fast game switching and macros to set focus

[oxiclean]

hi, ive been using f1 through f5 to switch wows and ctrl 1 through 5 to set focus.

I have tried to use both f1 through f5 to do both by using a hotbar in game to hold the macros to set focus but when i set the bindings to the same keys as my fast game switching they do not broadcast.

why? am i doing something wrong?

this would make it a one step switch and im frustrated.

[ollee]

With my expierence I found that pwnboxer doesn't quite flawlessly switch game windows. It seemed to be sluggish, as well as not always switching to the proper window...this could be contributing to that, but then again I may have been doing something wrong.

[Tim]

Pwnboxer does switch to the right window, people use it hundreds of times a day. I can only guess that your window isn't in focus that you're switching to (click the window sometimes to focus it)

Okay so the big thing here is that you do NOT want to tie your window switching key to the re-focus key. The reason is that quite often you will need to button mash your focus macro due to simply how WoW works, server lag, etc. Since if you bind your focus to the window switching, you cannot button mash, therefore you do need it to be on 2 different keys.

[chivalri]

Originally Posted by Tim

Pwnboxer does switch to the right window, people use it hundreds of times a day. I can only guess that your window isn't in focus that you're switching to (click the window sometimes to focus it)

This works great MOST of the time for me.

I have noticed the following issues:

If the MAIN window is not the one in focus, the switch screens works funny. Using a three window setup, I see this a lot. If I use one of the two small windows to loot thus giving it focus but then press the change screen keys, sometimes the two small windows change and the main window remains the same. Then the window change keys get out of whack for a little bit. I know how to fix this by pressing the key again then putting focus on the main to then swap windows.

If the MAIN window is already the one I press the key for, the results are not always what I expect. I would expect nothing to happen and can live with toggling back to the original main (which is what normally happens) but sometimes the order gets messed up this way too.

Perhaps this is an issue with my computer but if I change MAIN window more than around 40 times, in mid change the computer locks up and resets. For more detail on this: I am using XP Pro with Service pack 3 and full updates. I have 4gb of memory and am using a Dell Vostro 200 with the on board graphics card set in bios to use 256 MB memory. The card can display 1600x1200 on my monitor and I get about 40 FPS when using this resolution when running just one WOW at a time. I normally am running 3 WOW with pwnboxer at once (sometimes 5 but my kids want to play too and I only have 5 accounts right now) with each WOW instance set to use 1280x1024. I am using nUI, Carbonite, Omen, Recount, and Jamba as my only add ons. I have pwnboxer set to use least graphics settings for all but the main window but left all of the other settings default (well, besides the keypresses). I am not presently using the mouse broadcasting. With this setup, I am getting about 25 fps on all the WOW instances. I can reproduce the lock up often. A generic fatal error is left in the XP system log (Event viewer) but does not provide much detail (none I found useful) however I can send you the exception text if you care.

I hope that this is enough data for you.

I will work on checking a few other things like memory usage monitoring (see if there is a memory leak). I will also check handles, thread count, and GDI objects.

[oxiclean]

Originally Posted by chivalri

This works great MOST of the time for me.

I have noticed the following issues:

If the MAIN window is not the one in focus, the switch screens works funny. Using a three window setup, I see this a lot. If I use one of the two small windows to loot thus giving it focus but then press the change screen keys, sometimes the two small windows change and the main window remains the same. Then the window change keys get out of whack for a little bit. I know how to fix this by pressing the key again then putting focus on the main to then swap windows.

If the MAIN window is already the one I press the key for, the results are not always what I expect. I would expect nothing to happen and can live with toggling back to the original main (which is what normally happens) but sometimes the order gets messed up this way too.

Perhaps this is an issue with my computer but if I change MAIN window more than around 40 times, in mid change the computer locks up and resets. For more detail on this: I am using XP Pro with Service pack 3 and full updates. I have 4gb of memory and am using a Dell Vostro 200 with the on board graphics card set in bios to use 256 MB memory. The card can display 1600x1200 on my monitor and I get about 40 FPS when using this resolution when running just one WOW at a time. I normally am running 3 WOW with pwnboxer at once (sometimes 5 but my kids want to play too and I only have 5 accounts right now) with each WOW instance set to use 1280x1024. I am using nUI, Carbonite, Omen, Recount, and Jamba as my only add ons. I have pwnboxer set to use least graphics settings for all but the main window but left all of the other settings default (well, besides the keypresses). I am not presently using the mouse broadcasting. With this setup, I am getting about 25 fps on all the WOW instances. I can reproduce the lock up often. A generic fatal error is left in the XP system log (Event viewer) but does not provide much detail (none I found useful) however I can send you the exception text if you care.

I hope that this is enough data for you.

I will work on checking a few other things like memory usage monitoring (see if there is a memory leak). I will also check handles, thread count, and GDI objects.

Hey thanks Tim for replying, that is all i needed to know (that it is better not to bind everything together when switching windows and focus).

As to the quoted reply I also get this from time to time. If you do not click or focus on the window your on you can actually switch small windows. Any way to put something in pwnboxer to keep the order of the windows in check and only swap your main window with the one you are clicking to switch to? I dont really see a situation where the current way pwn operates would be benificial. its not the biggest deal but if a fix would come along it would be nice.

hey Tim on a side note any advice on running 5 60 shamans in ramparts, they get hit so hard?

[Tim]

Yea sometimes the window will not gain focus, but if you do the auto focus, that'll fix that, and then windows will "snap" much faster and resolve the window swapping thing mentioned.

[oxiclean]

Originally Posted by Tim

Yea sometimes the window will not gain focus, but if you do the auto focus, that'll fix that, and then windows will "snap" much faster and resolve the window swapping thing mentioned.

to tell the truth Tim since the new pwn was released i only tried auto focus once and turned it off.

let me explain how i have pwn running on my system and what sometimes happens when swapping, auto focus swapping and mouse broadcasting, maybe something is off compared to others who use this software.

im running 5 in windowed mode but i stretch the windows so i get a near fullscreen view. i mean by that, that i dont show the windows taskbar. When switching from game to game in any of the ways i mentioned the instance of wow the is being switched to flashes on windows taskbar. In some instances like mouse broadcasting serveral or all windows will do the same flashing on the windows taskbar.
ok no big deal in most cases but, i find that after several repeated mouse broadcasts or window swaps the wows begin to lag. Kind of as if when normal pwn and my computer focuses on one wow at a time and when this occurs it begins to lag from focusing on several. Its hard to explain but i think i did an ok job of it.
To correct this lag i have to click on each of those wows on the windows taskbar untill it is no longer highlighted then it runs back to 60 fps and all is good.
ill give the auto focus a try again cuz i really do like the feature.

[Tim]

Interesting, so it looks like maybe Windows with the taskbar trying to be on top, the flashing happens every window switch?

I think I should make a thread concerning potential bugs to help get some more information from people.

Thanks for the post

[oxiclean]

np Tim the main reason i chose pwnboxer over ******** was your enthusiasm and the amount of involvement by you to upgrade and further improve your product.

[Tim]

Well I hate to quote that hairclub-for-men guy, but I'm not only the maker of Pwnboxer, I'm also a customer

But really, I multibox freakishly way too often, so you could say I'm testing Pwnboxer out easily 40+ hours a week, not to mention all the live streams of me using Pwnboxer.

I actually have a new minor Pwnboxer update coming out most likely tomorrow morning to address some small bugs and also to tweak a few features.

Just wait until you see the big things I'm working on for Pwnboxer, you'd flip