Dual Boxing With Windower Problem.

Hi all, sorry if this has been discussed elsewhere, but whenever I dual box with 2 windower windows (alt+tabbing between them), POL tends to crash when one account DC's, then when I try to reboot a 2nd window again, my other window crashes. I get the "playonline viewer has stopped working" error window each time.

Is there anyway of getting around this problem, or do I have to deal with it?

Thanks in advance.

When I used to dualbox I never ran into this issue. Sorry can't be of much help :(

Aikar's windower as it is doesn't exactly play nice with running two instances of FFXI off the same hook. However, you might want to consider downloading the latest version or possibly adjusting your overlay resolution which may essentially overload POL when you reboot it from D/Cing

Btw, is it your main window that crashes after opening the second POL again or actually loading up the rebooted FFXI?

I have the latest version I think, and it crashes my main window if it's in game, as it tries to open up POL in the second window.

I haven't really experienced anything like that before, however I do know that POL in general has always had issues with essentially re-establishing connection to the game after having been D/Ced whether it be with windower or not. Guess you'll just have to close em both down when you d/c and reload from scratch.

I think I found out why it crashes when I try to reboot lol, I forgot to turn off "automatically log in at startup" on one of the accounts, but im not sure if that's the cause i'll have to test it next time I dc :/

Thanks anyways :)

Hey, I used to dual box a lot and always had various problems. My biggest problem was chat log DCs. I would open my chatlog and the game would immediately freeze up, DCing that character.

I also experienced something similar to your problem each time I had to restart a POL window. I found that closing both instances of POL completely and opening new ones solved the problem.

I too have had these problems. Mine seem to come when i have both accounts going and there is too much happening on my screen or my chat log. It either crashes one or the other or sometimes both. Its extremely annoying for anything. I have turned down the resolution, i have made sure that both accounts dont overlap each other on the screen.
I have even made sure that i have 2 separate windower folders from where i boot up both accounts separately. I have turned down graphics, made each screen smaller so they both fit w/o overlap. I DONT GET IT ha ha. I have just been dealing with it, but its sucks when you cant rely on yourself to even stay logged in.

Is there any way to maybe get an older version of windower for one account and a new one for another? WOuld that even work? My frustration has led me to either a. purchase another computer, or b. get an xbox/ps2. In either case, i cant do it for a while, so im stuck for now crashing. Any tips would help greatly.

I get a different issue, as I play with a joypad. Whichever window isn't topped gets joypad control and the topped one gets keyboard control, which is perfect for controlling both chars at once.

However sometimes when I need to type into the other window and I top it the keyboard entry goes all screwy and repeats some action like esc or return and I can't do anything on that window as every menu that opens is instantly closed again, and any typing is instantly superceded with the esc/return keypress or whatever it is. Sometimes the chat log will just show me attempting to do something to the last person I targetted like 20 times a second.

To fix it I have to keep switching between the 2 windower windows while pressing keys until it stops and recovers, but the number of times it gone into spazzy mode while just when I needed to quickly reply to someone on my other char is bloody annoying. Still trying to find a safe way to switch between the 2 windows, or I just try and talk to everyone via my mule.

I think its an issue with my joypad driver perhaps, something getting caught in the buffer during a window switch or something. Anyone else ever had this?

I suggest having the 2 characters blist each other and make sure they are never on the same linkshell. This fixed some problems for mw back when I used to dbox.

hey every1 im aving trouble with me PO when i have 1 char in game then i try get my 2nd online just keeps crashing i did not aving this problem on xp but im now on windows 7 and giving me problems i cant dual box now.

Do you have User Account Control turned on by any chance?

Windower sandboxes might help you solve the problem. You need XI Util as a prerequisite.

XIUtil
Windower Sandbox

Fixes some of the problems inherent to two-boxing since the game wasn't designed with that in mind.

Even if it doesn't solve the problem, I recommend using sandboxes regardless since it fixes a few problems (like the glitch where your chat log disappears/overwrites from the other character and you game freezes).

i think so tidis but i dont no y wont let me run a 2nd one no more
it crashs 1 i got online as soon as i click on for a 2nd

Well when you load FFXI does it pop up with a window asking you if you're sure you want to run it? If so, that window causes the game to go "Out of full screen" and crashes the game which would be fixed by turning off user account control.

I have to try that out, if it works you'll be my hero D;

I only have 2 issues with windower, the chat logs one and sometimes when i teleport with both characters at the same time they both get stuck loading the new area and eventually disconect, if I force kill one of the windows the other one recovers though.

I tried sandbox and it seems to always crash when I start up the second character. I have to assume I am doing something wrong but have no idea what it may be. No errors just disconnects me from both characters and exits sandbox. Any ideas would be appreciated. I did follow what it said to do in the install area but knowing my luck messed something up somewhere.

Go to your search box when you go to the start menu type in "UAC" without the " and turn your UAC off problem solves 90% of the time

Serious necro bump, but I am having an issue. Came back to the game after a 3 year haiatus. I always dual boxed with laptop/ps3, but now ps3 can't run Adoulin.... awesome.

I downloaded Windower 4 and have been trying to dual box on a single laptop. I use a Logitech controller, and was hoping to alt tab between both using the controller for both. However whenever I log on the second character, my characters will run in circles when I click on the other screen. I look like some "special" kid running around.

Anyone have this problem and know how I can fix it? I really don't want to have to purchase another laptop. Thanks for any help you can give me!

Isolate the instances in their own VM windows and use two controllers. With VMware, player should suffice.

Thanks for that info! I've never seen that before. I'm downloading it now.

I figured out that my issue is the mouse pointer. When I move the arrow to another window, my character wants to move with the cursor. Is there a way to make that stop? lol

That's the only way I ever got it to.

I used to tribox on my laptop, got annoying.

FFXI Switch Monitor is your answer: http://ffxiswitchmon.sourceforge.net/

Allows you to switch focus between two windowed instances with a mapped key/button (I use 360 controller's "back" button).

1) Open first Windower instance.
2) Open second Windower instance.
3) Run FFXISwitchMon program. Hit the switch key to make sure you're good. Occasionally a new window acts goofy and a character will be running in circles, menu scrolling haywire - it's easily fixed, just run SwitchMon again and that will resolve things the vast majority of the time.

Ideal scenario: have a second monitor :) either 2x monitors, or even a laptop + external monitor. Each instance has its own full window, swap between em with ease.

Edit: if you're having a mouse scroll issue, sometimes it's as easy as clicking to focus on the window then pressing Esc. There's also a mouse scrolling option somewhere in the main game config (through the in-game menu, not the separate FFXI Config program)

This is what he wants resolved, it's easy enough to hit ctrl+alt, that's not the issue.

Iirc disabling the mouse fixes this. Or whatever the option is, hardware mouse.

I also have mouse issues sometimes with 2 windowed instances open, and switchmon fixes them as soon as I run it and switch windows. It might be a good workaround for him.

Why was this topic demained?

I downloaded FFXI Switch Monitor, but it won't open. It crashes every time I try. My laptop is Windows 7, and meets all the specified requirements on the site. Not sure what's going on....

I did a reinstall of SwitchMon and it still doesn't work.

If your using x64 OS, you need to install this one:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ffxiswitchmon/files/Switch%20Monitor/1.1.0/


The link from: http://ffxiswitchmon.sourceforge.net/ points to an 32-bit onlye version.