ISBoxer:Getting started

Getting Started with ISBoxer Suite

ISBoxer Suite is designed to simplify multi-boxing, while still providing the range and complexity of features that can help take your multi-boxing to the next level.

This page is actively under construction. Please bear with us while we fill in the details!

Overview of the process

1. Configure ISBoxer
   1. Create Characters
   2. Place Characters into Character Sets
   3. Configure any Window Layouts, Key Maps, Repeater Profiles, and Virtual Files as desired
   4. Export the configuration to Inner Space
2. Play
   1. Launch Inner Space
   2. Launch a Character Set via the ISBoxer Character Sets menu in Inner Space
   3. Watch your Set load up
   4. Use your new configuration!
   5. Optional: Using the In-game ISBoxer interface, create Repeater Regions to automatically send mouse clicks to a given target when the mouse is in a given location
3. Repeat from Step 1 to fine tune configuration
   • If already playing, most settings can be re-loaded via the in-game ISBoxer interface

Things to consider

Typing

If you plan on making hotkeys (and/or broadcasting) specific letters or numbers that you might otherwise enter in an in-game window (such as a chat window, mail window, search box, and so on), you should also plan on creating a way to temporarily disable those hotkeys. This will involve creating a separate hotkey to turn those features off, and back on again when you are finished.

Following the Hot Character

It is unreliable to move your characters together with broadcast keys or mouse. It is nearly impossible to line all of the characters up in a way that makes them move identically, and there may be a very slight difference in the distance they will cover when moving with broadcasting. Instead, you should rely more on the game's auto-follow mechanism if available. ISBoxer can help you create a hotkey to tell each other character to follow the Hot Character.

Different ways of broadcasting keys

The simplest and easiest to understand method of broadcasting keys is to use Repeater, which will broadcast exactly what you press and can also be used for mouse broadcasting. To broadcast only specific keys instead of all keys, a White or Black list is used (White lets you select only the keys to broadcast, while Black lets you select only the keys to not broadcast -- you would want to use the one that would allow you to select fewer keys). A better method of broadcasting keys for use with game abilities (as opposed to typing in a chat window, mail window, etc) is to use Mapped Keys. A Mapped Key is essentially a hotkey that can be instructed to do different things, like press a different key for each character. Mapped Keys can also be used in conjunction with Repeater, meaning that if a Mapped Key is pressed, Repeater will not have any effect, and the Mapped Key will perform the desired actions. Using Mapped Keys is indeed more work to set up, and more complex, but provides a generous amount of control over what will happen and thus is worth it and highly recommended.

Creating Characters

An ISBoxer Character is used to represent your in-game avatar. Each Character can be named anything you want in ISBoxer, and the actual in-game name of the Character can be entered in a separate field (currently only necessary for generated World of Warcraft macros). This way, for example, Characters on different game servers can keep separate configuration.

To create each Character

1. Right click on Characters at the top in ISBoxer, and select New Character
2. Provide a name for the Character by replacing the words "New Character", which should be selected automatically when the Character is created. If not, you can right click it, and select Rename. As explained above, the name entered here does not need to match the in-game Character name.
3. If the name you entered does not match the in-game Character name, fill in the Actual character name field. This field is not currently used in most games, but may be in the future. As of now, it really only affects World of Warcraft, and only for in-game Macros created by ISBoxer.
4. Select the Game for Inner Space to launch from the Game drop-down. If the Game drop-down does not have the desired Game, you will need to configure the Game through Inner Space (using Add Game), then close Inner Space and re-start ISBoxer.
5. After selecting the Game, you can then select a Game Profile.

Classify your Characters

As you move forward with configuring your teams, you may find that it is helpful to classify your Characters by placing them in Action Target Groups. As the name implies, this allows different types of Characters, as a Group, to be the Target of a particular Action. It may come in handy, for example, to have a classification for each class of Character (e.g. priest, warrior), for each archetype (e.g. caster, melee), and/or for each specialization (e.g. healer, dps, tank). These are only suggestions, however; you can create any type of Action Target Groups you like, in order to have any particular group perform the same action.

For World of Warcraft in particular, the Macro generation functionality in ISBoxer can also be used to have specialized in-game Macros depending on the Action Target Groups assigned to each Character. In other words, instead of creating 5 different Macros that do essentially the same thing on a few different Characters, but with different in-game abilities, one can be created through ISBoxer that will automatically generate a different Macro for each Character. For example, a universal attack macro can implement the base attacks for each in-game class.

To create each Action Target Group

1. Right click on Action Target Groups at the top in ISBoxer, and select New Action Target Group
2. Provide a name for the Action Target Group by replacing the words "New Action Target Group", which should be selected automatically when the Action Target Group is created. If not, you can right click it, and select Rename.

