HotKeyNet?

[amano666]

Anyone use HotKeyNet or other multiboxing software to successfully control more than one character at the same time? It is a really cool free program, I have been half heartedly trying to get to work with NWN1 .
I almost have it working but am running into problems that are beyond my level of experience. I would ask on the HotKeyNet forum but few people play NWN1 these days and I figured I would start here where there is the most familiarity with the game.


Here is where I am at:
I am using one laptop. I have two accounts on HG, I have two windows open and move one character, then alt-tab and move the other character, alt-tab cast spells, alt-tab switch back, drink heals etc, but always controlling one window at a time. It works ok.

Here is what I want to do:
I want to control two sorc characters so that they are acting in tandem. Using same laptop setup with two windows, I would like to be able to have my key presses and mouse clicks sent to both windows at just about the same time. So like if I hit F7 to cast Fireball on NWN window 1 it also sends the keypress and mouse click to the NWN window 2. So both characters would cast fireball at the same spot at the same time.

Here is what I have accomplished so far:
Using the below HKN code I "wrote" I am able to hit "r" and have both characters rest or perform single actions like drink a potion, but that is it. So for example if I try the fireball it brings up the spell target cursor in window 1 and it will cast the spell when I click the ground but window 2 does nothing. It seems like NWN will accept the two F7 inputs but as soon as I click in one window the spell is no longer readied in the other window (probably confusing let me know if I need to explain better, it DOES allow rest or drink potion, but with a spell as soon as I click in one window it "forgets" the initial key press in the other).

Here is the code I made up to accomplish this and I am sure there are tons of problems, however it does let you broadcast single keys like "r" so I felt good about that.




<Hotkey NumLockOn A-Z, 0-9, Plus, Minus, F1-F12, LShift, LCtrl, LAlt> (this tells the program to send my keyboard clicks)
<SendWinX NWN1> (this tells the program to send it to the first window I manually name NWN1)
<Key %Trigger%> (this sends whatever key I clicked)
<Wait 100> (this wait I found to be important because it takes a second for the program to switch windows)
<SendWinX NWN2> (this sends to the second window I manually name NWN2)
<Key %Trigger%> (the key is the key i clicked)

<Hotkey NumLockOn LButton, RButton, MButton> (this is for the mouse)
<SendWin NWN1>
<ClickMouse %TriggerMainKey%>
<Wait 500>
<SendWin NWN2>
<ClickMouse %TriggerMainKey%>

if you want to use this on your own feel free, just take out my comments in italics, if you change it and get it to work please share!


it might work better if I had two laptops or a desktop and a laptop?
Anyone ever use this or find a better program? Anyone else want to take a crack at it? I tried the free trial for ISBoxer which is not free and looks more advanced but I got nowhere with it either. Could be something with NWN and mouse clicks. Any advice or if anyone else has tried this I am all ears. Thanks!

[fallenwizard]

what I believe you should do is something like bind the f1-12 and have it be something like:

have two screen overlapped and move your chars to be in same location

press f1
> mouse1 (on current location)
> alt tab
> f1
> mouse1
> alt tab

Moving mouse while its alt tabbing (adjust delays) can allow you to change the target.
Remove the mouse1 naturaly from things like potion use/self target spells


Then for movement use something like extra mouse button to do mouse1 > alt tab > mouse1 > alt tab.
This is to be used when both are and wanted to keep at same location, otherwise just move separately.
By this I mean I really recommend keeping mouse1/2 clean, or it'll drive you crazy while you want to do stuff like pick up loot, use radials (for anything that isnt quickslotted) etc.

My only experience with autohotkeys is with clicker browser games where you loop very single actions while you go afk. By that I mean I dont know how you'd get the mouse location send to nwn2 that isnt overlapped.

Then again.. all this is pretty meaningless for nwn imo, since its so slow pasted with several seconds time to queue actions between diff windows. For example if sorc1 queues 3 spells, you then have 9 secs to position + queue for sorc2 before having to switch back to sorc1 for new orders.

I dont think it is possible to do full clone with autohotkeys, for that you probably need way more advanced program.

[Methes]

Personally I wasn't able to send any useful data into inactive NWN window which is what you want ideally.
You can create a few helpful systems such as health bars with warnings, easy window switching, faster hotbar clicking across windows but that's pretty much it. In the end you still need to have the window you want to currently use selected so there's no proper mirroring.
But I'm no pro, just had a dream and tried a lot of things.

[amano666]

Thanks everyone for the comments.

I was actually able to finally get this to work... then I realized it was not as much fun as I thought...

The method I used to get this to work is a little convoluted but in the end it is very similar to what fallenwizard suggested.
I was not able to get any Hotkeynet or multibox software to work at all, you basically cant send info to the background NWN window as Methes mentioned, there is a command that forces the window to the front, but I could not get it to work with waiting for a mouse click.

