FAQ

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Multiboxing

What is Multiboxing?

Multiboxing is playing multiple characters together in a multiplayer online game like EVE Online, EverQuest, Lord of the Rings Online, RIFT, World of Warcraft and many other free and pay-to-play games. The term multiboxing comes from referring to a PC as a "box", with the traditional method of multiboxing being a couple of PCs side-by-side with their own monitors, keyboards and mice. See the main Multiboxing article for more information.

How does multiboxing work?

See How multiboxing works in our main Multiboxing article.

Is multiboxing legal?

Yes, there is nothing illegal about multiboxing. It's also allowed in the majority of popular MMORPGs; after all, multiboxing at its core is simply the act of playing multiple characters together. This has been a common practice in online multiplayer gaming since before MMORPGs even existed.

See Is ISBoxer Allowed? for more detailed information.

What kind of PC do I need?

See Minimum System Requirements and Recommended System Specifications in our main Multiboxing article for more information.

Should I get two video cards?

Short answer: Probably not. Most people are not prepared for the limitations imposed by having multiple video cards.

See the section in our main Multiboxing article, and GPU Management for more information.

Inner Space

Inner Space has a default hotkey to toggle the console, where is this with ISBoxer?

The in-game Inner Space console can provide technical details to help advanced users troubleshoot

ISBoxer disables the default Inner Space console hotkey, because the ` key commonly gets fat-fingered when spamming the 1 key right next to it on a typical keyboard that has this button, and most ISBoxer users have no use for this console. It simply should not ever appear at all for a typical user.

If you would like to access the in-game Inner Space console, ISBoxer allows you to configure your own hotkey in your Character Set. In the top pane, select your Character Set, and then the "In-game Inner Space console hotkey" option will be available in the bottom right pane.

Is there another way to pay for Inner Space?

All Inner Space payments are currently processed through PayPal. As of February 28, 2013, Bitcoins are also accepted.
Note: you do not need a Paypal account to use Paypal. You can use most debit and credit cards without a Paypal account. Just look for the "Check out as Guest" button on the Paypal login page.

Some other ways you can get subscription time, or even cash rewards

If I have to pay for Inner Space why does it say ISBoxer is free?

The Inner Space gaming platform was originally released in 2004. ISBoxer did not exist until 2009, and is free for Inner Space.

It's just like when you paid for your iPhone to play free apps on it, or getting free games on your XBox or Playstation, etc. Inner Space is a platform that runs programs, like an ISBoxer configuration. If you already had Inner Space, you would not need to pay extra to use ISBoxer.


Where is that Inner Space icon you mention?

In the Windows Notification Area

ISBoxer Toolkit

I lost my configuration somehow, is there a way to recover it?

ISBoxer always keeps a backup of the last configuration that you Exported to Inner Space as ISBoxerToolkitProfile.LastExported.XML. Use the File menu and select Open to open this file, and then use Save As to save the file as something else.

If you find yourself in this situation often, consider keeping regular backups of your configuration changes as well.

I upgraded to a new PC, what is the easiest way to migrate my ISBoxer configuration?

  1. Download and install ISBoxer like you did before
  2. Close ISBoxer if it is running
  3. Copy over the files ISBoxerToolkit.GlobalSettings.XML and ISBoxerToolkitProfile.XML (or your custom saved files), which are found in your Inner Space folder
  4. Run ISBoxer and do a new Export to Inner Space

I copied my ISBoxer configuration to a new PC, and everything works except for the Key Maps and Repeater buttons don't show up?

The Click Bar button image locations are kept separate from your ISBoxer profile. When you copy your profile to a new PC, these images may need to be re-generated.

To fix this problem:

  1. Run the Quick Setup Wizard to create any team -- this will re-configure the images
  2. Export to Inner Space

Video FX

I followed a Video FX setup guide but my Video FX is not working?

Video FX requires two things in order to work:

  1. Windows Vista or later
  2. Aero must be enabled (how?)

Why does my Video FX view show up pixellated/low resolution/low quality?

One of the unfortunate limitations of Video FX is that it's going to use the actual view from the window at its current size. When you use a Window Layout with many small windows and one large one, the small view that shows up on your screen is what counts for the Video FX, not the larger resolution that the game is internally rendering.

To increase the quality of your Video FX views, increase the size of the window your Video FX source is in. This can be done by adjusting your Window Layout. We recommend using the Full Screen Stacked style, from the Window Layout Wizard -- this style puts all of the game windows in the same size and location. You can then use Video FX and dxNothing to make all of the views you need, in high quality.

All Games

Do I need multiple game accounts?

Yes.

Can I use multiple PCs?

Yes. Your Inner Space license allows personal use on up to 5 PCs at the same location. See the Using Multiple Computers guide, which can also be found through the Help menu in ISBoxer.

