Let The Dual-gaming Begin!
Posted by 
iTZKooPA on Friday, September 26, 2008 - 19 Comments Tags: distracted gaming, dual boxing, dual-gaming, multi-boxing
iTZKooPA on Friday, September 26, 2008 - 19 Comments Tags: distracted gaming, dual boxing, dual-gaming, multi-boxing 
I mentioned in yesterday's post about Bejeweled that I had more to say on the topic of dual-gaming. First let me define the term. Dual-gaming is simply playing two games at the same time. Be it via an addon like WoW Bejeweled, spinning to the TV behind you or having a Nintendo DS by your keyboard. I have actually been doing this for year's, mostly the spinning to the TV or having a handheld nearby variety of dual gaming. But this past weekend I entered into a new age of dual-gaming, dual-gaming on a single computer.
I am sure many of you have heard of multi-boxing. That is the art of running multiple instances of World of Warcraft (or other MMOGs) across multiple computers. The users would then control all of the toons via various scripts and third party programs (remoting into the other computers and such). Blizzard Entertainment has even said that they see nothing wrong with multi-boxing. But that method is different than what I strive for. Instead of running it across multiple computers I decided to try multiple games on a single machine.
Why the hell would I do this?
- Most of all, I wanted to be able to play multiple MMOGs at the same time. While queuing for an AV, trying to find a 5-man group for heroics or waiting for the raid, I could spend that downtime grinding in Warhammer Online or blasting away the aliens in Tabula Rasa. Vice versa, while playing WAR or TR, I could be scanning the auction house looking for deals or simply socializing as I get through the tedious parts in those games.
- I like challenges, specially when I think I can defeat them.
- My buddy (who helped me tweak and setup the box) wanted to see it done.
- I needed an upgrade anyways.
- And let us not forget, I am a huge nerd – and not the candy coated sugar kind.
As you can see in the screenshot above, things went pretty well. I decided to test it on WoW and WAR, since I play them the most. Both are running in windowed mode (the most taxing way to play but really the only way to do this), and you can see via my taskbar that I have a bunch of other crap running as well. WAR doesn't report its performance so I had to use FRAPS to get its FPS. With WAR as the active window, the machine was able to run both of them at a solid 20-30 FPS. Plenty good for gaming, although not the most ideal if I was raiding.
I also tested the setup while playing The Witcher: Enhanced Edition and WoW. I had Auctioneer scanning the Auction House for deals as I ran around as the White Wolf slaying various beasts. The box ran without a hitch. Unlike the double MMOG test, The Witcher: EE was running in fullscreen while WoW was windowed on my other screen. For both tests, all the titles had their graphics settings to the highest level and highest resolution the screen could provide.
Incoming nerdiness. For those who are wondering what hardware I am running:
- MSI Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB 512-bit GPU– This is an overclocked X2 running at 780MHz and is currently the best and most expensive card on the market. The card is tested and OCed by the manufacturer which is awesome.
- Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz Processor– Overclocked on air to 3.0GHz.
- Corsair 4x1GB DDR2 PC2 6400 RAM – Ram running at 4-4-4-12.
- Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB 10,000RPM SATA Harddrive – God, I love these drives.
- EVGA nForce 680i Ultra SLi Motherboard - An okay motherbord.
Now I should be able to review PC games twice as fast!
Reader Comments (19)
i was also wondering if i could play 2 games on 1 pc it would be fun so nice post man
Wellas you can see under the Warhammer part it shows that both Warhammer and Wow is up and running at once with several internett stuff so...
1. Get time to to all the connections
2. Get a incredibly capable computer
nice post, and a gr8 idea i personaly could not do both things cuz i would mutch rather use the w8ing time to farm or do dailys that i had not yep done and mayb cuz i then totaly ignore the other game cuz im sucked in to the other game
i see your point and i must say aint the hardware req insane for running both.
would be gr8 if you could mayb post you hardware if posible and mayb a estemaded on what grafic you run on both games like a low medium or high. just cuz im interested
ew dont roll order in WAR destruction is ftw.
Well, this is ok, but wait, I have pluged 2 CRT at one PC, using my nerd power, so I have played 2 years wow, leveling 2 caracter at the same time, not in windowed mode, like you done.
This is easy, you nead One more video PCI and a cooler.
Actually I am Destruction. My server just had a long queue when I went to take the screenshot so I went on my alternate server.
You should invest in an application like Ultramon if you're going to continue to use dual displays. It will give you a lot of useful functionality that windows lacks for the dual displays, like an extended task bar.
im trying to hold off my WAR temptations till they fix all these bugs and stupid things in the game i keep hearing about, im not paying good money to wait a couple weeks till i can get my moneys worth
lol multi boxing is fun :) i use it to either: trade stuff between my 3 guild was accounts without the use of another player
and to play WoW and talk on guild wars (sometimes vice versa)
pretty awesome stuff :D
I've just started multi boxing and unfortunately since I'm playing on my laptop i can only play 2 at the same time. I seriously need a new desktop.
the only reason i would dual gaming would be to get the 3xp rate on wow btw im making a new pc im a hardcore player playing like 5-7hours a day can anyone tell me what parts should i get i want it to be turbo powered :p(i know its off subject)
Very nice setup u got there though i would prefer an intel chipset mobo for ati cards since u always have the crossfire option :D
maybe i'll upgrade, in late november hoping that i7 will puss core2 prices down. need that extra juice... maybe i'll dual game too with 2 wow accounts, but what i dont know is if i can create a second WOW account under the same email? That would be really convinient but dunno. Has anyone tried that? plz plz plz let me know xD
I used to do that, WoW and SWG at the same time. My SWG Dancer would well Dance, and I'd go kill stuff in WoW. I'd try that with WAR, but Warhammer seems to just crash whenever I alt-tab out of it and try to get back into it.
alt tab multiboxing = fail.
get some software or if your cheap, play in windowed mode.
This screenshot is a perfect example of how WAR nearly copied WoW's interface by pixel
Warhammer looks a lot like LOTRO from what I see there. Is War any good? I've been wondering, not that I really need a fourth game to be paying a monthly on....
I do that all the time because I have recruit a friend :-)
Trying to level all my alts for WOTLK.
Nice setup, I sometimes do that aswell, but i think OC from the factory on the graphicscard is a waste of money really, cause it's so easy and efficient to do it yourself
Darth:
That is true but when you purchase it from the manufacturer like that the card remains under warranty. If it explodes, it is there fault. Basically, you pay a little extra for insurance.