Multiple gamers on 1 PC (Aster, Steam, and Sandboxie Plus)

[Sawtaytoes]

What is Aster?

Aster is an amazing piece of software which lets you create Workplaces, a way to split up devices, monitors, and even GPUs to different Windows users all on the same PC. Think of this like Linus's 2-gamers 1-GPU videos, but without virtual machines.

 

As far as I know, Aster uses an older technology in Windows called Multipoint. It allows multiple users to be logged in at the same time in a single Windows install, but each user can be given its own monitor, GPU, mouse, keyboard, speakers, microphone, network card, etc.

 

Aside from Aster's UI looking pretty awful today, it's a really slick piece of software that has a ton of uses.

 

I use it myself to run a single gaming machine that allows my son to play solo during the day, and my friends to use for playing LAN gaming in the evening.

 

If you want to know why you need Sandboxie, see below.

 

Aster Setup

Install Aster after downloading it:

https://ibiksoft.com/download/

 

Aster with Steam

Steam runs at the system level in Windows, so you need Sandboxie to run more than one copy of it (see below for more on Sandboxie). Without it, Steam will close when opening on a different user's computer.
 

These are my tips for success:

1. Install Steam games outside of the sandbox. It saves on disk space and makes everything work as you expect.
2. Run games at least once when not sandboxed. This allows Steam to install the redistributable files in the correct locations.

When shutting down using the power button on your PC, you sometimes have to press it twice. This happens if some of the monitors have gone into power save. The first press turns the monitors on, the second one shuts down the PC.

 

Start with Windows

Depending on your needs, you could have Aster start:

1. When you start your computer (my preferred configuration).
2. When the first user logs in.
3. Manually by opening Aster and clicking the "Run Aster workplaces" button.

 

I've only tried loading Aster at boot, and it works well that way.

Configure Devices in Aster

First, you need to enable multiple workplaces in Aster:

 

Then you can go to the Workplaces tab to drag and drop devices:

 

If you don't know which device is which, move the mouse or tap the keyboard, and it will show up with a blue highlight around it:

 

The same works for microphones and speakers, but that's a bit tricker.

In terms of monitors, they're divided based on graphics cards. For each plugged-in and enabled monitor, it will allow you to assign it to a specific workplace. You can assign multiple monitors to one or only one each like I have in these screenshots.

 

Single- or Multi-GPU

My setup has multiple GPUs, so each workplace is given a single monitor on each GPU.

 

You can also give one GPU to multiple workplaces. All you have to do is take the .1 and .2 monitors and drag them to separate workplaces. Doing so means both of those workplaces will share the same graphics card when playing games.

 

Separating Sound Devices

If you're sharing the same GPU, it's possible you'll be sharing the same soundcard as well. If you want to split the sound between workplaces, you'll need to dedicate one soundcard per workplace. You can't use the GPU for both.

 

Your motherboard has an integrated soundcard as well. If you plug in speakers to the 3.5mm jack on the back of your PC or plug headphones into the front headphone port, those can act as a separate soundcard so you don't have to share audio.

 

USB soundcards work just as well. My microphone even acts as a USB soundcard, and I can plugin speakers or headphones into it.

 

Microphones work the same way, and Aster gives you a lot of control over how you're setting up microphones.

 

Auto-Login

Aster allows defining a user for a specific workplace and having that user automatically login when the computer starts. This way, you don't have to type in a username and password each time:

 

After clicking the user, select an account and type in the user's password:

 

Now that workplace will automatically login that user. While it looks like Aster is keeping track of passwords, it's not. Windows can do this natively; Aster is only providing a nice GUI for doing it.

 

While it may seem strange to automatically login users, if you use these other workplaces only for playing games, automatic login means it can start up Steam in Big Picture when the computer boots, so it's ready for people to use. You don't always want to have to login and set everything up each time.

 

Limiting CPU cores

Some games don't like it when you don't give them all of the available CPU cores, so you don't want to do any CPU core limiting on any workplaces used for games.

 

There's a menu in Aster to configure CPU cores. Don't touch this if you're planning to play games on any of those workplaces.

 

Dedicated Network Cards

If you're playing older games, it might be important to dedicate different IP addresses to different workplaces. It's also how you can assign network cards in Aster:

 

From the Extended Settings tab, if you click the "Not Assigned" text, it will bring up a way to assign programs or the entire workplace to a static IP address:

 

I'm not too familiar with this screen, but Aster support recommended this to me as a way to assign an Ethernet card to each Workplace with its own IP address. I haven't run into issues so far sharing a single Ethernet adapter with a single IP, but you might have to come in here and assign static IPs.

