Playing in the Sand - A Guide to Sandboxie

If you are reading this guide, odds are you probably came from the Etherian Economics guide I have written and was directed here from the Multibox section.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1618164144

Although there was a guide written by a previous individual, the guide I felt was bit basic and I also never ran a 2nd account for this game. The author has also retired from DD2. As of two weeks ago from the creation of this guide, I managed to look into this program and found out it was not only easy to install but it was relatively simple to use.

With a secondary account or alt running parallel to your primary account or main, you get some definite advantages that can assist with your farming by providing a second set of:

• Gold
  
• Medals
  
• Materials (Ampoules, Motes, Hammers and the item specific materials)
  
• Shards (although you cannot transfer these)
  
• Equipment drops
  
• Mod counter for the 10/10 guaranteed drop

As stated in the Multibox section of the aforementioned guide, there are 2 major methods: Hardware and Software. Hardware you simply have 2 computers (usually a PC and a laptop) each run Dungeon Defenders 2 and they both connect to the same server. Software, you will need to use Sandboxie to run 2 separate instances of Steam off 2 accounts on the same machine and both instances connect to the same server. This guide will be more oriented on how to do the latter more than the former, although there will be a section on how to optimise your 2 instances. Although you are allowed to have multiple accounts running on Dungeon Defenders II, you are only limited to 1 alt alongside your main, whether it would be done via Hardware or Software. This was allowed by the staff since the Console ports allowed for split screen mutliplayer and the 2 screens could share resources between each other by default.

Any more and you risk getting banned by Chromatic Games if you are caught. The main reason being that it consumes extra server resources and it gives a player an extreme advantage when it comes to farming. As of writing this guide, there have been people who have recently banned for using this program to run 3-5 alternate accounts to do farming, streaming and selling items for real money.

If you are an active user on the Dungeon Defender's Discord, you are allowed to discuss the use of this program or link this guide on any sections of the Discord. I also have no personal or professional affiliation with Chromatic Games, their staff or official Discord. If you need assistance for how to run Sandboxie, either ask in the comments section here, the Help Chat on the Discord or do a Google/YT search for troubleshooting.

If you also do Software Multiboxing, your computer will be consuming extra resources (VRAM, CPU, GPU processing and RAM) to run 2 instances and lower end machines might run into difficulties.

Before you begin, you will need to download and install Sandboxie[sandboxie-plus.com]. Make sure you download and install the correct version, depending on your operating system. Prioritise over the x64 variant if you are using post Windows 7, otherwise, x86.

While you are downloading and installing that, you will need to go to Steam's official website and create a secondary account. This will also require you to create a 2nd email address over at an email provider like Outlook, Gmail or Yahoo. Do not forget that this second account has to be activated through the email for it to work properly.

Finally, because you will be running two instances of Steam alongside Dungeon Defenders II, you will be consuming at least 3GB of RAM if you are running 1 instance of Dungeon Defenders II alongside Steam. Plus, your GFX card/chip will be processing 2 instances of the game in real time. If your hardware is not up to spec to handle Software Multiboxing, than you should consider Hardware Multiboxing to reduce the strain or you will be unable to Multibox.

When you run Sandboxie for the first time, the program will look like this:

How this will work is your computer will now have 2 instances: Your main instance, which is what your PC generally runs and the "Default Box", which is your 2nd standalone instance. The plan is you will use these 2 instances to run Steam on each There are two ways to do this. You can either

• Click Sandbox and select Run Sandboxed
  
• Select Run Sandbox and select DefaultBox

OR

• Right click DefaultBox
  
• Hover over Run
  
• Select Run Program

You will then get this prompt:

You will then click on Browse and you will navigate and locate the Steam executable (Steam.exe). For most installs, it is usually found on C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam.
Note: In the event you didn't install it there and you cannot find where it is.

Once you find it, select it, Click Ok. If done correctly, the Run Sandboxed window will now have the location of the Steam executable in it's textbox. You will then Click Ok.

