.

This thread has more examples of HUDs (http://isboxer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1214).

Without easy follow DDO will be hard but with target my target's target things are much better...

There is a free trial and I got an extension when I needed more time to evaluate/test.

If you are serious about Multi-Boxing I highly recommend the forums that I linked above (www.dual-boxing.com & www.isboxer.com).

The DDO community is very small and could use help (especially from folk as talented as you) !

[Hambo]

I just thought I'd add a note about Ram usage here:

If you are running 32-bit windows 7 or older you only can access 3GB ram... any excess is used by the OS for various buffers. 64-bit OS is needed to access more ram directly.

I'm not sure with Win8 as yet... I just got my distribution copy installed on a Touchsmart laptop and haven't tried installing DDO yet. All the preview versions of Win8 worked fine with DDO until Turbine changed their download scheme in August. There are workarounds that I haven't tried yet. If it can be run with Win8 then I would expect better performance... Win8 has lower OS Ram usage than Win7, and in general I saw a 15% framerate increase when I was running DDO with Win8 on the same hardware. (Dual-booted, so very easy to test this.)

[Nodoze]

I just thought I'd add a note about Ram usage here:

If you are running 32-bit windows 7 or older you only can access 3GB ram... any excess is used by the OS for various buffers. 64-bit OS is needed to access more ram directly.

I'm not sure with Win8 as yet... I just got my distribution copy installed on a Touchsmart laptop and haven't tried installing DDO yet. All the preview versions of Win8 worked fine with DDO until Turbine changed their download scheme in August. There are workarounds that I haven't tried yet. If it can be run with Win8 then I would expect better performance... Win8 has lower OS Ram usage than Win7, and in general I saw a 15% framerate increase when I was running DDO with Win8 on the same hardware. (Dual-booted, so very easy to test this.)All very good stuff. On a 32bit Win 32 consumer system, 4gb is the max addressable and useable is a little higher than 3 and will typically be between 3.3 and 3.5 depending on the system. I know because I used every last byte and had to watch it very closely... Your points are still valid & valuable as x64 is way better. I haven't tried Win8 yet on anything non-virtual and appreciate your sharing !

[AtomicMew]

@Hambo: I haven't tried windows 8 release version, but I seriously doubt you're getting 15% increase in framerate due to windows 8. When I tried windows 8 RC a while ago, I saw zero improvement and all review benchmarks show zero improvement as well. Have you tried a fresh install of windows 7 with updated drivers to compare?

@Nodoze: do you have any screenshots with DDO? Not really intersested in other MMOs. Thanks!

[Marcus-Hawkeye]

So for this isboxer, I have to sign up an account and pay a subscription of $50 a year to use this software?

[AtomicMew]

Yep.... Looks like it could be worth it though. Personally, I just can't get into the subscription model.

[Nodoze]

...
@Nodoze: do you have any screenshots with DDO? Not really intersested in other MMOs. Thanks! I will try to grab one next time I am on. I have not customized it to the extent I did SWTOR so it is not as cool as the one I uploaded but it is still pretty cool.

So for this isboxer, I have to sign up an account and pay a subscription of $50 a year to use this software?From memory I believe I paid $90 for a 3 year deal years ago (I have used it for WoW, SWTOR, Diablo, & DDO). I just checked the website for current offers and see:

- free: 7 day trial (I requested more time and got 21 days to test it thoroughly;
- $15: 90 day subscription;
- $50: Annual subscription;
- $125: 3 Year subscription (>30% discount);

[Dorian]

In U14 (or before) they finally added "target my targets target" which makes sure they both send their intimidating/evasion pets to the same target and make sure they range on that same target together (tab targeting previously was unreliable).

What is this "target my targets target"?

I did not know they have this in-game. How is it done?

Thanks!

[Nodoze]

What is this "target my targets target"?

I did not know they have this in-game. How is it done?

Thanks!

http://i.imgur.com/FnRNP.jpg

In the DDO client, click > Main Menu > Options > Key Mapping > Scroll %25 down and look for "Assist Target".

Once you get there, you map it to whatever key you want.

This, coupled with Auto-Follow is what will make DDO Multi-Boxing much more viable.

With "Assist Target" this I can run 2 active Artificers fairly well and make sure they both send their pets to the same target and then they both Focus Fire the same target.

[Marcus-Hawkeye]

- free: 7 day trial (I requested more time and got 21 days to test it thoroughly;
- $15: 90 day subscription;
- $50: Annual subscription;
- $125: 3 Year subscription (>30% discount);

Kinda seems silly to subscribe for this type of thing. What does the subcription bring with it? Just access to the software (and updates I assume)?

[Dorian]

In the DDO client, click > Main Menu > Options > Key Mapping > Scroll %25 down and look for "Assist Target".

Once you get there, you map it to whatever key you want.

This, coupled with Auto-Follow is what will make DDO Multi-Boxing much more viable.

