Captain Fabulous

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My only change would be to make it possible to cancel detention field. I'd use it (who am I kidding, I'd pick it for my team build) if it wasn't a guaranteed team slowdown 99% of the time. Soloing it's decent. Teaming it's a big "[censored] you, bubbler! " every time. Even as a bubbler myself, when I play other characters, I hate it when people use powers that make the mobs untouchable. I'd love it if it could be dropped at will. Make it an expensive toggle. Change the fundamental mechanics of the game so we can cancel click buffs and debuffs (yeah, right ).

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Actually, there's another option for which the tech already exists in Phase Shift. A timed toggle, where after the current duration passes, it automatically detoggles, *or* you can detoggle it early yourself.

The base functionality of the power would stay the same, you'd just be able to switch it off early and not have your scrapper wasting half an end bar (I have enough trouble remembering to rebubble when two-boxing with my fire scrapper and Ice/FFer)

... Actually, I'd like to see this in Dark's phasing too. And Gravity's... Nyaha. Ohhh Caaastle...

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This has been suggested many times by many, many posters in the past, myself included. Seems like a no-brainer to fix these god awful powers, but I'm guessing it's pretty low on the priority list right now.

Yay! I ran the updater multiple times (including full verify) and nothing got nuked! Thanks Avatea!

I just send Nivienne a PM about this, and said she'd get it looked into. It's entirely possible that no one over there has any idea of what's going on.

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I let the test server download run. It downloaded about 700MB worth of files and claimed it was ready to go. I copied the piggs folder from live to test directory (did not replace any existing files) and ran the updater again, at which point the launcher fired up and... connected to live. I'm downloading a completely new copy now, from scratch, and am hoping that fixes it.

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If you run the updater directly (double clicking the .exe) then you'll get live cause you're not using the -test switch that's in the updater shortcut.

Once you get a complete game folder don't run the updater again. Use the updater bypass method.

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Hasn't worked for me so far. I get constant crashes when the game tries to launch still.

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Verify that your CohTest folder is something like 2.8 - 3.1 GBs. If it's only a few hundred megabytes then you need to use Zombie's suggestion and copy over the pigg folder from your live folder.

When doing this DO NOT overwrite the existing pigg files in the CohTest folder. Then try using the updater bypass method I outlined.

After you get the test folder all fixed up I'd recommend NOT using the updater to play the game, but instead use the updater bypass method.

Create a shortcut to CityofHeroes.exe in the CohTest folder. Right click the shortcut and select properties. Go to the shortcut tab. You need to add -project cohtest to the end of the Target line. It should look something like this:

"C:\Program Files\CohTest\CityofHeroes.exe" -project cohtest

Then click OK.

Now use the shortcut whenever you want to start the game. It will bypass the updater and stop it from destroying the game folder. Of course when the next patch comes out you'll have to use the updater otherwise you'll get a version mismatch when the game starts up.

Hope this helps.

For some reason the test updater is deleting a large amount of the game's files in the CohTest folder. Something is definitely borked.

Once you get it fixed it only fraks itself the next time you try to play the game.

Are you uninstalling the drivers and using Driver Sweeper in-between? It's possible you've got some kind of corruption going on. Might be worth a shot.

You might want to turn on Advanced Graphic and disable Bloom, Depth of Field, and Desaturation. It might not make things reappear, but should significantly increase performance with the Vista or XP driver.

While it might be hard to accept, ATI is no longer supporting the X1200, which means there may never be a fully functional driver for Windows 7. Your only option is to use older drivers or those for other OSs that might work. I would set all the graphics options to the minimum and then slowly ramp things up one by one till find the sweet spot. But again, you may never get the performance level in Windows 7 that you got in XP or Vista.

I would use a utility like Driver Sweeper to clean out your video drivers after you've uninstalled them and then reinstall from scratch. Hopefully that will clear things up.

If you're seeing rendering errors like the images posted your card is being pushed beyond its ability. This can happen from overclocking, overheating, or physical damage. Although drivers won't create one of these situations, they can make them show up more prominently, especially if they are more performance oriented (like the 185s).

If you are consistently seeing this in the game you're card is on the fast track to failing. If you are seeing this only occasionally, it means your card is starting down that track.

In some instances you can put off the inevitable total failure by using a program such as RivaTuner to force your fan to run at 100% and/or UNDERclock the card. This might buy you some time but won't work forever. As the circuits continue to deteriorate they will become less and less tolerant and will require more cooling and lower frequencies to operate correctly.

