Multiplicity 4 Changelog

Please see the Multiplicity 4 press release

https://forums.stardock.com/530744/stardock-announces-multiplicity-4

Multiplicity 4 Upgrade FAQ

Please do not post inquiries about upgrade options, pricing, or account issues in this thread.  For all questions in these areas, please see the Multiplicity 4 Upgrade FAQ here:

https://forums.stardock.com/530769/multiplicity-4-upgrade-faq

Just installed on both of my machines.  settings from 3 all xferred over more or less.  Having a problem where KVM mode gives me an all black screen and a square thats full of artifacts where the cursor is supposed to be.  

if i move it to the top I get the proper bar as expected but the cursor and the capture from the secondary is just blank.

worked perfect on 3.  not sure what changed to that end so I figured id mention it here. 

I'm using KVM mode with the secondary computer windowed on my primary computer at its native lower resolution than the primary monitor. On Mult3 I was able to use the buttons at the top to quickly snap the window to the exact size for that secondary display resolution. I can't seem to find it in Mult. I can maximise full screen and then pick 1:1 or stretch, all that stuff is fine, but for non-full-screen I'm having to drag that window size to be <approximately> the right size for my secondary. Am I missing something obvious, or is that feature not yet migrated over?

Settings should not be wiped, but I recommend uninstalling, REBOOTING and then installing MP4.

You can also use the backup settings option first in MP.

To be clear, you would just not check that box to remove settings

And its a good practice to back up setting prior

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

It would help if we knew more about the 'awful time' - what exactly are the issues you are seeing?

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

What connection type, Seamless or KVM?

You are going from MP3 KVM to MP4 (because you activated with your Object Destkop Subscrption).  That allows for 5 Seamless connections.  Is it only the 3 PCs you have configured (1 Primary and 2 Secondaries)?

If you remove all Secondary PCs, from the grid and from the right side, are you able to add them both manually again?

As for the connection issues, are all PCs wired or a mix of wired \ wireless?  If when you add the Secondary PCs, if you add them by IP instead of hostname:

Does that make a difference?

Do any of the PCs have an active VPN connection?  If so, and you disable it, does that change the result?

If you are desperate to have MP3 again, its always available via your account page:

https://store.stardock.com/myaccount/products

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

I have the same issue as klepp0906. When using Multiplicity 4 Beta 1's KVM mode to control a secondary machine, the control window on machine 1 stays black (with the cursor sometimes artifacting, which seems to correct itself after a few seconds) but mouse movement from within the KVM control window is properly translated onto the target machine.

Additionally, applications will "flicker" on the secondary machine while using KVM mode (visible in the video).

It does not make a difference how many screens are connected to the secondary machine, or which capture mode is being used in the KVM settings on the secondary machine.

I have attached a video showcasing the behaviour. Both machines are running Windows 10 Pro version 22H2 (64bit, build 19045.5011) with nvidia GPUs (driver version 565.90 on both machines). Each machine's display is connected through DisplayPort and is powered on/active. There are no power saving settings active (i.e. turning off the screen) and the firewall rules have been freshly created through the Multiplicity 4 setup. There is a physical mouse connected to the target machine, the fake pointer option in Multiplicity is disabled. Restarting the processes through the context menu item makes no difference.

Multiplicity 3 has been uninstalled manually, the remaining Multiplicity firewall rules have been deleted and the machines have been restarted prior to installing Multiplicity 4. It also makes no difference whether MP3 settings are being kept or removed on uninstall - starting from scratch exhibits the same behaviour.

Uninstalling Multiplicity 4, rebooting and re-installing Multiplicity 3 (re-using the same settings) immediatly produces the desired results.

For some reason Object Dektop does show MP4 on on computer but not on the other. Is the version of MP 4 you can downmload from Stardock.com any different from the one you can import using Object dock? If so, is that the reason I'm not able to add more than one secondary computer? In that case, what should I do? Reinstall Object Desktop? 

Object Desktop itself is not an app, Object Desktop Manager is and I will assume that is what you are referring to.

The path of least resistance would be to get the Multiplicity installer from your account page.

https://store.stardock.com/myaccount/products

The version in Object Desktop is the base version noted here:

https://www.stardock.com/products/multiplicity/#comparison:~:text=Multiplicity%20Versions%20Comparison-,Multiplicity%204,-Multiplicity%204%0APro

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

(Disclaimer: I'm new to this, not upgrading from a previous version, so I can't use that as a reference point.)

• I have shortcut keys to switch to specific machines, require shift to move the mouse, and darken effect.
  
  If I use the mouse to switch to a secondary machine, then use the hotkey to go back, the darken effect shows that control returns to the main machine for a brief moment (it undarkens, secondary darkens), and shortly after that the main display darkens again (so now both are dark).  At this point, moving the mouse undarkens the secondary machine and it still has control.
  
  Using the hotkey for the main machine a second time works.
  
  (I also tried it the other way: switch to secondary using a hotkey, and switch back using the mouse, and that works fine.)
  
