How to deal with multiple configurations?

I still feel very new to all this, and am probably missing some quite basic notions.

I have a desktop machine and two laptops, which I use in various combinations at different times. (I have other machines that I may want to add to the mix later, but for now this is complicated enough.)

The desktop has two monitors: 1920x1080 and 1680x1050. I usually play only on the 1920x1080 screen, using the other for misc things like web browsing and the ISBoxer and InnerSpace windows.

Laptop1 has a 1920x1080 screen matching the main screen on the desktop.

Laptop2 has a 1600x900 screen.

When at home I may have access to all 3. Other times I have just the laptops.

Working on the desktop I defined a few character sets for each of the machines. At home I run 3, 4, or 5 characters on the main machine, 2,3, or 4 characters on Laptop1, and sometimes another character on laptop2.

When I have only the laptops, I'll run 3 or 4 characters on Laptop1 and 1 or 2 on laptop2.

So I have primary character sets defined for the desktop which also launch secondary sets on one or both laptops.

I also have duplicates of some of those primary sets with the computer changed to laptop1 and the secondary also-launch sets changed to the second laptop. For times when I don't have the desktop available.

Without window layouts, it all seemed to work, basically, though I am using only a little of the ISBoxer power.

I just started trying to use Window Layouts.

I defined layouts for the character sets running on the desktop and laptop1. I figured the one or two characters running on Laptop2 didn't need a layout. I'll not be using that as a primary machine... just let the instances run in overlapped windows.

PROBLEM: when I export everything to all computers, it wants to change the resolution on characters on laptop2 to 1920xsomething "based on your window layout", even though there are no layouts at all in any character sets that run on that computer.

If I let it make the change, then the game comes up at the higher resolution so it doesn't fit the screen. So then I have to go in and change the eqclient files to get back to a working setup.

It seems wrong that the system would want to change the resolution for Lisse on laptop2 based on a layout associated with Lisse only on laptop1 or the desktop.

But since I don't see others complaining about such things, I'm guessing that the problem is in the way I am using the system.

I need Lisse defined as running in 1920 resolution on the desktop and laptop1, but in 1600 resolution on laptop2.
(this applies to several characters, not just Lisse, of course)

She cannot do both at once, obviously. But I need to be able to launch character sets including her on any of the machines, so she runs at different resolutions at different times. On any given machine, her resolution does not change.

Any suggestions?

I'm guessing that you are going to tell me that I should not have all my character sets loaded into ISBoxer at the same time, since I define Lisse as possibly running on more than one computer and conflicts like this arise.

With everything in one large configuration, if I make a change to something it changes it everywhere. I like that. If I split things up into several different configuration files so that each character runs only on one particular machine in a given configuration, then when I make changes I have to do it separately in each place.

How do people usually handle such things?

[lax]

PROBLEM: when I export everything to all computers, it wants to change the resolution on characters on laptop2 to 1920xsomething "based on your window layout", even though there are no layouts at all in any character sets that run on that computer.

It has to try to determine the ideal resolution for any given Character based on what you have configured. You might not run a particular Character Set on this computer, but because the Character is assigned to that Character Set, and it has a Window Layout, then this is where it must get the resolution from. Note that the Virtual File (the configuration file) is assigned to your Character, not the Character Set.

This doesn't matter whether it's one PC or two or three, if you have a Character in more than one Character Set, with different Window Layouts (or one with and one without a layout, etc), then the right resolution for the configuration file is an unsolvable problem because only one of the resolutions can be saved. If you want to avoid this issue, you have to use a different "Character" for the set.

You can also check the box for ISBoxer to not pop up the box and click No, and it will do the same thing the next time it would have popped up (not change anything). Then you're just on your own as far as the game resolution working out correctly for your layout.

PROBLEM: when I export everything to all computers, it wants to change the resolution on characters on laptop2 to 1920xsomething "based on your window layout", even though there are no layouts at all in any character sets that run on that computer.

