AutoMBGraphics

AutoMBGraphics — Multi-Client Graphics Auto-Switcher

What it does

AutoMBGraphics automatically swaps your World of Warcraft graphics settings based on which character you log into. Your main characters run at the high-quality preset you've configured for them, while your alts (typically background multi-box clients) are automatically downgraded to a low-quality preset that saves GPU power, VRAM, and CPU.

No more dragging sliders every time you swap clients. Log in → correct preset applied → play.

Who it's for

• Multi-boxers running 2, 5, 10+ clients who want background characters at minimal quality without manually reconfiguring every login.
• Players with one beefy main + several auction/bank/professions alts who don't need full graphics on the alts.
• Anyone with a laptop or older GPU who wants different presets per character without using Blizzard's clunky per-character settings (which don't reliably survive a /reload for many CVars).

Key features

• Two named presets — capture your current in-game settings as a string with one click, separately for "Main" and "Alt".
• Account-wide configuration — your CVar strings and main-character whitelist are shared across every character on your Battle.net account. Configure once, applies to every client.
• Per-character override — flag any single character as a main without touching the global roster.
• Automatic on login — the correct preset is applied during PLAYER_LOGIN. No slash commands needed during normal play.
• Safe-baseline on logout / reload — re-applies the main preset when you log out or /reload, so your next session never starts in low-quality mode by accident.
• Force-apply buttons — switch presets manually any time without relogging.
• Native Blizzard settings panel — opens with /mbg, or via Esc → Options → AddOns → AutoMBGraphics. No extra libraries, no third-party UI frameworks.
• Plain-text CVar strings — presets are stored as readable key=value;key=value;... strings you can hand-edit if you want fine control.
• 9 localized languages — English, 简体中文, 繁體中文, Deutsch, Français, Español, Русский, 한국어, Português.

How to use it

1. Type /mbg to open the settings panel.
2. On your main, adjust graphics exactly how you want them, then click Capture current settings next to the "[Main] high-graphics CVar string" field.
3. Drop the sliders to your preferred low-quality alt setup, then click Capture current settings next to "[Alt] low-graphics CVar string".
4. On every character that should be treated as a main, click Add current character to add them to the global main roster.
5. Click Confirm & force-save all settings (ReloadUI) at the bottom — this is the only step that writes to disk.

From now on, every login auto-applies the correct preset.

CVars managed

The addon captures and applies the following 19 CVars — chosen because they're the heaviest on GPU/VRAM and the most useful to swap between clients:

graphicsQuality, graphicsViewDistance, graphicsEnvironmentDetail, graphicsGroundClutter, graphicsShadowQuality, graphicsLiquidDetail, graphicsParticleDensity, graphicsSSAO, graphicsDepthEffects, graphicsComputeEffects, graphicsOutlineMode, graphicsTextureResolution, graphicsSpellDensity, projectedTextures, RenderScale, MSAAQuality, ffxAntiAliasingMode, maxFPS, maxFPSBk

Other CVars (sound, camera, name plates, UI scale, etc.) are never touched — only the graphics surface is affected.

Slash commands

Saved variables

A character is treated as main if it's on the global whitelist OR has the local override flag set.

Notes & caveats

• A handful of CVars (notably texture resolution and MSAA) only fully take effect after a /reload or relog. The chat output reminds you when this is the case.
• This version targets WoW Retail 12.0.x (The War Within). The Blizzard CVar surface changes between expansions, so older clients are not supported.
• The addon stays out of your way: no minimap button, no popups, no nagging. Just a single chat line on login confirming which preset was applied.

Migration

If you used v4.0 (which stored everything per-character), the addon performs a one-shot migration to the v4.1+ account-wide schema the first time you load it. Nothing to do on your end.

Feedback

Bug reports, translation fixes, and feature requests are welcome via the comments tab or the issue tracker.