5-boxing done easy with Strategic Commanders. My story.

[Gandaorm]

Has the Microsoft Strategic Commander been discontined.  Called around town and nobody had one.

Would this be a good way to set up on one computer two-boxing?  It seems as if it would cut down on switching between screens for characters, if I could just set up macros for healing I could continue to melee and just hit the macro when I needed a heal from my cleric.

Thanks

[Bulge]

Has the Microsoft Strategic Commander been discontined.  Called around town and nobody had one.

Would this be a good way to set up on one computer two-boxing?  It seems as if it would cut down on switching between screens for characters, if I could just set up macros for healing I could continue to melee and just hit the macro when I needed a heal from my cleric.

Thanks

No, the Commander will work pretty much like your keyboard, i.e. it will give input to the application that is currently running on the forefront. So in order to activate the Heal macro on your cleric-box, you'd have to select his window first anyway. I do not know of a way to attach an USB-device like the Commander to a specific Proces (in this case the second instance of EQ running on your comp) but I am not very Microsoft savvy so....

Vahaus: I must admit that playing a single toon leaves me unsatisfied very often now, especially when I have to do combat and/or grind mobs. Exploring is still fine, but in some way I have to re-invent playing mmorpgs with a single toon again. I am a bit burned out on all of them anyway, even EQ2, for which I was beta-ing.

[Incite]

Has the Microsoft Strategic Commander been discontined.  Called around town and nobody had one.

Yes, they stopped making them in October last year.  M$ finally come up with a good product and then they quit making 'em! :roll:

[Bulge]

I found quit a few of them for sale on e-bay, even saw an unused one for 5 dollars!  That's a steal. :)

[Gandaorm]

I found several on ebay, ended up getting a new one in the box unopened for $19.95.  So it is on the way and I am looking forward to it getting here.

Is there a way to combine the Ctrl-Alt-S ( I am using eq windows) command to one key stroke for changing between screens, or perhaps you can have that command setup on the Commander?

Thanks, I'll let ya know how it all turns out when I get it.

[Bulge]

You can definately set it up so that you can switch between windows with a single button-push.

Very easy to switch between windows. You can assign pretty much any combination of keystrokes(and sequences of them) to the buttons of the commander. There was one keyboard key though which could not be used in combination with another key, I forgot which. Never bothered me that much though.

[danaconda]

Just making an assumption, but I would guess that key which cannot be combined is the Windows key. The one in between Alt and Ctrl.

I was thinking of picking up one of these, but I realized that since I 2-box on my main machine, and only single on the other machine, it would only be a waste of money for me. I never have any problems at all controlling the secondary computer. I set up macro's specifically for each character, however, I only really use the necro on that machine in 3-boxing. If I happen to use the cleric there, it's while 2-boxing..... and there really is no reason why it would be hard for me to remember that the number 1 on my keyboard is Complete Heal, and 2 is my best heal over time, with 3 being quick heal. I don't really do much else with a cleric bot.  :D

[kalos72]

Doesnt the Nostrmo controller have the same sort of functionality nowdays?  Or do these provide more macro controlling options?  

I dont see myself running more then 3 accounts at once but making the cleric bot easier to control is always nice.

Thanks,

[lanlaor]

Yes the Nostrmo does add all the function the microsoft one did.  I have one and love it.  I dont have any problems with recording macros.

[Theron_Thunderblade]

Which KVM switch did you use?  Was there much delay in switching back and forth?  I'm interested in adding a second computer to split off my several toons. 

[Bulge]

Starview switches.

http://www.startech.com/ststore/itemlist.cfm?category=S10110&mt=&ParentCatId=S10

I have the sv211k and the sv 411 and they work like a clock. They switch almost instantly, milliseconds I would say. The trick is to match the resolution, amount of colours *and* the frequency of the monitor on both computers. This way the switch will be flickerless and instant. You can make the switch both through a button on the device and through a key-stroke combo. (Ctrl-Ctrl-1 or Ctrl-Ctrl-2 and so forth)

If you do not have matched resolutions then the switch is still very fast. These switches use PS2 ports for keyboard and mouse but you have USB switches too. I have no idea how well those work. Btw, you do not have to use the mouse or keyboard switch functionality. In fact, I do not use the mouse-port with the 4x switch so I have mouses linked to all those boxes. I did this because I wanted to be able to still turn my toons around and move them a bit without changing to their boxes. On the other hand, I can do this with my Commanders too if I choose to so it's not really encessary.  Having just one keyboard on your desktop is soooo good. :)

[Tide]

First off, Bulge, let me say I really appreciate you doing this post.  I have been looking into this type of play for a long time.  I want to try it in the future.  I have had a friend play a whole group of 6 on one computer (I cannot get alt tab to cycle correctly through more than two unfortunately although I can load that many) and I know a couple of others that do it on multiple computers but have never had the chance to set it up yet.

My first question is about using three computers for a group of six.  I can bot two easily with alt tab.  I see that you have a druid and cleric on one computer.  Forgive my ignorance, but I think I am using EQ windows although I may not be as I use alt tab instead of the control key stroke sequence I see referred to here. 

