Dual-Boxing for Newbies

[ClassicRed]

On a side note : Didn't used to happen before, but when your whole PC freezes after something graphically awesome happens, and then you get a VPU recover (ATI), does this mean I've damaged my caard and time to get a new one?

I had this issue myself ~ Got a new (not top of the line but better) Vid card (both ATI) Was able to dual box again till about a week ago when my pc did a blue screen saying something about a terminal error in ati3somefin.dll, reloaded/updated drivers installed dotnet that someone told me to install and still can not dual box or watch movies while playing the game like I used to. So wondering if its not something besides the video card causing some issues.

[Zosi]

If you get a G15 keyboard and set up aliases, you can control both characters without tabbing. At least for simple things like PL/cure-botting etc.

How? D:

If you use the G15Binder Windower plugin, the key presses will get sent to all instances of FFXI, regardless of whether they're in focus or not. What I do (classic G15) is set up the M1 aliases to control my mage character, the M2 aliases to control my tank character, and load G15Binder in both of them. The aliases themselves are instance-specific, so when I want to play tank and "remote-control" healer, I stay on M1 and play tank on my main macros and cure/haste/follow/stop with the G keys. When I want to focus on healering or other mage stuff, I switch to M2 and alt-tab, and then the G keys will control my tank char. The aliases for are pretty simple, just engage/WS/utsusemi/follow and the basic hate tools.

The actual alias setup isn't too complicated, there's a few things that'll help though. Abuse autofollow and /lockon hard. Have a stop hotkey, the easiest way I've found to force a following char to stop is to do a quick double equip swap to cause a blink. Have an assist-self button with a slight wait and a lockon, so you can engage the character you aren't focusing on and get them swinging. Use the name of the character you're playing in the other's macros, but it's ok to use <stpc> in your main macros if you're used to that.

[TacoTaru]

I have a $200 Dell that my mom bought me back in 04' with a shitty built in intel graphics card and 3gig of RAM. As much as my computer blows, I can still 2box reliably. If you open your 2nd account, turn all the standard effects under Misc and Misc2 off (footprints, weather, max characters displayed), it will raise your FPS on both accounts ~2.5-4 depending on the zone. If you open the Effects button and filter all those on the second account, it bumped my FPS from 8-9 in Sky to 20-21 during fights With 12 people active.

You can probably get it higher if you filter all the same stuff on your main too, but I like seeing flashys and booms and bangs on my main. :D

[Munkey]

i play on ps2 on my main on the big screen, and us a lap with a controller as the second rig sitting next to me, i just set up the majority of the macro's with names built in and the more essential ones right next to each other so very little movement is needed on the second rig. no when you set up 2 rigs make sure which ever job requires the most amount of your attention is the one that is the most comfortable using

[Despain]

I do fine running 2 windowers at once... only problem I have is when I'm in Whitegate, or Jeuno.. or anywhere else where there's a decent amount of lag. In order to avoid a d/c, I just keep Alt+Tabbing over until the lag dies.

Recently found out that I could also run 3 windowers at once without any problem in non-laggy areas :/

[ReddwarfX]

If you get a G15 keyboard and set up aliases, you can control both characters without tabbing. At least for simple things like PL/cure-botting etc.

orly? care to explain? i have G15, and have wondered how to do this.

[nekura]

If you get a G15 keyboard and set up aliases, you can control both characters without tabbing. At least for simple things like PL/cure-botting etc.

orly? care to explain? i have G15, and have wondered how to do this.

Zosi answered this question a few posts above. ;P

[RKenshin]

Some main Q/A type topics with this issue:

1. I don't have a second computer/laptop to run a second instance of FF on.

- Isn't needed. In fact, IMO it's a lot easier to run both on one computer and/or one laptop, as opposed to doing it across multiple ones. Rotating your entire body or even just repositioning your hands is much slower than hitting alt+tab. Only reason I ever use a second is if I'm controlling more than 2 characters.


2. I don't think that my computer/laptop can support running two FF windows at once without lagging to hell.

- If you can run one window of FF with good settings and no problems, then there's no doubt you can run two instances. You just need to turn off effects, reduce the settings (both inside the game, and in the FFXI Config, and possibly the resolution). Many people think they can't but with simple changes like that, just about any computer that can run one window can run 2 or more.

Personally, I've ran as many 3-4 instances on my laptop and my desktop separately. All without too much trouble. It just takes adjusting the settings and dealing with the NES graphics.


3. Opening up a second window of instanced FF with one window already open causes a crash/error.

- Some people have this issue, I have no idea why though. Most people can do it with no problems, but some people just can't. I think I remember someone posting a way around this issue before, but I don't recall where or what it was.

[Cream Soda]

I have a dual-box question, didn't want to make a new thread. How do you do it? When I open the 2nd windower, from the char selection screen it acts as if I'm holding down the entire time and just keeps scrolling fast through the options and doesn't stop no matter which direction I hold on my controller or on my keyboard. I was able to time it and get into the game, where the cursor moved the same way as if all I did was hold down.

[nekura]

Did you try switching to the main window and then back to the second one?

[Cream Soda]

Did you try switching to the main window and then back to the second one?

Yea, no go. Didn't stop till I force closed my first toon.

[nekura]

Weird, I see that issue too sometimes but it doesn't persist once actually in-game.

[MaachaQ]

I have a Gateway® FHD2400 24" Widescreen HD LCD Display that has Picture-in-Picture. I have my PS2 plugged into the monitor and run my alt in the PiP screen. All the macros use names so i never target. Makes life so easy. If I dont have my Alt logged on I just change PiP input and watch cable while meriting

This is almost what I do exactly, even the same monitor. Only exception is I don't put cable on the PiP at all, I keep both screens so I can see them and either load up a downloaded video file or my Slingbox (I moved to Korea about a year ago, but can still watch my Satellite TV from the US using this nifty thing, Got my TiVo in the states hooked up to it too, so I never miss my favorite shows ^^).

[Riel]

Ok the problem I am having is that my main always lags to holy hell, while my 2nd char usually gets 25+ fps. I've tried gimping the hell out of my main's settings both by making it need less resources than the 2nd char and by making it need more, and I've tried loading them in different orders with each setup, but no matter what, main is lagged while 2nd char is OK. The only way I can get my main not to lag is to make my 2nd char stare at a wall. I'm really at a loss. How can I get the load to distribute more evenly or get my 2nd char to lag to hell instead of my main? Anyone else have similar issues?

edit: btw sorry for the necropost but this thread seemed to have the most useful info already.