Can I see all of my windows from multiple PCs on my main PC?

No, not at this time.

As soon as my second game opens my framerate (FPS) drops like a rock?

This can happen with certain game overlay software, such as X-Fire or Mumble. If you are using either of these products, you will need to make sure the in-game features are disabled while multiboxing.

I added a new Key Map but the Key Maps toggle does not disable it?

If you were to build your Hotkeys in the wizard-generated Key Maps, they could be toggled with the usual Key Maps toggle, which is Shift+Alt+M by default.

If your Hotkeys are in brand new Key Maps, the default toggle will NOT toggle your new Key Maps. You can add them. In the Always On key map, under "Activate Maps" there are 2 steps, one to turn off key maps and another to turn them back on. Add a Key Map State Action to each step, to turn your new Key Map on or off as needed. Detailed instructions are under Activate Maps.

The white/black list of Key Maps per Character Set can be used to make sure that only the right Key Maps get loaded for those Characters.

IMPORTANT: TRAP FOR NEW PLAYERS
If you have new Key Maps for different teams, that would conflict with the others (e.g. because they use the same Hotkey), you can add ALL of them to the toggle in the above fashion -- however, you will need to do another step afterward to make sure that only the right ones get loaded for each team. For each Character Set, select it in the top pane, then in the bottom left pane select "Key Maps". This will bring up a Key Maps white/black list. You have the option of white listing only the key maps that CAN (ever) be used for that Character Set (recommended), or black listing the key maps that CANNOT (ever) be used for that Character Set (not recommended because any time you add a new Key Map to the toggle, you would need to go through and black list it on a bunch of Character Sets).

Why do my toons move in different directions?

Your toons will move in different directions if you are broadcasting your movement buttons. Generally this is due to having Key broadcasting and/or Mouse broadcasting enabled. It is meant to be off most of the time. See the Quick Start Guide (WoW; Non-WoW) sections on "Understanding Key Maps vs Repeater" (WoW; Non-WoW) and "Quickly add many broadcasting hotkeys" (WoW; Non-WoW)

Instead of broadcasting your movement keys, use the game's Auto-follow feature if it has one available.

For further reading and instruction on this topic, please see Quick Start Guide 41, Part 4: Gameplay as a multiboxer.

How do I keep my characters in the formations that ISBoxer set up?

You can't. See above.

I am using a mouse button as a hotkey for something, and sometimes it doesn't work, what am I doing wrong?

Keep in mind that mouse buttons are generally meant to be consumed by GUI elements; depending on the position of the cursor, the mouse button may be interpreted differently because it may be over a control in the window that consumes your mouse button!

What we recommend doing instead is to use your mouse button as the Hotkey in ISBoxer, but not in the game. Have ISBoxer send a different button instead.

Alternatively, you can synchronize the cursor position in the Target window to where the mouse is in your active window, using a Sync Cursor Action.

Will this work on a private server?

It may or may not work on a private server. Regardless, no support is provided, and discussion of "private servers" (emulated servers) is prohibited in all areas of the ISBoxer and Inner Space web sites. We run a clean ship here, and we are not interested in supporting or promoting activities that game publishers prohibit -- in other words, whether you agree with this rule or not, it is still the rule and we are still not offering support.

With all of that said, if you are playing World of Warcraft, then do not expect ISBoxer's World of Warcraft-specific features to work, specifically, those enabled by the ISBoxer Addon for World of Warcraft.

Why is my Ventrilo push to talk key not working?

Because Inner Space, and therefore your game, is running as Administrator, you must also run Ventrilo as Administrator for the push to talk key to work while ISBoxer, Inner Space, or your game is active.

Why are my custom keyboard/mouse buttons not working?

If your input device requires software to operate -- such as Logitech SetPoint, Razer Configuration software, Steel Series Engine, Logitech Keyboard Profiler, etc -- you must run this software as Administrator for the custom programming to operate while ISBoxer, Inner Space, or your game is active. Note that this affects the Mouse4 and Mouse5 buttons on some mice, but more generally any additional buttons past 5.

Alternatively, ISBoxer natively supports many Input Devices, allowing you to program them as ISBoxer Hotkeys.

I recently upgraded to Windows 7 and now text is fuzzy and unreadable!

It may help you to disable the ClearType option in Windows 7. This option is found under the Display control panel, or you can type ClearType in the Start menu to quickly find it.

How can I turn off the framerate indicator in the top left corner of ISBoxer game windows?

This needs to be done for each Character Set. Select the Character Set in the top left pane of ISBoxer. In the bottom right pane, under the General tab, check the box next to "Hide FPS (framerate) indicator".

