IS:Multiboxing Guide

Overview

Inner Space is simply the most powerful and flexible software that exists for multi-boxing.

Inner Space provides numerous features that can be used and combined in order to form a complete multi-boxing system

• Communication with other Inner Space sessions on the same PC, or on multiple PCs
• Full keyboard and mouse virtualization and emulation (which, when combined with the above, provides fast, full keyboard and mouse replication on the same PC or multiple PCs)
• Keybinds supporting the keyboard, mouse, G15 keys, and other alternative input devices such as saitek command pads, X-Keys, etc (which, when combined with the above, provides for sending specific keystrokes to one or more sessions on the same PC or multiple PCs when pressing a given key combination)
• Aliases (which, when combined with the above, provides for round-robin key distribution)
• Full window characteristics customization (allowing for ultra-fast Picture-in-Picture, for example)

What is multi-boxing?

Multi-boxing is a term for playing multiple characters in an MMO at the same time, be it on the same PC, or multiple PCs. The term originally meant "using multiple PCs" (aka boxes) for this purpose, but for lack of a better term and for the sake of brevity, it is also used to describe the practice on a single PC.

Is multi-boxing with Inner Space safe?

Short answer: Yes, as far as anyone knows. There are many people including myself multi-boxing with Inner Space in different games including World of Warcraft, and there are people that have been doing it for quite some time.

Long answer: It depends on who you ask and who you want to believe. There are no known bans for using Inner Space for multi-boxing, in any game. There are ways to get yourself banned "using Inner Space", but this generally requires purposefully seeking out, downloading, and installing additional software from other sources. Inner Space alone does not violate the Terms of Service for any popular game that we are aware of, but the software from other sources described in the previous sentence does (and is neither part of Inner Space, nor a Lavish Software product).

Using this guide

This guide is going to start with the easiest topics, and progress to the more advanced topics. Certain topics that may sound to you like they should be simple, may in fact be advanced -- for example "how do I save these settings" is not quite as simple as it sounds. However, as the different pieces of the multi-boxing puzzle become more popular, people with the ability to develop new features will continue to drive this as close to plug and play as possible. This guide will show you how to "save your settings", but you should learn how to get to where you want things saved first.

You do not need to follow the entire guide. If you do not need or want a given feature, you do not need to install or configure it, and you can skip the section that describes it. It is entirely up to you.

Everything used in this guide (except Inner Space itself) is free and open source. This means that if you have some technical know-how, you can tweak it to your heart's content. If not, it also means that if you find a problem, you need only to find someone with technical know-how to get it looked at, even if the original author gets hit by a bus!

This guide is a work in progress and will be completed as soon as possible (we do apologize for the missing portions). Feel free to contribute useful information to the guide.

If you get stuck at any point while following this guide, see the "Stuck?" section near the bottom of this page to get some help. There are many other people who can answer your questions and help you through this.

Getting Inner Space (required)

Inner Space provides the foundation upon which all of the rest of these tools are built, so this is where you begin.

Step 1: Sign up for a Lavish Software account

First, you need to sign up for a Lavish Software account, if you do not have one.

Step 2: Purchase a subscription or apply for a FREE 7-day trial

After creating an account, you will need to either purchase a subscription, or apply for a FREE 7-day trial. If you apply for a trial, be sure to at least make an effort to answer the questions asked, or Lavish Software will show as little interest in approving your trial as you showed in filling out the form. :)

Step 3: Download Inner Space

After you have created an account, and have purchased a subscription or received a FREE 7-day trial, you can then proceed to download Inner Space.

Step 4: Install Inner Space

Installing Inner Space is essentially idiot-proof. Just double-click the file you downloaded, and click Next a few times (much like installing any other program) -- the only option available for you to change during installation is the installation path. If you are on Windows Vista, you may wish to install to a location other than under Program Files in order to avoid problems later.

Step 5: Launch Inner Space

The first time you launch Inner Space, it will patch itself to the current version -- Vista users may need to right click the Inner Space icon and select "Run as Administrator" for this to happen (otherwise, you may get a "-20" error).