With "Assist Target" this I can run 2 active Artificers fairly well and make sure they both send their pets to the same target and then they both Focus Fire the same target.

wow. glad I read this thread. I'm dual-boxing with 2 laptops. This will help a lot.

Thanks for the tip!

now we just need an auto-follow.

[Bahgs]

In the DDO client, click > Main Menu > Options > Key Mapping > Scroll %25 down and look for "Assist Target".

Once you get there, you map it to whatever key you want.

This, coupled with Auto-Follow is what will make DDO Multi-Boxing much more viable.

With "Assist Target" this I can run 2 active Artificers fairly well and make sure they both send their pets to the same target and then they both Focus Fire the same target.
I admit it is still early morning for me, so maybe I missed something in this thread.

Is there an 'auto-follow' command native to DDO or is this in reference to the 3rd party software?

[Nodoze]

I admit it is still early morning for me, so maybe I missed something in this thread.

Is there an 'auto-follow' command native to DDO or is this in reference to the 3rd party software?Both "Assist Target" (Target my Target's Target) and "Follow" are needed to effectively multi-box to any large scale.

Both have been missing for a long time and though Assist was added fairly recently Follow is still missing.

I have not found a way to follow via internal or 3rd party tools but have found a way to control two ranged toons fairly efficiently without a ton of switching back and forth between the clients.

The best I have come up with via a third party tool is to toggle on/off mouse and key broadcasting for 2 selected clients (out of my 4 clients) at a time and run the two characters manually on top of each other (I use Artificers because they are ranged and flexible). I use the Caps Lock key (when it is lit up it is broadcasting) to toggle broadcasting on/off for the first duo (& I also have the 3rd party tool flash a message to the screen to denote when broadcasting is on/off). I override the number keys for sending different commands to artificer 1 & artificer 2. Artificer 1 is played pretty much like normal and artificer two moves simultaneously with artificer 1 (typically a fraction of a second behind in turns) & targets artificer 1 then "assists" artificer 1 targeting Artificer 1's target and then I send in both pets and then start range attacking doing AOE as necessary.

When on client 1 or client 2 (my Artificer duo) key strokes and mouse movement are not sent to client 3 (my wizard) or client 4 (my rezzer). I do have some keys mapped to the wizard to cast CC or AOEs but otherwise they don't do much in combat.

When I switch to my other 2 clients (Wizard & Divine/Rezzer) I have a second broadcast key that only turns on broadcasting to only those two clients to run them together to loot chests and such. Typically after initial buffing I leave the Divine stealthed at the entrance (he can rez if there is a wipe) and only run the Wizard up to keep rage/haste on my Artificers and to setup Web and Crystal Balls and such for harder fights.

That is the best option I have come up with so far is to run two at a time together (it is doable but not easy). It is a lot better now that we have an Assist target capability as tab targeting two was too unpredictable but we really need a true Auto-Follow...

[Bolo_Grubb]

Well when I "three box", I use the brute force method. New Gaming machine, next to the old gaming machine and the laptop hookup and sitting nearby. Runs fine that way...:) Now I have heard a lot of people have gotten two clients going without issues, and it seems you can too, but do not recall anyone trying to do a 3 in 1 like you are. I suspect the load on the memory in your system might be too much, and you are seeing a lot of file swapping or virtual memory having to be used and that often slows things down a lot. Does it get worse and worse as you run? There are some memory type leaks still kicking around from what I see as the client keeps getting bigger over time on my machine when I check. Doing 3 at once will probably magnify that problem even more.

Ya this is how I always do it. That way it is faster and easier to spam mass cures and heals for the party.

[Nodoze]

Kinda seems silly to subscribe for this type of thing. What does the subcription bring with it? Just access to the software (and updates I assume)?Yes you get updates & updates are important because major patches can change things (it supports many MMOs).

You also get support which is very good for both bugs and advanced configs. Most things work out of the box and are easy though support was very helpful when trying to figure out advance topics like:

- Copying broadcast capability to all clients (standard functionality) and create subsets of clients to broadcast to that be toggled on/off to finely control them;

- splicing one clients window into another so you can see action bars without leaving your main window (flip meta-magics, monitor cooldowns, use mouse to click them if keys are not mapped, etc).

- or a custom region that pulls multiple clients together to do things like:
-- put one or more client's target reticles up side by side so you know who is targeting what...
-- see all clients mini-maps together blown up.

[Marcus-Hawkeye]

Well it certainly looks very useful for a multiboxing tool. I'll give you that. I might even try the free trial to see what I'm missing. But the subscription model is why I won't bother with it.

[CorinBrightbane]

With "Assist Target" this I can run 2 active Artificers fairly well and make sure they both send their pets to the same target and then they both Focus Fire the same target.

Any luck with arcanes? And curious as to your screenshot of ddo layout on is boxer. Have been using it a few weeks and like it. Trying to decide how I want to customize it!