 

I personally don't like the way Aster handles assigning Ethernet cards, so I leave this configuration alone. I wish they'd let you drag 'n drop and network card to specific workplaces instead.

 

Disable Aster
It's also easy to disable Aster:

 

After clicking the disable button, you restart your machine, and it's back to working as if Aster was never installed. It's just as easy to turn back on using the same button. After a reboot, Aster's there working for you.

This can be useful if you only want to run Aster when you have people over, but otherwise, you want to use your computer normally for a single user. In my case, I have a machine dedicated for LAN gaming, so it doesn't make sense to change this setting, but I've tested it out, and it's fast.

 

Sandboxie Setup

Install Sandboxie Plus after downloading it:

https://sandboxie-plus.com/downloads/

 

Open Sandboxie and click the "Edit Config" icon:

 

Download the Sandboxie.ini file I attached to this post paste it in Nodepad that opened:

 

This is the same Sandboxie configuration I'm using. It allows Sandboxie to get out of the way of your games and create as little overhead as possible. It also removes the yellow border around sandboxed apps.

 

The `OpenPipePath` and `RunCommand` values might not be required, but you can change them to match your machine's Steam directory if you need them.

 

Create a shortcut for running Steam sandboxed:

 

 

While I have 2 icons for Steam under this user account, it's important because you will sometimes need to run Steam unsandboxed. See the Aster with Steam section for more information.

If you don't want 2 icons, you can always right-click and open in a sandbox as well:

 

I don't recommend this method as you'll forget and open it wrong.

 

[HenryPDT]

Hey there, I know this thread is old but I've recently found Aster and are looking to set it up properly. Can you reupload the sandboxie ini file somehow?

Thanks so much

[Sawtaytoes]

On 1/11/2022 at 2:01 AM, HenryPDT said:

Hey there, I know this thread is old but I've recently found Aster and are looking to set it up properly. Can you reupload the sandboxie ini file somehow?

Thanks so much

Hey, we already chatted, but the INI file is still here.

How's your experience with it?

[m6ts]

.

[m6ts]

If i want to play games with friends would i have to have 2 copies of the game downloaded?

[Sawtaytoes]

Depends. Steam games require separate accounts.

 

You can play 1 game with 2 instances of it's installed outside of a launcher though.

 

Steam offline mode works too if you want.

[Sawtaytoes]

I was having issues getting Sandboxie working on some other accounts for some reason even though they worked in the past, so I went ahead and upgraded it.

 

---

 

The version of Sandboxie-Plus I was using was the free version 0.9. They released 1.0 recently, and I just downloaded it today.

They now have an optional paid-license model (which is actually great because you can put in a support ticket and someone can fix Steam compatibility issues). You can find the licenses here: https://xanasoft.com/product-category/software/

I also bought the SANDBOXIE PLUS LARGE SUPPORTER CERTIFICATE because it's supported for 2 years and lets you use those features even after it expires. The cheaper licenses expire completely after only a year. Since this is a single Windows box, it only needs a single license for all users as far as I've seen.

 

---

 

I combined my rules with the "application passthrough" box, and it suddenly started working! Still had some connection issues even though it logged me in (no solution yet), but for the use case today, it was fine.

 

Both kids were able to play a game at the same time on the same account; meaning, I didn't need to buy a second copy of all these point 'n click games .

[Sawtaytoes]

Tested it again. Internet access worked fine. I was having issues playing co-op in Nobody Saves the World where the framerate would end up being 7fps because of how the online stuff works, but with the latest Sandboxie-Plus, it was able to do 120fps and 60fps just fine.

 

I think the issues I was having before must've been a weird situation because both kids were logged into the same account.

 

The only configuration you need to do in Sandboxie-Plus after buying the license is disabling that yellow border. Other than that, it should be completely fine to use!

[Sami_Payne]

Hello ,

I have bought aster to play with my brother , we tried sandboxie and used csgo with it but after 5-10 mins one of us gets kicked out due to a VAC error , have you played CS:GO with aster , if so please tell me how is it going.

Also what other games have you tried that support sandboxie , please let me know

[SilverSkies]

On 3/11/2022 at 2:06 PM, Sawtaytoes said:

I was having issues getting Sandboxie working on some other accounts for some reason even though they worked in the past, so I went ahead and upgraded it.

 

---

 

The version of Sandboxie-Plus I was using was the free version 0.9. They released 1.0 recently, and I just downloaded it today.

They now have an optional paid-license model (which is actually great because you can put in a support ticket and someone can fix Steam compatibility issues). You can find the licenses here: https://xanasoft.com/product-category/software/

I also bought the SANDBOXIE PLUS LARGE SUPPORTER CERTIFICATE because it's supported for 2 years and lets you use those features even after it expires. The cheaper licenses expire completely after only a year. Since this is a single Windows box, it only needs a single license for all users as far as I've seen.