How can I move the A->A,A and A->A,Z buttons in the top left corner of ISBoxer game windows?

This a Menu, which has many of the same properties as a Click Bar. See Positioning Click Bars in game.

As an alternative, you can toggle the display of this "Toggles" menu with Ctrl+Alt+Shift+B. (B is for Broadcasting!)

Or, to hide this menu by default, simply remove its link from your Character Set; to do so, select your Character Set in the top left pane in ISBoxer, find and select the "Toggles" menu in the bottom left pane, and press Delete. Remember to Export to Inner Space to activate any changes you make in the ISBoxer Toolkit! You can still enable/disable the Key Maps and Broadcasting with the Hotkeys even though this menu is not displayed. The defaults are SHIFT+ALT+M for Key Maps and SHIFT+ALT+R for broadcasting (repeater).

I have ISBoxer set up for a group of characters. How can I play another group of characters with the same settings?

Run the Quick Setup Wizard again to create a new Character Set (this creates new Characters as well and ensures all the file virtualization is done correctly). This will also create a new Window Layout. You can replace this new Window Layout with the existing Window Layout by assigning it to the new Character Set as described in the ISBoxer UI video. Finally, if you have made any new Key Maps (or anything else for that matter) they can have the new Character Set assigned to them in the same way. File, Export to Inner Space and you should be good to go.

Why is my game muted and I can't hear anything?

This may happen after playing an ISBoxer team using the "Mute background game window audio and un-Mute foreground window audio" option (in your Character Set), as Windows will remember the last mute setting for that window. To correct the mute setting as needed, open the Volume Mixer via the Volume icon in the Windows taskbar.

I've set ISBoxer to use a 32bit game but it keeps trying to load a 64bit version

This is not actually ISBoxer, but Inner Space. Because your game is a well known game, and Inner Space is trying to make sure that when using 64 bit Inner Space, it is using the 64 bit version of your game. This is to correct some issues that cropped up with different bit versions of Inner Space and your game under Windows 10.
See Inner Space bit options for more info.

Diablo 3

How do I keep my characters in sync?

This topic is covered in detail in our Diablo 3 Quick Start Guide.

I use an authenticator and am getting an error 3 when I enter the security key

This can occur for a few reasons. If this is only happening when you use ISBoxer, then check out the below.

  • Make sure you have disabled Key Maps. SHIFT+ALT+M is the default hotkey, or you can use the left toggle button in the overlay at the top left.
  • Your game may be loading into the wrong region (US/EU/AU/KR etc.) If you can change the region via the game options prior to entering the security key, do so. If not, then you will need to edit the D3Prefs-CHARNAME.txt file and change the Portal entry.
  • If you have created any mapped keys on the number keys, and put them in the Always On Key Map, then they will probably be interfering. You should delete them and recreate your mapped keys in one of the other Key Maps that can be disabled.

EVE Online

Broadcasting Mode is not working when I turn it on, what do I do?

As of January 2015, EVE Online has prohibited input broadcasting on gameplay elements (but, for example, it is still allowed during the login process). As a result, ISBoxer now locks out Broadcasting Mode and Action Target Groups by default for EVE Online to help prevent unintended broadcasting (changelog).

To re-enable Broadcasting for use during CCP's stated-as-acceptable times (login, client settings, window positions, etc), un-check the new Character Set setting 'Disable capabilities to control multiple windows simultaneously, including Broadcasting and Action Target Groups (EVE Online)' and Export to Inner Space. Please take care not to broadcast to multiple EVE Online windows simultaneously during prohibited times.

How do I broadcast only to certain windows, and leave out others?

Note
As of January 2015, EVE Online has prohibted input broadcasting on gameplay elements. It is no longer acceptable to broadcast input to miners and haulers, separately or not, as was the original usage of this FAQ entry.

See HOWTO:Broadcast to specific sets of windows for detailed information and a step-by-step walkthrough.

Is it possible to clone my in-game window positions to my other EVE clients for easy broadcasting?

Note
As of January 2015, EVE Online has prohibted input broadcasting on gameplay elements. It is still allowed to broadcast during login, and to adjust game client settings through the in-game settings windows, and to reposition windows within the game clients.

Yes, see this thread on the dual-boxing.com EVE Online forum for details.

EverQuest

I can't switch windows when the game is at a loading/zoning screen

If you disable Window Swapping, you should have no problem switching windows while zoning. EQ doesn't process window messages (like for the size to change) while zoning (or at other loading screens), sadly. But that's not the end of the world; I don't use Window Swapping anymore, personally -- Video FX are way cooler. Check out these threads for some ideas: How to add a blank window for your video feeds! and Interesting uses for Video FX.

My followers lag behind so much they stop following, how can I fix this?