  
• And speaking about the darken feature: it's a very nice touch.  But if I use the physical keyboard on the secondary device, it's still dark.  Moving the (physical) mouse does lift the darkness off though.  (There's some Event Horizon reference that should be added here.)
  
  
• Would be nice to use more keys as hotkeys: I previously use Shift+PrintSc/ScrollLock/Pause which is extremely convenient, but I was told in a different thread that this is impossible.  I also tried Win+F1/2/3, but that doesn't work too.  I also tried function keys higher than F12 (using a logitech keyboard with G-keys mapped to these), but they also don't register.
  
  (But I'm fine with this limitation if it requires more lowlevel hacks for grabbing these keys, since I'd much rather get the stability.)
  
  
• Editing a hotkey doesn't allow changing the key.  Makes it inconvenient to play with different keys.  The ability to change what it *does* is much less useful, so at this point I'm just adding and deleting keys.
• In some cases (can't remember how) the hotkeys would not take an effect until I restarted Multiplicity.
• I thought that "Computer on LEFT" and "RIGHT" is to switch between computers in sequence, but I couldn't get that to work.  My setup is one machine above the other, so I also tried a horizontal layout but that action didn't do anything anyway.  (And if it really is a left/right, then there's a lack of above/below...)
• Sending audio is very unintuitive for me (see above disclaimer: I'm a new user).  It took me a while to realize that it adds a tray icon that I need to click to start it.
  
  
• Similar comment for using the seamless display feature, but more on that below.
• Would be nice to have an in-app volume control for incoming audio.  I eventually used the windows mixer to lower the Multiplicity volume, but that was after I spread some joyful sounds to my neighbors.
  
  This is particularly tricky since I expected the volume on the sending machine to do something.  It doesn't.  So it would be even more nicer if changing the volume on the sending side had an effect.
  
  
• The Side-Panel feature is kinda cute, but kinda weird.  I could only start it from the main UI in the KVM tab, but that button doesn't change to closing it, leaving me puzzled about how to close it.
  
  I did find the close menu entry on a right click, but that's also kind of strange: you're grabbing a part of my screen to show stuff, why not add a close icon somewhere there?
  
  Basically, unless it's on autohide, the whole thing becomes a little annoying.  But making that the default would also be strange, since the main UI button that opens it just activates it, so it doesn't open it if it's in autohide mode.  (So a summary is that the UI for this sidebar could use some rethinking...)
  
  
• Using the seamless display to use my laptop as a screen for my main machine made me happy (it confirmed that I can now not only give up synergy, but I can also remove my spacedesk installation).
  
  But ... I couldn't figure out how to turn it off.  I did see the "Disconnect all" menu in the tray icon's right-click menu -- but that's grayed out, and does nothing.  After fumbling with it for a while, I ended up restarting Multiplicity on my main machine (or maybe I used unload first, don't remember), which got my machine to stop the extra displays.  But then the resolution on the laptop was reset to its default tiny state (and made Start11 get into a bad state there).  Perhaps the hotkeys for turning it on/off would work, but I'm avoiding trying it since I don't want to mess things up again.
  
  Also, adding both screens on my laptop (builtin + connected monitor) is an impressive feature, but practically speaking, it would be nice to configure using just one of them.
  
  
• SERIOUS PROBLEM: After the above kerfuffle which left me with the laptop in a bad state, I rebooted it.  But I did that via Multiplicity controlling the laptop.  The laptop started to reboot, but control didn't get back to my main machine!
  
  I waited for the laptop to reboot and reconnect, but no matter what, I couldn't get control back to the main machine.  This is obviously a very bad bug, since at this point there is almost nothing that I can do with my main machine.  I eventually Ctrl+Alt+Del-ed it, and restarted it.  (Even starting the task manager doesn't help: it starts, but the keyboard + mouse are still not working.)
  
  Would be good to get control back to the main machine if the secondary doesn't respond for a while.
  
  
• I have no idea why there's the obscure requirement for setting my network to private mode, or the issues I had with a vethernet connection (in another thread) -- I used a bunch of similar tools (I mentioned spacedesk and synergy, but I've tried a bunch of other tools in this neighborhood), and none of them had this requirement.
  
  Removing this restriction would be very nice.  But assuming that there's a reason for it (other than "don't use it in your coffee shop), it would be good to have some instructions for switching to private mode, if not do it for me.  (But yeah, my issue was a Hyper-V virtual connection, so I'm aware that this can get complicated...)

Hopefully this long laundry list of random stuff is helpful.  I'm actually using these machines, so I probably won't be useful to ask for more info...

(And -- in case it wasn't clear, I'm overall very happy that I get to replace a bunch of tools with a single one, so I very appreciate how ambitious it is to get everything right...)

I suspect you mean this

However, 'clicking it' (not sure what that means exactly) is not required.  Sound exchange should 'start' the moment the setting are correct. 

As a test, if you swap what is the sender and receiver (Primary \ Secondary is irrelevant for this), and have the proper credentials, does it just work?

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager