EVE:Quick Start Guide
ISBoxer is the most feature-packed multiboxing software available, and over the last 2 years has also become the easiest to use. As such, there are a lot of guides and videos available, some of which go into great detail on various features, many of which have been superseded by newer and easier to use features.
This guide will help you find the quickest and easiest way to get started multiboxing EVE Online with ISBoxer, and how to get the most out of ISBoxer without confusing yourself. We will try to cover in detail all of the topics a brand new multiboxer might need to know.
If at any point you don't understand something in this guide, please feel free to stop by the ISBoxer Chat Room for help.
Contents
Before configuring ISBoxer
Before you can configure ISBoxer, you will need to make sure that Inner Space (installed by ISBoxer) is running in the system tray (usually next to the clock, where all the icons are). ISBoxer is going to generate configuration for Inner Space, based on what you set up in the ISBoxer software.
If EVE Online was auto-detected by Inner Space, it will already be listed in the Inner Space menu, and may have an EVE Online Default Profile for you to use with ISBoxer. If not, you will need to select "Add Game" from the Inner Space menu, and point it to the EVE Online client, eve.exe. Unless playing on Singularity, you do not need to enter anything in the Parameters box, just click OK.
Getting started
Start by using the Quick Setup Wizard, easily found in the Wizards menu. The Quick Setup Wizard is pretty much self-explanatory, and has as few options in it as possible.
After setting up your configuration in ISBoxer, Export the settings to Inner Space to activate the configuration. This can be done from the File menu. ISBoxer does not need to be running during play, but it is common to leave it open in case you want to make changes during gameplay. We do recommend trying out your configuration before making many changes, so will you know later whether you broke something or it was already broke.
After Exporting, you can launch your team through the Inner Space menu under "ISBoxer Character Sets", or right click on your Character Set in ISBoxer (in the top pane) and select Launch. Once you are comfortable with your setup, you can export your character set to a simple desktop shortcut by right clicking your team and selecting "create desktop shortcut".
Hotkeys created by the Quick Setup Wizard
- All ISBoxer Hotkeys are, of course, configurable.
- Always On
- Non-combat
- Ctrl+Space: Make others jump - must be modified for Eve users
- Always On
- Activate Mouse Repeat
- Next window
- Previous window
- Combat
Each Key Map (such as Always On) has a short description inside ISBoxer. Select a Key Map in the top pane and a Mapped Key in the bottom left pane to see the descriptions. These descriptions are for you, so please take the time to look at them.
Disabling ISBoxer's default Ctrl+Space hotkey
ISBoxer does not currently generate EVE-specific Hotkeys and will use its generic MMORPG template, this means that your hotkeys for the current window will not be transmitted to the other accounts unless you further modify the template. The default mapping that will pose a problem for some EVE players is the Ctrl+Space binding that is used to stop your ship.
If you use Ctrl+Space to stop your ship, or otherwise want to disable the 'Others jump' Hotkey in ISBoxer:
- In the top pane in ISBoxer, under Key Maps, select Non-combat
- In the bottom left pane, select Others jump
- In the bottom right pane, click the < to change the Hotkey, and set it to nothing. Or, right click Others jump in the bottom left pane and select Delete.
Logging into the game
After using the Quick Setup Wizard and then Exporting the configuration (File, Export), you will need to launch your Character Set. There are 3 ways of doing so:
- Right click the Inner Space icon in the system tray, and find the Character Set listed under the ISBoxer Character Sets menu
- Right click the Character Set in the top pane in ISBoxer, and select Launch
- or, Create a desktop Launch shortcut. To do so, right click the Character Set in the top pane in ISBoxer, and select Create desktop Launch shortcut
Note that later on if you need to re-launch a specific window (say it crashes for some reason or you closed out one of the windows), all you need to do is launch your Character Set again and it will simply fill in the missing windows.
When the Character Set is launched, each Eve window will come up, one at a time. Once the game window is up with ISBoxer activated, ISBoxer will continue launching the remaining instances in the same fashion.
Let's get to entering your password. Key Maps default to being enabled. If you set up any Hotkeys that are also in your password, you may need to temporarily disable Key Maps to enter it. That's because your Hotkeys alter the behavior of those keys (that's the whole point of your Hotkeys, after all).