If you must create a new box, either because your old sandbox is running a deprecated version of Steam and/or DD2, then you must go to Sandbox and select "Create New Box". You will then get this window (as of version 1.16.1):

Simply type in the name of your new box, click the option for Standard Sandbox, then click Finish and your new box will be created.

WARNING:Do not under any circumstances do any termination of any processes that will appear in the Processes field under your Sandbox that is running Steam. Terminating any of the Steam programs will cause your 2nd instance to malfunction and will impact Dungeon Defenders II as you are running it.

Note:All windows created under your Sandbox will have yellow borders when hovered over the title bar or move the window around. They will also the name of said window encased in a pair of boxed pound signs. This is a normal feature to Sandboxie as to show which programs are running of your main instance and which ones are running off Sandboxie's instance.

Once you run Steam.exe off of Sandboxie, you will get a 2nd instance of Steam that will load up but it will default to your Main's account. In order to circumvent this, you will need to select the Change Account option from the Steam menu.

Upon clicking this option, it will load up a small window with your Main account's avatar and a plus sign next to it. Click on the Plus sign and a login prompt will appear. This is where you use your 2nd account's login information. After you have done this and it remembers the account, then your Alt's Steam will always login to this account.

WARNING: Make sure that your email account doesn't have Steam's support email address blocked or forwarded to Junk. Failure to do so will prevent your Alt's email from getting Security codes and it will be impossible to login.

Once you are logged in, you should now have 2 instances of Steam running. In this example, I am showing my main instance's Steam (Bamethyst38) and my Sandboxie's instance of Steam (MyBiggaHarambe).I have blacked out my activity for personal reasons.

Disclaimer: I am aware there is a Twitch streamer for DD2 named Harambe. My alt's name was not made in reference to him, but the very gorilla who died for our sins. He knows about the account now so please don't heckle him.

Note:You may get a pop up on your Sandboxie's Steam about the program needing maintenance and you have to install Steam Services. If you see this popup, click Cancel. This is not important and it may screw up your Steam program if you make any changes to it on your Sandboxie side.

Your Sandboxie's Steam will have no games connected to it, but it will default to whatever games are installed onto your computer by your main instance's primary account. If you run any game off your Sandboxie's Steam, then the game will function normally but it will have a different set of settings, save files or in this case: Login credentials. You will exploit this behaviour to run 2 instances of Dungeon Defenders II.

Once you have access to your Sandboxie Steam's user interface, you will acquire the Friend Code of your Alt or Main and use that to add the opposite account as a friend. It is recommended to do this before you run DD2. Another suggestion is to add your alt's account to your Favorites so it always appears on your Friends tab at the top. This helps immensely if you got a large friends list and you don't want to scroll through to find the account.

If you follow the suggestion, you should have this (I have blacked out my other friends for personal reasons):

Note:It would be wise to first log into your Main's Steam to check for updates for Dungeon Defenders II. If there is a download, especially if its a big update, let the update download and install before you run Steam on Sandboxie. If you don't do this, you may cause problems with Steam and/or Sandboxie. Note:From this point onward, I will refer to Sandboxie Steam's instance of Dungeon Defenders II as Alt and your primary Steam's instance of Dungeon Defenders II as Main.

All you simply need to do is click the Play button on Dungeon Defenders II for both your Main and your Alt's instances. To tell the two apart, your Alt's instance of Dungeon Defenders II will be encased in pound sign boxes and the border will be yellow if it's running in Window Mode.

Before you log into both your Main and Alt's instance of Dungeon Defenders II, make sure you go into the options of your Alt and set the Server to make sure that it is the same as your Main's and set the necessary controls and options where ever possible.

Because your Alt is a fresh account, it will have to go through the Tutorial on Gates of Dragonfall solo. Luckily, the mission isn't too difficult as the Squire should be able to cut down all the Goblins and the boss will get downed by Cannonballs in tandem with your Squire or Apprentice. Once you complete the mission and get to town, head to the Private Tavern (either through the Private Tavern Door, located in the building between the Sky City Vault and Professor Proteus' ship or log out and select Private Tavern).

