PwnBoxer key broadcasting is breaking

[xunil76]

i'm having a problem with PwnBoxer and dual-boxing. i've got everything set up and i can dual-box with no problems, but i was noticing that my frame rates were crap (30fps or less), and my system is overkill for two measly instances of WoW. it took me a while, but i finally figured out that i had to disable vertical sync when running two instances of WoW, and when i did that, my frames jumped from 30 or less to well over 100 in my main window.

HOWEVER:

once i close both instances of WoW and start them back up again (using PwnBoxer), my frames are crap again, even with vertical sync disabled. i can easily fix this by enabling/disabling vertical sync again, but the problem is that when i do this in my main WoW instance, key broadcasting no longer works for me, requiring me to completely close/reopen both instances of WoW again.....which is a catch-22, because then my frame rates are crap again...it's a vicious, annoying cycle....and anything less than 60fps to me is really crap, especially due to the size of my main monitor.

Computer specs:

Win7 Home Premium x64 (retail copy, not beta or RC)
Core2Duo E8400 dual-core @ stock (3Ghz)
AMD ATI Radeon HD4870 @ 790/1100Mhz (core/mem)
dual LCD setup (1x 1920x1280 28" & 1x 1280x1024 18")
4GB Kingston HyperX DDR2 1066 RAM
2x Western Digital Caviar Blue WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA in RAID1 (OS/Programs drive)
1x Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA (Storage, with pagefile moved to it, off the OS/Program drive)
PwnBoxer v2.01.121305

anyone have any idea why this is happening, and have any ideas on how to re-establish key broadcasting without having to close down WoW & reopen it again?

[TheMuffinMan]

When you setup your path to your WoW executable in Pwnboxer, it allows you to restrict the FPS of each WoW as well as restrict the graphics settings.

Have you set anything up in there to that effect?

[xunil76]

i've tried it both ways, both with limiting my 2nd screen to 5fps, and leaving them both with "Limit this game's FPS" completely unchecked....same thing happens each time....well, more specifically, the 2nd screen does actually limit to 5fps, but the main screen is always the same

[TheMuffinMan]

What about the slider for the graphics settings at the bottom of that same window?

The settings are for each individual window, so check them all too.

[xunil76]

still a no-go....i've tried it with them both completely unchecked, and with the 1st screen set to max and the 2nd to minimum, and i still have the same problem

what's really screwy, tho, is that when i have vertical sync disabled on the 2nd screen and the 2nd screen has focus, i'm getting 170+ fps....but yet, when i go back to the main screen it's only around 30-ish

[TheMuffinMan]

what about the sliders for the graphics settings? those disabled too?

[xunil76]

it only seems to be when i launch the game using PwnBoxer that i have the crap framerates on my main monitor.....i just launched WoW the normal way on only my main instance of WoW, on the main monitor, with vsync disabled, and it's getting 120+ fps right now....even in Thunder Bluff

[xunil76]

Originally Posted by TheMuffinMan

what about the sliders for the graphics settings? those disabled too?

yeah, i also tried it with them completely unchecked and had the same issue

[xunil76]

just for the sake of trying, i just tried swapping the DVI cables to the opposite ports on the video card, still has the problem

[Tim]

Hey there,

As I'm sure you know, your framerate cannot actually be 100. The reason why vsynch exists is to lock the amount of GPU and CPU processing to not exceed that of which your monitor can display.

So for example, if I run WoW naturally, disable vsynch, and have no FPS limiting, my WoW will report often 1500+ fps. Am I actually getting this? No. The most I can get is 60fps, because my monitor has a 60hz refresh rate. Any number above 60fps will not make a slightest difference in the actual FPS since the max is 60hz.

So back to the original question: Pwnboxer has built in FPS limiting which is that min/max that you see. If you want to go above 30fps, just enable the FPS limiting and set it to 60. Choose the appropriate graphic level for you.

So it isn't a bug here, its just an understanding issue of what FPS really means.