Greetings all,

I know there was a topic that addressed this about 6 months ago. I'm wondering if there is any new information about the Killmutex question.

Last night I used a "KillMutex" command in order to open 2 instances of daoc on one computer. Both instances were running in windowed mode. No key broadcasting was used. Commands were entered into the individual windows using accepted methods as outlined in the (old) game manuals.

In other words: One keystroke corresponded to one action, on one character, on one account.

My questions:

Is Killmutex ok to use or not? It's a simple question, and I would hope that Mythic would have a straight answer, but I haven't found one yet.

Does their detection technology distinguish between using Killmutex and actual key broadcasting?

Thanks for your time.

"KillMutex" is a keyword in HotkeyNet's script language, so apparently you're asking a question about the use of HotkeyNet without naming the program.


You're also asking a general question about deleting DAOC's mutexes or running more than two DAOCs on a single PC.


So far as I know, Mythic has never said anything about either of these questions.


With regard to the use of HotkeyNet for this purpose, I don't think it's safe to run HotkeyNet and DAOC at the same time because there is reason to believe, based on player reports that have been posted on HotkeyNet's forum, that Mythic is using the presence of HotkeyNet to identify violations of the rule against multiboxing. I understand that you are not using HotkeyNet to multibox but if Mythic is simply looking to see whether HotkeyNet is running, then it doesn't matter what you are using it for.


I suppose you could reduce that risk by running HotkeyNet for just a few seconds each time you launch DAOC, just long enough to execute KillMutex, but that's inconvenient.


Since you are using HotkeyNet only for KillMutex, I would suggest that you use LottaCam instead. LottaCam does the same thing as HotkeyNet's KillMutex command, but that is the only thing it does. So far as I know, nobody has ever been punished for using LottaCam. LottaCam is more convenient than HotkeyNet because you simply launch it and forget about it until next time you reboot.


I wrote both of these programs so I have no axe to grind here. I'm just recommending the safer and more convenient of the two.


http://www.daoc-trophy-mobs.com/lottacam/lottacam.html

 

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Yes indeed I was running HotkeyNet last night. I saw there was some controversy but really didn't look into it until today (returning player here).

Thanks very much for the input. I will switch to LottaCam.

Years ago I ran 2 copies of the game on 2 different computers with 2 monitors, 2 keyboards, and 2 mice. I understand why Mythic took the action they took, but going back to my old computer setup seems silly (and my second computer is now dead).

I plan to meet the only real criteria I've seen (one keystroke corresponds to one action, on one character, on one account) and hope for the best. Thanks again.

You're welcome.


I should have said this last time but I thought "2 instances" was a typo. You can run two copies of the client on a single PC without deleting mutexes. Just start them normally and they will run (you'll have to click a confirmation box for the second copy). You only need LottaCam to run a third copy or more.


(If you've been away a really long time you may be remembering when only one copy would run, but that was changed in patch 1.60 in Feb. 2003.)

 

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Well, crap. I tried to run 2 copies last night and couldn't get it work. That's when I tried HotkeyNet.

I just tried it again without deleting mutexes and it worked, go figure... Oops.

I thought I was somewhat clued in when I made the original post. Thanks yet again.

That happens pretty often when DAOC terminates improperly without removing its own mutex. The result is a sort of orphaned mutex. Then when you relaunch DAOC, it sees the extra mutex and thinks the mutex belongs to a running copy of itself.


When this happens, you have to remove the orphaned mutex by rebooting or running a program like LottaCam which has the ability to delete a mutex which was created by some other program.


If this problem keeps happening to you, you can avoid it by running LottaCam even though you want only two instances of DAOC.

 

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