When patching is complete, Inner Space will appear as an icon in the system tray -- by the system clock. Right click on this icon to bring up the Inner Space menu, which can be used to launch games, configure Inner Space, or close the Inner Space main program (called the Uplink, as it links together games launched via Inner Space).

Step 6: Launch your game through Inner Space

Depending on the game you're playing, it may be automatically detected by Inner Space, and a default profile will be created for you to launch that game. A profile contains launch parameters for Inner Space to use for a session launched with that profile -- for example, you can select the display adapter (i.e. monitor) the game will use, or change the startup sequence to automatically execute commands for you at launch (more on this later -- for now, just be content knowing that it is possible). To launch the game, simply select the profile from the Inner Space menu.

When the game is launched, the first question you will have is "How do I get rid of this FPS and memory stuff in the upper left corner?" Do not fret -- there are many ways to do it, and it's actually good for you to have this question. It's a clear indication that Inner Space is doing what it's supposed to do. That said, CTRL+ALT+F and CTRL+ALT+M are default keybinds to toggle these indicators. If you'd like to keep any of them, but move them, simply hold ALT, and drag the left-most character (e.g. the F in FPS). You will need to do these every time -- if you would like to have these indicators OFF by default, you will need to edit the Session Startup Sequence (more on this later).

Picture-in-Picture

WindowSnapper is the Picture-in-Picture script of choice. Note: Does not currently work with EverQuest 2, but should work with EverQuest 2 in a near-future release.

If you are not yet familiar with WindowSnapper, take a moment to view a few videos demonstrating the speed and power of using Inner Space for Picture-in-Picture:

• WindowSnapper speed demo
• WindowSnapper rollover zoom (available in the next WindowSnapper release)
• WindowSnapper rollover zoom with expand/shrink effect (available in the next WindowSnapper release)

Step 1: Download WindowSnapper

From the WindowSnapper page, download the latest version.

There may periodically be new versions with bug fixes or new features, so you may find it helpful to check the page once in a while if you feel you are missing something (it also would not hurt to ask, or join us in chat with the link in the Stuck section below).

Step 2: Install WindowSnapper

To install WindowSnapper, extract the file from the download (windowsnapper.iss) into the Scripts folder of your Inner Space installation. By default this may be C:\Program Files\InnerSpace\Scripts.

Installing WindowSnapper does not automatically use it. Like most software you install on your PC, it must be launched in order to do anything for you.

Step 3: Launch WindowSnapper

To launch WindowSnapper, open the Inner Space console from inside your game (NOT the one in the Uplink that can be accessed via the Console option from the Inner Space menu). The default key to open the console is ` (sometimes referred to as ~). If your keyboard does not have this key (it is on US English and some other keyboards, but various European keyboards for example have no such key), try F12. Once the console is open, type or paste the following command (paste in the console with CTRL+V or SHIFT+INSERT -- both are standard keyboard shortcuts for pasting):

run windowsnapper

This must be done in each game window that you want WindowSnapper to apply to.

The first time you launch WindowSnapper, your goal should be to simply observe it working. Later on you may learn to configure WindowSnapper straight from the runscript command (run for short) by passing parameters, but there are other ways to do it. Continue on to step 4 so we can explain trying WindowSnapper.

Step 4: Try WindowSnapper

The way WindowSnapper works is very simple -- that's the beauty of it. While WindowSnapper is running, switch away from the game window with alt+tab or by clicking on another running application (such as a web browser). You will see that the game window instantly snaps to a smaller size and position at the top of your screen. Switch back to the game window with alt+tab or by clicking, and you will see the game window instantly snap back to where you had it. It's almost like magic!

Now that you have the game window full size again, try pressing CTRL+ALT+P, and then switching away from the game window again. You will notice that it does not snap to its smaller size and position. However, if you switch back to it, and switch away again, it will resume the snapping functionality. CTRL+ALT+P causes WindowSnapper to ignore the next time the window becomes inactive.

