Tech - Guide to Multiboxing with seperate PCs on a local network

[Razkle]

Guide to Multiboxing with seperate PCs on a local network

What I have is 6 PCs, 2 laptops and a server pc. You can just treat your main computer as the "server" if you do not want to run a server. I run a server and it also hosts my eqbc, this cuts down on lag for me.

Lets do an example for 3 PCs:
PC1=Main computer
PC2=Slave Box
PC3=Slave box

On PC1 download and install MQ2.

SHARE the EQ2 Release Directory with your network (Right Click the release folder and SHARE WITH, then SPECIFIC PEOPLE, then add EVERYONE and give them read/write acess)

On PC2 open your network and go to PC1 and select the MQ2 Release icon and Right Click it and select MAP NETWORK DRIVE. I always set mine to Q for MQ2, but you can do any of them.

Now open your new drive (Q: in my case) and you should see the MacroQuest2 icon for the application, right click this and select CREATE SHORTCUT. Copy this shortcut to your local desktop.

Doubleclick the MQ2 icon on your local desktop and MQ2 will pull all the ini and macs from your server! Viola!


On PC3 repeat the process for 2, as a matter of fact you can repeat this for any number of PCs you have that need MQ2.

This process makes it so that you only need to maintain 1 set of .mac's and ini's for all your boxes! and I have found no lag added from this.

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The only drawback I have found is that you MUST make sure to quit MQ2 on ALL PCs BEFORE doing an update, but you already have to do that!

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Now if I can only mod mq2melee to store the holies in the MACRO directory I can localize all my holies and this will be perfect!

 

[Randyleo]

If you share the MQ2 directory it will.

 

[Razkle]

oh yes it is sharing that too

 

[swarmhost9922]

How do I share the directory?

 

[ugghh]

Doubleclick the MQ2 icon on your local desktop and MQ2 will pull all the ini and macs from your server! Viola!

As opposed to violin? Sorry Raz couldn't resist.

Seriously though thanks for the nice write up.

 

[Razkle]

Anytime, I am still excited after 14 years of playing EQ to have an "ahh hah" moment and them come share it here.

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Sharing files with public folders


To share items in your Public folder and its subfolders with other users of your computer, you don't need to do a thing. By default, all users with an account on your computer can log on and create, view, modify, and delete files in the Public folders. The person who creates a file in a Public folder (or copies an item to a Public folder) is the file's Owner and has Full Control access. All others who log on locally have Modify access. For more information on access levels, see What are permissions?

To share items in your Public folder with network users, click the Start button Picture of the Start button, click Network, and then click Network and Sharing Center. Turn on Public Folder Sharing (for information on how to do this, see Sharing files with the Public folder). You can't select which network users get access, nor can you specify different access levels for different users. Sharing via the Public folder is quick and easy—but it's rigidly inflexible.

Sharing files and folders from any folder


Whether you plan to share files and folders with other people who share your computer or with those who connect to your computer over the network (or both), the process for setting up shared resources is the same as long as the Sharing Wizard is enabled. We recommend that you use the Sharing Wizard even if you normally disdain wizards. It's quick, easy, and almost certain to make all of the correct settings for network shares and NTFS permissions—a sometimes daunting task if undertaken manually. Once you've configured shares with the wizard, you can always dive in and make changes manually if you want.

To make sure the Sharing Wizard is enabled, click the Start button Picture of the Start button, type "folder" in the Search box, and then click Folder Options. Click the View tab. In the Advanced settings box, scroll down the list and make sure the Use Sharing Wizard (Recommended) check box is selected.



Screen shot of View tab with advanced settings selected
The process for setting up shared resources is the same as long as the Sharing Wizard is enabled

With the Sharing Wizard at the ready, follow these steps to share files or folders:

1.In Windows Explorer, select the folders or files you want to share. (You can select multiple objects.)


2.In the Command bar, click Share. (Alternatively, right-click, and then click Share.)