I ended up making a bunch of macros in the software that came with my razer keypad.
So the company razer that makes gaming stuff has this software called "Synapse" that allows you to reprogram any key, or make a short macro and bind it to a key.
It also allows you to use different "profiles" and switch the key definitions on the fly.
So what I did is made a macro for each function key, camera movement, and mouse click.
The macro was basically like fallenwizard describes

Press F1
Click Mouse
Alt Tab
Press F1
Click Mouse
Alt Tab

By setting up one profile to use the marcos and one profile to just be regular keys it allows you to control both characters or just one. This does not work for stuff like potions, for that you can just setup the macro without the mouse clicks. The other problem was that hitting shift+alt+tab does not switch windows (same problem with ctrl), so if you wanted to try and use the shift or ctrl modifier it would be difficult and I was not able to figure out how to get that to work so you are stuck with 1 action bar.

The other problem is movement and the camera. You can setup a third profile with the same macro scheme and all the camera controls.
But it gets out of sync really fast and you end up having to pause every few clicks, teleport back to the original character, spend a few minutes getting the camera lined back up, and then continue.
I got sick of doing that really fast.

In the end it is possible but I thought it was way more micro management and much less fun, interesting to see, fun to try, but imo not a viable play style. It also required using the razer keyboard which was not the easy free and ideal solution I was looking for. If anyone wants to see the way I programmed it I would be happy to post screenshots and details.

[Test]

Im interested in seeing the macros that you ended up with and investigating this further. I have seen people use up to 20 Hunters in tandem, like you explain, quite successfully in another game. They are retarded in many respects but it would make xp botting much faster.

It would also be interesting to sync like but different functions - so that you could more effectively control a bot party from one window. I don't think that the internet speeds where I am are really capable of doing that without some macro assistance.

I am using a razer naga epic with synapse as well, so should be able to transfer the same macro styles. I also have the other hand controller in a cupboard from when I did Glad/Hero pushes - which also has a lot of programmable options.

[reelroleplayer]

I have played with up to 4 in HG using HKN, and while some basic things are possible I never found a way to get spells automated to the degree you want (though I didn't try all that hard, honestly).

I was able to set up scripts such that I press one button and all three slave characters will follow the leader (I generally drive the tank). As long as you keep moving they will continue following, even through transitions. It's important to make sure they all run at the same speed for this to work properly.

I also figured out how to get the melees to engage with the main tank's target so I don't have to click the enemies individually on every window.

I also have a single button that has all characters drink (or cast) several buff type potions (admittedly more useful at low levels), have a button bound to heal all, and another bound to heal the tank only. Of course, I also have one that triggers the autocaster on all the casters.

For all of these, there is by necessity a slight delay as the script switch windows so it happens in a short sequence instead of instantly.

Spellcasting I execute manually, though, and efficiency for me goes way down with more than one full caster. In spite of having played HG on and off for years, I still kind of suck at it compared to most.

Overall, while it does work, it requires a lot of patience and practice. And honestly, unless you have mad skills you'll still get yourself into bad situations from misclicks and such.

[reelroleplayer]

May 16, 2017 17:11:09 GMT amano666 said:

Thanks everyone for the comments.
I was not able to get any Hotkeynet or multibox software to work at all, you basically cant send info to the background NWN window as Methes mentioned, there is a command that forces the window to the front, but I could not get it to work with waiting for a mouse click.

Wanted to quickly mention that how I got that to work was by renaming my the NWN windows via HKN every time I launched them - this allowed the script to execute a command in any window.

[Deleted]

I think that overall it'd be pretty impractical for NWN. Collision size and camera issues would greatly limit the utility of movement macros, and since the best parties consist of different classes it's ~impossible to sync actions effectively.

Everyone has a different method, I personally just used really small windows (letting me see them all at once) and would quickly jump between them, queuing up a few actions at a time for each window.
I would use the Barter function as an auto-follow for long distances, but otherwise multiboxing is just a typical 'practice makes perfect' skill IMO. I've solo'd every endgame run in the module (except Hard-mode Limbo P2) with my method, and I don't think these types of macros would have helped at all.

The most important piece of advice is to simply be very competent with playing each toon individually first; this is where most players seem to fall down, and why they are limited to LL runs (which can be beaten with one toon anyway, thus defeating the purpose of multiboxing in the first place). Although the mechanical aspect of multiboxing will improve with practice, the decision-making aspect is greatly inhibited by playing multiple classes at once and suffers immensely. I usually have ~2 seconds to choose the next 3 actions for each of my cores, so you really have to know the toons inside-out to consistently select those best 3 actions.

The key to success is starting simple and progressing slowly - first master two classes individually, then learn to play them together... then master a third class, and then learn to play the three together, and so on.

[amano666]

Thanks for the interest in the topic! Unfortunately, we had two cat 5 hurricanes (Irma & Maria) come and wreck St. Thomas USVI where I live so we have not had power or internet for the last two months (we were fine, only lost a few things and minor damage) HG is actually the only online activity I honestly miss, but things are slowly getting restored and we expect to be back in some kind of shape by Christmas. I will try to update with as much info as I can on what worked and include any macros I made and more info on the process. Never really perfected it but happy to share what progress I made. Have been able to charge the laptop more often so will update asap!

[Deleted]

For MadZapper

[madzapper]

Oct 1, 2020 22:18:52 GMT @prepared said:

For MadZapper

Noted. Thank you.