When you are running Sandboxie, you may get some occasional popups, notifying you of installing services or overwriting files. You must pay attention to when you get these so you don't accidentally click on something you shouldn't.

The two big annoying popups will overwrite files on your Steam directory and the Alt can do things that can screw up even the Main's Steam.

This is a common popup the Alt will show when you get past the Login and load up the Alt's steam window. This is a very common popup you will be seeing when you are using Sandboxie.

If you do see this popup, simply click Cancel, but do so when the Alt's Steam app appears (shown in the image above behind the popup). If you don't do this at the right time, it will lock up your Steam and you will need to rerun the Steam.exe a 2nd time. On the 2nd attempt, this won't happen.

Tip:You cannot alt-tab to this popup. If you see the popup as you wait for Sandboxie to boot your instance, drag it to a corner or another window until you see the Steam UI. Otherwise, you will have to close or minimize windows until you see the popup.

When Sandboxie opens Steam, sometimes the Alt has to check for updates. You may get a popup from Sandboxie itself that looks something like this:

If the file in question is a Steam-related file, then this means there was an update to the Steam app itself. Simply click No, update your Steam through your Main and recreate your Sandbox.

If the file in question is something within Dungeon Defenders II directory (usually involving map files), then it is suggested to log off your Main's DD2 session and install any necessary updates on the Main's Steam. Once they are done, you can either keep clicking Yes for every file that needs to be migrated and check the box to remember the decision in the future, or delete and re-create the Sandbox after the Main's Steam completely installs the update.

Note: As of version 1.16.1, the Yes option will automatically be applied for every file that needs to be updated. All you will need to put up with during the patching is a window constantly telling you it's updating DD2 files.

A common issue that some inexperienced users may find is that they may not have set the Main and Alt's Server to the same one. This can also be a common issue if you are working with VPNs. Make sure your network settings are able to handle two instances and restart your machine if necessary. It is also suggested you turn your VPN off when playing Dungeon Defenders II as it can cause unstable connections for both instances. There are programs out there that can simulate a series of keyboard and mouse clicks that can be sent as instructions to Dungeon Defenders II. These allow some players to do automated things like go between both instances and Auto-G for AFK builds.

You will need a macro program to do this. I am not versed enough in macros to assist people in this endeavor. If I do find information how you can do this yourself, I will share it when available.

When a new version of Steam is installed, sometimes your alt will attempt to download a package from the Steam server and try to install an update. This will often fail and the system will attempt to revert it back to a previous, working version. However, if Steam goes through a significant version change (eg. the June 14th, 2023 patch), it may cause Steam to fail to boot.

The reason this happens is when you run Steam off your Sandbox for the first time, it will keep a "copy" of the version of Steam it ran off of that time. Since this version can never change, it will cause a version mismatch and try to update it. To fix this, simply delete the current Sandbox you are using (Right Click the Sandbox and select Remove Sandbox) and create a new one (Sandbox > Create Sandbox) or Right Click the current Sandbox and select Delete Content. You must do either of these options AFTER the Steam update is installed. If you have been using the DefaultBox as your Sandbox, you will need to use the Delete Content option.

You will also have to setup your logins and accounts again if you have to use this fix.

As of v1.16.1, this problem seems to have largely gone away. It will update the Steam within your Sandbox and if it does go through, you can continue onwards to Steam. If the update does fail in this version and onward, then simply do the fix mentioned in this section.

This happens usually on your Alt's instance. Sometimes, a small popup in the bottom corner shows this message and it threatens to close the game. How Steam handles multiple accounts with purchased games is your Alt will "borrow" any games that your Main has purchased and installed if you attempt to play them. However, because DD2 is a free to play game at it's core, this popup cannot do anything. You can ignore this. When you start up your Alt for the first time, sometime after the Install Steam Services popup, you may get a box saying "steamwebservicehelper.exe" SBEI2112 - Object Not Found errors. These will persist a couple of times before loading the Alt's Steam browser window. If you see these, simply click Dismiss on every instance of this. To prevent these errors from appearing again, you must go into your Alt's Settings window and disable the "Enable GPU accelerated rendering in web views" option. This will require a restart of the Alt's instance of Steam to take effect.

