Run Second POE at lower/different settings

EDIT: I fail! I was so happy that I figured out how to run POE as a different user with different settings that I forgot to test running both at once. For whatever reason, GGG doesn't allow this. You can two of user1 or two of user2, but you can't run one of each. Weird.

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Most of you probably know that you can run two instances of POE on one PC (legally). Well sometimes your rig isn't beefy enough to handle two full instances of POE in full glory. Instead of running both in low settings, you can run one normally and the other at lower settings by running the 2nd instance as a different user. Here are the steps and two options of doing it.

First, you'll need a 2nd windows account on your PC. If you don't have one you want to use just create a new one and login once so it's windows profile is initialized. Note, the 2nd windows account needs to be password protected.


OPTION ONE - QUICK AND EASY WAY (have to enter 2nd windows account password every time):

1. Just hold down shift and right-click on your POE shortcut and select "Run as different user". Enter the credentials of the 2nd windows account. It will start with default settings, unless you copy the production_Config.ini file (and all your filter files) from your 1st windows account to the 2nd account. The ini file is usually in the ".../My Documents/My Games/Path of Exile" folder of each user's area.


OPTION TWO - CREATE A SHORTCUT (that only requires logging in once; REQUIRES Windows 7 and maybe higher)

1. Go into your POE install folder and create a text file called "poe_low.bat" or whatever name you want, just make sure the extension is ".bat".

2. Edit the batch file (bat is short for batch) and enter the following lines and save:

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@setlocal enableextensions @cd /d "%~dp0"
@cd /d "%~dp0"
client.exe --nosound --nopatch

The first two lines just makes sure you start the game in the same folder as the batch file (which is the game folder). This is because we will be using the runas command which will always set the current folder to your windows/system32 folder.

The --nosound and -nopatch are optional. Starting with no sound will reduce lag and I don't need to check for and updates because the normal POE already does that.

3. Right-drag the batch file onto the desktop (or where ever you want) and select "Create shortcuts here". Rename to the shortcut to poe_low or whatever you want.

4. Right-click on the shortcut and select properties. In the "Target:" field, add the following to the front with a space in between this and what was already there.

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runas /savecred /user:user2

Note, replace user2 with the login of the 2nd windows account. While still in properties, you can change the icon of the shortcut to the POE icon in client.exe if you want. Click Ok.

5. We are basically done. Double click on the new shortcut to run the 2nd instance. You'll be prompted for the 2nd windows account only the first time. Now you can change the settings as desired without affecting the first. To start with the same settings and tweak from there, exit POE and copy the production_Config.ini file (and all your filter files) from your 1st windows account to the 2nd account. The ini file is usually in the ".../My Documents/My Games/Path of Exile" folder of each user's area. From there, modify the ini or change the settings in game as desired.

For performance, in addition to turning everything down, if it's still wrecking your rig, I recommend going into the ini file and changing texture_quality to 3 or higher (higher value means lower texture quality). You can also reduce the resolution to something low like 800x600 in window mode.

Enjoy dual-boxing on your potato. :)

Out of curiosity, why would you want to run two instances?


Thanks,



Wolf

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Wolf287 wrote:

Out of curiosity, why would you want to run two instances?


Thanks,



Wolf

For trading w/o bothering your mapping on your main char, moving items, setting up a pub at both A3M and A4M, extra stash tabs, aaand to avoid getting stale links when you want to move around and plan on spamming trade chat.

Anyways, awesome tip Dregos. I'll try this when I play on my laptop.

Neat guide. I just got a few problems during the settings.

The first one is that the prompt that opens with the batch just won't lemme input the password to the other user, by any means.

The second was that, even using the first method, I wasn't able to open a second PoE client while the first one was open.

I'm REALLY needing to sort this out: it's impossible to make map runs and sell itens at a same session.