"You can definately set it up so that you can switch between windows with a single button-push.

Very easy to switch between windows. You can assign pretty much any combination of keystrokes(and sequences of them) to the buttons of the commander. There was one keyboard key though which could not be used in combination with another key, I forgot which. Never bothered me that much though."

Am I assuming this works fine with alt tab?

My second question is about the KVM switch.  Earlier you said each had to have their own box, but then you showed the cleric and druid on a single box.  The diagram shows they are not on the KVM switch does not handle switching between instances.  I have no problem using three monitors and switching screens and it sounds like it can be done on the commanders.  But I would like to use one keyboard. 

Will this allow me to do this at all?

I don't think making the macro's will be an issue, but I am just making sure I understand why you do not hook up the 2 boxed computer to the KVM switch.  I am just trying to see if this will work instead of having to fool with three keyboards.  And again sorry if I misread something in all the posts and I am just ignorant on these devices, but am trying to see how this works.   

[Bulge]

Hiya. :)
The reason why the Dru/Cler computer was not on the KVM switch is because of the way the computers are linked to the KVM switch. I wanted the Dru/Cler box on its own monitor and this means you can not hook it up to the KVM because the Keyboard feed to the KVM switch is an integral part of the VGA connector that goes to the KVM. And since I wanted the VGA to its own monitor there is no way to just hook the Keyboard of the DRU/Cler box to the KVM.

Right now the Cler and Dru have their own computers and are on a second KVM switch and still on their own monitor.

About hooking 3 computers up to a KVM, each with two Instances of EQ running: that sure is possible. However, you will only have 1 monitor then as I explained above.  I am pretty sure you can program Alt-Tab to one of the Commanders buttons in order to switch windows, however, you must realize( I am sure you do) that you can only  "steer" the *active* instance with your commander. My biggest problem would be how to keep track of  which instance is currently active on what computer. :) All the switching is easy, between windows and comps but the keeping track would kill me!
So unless you want to switch to your 2x2 other boxes a LOT with the KVM to ensure which Window is active, you may gonna mess up.  But this is just me, I know other people are much more apt at window-boxing. But remember, you just have the one monitor.

However, the biggest reason why I put the Cler and Dru on their own boxes, is the "/follow"-lag. For some reason, the toon that was on the IN-active window, lagged humongously, running in wide circles as soon as I had him /follow my toon and this totally messed up moving around with my group, causing adds and such. It could be because the comp was too slow, but I heard the problem before with peeps that had great computers.

I never camp in one spot with my group, I made this Hydra in order to do Crawls and missions and such and have enough firepower to keep ahead of spawns so the windowed thing was not working for me. But you may not have this /follow problem with your computers.

Let me hear how it works out!

Edit:  taking a second look at my cables, it *may* be possible to just use the keyboard/mouse part of the link, not sure.  One end of the cable is a VGA-type connector that goes into the KVM; the other end is split 3-ways: one VGA to your vid card, one ps2 to your mouse and one ps2 to your keyboard(I use ps2 KVM switches, there are USB switches but dunno how they work).  However, it seems that both PS2 wires first go back to the VGA conncetor, after which a single Wire goes to the KVM. I'll show a pic.

This is how they look, you see the "computer"-end of the cables here: http://www.startech.com/ststore/itemdetail.cfm?ProductID=PS23N1THIN10

So I am  not sure what happens if you just plug the two ps2 connectors in and leave the VGA connector out (so you can hook your box on its own monitor).

[Tide]

Thanks for the help.  I am still exploring how I am going to do this.  I will have 3 computers but that is it.  I am not going to do this until I move sometime between May and August.  It will be easier to set up after the move.  Luckily money is not the issue with getting the extra equipment I will need for the setup.  I have seen three people run 6 before so I wanted to do it myself.

I raid my wizard right now and this six box try honestly is going to be for fun.  I want to make a 6 person group to do LDON's from start to 60 or 65.  I mainly want to play some race/classes I think would have enjoyable abilities to play as well as looking cool at while playing.  Everyone has their own tendencies on this and thankfully this game has many options.  I plan on playing beastlord, necromancer, and shadowknight for this reason.  All I ever played much was a cleric and wizard, so I will have them obviously for a less of a learning curve.  If you can think which class would round out this group then fire away.  And again thanks for any tips on setup. 

I always thought boxing on one computer was really easy.  This is going to be the kicker to see how three computers are.

[jaskorak]

On accident one day I found out that you do not have to press Alt+tab in order to cycle through each instance. My mouse wheel button acts as Alt tab so it is very simple to cycle through all of my instances. I have the microsoft inteli optical mouse and was hating have to alt tab and then one day I pressed down on my mouse wheel button and switched instances so I guess it is a default hot key for Alt+tab. Anyway the only time I have to use Alt+tab is when one of my characters die then it freezes and will not respond while loading the dead toon to his bind point, so I just hit alt+tab to cycle through.