As of the patch for September 16, 2025, there has been an issue where the alt's Dungeon Defenders II closes without warning or an error message about 5 seconds into the loading spiral and black screen before the main menu. This problem seems persistent on older versions of Sandboxie (1.9.6 was when I had this happen). Simply update Sandboxie to the current version (1.16.1 as of writing this) or better and if necessary, restart your PC. If the Discord Overlay is enabled, there are times where if you alt-tab between your main and alt's windows, it will instantly go back to the instance you were previously on. This is caused by an issue with the Discord Overlay running on your main.

To counter this issue, run Dungeon Defenders II on your Main, then go to your Discord's User Settings > Game Overlay and an option will appear for the Discord Overlay on Dungeon Defenders II. Disable this option or the Overlay completely and this issue will be resolved.

This can happen in rare instances. I got this myself when I swapped over to my cable TV for 2 hours, swapped back and woke the PC up. I immediately forgot I left Sandboxie running so I tried to Terminate All Processes in the Sandbox just as the PC was recovering from waking up. This caused a BSOD and restarted my PC.

Make sure that when you are 100% done with Sandboxie, you Terminate All Processes across your Sandboxes and then Exit the program properly.

When you are finished with the program and have no more use for it, make sure you close your Alt's Dungeon Defenders II and it closes properly.

You will then either right click on Default Box and select Terminate All Programs or select Sandbox and click Terminate All Processes.

If you do either option, you may get a prompt asking for confirmation to terminate all programs/processes. In the event this happens, click OK. If done correctly, then all the programs that are displayed under the DefaultBox will be gone.

Then simply select Exit.

The main purpose that players do with alt accounts is party up with their main and let the main account do all the defense building and work while both accounts collect the rewards.

The first thing you want to do with your alt is invite it into your main's Private Tavern and party up. To do this, simply load up your Main's Friends tab and right click on your Alt's account in the Favourites and select either Join Game or Invite to Lobby.

If you do the latter, an invite request will be sent to your Alt's Instance, all you have to do then Alt-Tab to your Alt's instance, Shift-Tab to open up the Steam Overlay, select Play Game from the Main's chat log and the account will join the main's Private Tavern.

WARNING: Make sure both the Main and Alt's server locations match. Failure to do so will prevent your Main and Alt from joining the same instance and you will need to log out of 1 of the instances in order to change the Server location in the Main Menu's option window.

Once both accounts are in the same lobby, you simply have the Main send a Party Invite to the Alt, then alt-tab over to the Alt and accept the request within 15 in-game seconds. It is suggested to have the main be the leader of the party.

Once the Main and Alt are partied up, you will need to do some in-game progression on the Alt in order to bring it up to spec for Multibox Farming. There is quite a bit to be done but your Main's defenses should be more than enough to take on this undertaking. It is recommended that your Main:

• Is able to clear at least Chaos 9 Expeditions solo, preferably with an effective brute force strategy and as AFK as possible.
  
• Clearing Masteries, Incursions and at least F240 on Onslaught recommended
  
• You have at least the Defense stats maxed on the Ancient Powers card (minimum requirement of AP25)

Once you are able to meet those requirements, you will need to do the following with your Alt:

• Clear the Campaign
  
• Clear all 12 Adventures while your current Questline is Clear Adventures
  
• Using a combination of Expeditions and Onslaught, get the Alt's Champion Score to Chaos 7, factoring in the current Questline objective as you go.
  
• Once you clear Chaos 7 and done the 10 Onslaught Floors required for the Questline, do the easiest 14 Masteries across the first 7 Chaos tiers that you are able to 5-star with little to no effort. This will give your account a free 2nd inventory bag, 240k Gold and another 1k medals.
  