Screen shot of Sharing Wizard showing names of people chosen for sharing
With the Sharing Wizard, it's quick and easy to share files or folders with other people


3.In the file sharing box, enter the name of the user with whom you want to share files or folders, and then click Add. You can type a name in the box or click the arrow to display a list of available names. Repeat for each person you want to add.

The list includes all of the users who have an account on your computer, plus Everyone. If you want to grant access to someone who doesn't appear in the list, you need to create a user account for that person (for information on how to do this, see Create a user account).




Note

If you select Everyone, and you have password-protected sharing enabled, the user must still have a valid account on your computer. However, if you have turned off password-protected sharing, network users can gain access only if you grant permission to Everyone or to Guest.



4.For each user, select a permission level. Your choices are:

• Reader. Users with this permission level can view shared files and run shared programs, but cannot change or delete files. Selecting Reader in the Sharing Wizard is equivalent to setting NTFS permissions to Read & Execute.


• Contributor. This permission level, which is available only for shared folders (not shared files), allows the user to view all files, add files, and change or delete files that the user adds. Selecting Contributor sets NTFS permissions to Modify.


• Co-owner. Users who are assigned the Co-owner permission have the same privileges that you do as the Owner: They can view, change, add, and delete files in a shared folder. Selecting Co-owner sets NTFS permissions to Full Control for this user.





Note

You might see other permission levels if you return to the Sharing Wizard after you set up sharing. The Custom permission level identifies NTFS permissions other than Read & Execute, Modify, and Full Control. The Mixed permission level appears if you select multiple items, and those items have different sharing settings. Owner, of course, identifies the owner of the item.



5.Click Share. After a few moments, the wizard displays a page similar to the page shown in the following illustration.



Screen shot of Sharing Wizard confirming the network path for each item shared
The Sharing Wizard displays the network path for each item you've shared


6.In the final step of the wizard, you can do any of the following:

•Send an e-mail message to the people with whom you're sharing. The message includes a link to the shared file or folder.



Screen shot of e-mail message with link to shared item
With the Sharing Wizard, you can send a message that includes a link to the item you want to share


•Copy the network path to the Clipboard. This is handy if you want to send a link via instant messenger or another application.


•Double-click a share name to open the shared item.


•Open a search folder that shows all of the folders or files you're sharing.



7.When you're finished with these tasks, click Done.


Creating a share requires privilege elevation. But, after a folder has been shared, the shared folder is available to network users no matter who is logged on to your computer—or even when nobody is logged on.

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Taken from Microsoft at HERE

 

[Zero0003]

It's a good idea but there is too many faults in it to cause problems.

Issue with server which host the files has issues and need to restart.... Restarting will crash or cause issues with the connection to the files and eq session will drop on all computers using it.
Network latency... can cause issues
Patching also becomes a problem cause you have to close down eq on ALL computers. you might be running 1 or sessions on another oddball computer and the rest on the others which makes it more painful.

Most stuff loads in the memory but macros constantly read/write to it but I personally wouldn't do this method.

 

[Randyleo]

This discussion started out as a way to multi-box for those of us with lower end computers that won't support a lot of instances of EQ,

 

[Zero0003]

If you have lower end PC's it still would make it very hard to manage it

 

[Randyleo]

I've been using it this way for about 8 months, and I find it easier to maintain one set of files, instead of three.

 

[Deucetre98]

Instead of using "Shares", since I tend to play from multiple physical locations, I use Google Drive or Dropbox and install that on the machines. That way you aren't relying on a single copy of the install stored someplace, if it crashes all of your machines are down. With GD / DB, they stay synced constantly. I've done it for a long time, and have had 0 issues.

 

[Razkle]

I use the share because I can access any toons kissassist.ini in 1 location and then simply restart his kiss via /bct command and done. Localized administration when I have 20+ toons logged on

 

[Zero0003]

If your too worried about the kiss assist INI files then change your macro folder location on the macroquest.ini and share that out and you wont have to worry about locking mq2 files on 1 pc