To assign Characters to an Action Target Group

1. Select the Action Target Group at the top in ISBoxer
2. Click and drag each desired Character from the top, to the bottom left

Alternatively, to assign Action Target Groups to a Character

1. Select the Character at the top in ISBoxer
2. Click and drag each desired Action Target Group from the top, to the bottom left

Creating Character Sets

A Character Set represents one or more Characters that will be played at the same time on one computer. If using multiple computers, you will need to make a Character Set for each Computer, though those Character Sets may of course be linked (see Using multiple computers). Any number of Character Sets can be configured in one ISBoxer profile.

Creating a Character Set

1. Right click on Character Sets at the top in ISBoxer, and select New Character Set
2. Provide a name for the Character Set by replacing the words "New Character Set", which should be selected automatically when the Character Set is created. If not, you can right click it, and select Rename.
3. Change the Launch one Character every ___ seconds field if desired. Lowering the time may cause minor issues at startup with window positioning, which can be alleviated by instead increasing the time. If the Game requires use of a Launcher (as opposed to games that allow launching the game directly without a laucher), you may need to increase the time to be long enough for you to pass the Launcher.
4. For games that like to reposition the window while playing (EverQuest 1 and Lord of the Rings Online for example), you may want to check the Prevent game from repositioning windows
5. For games that are specifically designed to ignore input unless they are the active window (EverQuest 1, EverQuest 2, and Lord of the Rings Online for example), you will need to check Make game believe it is foreground window
6. If you would like to access the in-game ISBoxer User Interface, which provides a button to re-load settings while playing (useful for fine tuning while you play) as well as the ability to configure Repeater Regions (which are areas of the screen that can automatically broadcast mouse clicks to one or more other windows), create an In-game ISBoxer GUI toggle hotkey
7. If you are using multiple Computers, you will need to configure which Character Sets are assigned to which Computer by selecting the Computer to launch on (otherwise, leave it as <Current Computer>)
8. Configure Slots, which will contain your Characters and also correspond to Window Layout regions. If you will be playing 5 Characters for this Character Set, you will want 5 Slots -- one for each.
   • For each Slot,
     1. Right click on Slots and select New Slot. The new Slot will appear as a numbered sub-item of Slots.
     2. Select the new Slot to view the configuration page for the Slot
     3. If you would like to create a Hotkey to switch to the Game window for this Slot, set the Hotkey to switch to this character. By default, Inner Space creates a global hotkey that works from any Window on your Computer, being CTRL+ALT+# where # is the Slot number (e.g. CTRL+ALT+1), and these global hotkeys may be used if you find them convenient. The Hotkey set by this option will work only from any of the windows for this Character Set (in other words, if the window for any given Slot is active, you can press the Hotkey for any Slot to activate it).
     4. Select Hot Character switch notifier options if desired. This option allows in-game hotkeys or macros to be executed when you switch to a given Character.
        1. Check the Broadcast keystroke box and select a keystroke to be broadcast -- this is the notification all Slots will receive. This keystroke does not have to be the same as the character switch hotkey.
        2. Select the option to the right to broadcast the keystroke either "Any time I switch to this character" (includes clicking), or "When above hotkey is pressed" (only when it is activated by the configured Hotkey to switch to this character).
        3. If playing World of Warcraft, you may want to select Generate a Focus Target macro on this keystroke, in order to set the in-game "Focus Target" to the Hot Character. Note: this currently will only be effective if the Characters are grouped.
        4. If playing World of Warcraft, you may also want to select Generate a Follow macro on this keystroke, in order to cause the other Characters to begin auto-following the Character you switch to. Note that this is a convenience option, and some players may actually find it inconvenient -- it may cause the Characters to move and interrupt spell casting, for example. This option also will not replace having a Follow key, as there are many times when auto-follow stops automatically.
     5. If you would like ISBoxer to select the CPU Cores to assign to this Slot, click each of the CPU Cores (numbered here from 1 to the number of available cores) as desired. If no CPU Cores are selected, the Game's default behavior will be unchanged.
     6. If you are playing World of Warcraft, you may wish to select FTL Modifiers, which can later be applied to Mapped Keys. If you decide to use these, select a different set of FTL Modifiers per Slot, and do not select both Left and Right for any Modifier.
     7. If you would like ISBoxer to manage FPS Limiting, for example to decrease framerate in the background so that the foreground can perform better, or to allow different Slots to run at a different maximum framerate, select the desired framerate settings. These settings will work in conjunction with, rather than replace, any similar settings provided by the Game -- the lower of the two (between ISBoxer and the Game) will take effect.
9. Assign any Key Maps, Window Layout, Repeater Profile as desired -- they may be dragged from the top portion of ISBoxer into the Character Set in the bottom left
10. If you will be playing on multiple Computers and want a Character Set that will be played on a separate Computer linked to this one, drag that Character Set from the top portion of ISBoxer into this Character Set in the bottom left, so that it appears underneath "Also Launch". This way, launching this Character Set will also launch the other Character Set on its assigned Computer.

See Also

• ISBoxer
  • Using ISBoxer Toolkit
  • Special ISBoxer configuration for World of Warcraft