Step 5: Configure WindowSnapper

Step 5a: Dragging the PiP window

The easiest way to configure the size and position of the PiP window is by clicking and dragging. This way is less precise than giving specific numbers, but it is certainly easier for the novice user. Switch to the game window, and press CTRL+ALT+O. The window will appear to snap to its smaller size and position as it did before, but this time it has a full border. Move the window to where you would like it to be every time you switch away, and resize it as you would resize any window -- drag its borders. Once you are finished changing the size and position of the window, press CTRL+ALT+O to end this draggable mode, and the window will return to its full size. That's it!

Step 5b: Docking the PiP window

Docking goes well with the both the dragging functionality, and the precise numbering functionality. What docking will allow you to do is set a second (or third, fourth, etc) game window's PiP size to the same size as the first one, and place the PiP window next to the first one in a given direction -- top, bottom, left, or right.

To dock a PiP window next to the current game window's PiP window, we will use the snapdock command in the console. Get the session name of the PiP window to move (for example, is2) and pick a direction to enter as in the following:

snapdock is2 bottom

This usage of the snapdock command will dock is2 to the bottom of the current window, as long as WindowSnapper is running in that session. Docking, again, can be performed to the top, bottom, left, or right of the original window, and can be done to and from any sessions running WindowSnapper.

Step 5c: Giving a specific size and position for the PiP window

The size and position of a PiP window can be set precisely by using the snapsize and snappos commands, or by passing the -size and -pos switches to the script at launch time. This method is slightly more advanced than dragging or docking, as it requires some knowledge and intuition as far as screen positioning, so novice users may wish to seek help with this, or even a script that can calculate good positioning for them (such scripts do exist, feel free to ask in the chat channel linked under the Stuck section of this page). Usage of the switches at launch time is described when launched, so I will restrict this portion of the guide to the snapsize and snappos commands.

Using these commands is incredibly simple. snapsize takes one parameter in the form 320x240 -- or widthxheight in pixels. snappos takes one parameter in the form 123,456 -- or x,y (left,top) in pixels from the upper-left corner of the screen.

Example of setting a 320x240 (non-widescreen) PiP size at screen position 123,456

snapsize 320x240
snappos 123,456

Keyboard and mouse replication on the same PC

Repeater is designed for full keyboard and mouse replication. It can be used with one or more PCs, with any number of target sessions. See Connecting additional PCs for how to enable this functionality on additional PCs -- you will want to learn how to do this on the same PC first!

User Interface overlay for clicking on custom buttons to perform an action in other sessions

ClickBoxer is designed to be customized for a usable in-game interface, in any game, to distribute keystrokes to one or more sessions.

Configuring the Logitech G15 or G11 for use with Inner Space keybinds

Step 4: Close the Keyboard Profiler

If the Keyboard Profiler is not closed (it must not be running at all), then certain keys on the G15/G11 have special meaning that will change the behavior of the G-keys while you play -- for example, MR will create a "quick macro" and assign the macro to a G-key. This is not desirable for our usage, because Inner Space natively supports the G-keys and M-keys! Closing the Keyboard Profiler will also prevent the software from automatically loading different configurations, such as the World of Warcraft configuration when playing World of Warcraft.

Stuck?

Click here to join us in live chat! This will bring you to the #isboxer channel on the chat server irc.lavishsoft.com, your best resource for getting help multi-boxing with Inner Space.

Be patient, as there are many people in the chat room that can answer your questions, but not everyone is available 24 hours a day. Depending on the time of day and how many people are around, you may need to hang out for a little while to get an answer, and you can always feel free to hang out for as long as you like. The longer you stay, the more likely you will get helped, and maybe learn a lot more about what is available while you're at it! People are always working on new things and sharing with others, so you may even get to be one of the first to try out a new, cool feature.

See Also

• www.dual-boxing.com
  • Zanthor's guide on dual-boxing.com -- includes some helper scripts that Zanthor wrote