Run Multiple accounts from 1 machine. The setup, how?

So I know its possible.

What is the proper way to set the machine up to do this?

Copy the game directory x times and create X shortcuts?
OR do I just need to create 4 shortcuts? or do I just run the launcher 4 times?
(I'd try it but servers are down atm)

There are many ways to go about this, but assuming you've got a decent computer, you can just run the launcher four times. You'll then have four EQ windows going. I would suggest loading one and then the next. If you launch all four at once, you'll sometimes get a graphics conflict.

Once you've all four toons online, you may want to play around with settings, lowering the graphics, etc., if you experience any slowness, but with four you shouldn't too much. Also think about turning off logging on three of your toons.

As I said, there's a lot of ways to do this, but this should work. You don't need four EQ directories. You can set up four separate shortcuts. Good luck.

You don't even need to do that. Once the game is 'playing' on the launcher, change accounts and log the next one in.

While what Phaith said is true, I would go with different directories. I was never a big fan of trusting EQ to implement correctly or reliably any file that gets written to in terms of multiple clients being used.

*Shrug* Should you ever want to go to Test then again, different directories allows you greater control over things.

Things to watch out for OR do that can improve your experience.

A) Get the installation of EQ on an SSD. These things have come down a lot in price and make a noticeable improvement. I tend to stick with Samsung.

B) Computer Memory, two words FAST and QUANTITY. Unfortunately MS does not allow for a flat address version or option in its operating system. This means everything is Virtual. The last thing you want to do is over load the memory of your computer, as in lets just say EQ is optimal at 2GB, you have 4GB memory, you wont see much problem until you start the 2nd iteration of EQ, the 3rd will aggravate it more, the 4th well it is hard to say how much impact that has.

C) CPU ... There is speed and then there is Cores then there is Hyper Threading. At a concept level think of a thread in this regard as a single core cpu without hyper-threading. Now lets say you have an Intel CPU Dual Core with Hyper-threading, that is 4 threads (2x2) your one thread short of the BLOCK process, EQ1 through EQ4 are BLOCK process ... BUT the OS and background task's are ... lets just say another Block Process so you are over committed so to speak on the CPU Threads. Meh not a big deal but it will introduce delay. IF you are an Intel Quad Core with Hyper - Threading then you have 8 CPU threads. Instead of being over committed you are now in excess so more of the currently running task's have more threads to run on.

D) Video Card .... this subject is a field full of land mines. The variability of implementation of Video Cards within a specific family can be rather HUGE. It just takes doing research OR trusting someones recommendation. Well that is unless you have hundreds of US dollars to spend and if that is the case well then .... you should get a gamers computer built for you with no holding back.

As Phaith said, just run the launcher four times - I two- and sometimes three- box on my PC ( i5-4430 with 8GB, and an Nvidia GTX 560 Ti). Only issue I find is that I have to wait until one toon is completely logged into the game before logging in the next; after that, everything is fine. I also run my toons in Windowed mode, rather than Full Screen, as it means I can swap between EQ and other apps more easily.

Just run more than one instance of the game. Load Patcher for each account you plan to run. Make sure you are not in Full Screen Mode as it can cause slower reaction time on the machine to switch Alt + Tab to each account.

Win EQ free version ftw. Does most of the work for you. A little set for log ins and short cut keys is required. It is not in violation of the EULA except on the true box server and allows for key binds to set up fast switching between instances of EQ.

Or create shortcuts to where you eqgame.exe is with the account username like so:

C:\Games\DBG\EverQuest\eqgame.exe patchme /login:username

Indeed. One of the highlights of WinEQ is custom eqclient files. Within a single EQ install, you can create many different eqclient configurations so all your boxes are not forced to use identical settings.

If you are simply running Launchpad, you would need multiple separate EQ installs to use multiple separate eqclient files.

Learn something new each day.

use the "patchme" shortcut referenced in some of these posts.

you will have to manually enter the username / password but it's faster than launchpad and launchpad occasionally gets irritated if you have several instances of eq open already.

Not sure if I am missing something or the launcher got changed... but, I already have an instance running in window mode... And, when I try to launch the launcher a second time, the launcher says "playing" (as opposed to "play"). I guess I need separate installs? I really just want 1 extra account...

Do you have a second account? Or are you trying to make one?

Can you right click the icon and select "open" and then does it open a new log in patcher screen for you?

Sometimes its easier just to have two icons on desktop. Just download the game again and it will put the second one there. I use 4 icons - they all kinda go the same place but it makes it easier for me to keep straight which account is where on my line up at the bottom taskbar of my computer screen

When the launcher is loaded at the top middleish it will show your account name. Click on that and use the drop down to either Create A New Account or select Log In A New Account. Aftter the first time you do this it will save the second accounts info. Then you just run launcher get the first account at least as far as char select then you start the launcher again and at the top click on the account name and in the drop down the other account will be listed. change to that and hit play again.

For some reason, at least in my situation, I have to close the launcher and restart it to have it say play when I select the second account.

Hope that helps.

They really need to facilitate multiple logins. It's a common case for many and never goes smoothly for me. I simply use the launcher and run it 3x, but of course that launches loading windows and server selection screens that sometimes seem to inhibit the launching of another account. By the time I get all my windows set up properly, which includes resizing a few times to get rid of some sort of ui mouse pointer displacement bug, I am good to go.

For someone who has 3 all-access subscriptions, being able to sign into all 3 seamlessly would be a very nice service to do for people like me.

I would like to add more accounts but 3 on one machine is getting cumbersome.

When I boxed on Live from 1 pc I just copied the EQ folder 3x so I had 4 EQ folders & then renamed each shortcut so I knew which was which (have a spare SSD just for games). This seemed to be faster than just 1 folder for EQ.

One thing I learned is to make sure your firewall & anti-virus have exceptions for Everquest - the anti-virus is often actively scanning all your folders & if its scanning your log file (which is constantly changing with logging on) that will eat up a lot of processor time & impact performance quite a lot.

In this case, close the launcher after you have one instance open and click the launcher again for the next instance, it will give you the play option this time.

i always install a fresh copy of eq on a new pc.if you buy a new pc and can afford it buy 2 ssd,install your operating system on one and your eq on the second one,it will run better,go to power setting for cpu speed and put them to 100%speed so they dont need to speed up when starting eq,research on the net how to assign one core or 1 thread per account,in 17 years of boxing in eq starting with 2 and then so on i have always used the same launcher for all multiple eq i ran,ram at least 16 giggs,i have run 18 accounts on live for a test pok was a drain on resorces until i made them ingnore afk,make shore shadows are off and no spell density.also under scale settings on your pc have 100% not 2 or300% because the windows will play up on their sizes.

I load multiple accounts no problem. If I load them on one computer I have to wait till each one gets as far as the character select screen before starting the launcher again for the next one. On my other PC I can just start the launcpad one time after the other no problem.

If you are using IS B it will let you log your accounts in all at the same time.