You need to let one load past the updater before you start a second one. I also suggest running in windowed mode, and add the "-maxinactivefps 5" flag to your target on the CoH shortcut (without quotes). You may need to turn down a lot of your graphics settings as well.
Keep in mind that you can't actually PLAY both at once. Only one window can have focus and accept input at a time.
open the entire game to the log in screen. then hit your windows key and start a new instance of the game. you and your bf wont be able to play at the same time on one computer as you can only have 1 instance up in view at a time though which means that you would have to keep switching between instances.
Mmm! I thought that would be a bit confusing some how. We don't expect to play at the same time. We're just running out of room on Pinnacle for us both to create characters so he wants his own account.
probably the best idea if he would like to get his own account is to find a cheap comp for him. that way you can play together at the same time. it's quite fun to do as that is what me and my ol' lady do.
Maybe cheaper to just purchase some additional toon slots if you just wanna add some, instead of a new monthly account or new computer. Cheaper still, start tryin some new servers to play on till you run outa slots on those.
My interest for his seperate account also lies on getting myself some PvP recipes for my 50 brute, so it isn't quite a one sided reason. ^^ Often, I can't find someone to PvP in the arena who is willing to die repeatedly on the times we play.
Be sure your machine can handle it. CoX has some steep memory requirements as well as graphical requirements.
I wouldnt dual box on less than Core Duo, 3Gb Ram, and 86xx or higher video card. Broadband is not really optional either. Especially if you are going to be arena'ing yourself.
You can still single box on Hyperthread CPUs with 68xx or higher cards with decent performace, and those are cheap now a days... so depending on the state of your machine, it might be cheaper to grab a second machine instead of upgrading to handle dual boxing.
Tanker Tuesday #72 Oct 5 @Champion
"I am not sure if my portrayal of being insane is accurate, but damn its fun all the same."
I dual box with a Pentium 4 2.6Ghz , 2GB of RAM and a GeForce 7600 >_>
Great. Now set your resolution for both to 1600x1050 (one on each of the 22" widescreens) and world and player detail to 200%, max bloom, 4x anti-aliasing.. etc.
*waits for the 7600 to curl into the fetal position*
Yeah you can dual box on lessor machines, but not with the engine running it is full glory on both.
*my backup box is remarkably similar... P4 3Ghz w/HT, 2GB RAM, 7900 GT.. And I did dual box on that, but I had to run at a lot lower detail levels and the second window was not maximized (had 1 19" and 1 22"ws at the time).
Tanker Tuesday #72 Oct 5 @Champion
"I am not sure if my portrayal of being insane is accurate, but damn its fun all the same."
I never said I ran it at high specs. My computer is 4 years old, I'm glad it can dual box AT ALL.
So far everything is working great.
I'm about to try it with -maxinactivefps 5 to see if it is any better
If the two of you aren't planning to play at the same time then there is no problem. Just change the log-in name at the welcome screen to switch between accounts.
"Dual-boxing" generally refers to playing two different characters simultaneously. Two computers are advisable for that although it can be done with one, provided it is powerful enough.
If it's just a matter of wanting more slots on one server, maybe it would be better to simply buy more slots than purchase a whole new account, although you may already be maxed out. You can have 36 slots per server, I believe.
use -maxfps 25 too, to keep the active window from trying to render more than 25 FPS, you won't notice a difference from a visual/effects stand point, and it'll save a TON of power.
before I built this machine I even used -maxfps 20 and didn't notice any "lag" or "slow down" in effects
[ QUOTE ]
Great. Now set your resolution for both to 1600x1050 (one on each of the 22" widescreens) and world and player detail to 200%, max bloom, 4x anti-aliasing.. etc.
*waits for the 7600 to curl into the fetal position*
Yeah you can dual box on lessor machines, but not with the engine running it is full glory on both.
[/ QUOTE ]
I run two accounts on a Core2 Duo with 2 GB RAM and a 7950. My monitor is 22" at 1680x1050. I run player detail at 200%, my bloom is off because I HATE it, I'm at 4x AA, etc.
It doesn't take an uber-powerful machine to run two instances at relatively high graphics settings. Of course, I wouldn't go to a mothership raid with two accounts loaded....
Paragon City Search And Rescue
The Mentor Project
I hear about people dual boxing often and I'm thinking of giving in & purchasing a 2nd account for my boyfriend and for myself. Before I commit to such a thing, I need to ask some questions to gain a better understanding.
Is it possible to do this on one single computer? We only have one computer at our loft and when I try to load up City of Heroes it tells me one is running already.
Perhaps someone can explain a method to do this so I can give it a shot? Ooor... If it isn't, that'd be great to know also. My goal is to have both accounts online at the same time while using one computer.