The reason this happens is your movement speed is loosely tied to your framerate (FPS). If a character's FPS drops below about 20-25, you will have a hard time keeping them following without slowing the leader down. This is typically a symptom of having too many game instances for the number of CPU cores on your system -- ideally, you want a core per instance. (See CPU Management)

To play EverQuest with a CPU handicap, Lavish Software provides a product called EQPlayNice that can be used alongside ISBoxer.

World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft patched and now my ISBoxer Addon is out of date, where do I get the updated Addon?

The ISBoxer Addon is generated for you when you Export to Inner Space. If you have updated ISBoxer since the patch, all you need to do is Export!

Why do my guys stop auto-following when I fight something?

World of Warcraft breaks auto-follow in any of the following conditions:

  • Your character performs a melee swing
  • Your character begins channeling a spell
  • You press a movement key or use mouselook

To re-follow after combat, the default hotkey is Alt+F.

Some builds do not have this "problem", as they do not have (or can avoid using) channeled spells and do not (or can avoid doing any) melee. WoW Addons can also periodically re-follow for you automatically; an example of this is the Follow Strobing feature of the Jamba Addon. If you have the Jamba Addon already, ISBoxer provides a default hotkey Shift+Alt+F to toggle Follow Strobing. There is also a Jamba feature to auto-follow after combat (your mileage may vary).

How can I stop my guys from following me?

Unfortunately, World of Warcraft does not provide a command, hotkey, or Addon functionality to just stop following. Fortunately, pressing a movement key stops following. ISBoxer's Quick Setup Wizard provides two Mapped Keys in the Non-Combat Key Map that will turn your followers left or right in order to break follow. All you have to do is set up a Hotkey for one of them.

  1. In the top pane, under Key Maps, select Non-Combat (General, for pre-ISBoxer 41 configs)
  2. In the bottom left pane, under Mapped Keys, select Others turn left (or right)
  3. In the bottom right pane, at the top, is a Hotkey option. Click the < to set the Hotkey to whatever you would like it to be.
  4. After setting the Hotkey, do an Export to Inner Space. Your Hotkey is immediately ready for you to use after exporting.

Why does one of my toon's bags open when I try to make my team auto-follow me?

Because the ISBoxer Addon is disabled for that toon. The ISBoxer Addon needs to be enabled for it to work.
To fix this, go to the Character Selection screen, in the window that the bags open in, and click the Addons button in the corner. Make sure the ISBoxer Addon is enabled.

I recently set a key binding in the game and now assist doesn't work?

In the future, make sure you turn off Key Maps when you're configuring key bindings in the game. When you have something hotkeyed in ISBoxer to auto-assist and broadcast, the assist comes first. That means you're inadvertently replacing the assist hotkey in the game, instead of binding the key you meant to bind. Go back into the key bindings screen in each window and ensure that the key you meant to assign is the key that really was assigned.

If you can't figure it out, the most common solution is as follows:

  1. In the WoW window(s) that will not assist, open the Key Bindings screen
  2. Find an empty box, that is to say something that isn't bound, and set it to Shift+Backspace
  3. Look at the bottom of the Key Bindings screen, it will tell you what, if anything, was previously bound to Shift+Backspace
  4. Click what you just set to Shift+Backspace
  5. Click Unbind
  6. Close the key bindings screen
  7. Assist will now probably work

Is there a way to switch Character Sets without closing WoW?

Yes!

  1. Log out to the Character Selection screen
  2. Launch your new Character Set as if you were launching a new team. This will refresh the already-open game windows.
  3. Select the correct Characters in the game
  4. Enter the game
  5. For any Characters you did not log out, do a /console reloadui in the game to force the ISBoxer Addon to reload for the correct Character Set

MiRai also demonstrates this specific topic in his MMO Gameplay video series.

Why does Click to Move keep turning off?

The Interact with Target Mapped Key configured by the Quick Setup Wizard enables Click to Move to perform the Interact, and then disables Click to Move.

You can remove the behavior that disables Click to Move:

  1. In the top left pane, under Key Maps, select Non-Combat (General, for pre-ISBoxer 41 configs)
  2. In the bottom left pane, under Mapped Keys, expand "Interact with Target" so that underneath it you see Steps, 1 and 2
  3. Select the 2 under Steps
  4. In the bottom right pane, under Actions, you should now see "Do Click to Move Off in Always On Key Map -> all other". Right click it and select Delete.
  5. Export to Inner Space

Note: If you delete Step 2, you should also change the Mapped Key's "Execute a Step when the Hotkey is" option to simply "released" instead of "pressed OR released"

Also note: If you are using a Do Mapped Key Action to perform Interact with Target, use the "Interact with Target - Keep CTM" version instead.