 

---

 

I combined my rules with the "application passthrough" box, and it suddenly started working! Still had some connection issues even though it logged me in (no solution yet), but for the use case today, it was fine.

 

Both kids were able to play a game at the same time on the same account; meaning, I didn't need to buy a second copy of all these point 'n click games .

im trying to set this up now to play borderlands. what do you mean by the application passthrough box?

borderlands also requires that we "launch the game for the first time in online mode". but it says this every time the PC restarts

also using your ini results in black boxes all over steam

seems to be "allowboxedjobs" Line

 

[nothxthxno]

what specifically in your sandboxie configuration prevents steam from closing other instances ?

I am using sandboxie, but still, the steam service ( I guess ) , randomly closes steam instances when there are multiple running 

[Sawtaytoes]

I opened Steam in Sandboxie to fix it.

Drag the Steam icon into Sandboxie, and it loads there.

You can also use the right-click menu, but on Windows 11, that might be hidden.

[ChetanBhatt]

Hey, I just found about the software today. I basically want to play online fps games with my wife using my system. 
Can you please share your system configurations?

[Sawtaytoes]

On 9/26/2022 at 7:36 AM, ChetanBhatt said:

Hey, I just found about the software today. I basically want to play online fps games with my wife using my system. 
Can you please share your system configurations?

What do you mean by system configuration? Like the PC I'm using?

It doesn't have to be high-end. You can even use a single GPU.

This system uses spare parts I had lying around aside from the motherboard and RAM:

• AMD Ryzen 3800X
• Asus X570 Crossfire VIII Dark Hero
• 64GB RAM
• 2 x NVIDIA GTX 1080 Ti
• 1kW Corsair PSU.

If I had only 16GB of RAM with this system, I'd be fine because there's only 1 copy of Windows running. Most games don't use more than 8GB including Windows.

 

I could use a single 1080 Ti; and I had in the past, but since I had two, I figured; why not?

The processor could be half the cores, but most games require at least 4 cores. For the best performance, I put my old 3800X in there. I did try this system with 4 PCs, and it worked fine. That's effectively 2 cores per workplace, and I had no issues. My games are all GPU-limited, and the monitors are only 60-75Hz, so the CPU really doesn't matter as much as you'd think.

You don't need anything crazy like what LInus has used. Those are overkill and only needing to be that crazy because he's running a hypervisor and partitioning resources. With Aster, all CPU and RAM resources are available to all workplaces as well as at least 1 GPU. If you have a strong enough GPU or run at low enough settings or framerates, you don't even need two GPUs.

Tell me how it goes!

[nishiki]

Hey thanks for the tutorial, i know this sounds crazy but do you think it's possible to run two instances of a very demanding game like God of War using aster with a configuration like this:

• AMD Ryzen 5600
• Colorful ultra oc 3060
• 32 gb ram

I never saw anyone try this software with two heavy games in a budget build, so i'm curious about what config would be able to do this at the lowest price.

[Sawtaytoes]

As an update, you no longer need Sandboxie. Steam now natively supports multiple instances per user on the same machine! This is HUGE. I'll be uploading a video on this topic in the next few months on my new tech YouTube channel :).

[Sawtaytoes]

On 11/26/2022 at 4:24 PM, nishiki said:

Hey thanks for the tutorial, i know this sounds crazy but do you think it's possible to run two instances of a very demanding game like God of War using aster with a configuration like this:

• AMD Ryzen 5600
• Colorful ultra oc 3060
• 32 gb ram

I never saw anyone try this software with two heavy games in a budget build, so i'm curious about what config would be able to do this at the lowest price.

 

Yes, this is completely possible! But this all depends on what you want out of it. "Can it run this game" depends on what you want and what you're seeing today.

 

Overview

Your Ryzen 5600 is plenty for God of War considering it's not known to use much of your CPU. 16GB, even 8GB of system RAM, is plenty for most of today's games.

 

What really matters is your GPU and VRAM. That is unless you're playing a CPU-heavy game or if you're wanting to run at high framerates.

 

CPU

Possible CPU issues:

• Recent PC release of Spider-Man and Sackboy which both do asynchronous shader compilation and thrash the CPU; although, it's not like it compiles shaders forever.
• Some games, like Forza Horizon, compile shaders before you can load the game; then CPU usage goes back down.
• Ray tracing is also CPU-heavy, but it works fine on my Ryzen 3800X even on a GTX 1080 Ti while playing another game.
• Running at high framerates will make you CPU-limited when playing even a single game at lower resolutions like 1080p and below. If you wanna do 240fps on both workplaces, you probably need a faster CPU; although, I was able to do 2x60fps and 2x75fps on 4 workplaces in Serious Sam 3 on the Ryzen 3800X just fine. It really depends.