It has to try to determine the ideal resolution for any given Character based on what you have configured. You might not run a particular Character Set on this computer, but because the Character is assigned to that Character Set, and it has a Window Layout, then this is where it must get the resolution from. Note that the Virtual File (the configuration file) is assigned to your Character, not the Character Set.

This doesn't matter whether it's one PC or two or three, if you have a Character in more than one Character Set, with different Window Layouts (or one with and one without a layout, etc), then the right resolution for the configuration file is an unsolvable problem because only one of the resolutions can be saved. If you want to avoid this issue, you have to use a different "Character" for the set.

You can also check the box for ISBoxer to not pop up the box and click No, and it will do the same thing the next time it would have popped up (not change anything). Then you're just on your own as far as the game resolution working out correctly for your layout.

Ok. So it sounds like the right answer for me is to give the characters different ISBoxer names on the different machines? I could have Lisse on the desktop, Lisse2 on the lower-resolution laptop, for example. The two would refer to the same in-game character, but would be treated as separate by IBoxer, avoiding this particular problem.

I would probably wind up with unused virtual files for the unused aliases on each machine, but that's not really a big deal. This way I could still keep everything together so common elements like key maps and virtual keys and such are in one place, not duplicated across multiple separate configurations that would need to be updated individually.

Reasonable? Or am I still missing something?

[lax]

Yes, correct

Thank you.

Being so new, I should not even ask about possible changes.

But I'm gonna mention a couple things anyway. Please let me know if I am being silly 'cause I missed something, or just ignore it... but it might give someone something to think about.

To me, it would seem natural to separate character sets from computers and uplinking.

A character set can run on any machine. I can define a character set without a computer specified, and launch it on my desktop or my laptop as needed.

But to tie multiple machines together, you make me fix each character set to a computer. Messy when I want to reconfigure, which I need to do a couple of times a day.

As I become more adept with the tools, it will probably become trivial to edit the assignments each time I change.

But as a more elegant solution you could just pull the computer and also-launch out of the character sets into a new level which might be called a "launch group". Or leave them there for backward compatibility.

Then define a new menu, something like:

Launch Group 1
slot 1 launch <character set 1> on <computer 1>
slot 2 launch <character set 2> on <computer 2>
...

which accomplishes the same thing as assigning computer 1 to set 1, computer 2 to set 2, and adding set 2 as "also launch" to set 1.

The difference is that I can then also define:

Launch Group 2
slot 1 launch <character set 1> on <computer 2>
slot 2 launch <character set 2> on <computer 3>
...

which lets me do what I need without changing anything when I go from location to location.

Though I no longer have a serious problem with this, I do think that it would be cleaner this way.

----

About the Windows Layouts. It bothers me that the system keeps wanting to change the resolution to something that is inappropriate for the machine it is running on, based on associations that will never actually occur on that machine.

This occurs because you are checking against all possible uses of a character anywhere.

Maybe you could defer the check until launch, and check only the characters actually launched against the Window Layout actually used?

That would keep the system from suggesting unwarranted changes. But it still leaves a problem in that the same character set may need different layouts on different machines.

Unlike character sets, Window Layouts do have machine constraints. You can't run a high-res layout on a low-res machine, and you don't often want to settle for a low-res layout on a fast high-res machine.

If something like the launch group concept were implemented, it could allow an override of the layout for each specific launch?

Dunno. Still thinking.

[lax]

Not that I disagree, but at this point making such drastic changes to ISBoxer in order to solve this issue is sort of out of the question. Many things are designed the way it is right now because of limitations inherent in Inner Space, or other not so dissimilar reasons, and I realize that this particular quirk is inconvenient for your corner case...

A solution to your problem that you would find much more convenient was laid out for the next generation of software. I don't have a current ETA on that, as it has kept getting pushed back for various reasons. Hopefully I will have more time to spend on it soon. (Note: it has been in development for a while; the same subscription covers the new software when it becomes available.)