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.

Note that we are providing great detail per section of configuration, but that nearly everything is completely optional, and there are multiple ways to do the same thing in many cases. This means if you were to ask if you "should" do something, or if you are doing something "right", the answer is usually subjective -- if you want something, then you "should" do it, and if it works for you then it is probably "right".

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.

Configuring a Window Layout

Window Layouts allow you to configure the size and position of your Game windows, and related options such as moving any window you switch to into the main area and the previous main window into a smaller region, and the ability to roll the mouse over an inactive window for a zoomed view.

Creating a Window Layout

1. Right click on Window Layouts at the top in ISBoxer, and select New Window Layout
2. Provide a name for the Window Layout by replacing the words "New Window Layout", which should be selected automatically when the Window Layout is created. If not, you can right click it, and select Rename.
3. Configure the basic Window Layout options on the configuration page for the Window Layout itself
   1. If you would like a newly activated window to swap to the main region (we'll get to the part where you define what that is shortly), check Swap Hot Character to main region (enabled by default). Note that if this option is disabled, all windows become "main" windows (so for example the "Remove border" option applies to all windows instead of one at a time), and the Game will be rendering at the resolution provided by the window's corresponding Region -- that means that mouse broadcasting with Repeater will not accurately position the cursor. You may find it preferable instead to leave Swap enabled, but set it to "when I press ____" and specify a key to manually Swap the windows, which would allow mouse broadcasting to work properly.
   2. Select one of "always" (any time you switch to the window, regardless of method used to switch), "when I press a Slot activate hotkey" (any time you switch to the window by pressing the "Hotkey to switch to this character" defined by a Slot in your Character Set), or "when I press ____".
   3. If you would like ISBoxer to remove the border around main windows (the active one, or all windows if Swap is disabled), check Remove border around main window
   4. If you would like non-main windows (any inactive window, when Swap is enabled) to be Always On Top, check "Slave" regions Always On Top. This can be used, for example, to create a true Picture-in-Picture effect, if "slave" regions are placed on top of the main region (we'll get to creating regions in a moment).
   5. If Swap is enabled, you may find it useful to create a hotkey to ignore the next time you switch away from the main window, for example to use a web browser while keeping the Game window large. To do so, check Ignore next deactivate hotkey and pick a key combination.
   6. If you would like to be able to use the Mouse Wheel to rotate through Game windows, you may want to set a Wheel Switcher key. This can only be a single key, but can be any key. For example, if you would like to hold CTRL and scroll the mouse wheel, set it to CTRL.
   7. If the Game processes a mouse click when you click a non-main window to bring it to focus, and you find this annoying (for example, accidentally enabling mouselook, clicking on spells, and so on), you may want to set When click to focus a window, the game should to "ignore the click". Conversely, if the game does not process the mouse click and you do want it to (for example, if Swap is disabled and you do not want to click multiple times to cast a spell), you may wish to set it to "treat it like any other click". By default, this is set to "do what it normally does".
4. Set Rollover zoom options, if desired. This allows you to move the mouse over any non-main window, and have it zoom to a larger size.
   1. Click on "Rollover" to view the Rollover options page
   2. Check the "Enable Rollover zoom effect" box to enable Rollover zoom
   3. Set the Zoom scale to the desired scale level, as a percentage of the size of the non-main region. For example, 150% means 1.5x zoom (an extra 50%). 200% means 2x zoom (twice the size of the non-main region)
   4. If you would like the zoom to not be instant, check "Roll up over time instead of instant zoom", and select a number of Game frames (as in FPS) to roll up over
5. Set up Regions to define the actual layout of our windows
   1. Click on "Regions" to view the Region configuration page
   2. If Swap is enabled in your Window Layout, decide whether you want Slot 1 to have its own inactive Region (which means that one spot will always appear empty), or if you want it to instead borrow the spot from whatever region is active (for example if you have 5 Characters and 2 monitors, and you want the 4 inactive windows to be quartered on the second monitor). Set the "Region 2 is ..." option at the bottom as appropriate. If it is set to "used for session 1 when inactive", your Layout must have one more Region than you have Slots in your Character Set. If Swap is not enabled in your Window Layout, this setting has no effect and can be ignored.
   3. If you are designing a Window Layout for another Computer, select the Computer from the drop-down box in the lower right, which will say <Pre-defined Computer>. Otherwise, leave the drop-down box alone.
   4. Now it's time to create all of your window Regions. There are several ways to do this.
      • If you would like to have ISBoxer generate a layout for you, with windows lined up on an edge of the screen (including lined up on a second monitor):
        1. Click the AutoLayout button
        2. Select the number of sessions (Slots in your Character Set) you will have. The minimum number for an auto-layout is 3, but it is okay to actually have less than 3 sessions (just use 3). The regions will be sized based on the number given here, and all regions will have the same aspect ratio when generated.
        3. Decide which edge of the screen to line the windows along. By default, this is set to Bottom. If you are using a Wide Screen monitor and the windows will be on the same monitor, it is recommended to use Top or Bottom, for best viewing. If you do not have Wide Screen, it is recommended to use Left or Right.
        4. If you would like the windows to be lined up on a second monitor, check And I want the inactive windows on the next monitor on that side. Assuming the desired monitor is on the selected edge (e.g. if second monitor is on the right, you should select Right), that is where the windows will be lined up.
        5. If you want Slot 1 to have its own inactive slot (you should have decided this in a previous step, for the "Region 2 is ..." setting), check "I want session 1 to have its own inactive slot"
        6. When you click OK, regions will be generated for you as specified!
      • If you would like to import a .MAX file from other software:
        1. Click the Import button
        2. Locate the .MAX file you wish to import
        3. When you click Open, the regions defined by the .MAX file will be generated for you!
      • If you would like to manually create regions or modify existing regions (e.g. previously generated):
        • The Add button will create a new region. If an existing region is selected, the new region will be the same size
        • The Remove button will remove a selected region.
        • Any green box (each representing a region) in the viewing area can be moved or resized by clicking and dragging
        • The Selected Region drop-down box can be used to select an existing region
        • The Position box can be used to view or manually change the X,Y position of the selected region
        • The Size drop-down box can be used to view or manually change the size of the selected region. A size can be manually typed, or selected from a list of pre-computed sizes in the drop-down box.
        • The Bottom Right box displays the X,Y position of the bottom right corner of the selected region.

To assign Character Sets to a Window Layout

1. Select the Window Layout at the top in ISBoxer
2. Click and drag each desired Character Set from the top, to the bottom left

Alternatively, to assign a Window Layout to a Character Set

1. Select the Character Set at the top in ISBoxer
2. Click and drag the desired Window Layout from the top, to the bottom left

See Also

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