GPU

The NVIDIA RTX 3060 is a sub-par card in general, but that doesn't matter. Does it struggle to run the game today? What framerates are you aiming at? If you can comfortably do 60fps normally, you can easily do 30-45fps with 2 workplaces.

 

If you're gaming at 1080p60 twice, it might be fine. You could even run at 720p too. You can even run both workplaces at different resolutions, so you don't have to mess with your main config!

 

To put it in perspective:

• 1280x720: 0.9 megapixels
• 1920x1080: 2.0 megapixels

720p is less than half the pixels per frame so if you can do 90fps at 1080p, you can do ~60fps x 2 at 1080p and 720p.

 

GPU issues can be mitigated with DLSS, lower resolutions, and lower settings. Again, you can do it only on the second workplace and leave your main one on the settings you're already using.

 

Caveat

Enable V-Sync or another framerate limiter. V-Sync stops your GPU from rendering more frames than it needs to. That means it leaves extra performance available for the other workplace to use. That will provide a huge performance bump even when using multiple GPUs!

 

GPU VRAM

I've seen some games use as much as 5GB of VRAM, but typically, they use 2-4GB probably for compatibility with older consoles.

 

On the 8GB model of the RTX 3060, that could be the limiting factor. If the game shows you how much VRAM it uses, you can tweak it such that both workplaces don't use more than the card's max.

 

If you're both playing the same game on the same levels, I think it might be able to share VRAM resources. You'll have to verify this yourself.

 

Storage

Some benefits of doing it this way, depending on how it works, is RAM is shared because assets are already loaded for 1 player and can be used by the other; but that's not always the case depending on how the game handles assets in memory.

 

Your SSD and HDDs can cache data too which can make reads faster if you're both playing at the same time, but that all depends on how Windows manages it.
 

Closing

You can also purchase a license for Aster and refund it if it doesn't work for you.

 

Post if you try it out! I'd love to hear how it works for you. If I'm wrong on anything, I can clarify my advice in the future .

[hannojooste]

So another year later is this still the best method or has there been new developments?

[Sawtaytoes]

I'm still using Aster. Works really well!

 

Steam now runs in separate user accounts, not as the system account! Problem solved :).

 

That means no Sandboxie.

[Gamezee]

@Sawtaytoes this is awesome! I have two accounts and bought the game on each account to play online with my gf but only one account is able to access the servers. Is there a way to access the steam servers on both accounts simultaneously? 
thank you 

[Sawtaytoes]

On 11/24/2023 at 7:57 PM, Gamezee said:

@Sawtaytoes this is awesome! I have two accounts and bought the game on each account to play online with my gf but only one account is able to access the servers. Is there a way to access the steam servers on both accounts simultaneously? 
thank you 

I'm not understanding what you're doing. Steam "just works" for me. Are you on the latest version?

[TICK_VR]

Does anyone have a copy of the .ini file? @Sawtaytoes
Steam may be able to run just fine, but I can't get SteamVR to run two instances, so hoping the sandbox option will resolve this.

 

(EDIT: Apparently I needed to be logged in first to download it. All set!!)

Edited December 13, 2023 by TICK_VR

[krokee]

On 12/13/2023 at 8:19 PM, TICK_VR said:

Does anyone have a copy of the .ini file? @Sawtaytoes
Steam may be able to run just fine, but I can't get SteamVR to run two instances, so hoping the sandbox option will resolve this.

 

(EDIT: Apparently I needed to be logged in first to download it. All set!!)

How did you get 2 steamvr to run on the same pc? Do you use aster aswell? I'm struggling with this, Im using aster with 2 users tried with sandbox but can't get it to work. i run on user 1 without sandbox and everything works, when loading user 2 with sandbox steam and all loads and steam vr but gives "Error 309. SteamVR a key component isnt working properyly" Cheers

[TICK_VR]

I had the same issue. I even tried loading both users with their own sandbox. But then realized, I couldn't use Sandbox any way if I wanted to use VRChat, which I do. Something about the Easy Anti Cheat I guess, blocks it from working in Sandbox.

I've given up on the Sandbox path, but still looking around for another option to run multiple instances of SteamVR with Aster.

Anyone here with any ideas?

 

To be clear, Steam itself works just fine with Aster alone. I can even have one user using SteamVR while the other plays a 2D/"flat" Steam game.

[krokee]

The problem is vrserver is bound to one port, the second instance won't start because port is already busy. Sandboxie seem to not be able to do this