- There are two ways of toggling Key Maps
- Hit the hotkey Shift+Alt+M
- or, if the icons as shown to the right are visible, click the "A,Z" button on the left to give it gray arrows. The icon is showing that, when enabled, this feature may translate a key into a different key than you pressed in different windows (which, as we are discussing, may make it difficult to enter your password or type in a chat window, etc)
Tip: While we have you looking at the icons, you might be wondering how to move them. The Quick Setup Wizard told you on the last page, but here it is again. Hit Ctrl+Shift+Alt+G to bring up the in-game ISBoxer Control Panel, and then the Click Bar can be dragged to wherever you like. After moving it, click Sync to put it in the same position on all windows, and click Save to save the position for the next time you launch the game.
If your password is the same across all of your accounts, you probably want to enter your password in all windows at the same time. You will want to temporarily turn on 1-to-1 broadcasting, aka Repeater, to accomplish that.
- There are two ways of toggling Repeater
- Hit the hotkey Shift+Alt+R
- or, if the icons as shown above are visible, click the "A,A" button on the right to give it green arrows. The icon is showing that, when enabled, this feature will broadcast the key you press to all of the other windows.
Note that if both Key Maps and Repeater are on, they are both active, and Key Maps always trump Repeater.
- The typical login sequence goes something like this
- Turn Key Maps off
- Turn Repeater on
- Type password and press Enter
- Wait for Character Selection screen
- Press Enter
- Turn Key Maps on
- Turn Repeater off
Understanding Key Maps vs Repeater
First, Key Maps are intended to generally be on, and Repeater is intended to generally be off.
Key Maps are powered by various Hotkeys, which when activated do something that you specifically want, like activate a module. The only time Key Maps need to be off is if you intend to use those Hotkeys for other things instead, like to type in your password, or chat in the game.
Repeater is a simple broadcast of exactly the buttons you push, and the way you move your mouse. The only time Repeater needs to be on is if you intend for every button you push and every movement of your mouse to be broadcast to the other windows, like to type in your password on all windows at once, or accept or complete a mission, and so on. It is possible to use Repeater more generally by assigning a white or black list, but this is not recommended –- a Key Map can instead be created with all of the keys and key combinations needed, using the Many new Mapped Keys window (see "Quickly add many broadcasting hotkeys" section below).
Quickly add many broadcasting hotkeys
- In the top pane, click on "Combat" under Key Maps
- In the bottom left pane, where it now shows "Combat" and then "Mapped Keys", right click on Mapped Keys and select Many new Mapped Keys.
- At the top of the Many new Mapped Keys window is a box labeled "Press a key combination here". Click in that box, and press each and every combination of keys you want to set up right now, which may include any combination of alt,ctrl,shift with whichever non-modifier key you like.
- The "Target for keystrokes" box lets you pick the intended target windows for the keystroke to be passed to. Typically this would be "Window:All w/ current" which will pass the keystroke to every window including the one you are in. Likewise, "Window: All w/o current" will pass the keystroke to every window excluding the one you are in (aka "all other").
- The "Do this Mapped Key first" box lets you pick a Mapped Key to perform before the keystroke is passed. Usually you want to just leave it empty, but this would typically be used for things like automatically assisting your main character before an attack.
- The "Do this Mapped Key after" box lets you pick a Mapped Key to perform after the keystroke is passed. Usually you want to just leave it empty.
- Click OK!
Performance considerations
One of the things the Quick Setup Wizard sets up is Instant Swap. What this feature does is sync the actual resolution of all of the game windows, such that even when shrunk, the windows are still rendering at the full resolution. This will somewhat reduce your framerate (FPS), but is required to enable Instant Swap and provide perfect mouse broadcasting. If you don't need Instant Swap or perfect mouse broadcasting, a performance increase can be achieved by simply disabling this option in your Window Layout.
To disable Instant Swap:
- In the top pane, click on your Window Layout under Window Layouts. It will usually have the same name as your Character Set
- In the bottom right pane near the top under Main region switcher, uncheck Instant swap
Using multiple game folders
In general, using multiple game folders is unnecessary for Eve online, as the game will work fine and the settings will be saved for each individual instance.
For more information, see Multiple game folders