• Get the account to Chaos 8 access and get the Alt's ascension to 250 via Wildest West (fastest and easiest Experience yield + access to Snakeskin armor for Main's use).

After this, the path splits and it will be based on your personal needs. You may do one of two strategies:

• Start doing AP resets on the Alt and using your Main's defenses to carry the account. You can get the Alt to AP50 with minimal risk and work. (See the Advanced Uses section for the quickest strategy to do this).
  
• Or you can get the AP0 to Chaos 9 and just begin farming at maximum rates as soon as possible and/or have 3400 minimum ascension for the Alt to work with.
  
• Additionally, you may do 10 Incursions, preferably on C9 Prime if you can handle the strength to farm for Rings and clear the final Questline mission for the Alt's free Vault Tab.

I would recommend you put at least 50 resets on the account for the increased Gold rates but also for the constant Ancient Power benefits, especially if you play Private sessions. By using the Player Shop feature, you can transfer Materials and Gold between the two accounts to fill in gaps or stockpile resources to the Main account for crafting or sales. It is obviously recommended that you do all transfers in the Private Tavern and not in the Public Town unless you are transfering large amounts of Gold and you know players won't swipe your goods.

Try to also limit your Gold transfers as best as possible as the Etherian Tax still applies, taking 15% of the cut for a service charge. This can get costly when you are doing 100M transfers as you are effectively giving up 15M to the tax man. The best time to do Gold transfers is when there is an event where the Tax is 1% or only do it when its an emergency.

You must consider the Alt's items may have their stats altered to "sync with game progression". In order to combat this, you either need to get your alt's expedition progression to match your main or you will have to upgrade or evolve the item once. Check the Advanced Uses section on how you can exploit this to your benefit.

If you are not planning on using your Alt for anything but resource collection, the best thing to do with your Medals on this account is to use the Material Shop and purchase Materials when you reach 12k medals. It is suggested that you buy the Materials you desperately need as the priority and then factor in what you can sell to others or hoard on the main. Consult the Material Shop section on the Etherian Economics guide for more information on how to effectively use this feature. If you are planning on using your Alt to eventually help your Main do resets beyond AP50 to save on Main's currency, then purchase the following heroes with Medals:

• Series EV2 for Nodes, specifically Proton and Reflect
  
• Initiate - Auras and Chi Spirit Tower are effective. Also has access to Talisman for defense buffing and Chi Aura for hero buffing/healing
  
• Mercenary - Nether Archers can be very effective with Resetting
  
• Lavamancer - Fissures of Embermount and Oil Geysers
  
• Dryad - The World Tree can be effective in some scenarios and her Nimbus is very effective
  
• Countess - Has one of the most effective buff spells in the game and Dragon Nests

This is a bone of contention between various players about this topic. Since Gems require real world currency to acquire and the game only gives you 450 through Campaign and Adventures, you will need to put down extra money in order to purchase anything extra you may need. You also have to consider that eventually you will be done this game or farming and the Alt will have served it's purpose.

If you must put money down for Gems, do so only to buy the Materials Tab and get 8 Inventory Bags, but do these actions when there is a sale for bags. You will be placing at least $35-40 USD down to get 7 bags and another $12-13 for the Materials Tab without the assistance of Sales.

If you are planning on wanting extra heroes, it is suggest do this via Medals before Gems.

Although most players use the Alt as a means to collect a 2nd set of resources, there are some time saving tricks you can do with progression or even flat out use them for Passive and Quick Tab effects to turn the tides in harder challenges such as Survival, Onslaught, Mastery or Expeditions you can barely beat.

A common reason people resort to using Alts is so that they can have their Alt build defenses for their Main (or vice versa if you want to get some resets on your Alt to increase Gold Rates) to cut down on the costs for upgrading Relics from c0. Pre-Chaos 7
Simply have the Alt (or Main) build defenses for you on Onslaught and just blitz through the Floors until you start getting Chaos 7 drops. As your AP (Ancient Power aka # of resets completed) increases, your minimum floor will also increase, until eventually you can simply access Chaos 7 gear the moment you go back. Once Chaos 7 drops are unlocked, equip a set on your account you are progressing with to get access to Chaos 7 and then clear a Chaos 7 Expedition to lock your progress to Chaos 7.

Chaos 7 and onward
Once your progressing account has access to or has beaten Chaos 7 or has an Onslaught Floor Beaten of >=28, you will need to make sure your building account can get Level 10/10 items from the enemies. If you cannot, you will need to raise the Champion Score of your builder account until this happens.

Once you have done this, hoard any weapons or armor that have a Gear Score >=7850 (the requirement for Chaos 8) and then transfer the following to your progressing account:

• The Full Set of Hero Equipment that meets the above criteria
  
• 5 C8 Amps
  
• 1M Gold (optional)

Note:Only the primary weapon counts towards the Champion Score, so you don't need to keep Shields. Because of this, it is wise that both the Builder and Progressing Accounts have the same heroes active.

After the transfer is complete, you will find on the progressing account that the items you transferred will be Level 10/10 but the stats will be downgraded to 0-1/10 level. The reason you needed to transfer the Chaos 8 Amps and 1M gold is because you will then simply Evolve the item to Chaos 8 (200k and 1 C8 Amp each) and you will not only bring the item to C8 0/10 but it will also correct the stat penalties. Once your progressing account does this, you will have a Champion Score required to enter C8 (which the game will notify you by giving you a cash reward for Champions to Expedition VIII). After you clear a C8 round, your minimum floor will go to 98 and you can simply reset right after.

Tip: Do each item one at a time and then check the Champion Score on the menu or hero UI. If you are able to get yourself to 7850 without having to completely upgrade all your items to C8 0/10, then you can save yourself amps and Gold for the next AP reset. This is especially effective for the AP32 step.

The only difference for this Reset is now you have to do a C9 clear in order to reset. You get the added advantage of getting access to Floor 80, which is when Chaos 7 items that are Level 10/10 will drop. Simply have your progressing account equip a set of these so you can access Chaos 8. Once this is done, have your builder account hold a set of Chaos 8 10/10 items that have a Gear Score >= 9850. If you have to, then transfer over the following:

• The Full Set of Hero Equipment that meets the above criteria
  
• 5 C9 Amps
  
• 10M Gold (optional)

Although 10M is a steep cost, you may opt to progressing the hard way and keep the money for yourself, but 10M will be easy to recover once you get enough AP Resets in you. As also stated before in the Tip. you may not need to advance all the items if their Champ scores of your (non-)completed items.

As you did before, Evolve the items you got to Chaos 9 0/10 (if necessary), clear a Chaos 9 Expedition to Floor Skip to 299, then reset again.

Simply have your Builder account build for Floor 260 while your progressing account collects C8 10/10 items and then do a Chaos 9 Expedition once you have Chaos 9 access. After you beat the Expedition, reset the progression account. From this point onward, you will have to do what you did for AP33-50, but you must also do another 20 floors from Floor 300 so that you can reset your progressing account again. Make sure the builder account is able to handle these floors on Onslaught with minimal difficulty. If you have difficulty doing this, you can opt to stop progressing here until you feel you want to, or switch progression and bolster the builder with resets.

As stated in the opening to the previous part, the Alt can be used for more than just sitting there and collecting goods, you can use some special powers via shards or hero's abilities in order to overcome obstacles or increase your effectiveness even further. For the sake of this guide, these will be called Passive and Quick Tab Effects. To differentiate between the two, here is how they are defined:

• Passive: An effect that will always be operational at all times and requires no interaction other than the hero being on the field.
  
• Quick Tab: An effect you will have to Alt-Tab into your Alt's window to quickly activate or use and then switch back to your Main or needs active play to operate. If you are fast enough, swapping windows and using skills should only take about 3-5 seconds.

This section will break down these effects that you can do with your Alt, factoring in global powers (any hero can use them) and by a hero by hero basis.

(Coming soon)