If your card is still under warranty you should send it back for a replacement. If it's not, try using the above RivaTuner suggestion until you can afford to replace it.

Sounds like typical ATI wonkiness in the game. I'm sure the first problem is normal. Since I've never used the architect editor, I can't speak for the second.

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Bloom: 1.000 (turned on)
Depth of Field Enabled: Yes
Desaturation Effects (Sepia) Enabled: Yes
Shader Detail: Unknown (3)


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I would turn the first 3 off, and set Shader Detail to High. You will first have to turn Show Advanced Graphics Options to on.

It should be fine. I wouldn't worry about the 120hz spec as it's unlikely you'll get those framerates consistently. 60 fps in this game is plenty. Even if you were to get more it's unlikely you'd notice the difference.

Something like this might do the trick

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130297

Should run the game ok, especially compared to what you're using now. And it doesn't require external power.

Try adding it as a custom resolution.

You could try control-alt-delete, then select Task Manager. This should bring you back to the desktop. Not elegant, but it should work.

You can try using the Vista driver

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/wi...mp;lang=English

Version 9.3 (8.591), dated 3/18/09

More info is needed. Which OS are you using? Do you have Dolby Digital Live and/or DTS Connect features on your sound card?

If you're using Vista or Windows 7 and have a Realtek sound device (such as onboard HD audio) their utility to enable surround sound in games is called 3D SoundBack. The problem is that most games use XP's Directsound for surround sound while Vista and Win 7 no longer support it. 3D SoundBack (like Creative's ALchemy) sends the Directsound output of your games thru a wrapper into the new sound interface. It sounds to me like this is your problem, and installing the utility should solve it.

If you don't have DDL or DTS-C you also won't get 5.1 sound thru your sound card's digital out. This is because the surround sound provided by games can only be sent thru the digital out as stereo PCM. If you have DDL or DTS-C this function provides 5.1 compressed audio (in either AC3 or DTS format, respectively) over the digital out on the fly. While this will indeed give you 5.1 sound in your games, it can result in a noticeable drop in performance and/or sound quality.

The performance/compatible setting directs the game's sound module either to use or not use any available hardware audio acceleration. Both settings should sound the same, but performance will in theory use less CPU power than compatible. Performance is the preferred setting.

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Driver Version: 8.561.0.0
Driver Date: 12/1/2008 8:29:34 PM


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Your driver is old. Head over to game.amd.com and get the latest.

I've read thru a few Dark/* guides and it seems the general consensus is to skip Dark Pit, Torrent, Life Drain, and Blackstar. I guess the upside is that it allows one to take all of Pain plus Hasten and the Fitness pool without having to worry about power slots.

Considering Castle's stand on how all powers should be useful, I wonder if Dark Blast is going to get some love?

I've played around with Dark Pit and I have to agree with others, it's not all that effective, especially considering the recharge and end cost. Torrent, which I guess is similar to Gale, well, we know how popular that is (I find that cone KB powers *can* be useful for positioning and crowd control, but without any significant damage you're better off with something else). I don't see the point in Life Drain if I'm going with Pain, especially since it has such a low yield; the same damage as Dark Blast, the same healing as Nullify Pain. And I guess Blackstar is optional. Most are saying the damage is mediocre (base numbers are on par with most other Corruptor nukes, but without any damage buff in the set the net result is less), and coupled with the penalty makes it something you won't use much.

So that leaves you with 2 single target attacks, 2 cones, and a snipe. Can you form a decent attack chain with just those? Unlike other blast sets there is no "short range high damage" attack, no true AoE, and no Aim. And Night Fall is a *very* narrow cone. Are you capable of doing as much damage as other sets?

And what about slotting? Is it worth trying to squeeze in some -tohit, or is that 7.5% really not worth it? What about slotting in interrupts in Moonbeam? Does it make it easier to use in combat as a high damage single target attack, or does that not work very well either?

The concept fits my character well, but I'm afraid I'm going to get annoyed by the lack of attack powers and sub-par damage output.

I'm wanting to roll up a Pain corr, and the only set I haven't ever played is Dark Blast. But DB really looks kinda lame (which is why I've never played it before).

Is Dark/Pain as crappy a combo as it sounds, or will I be pleasantly surprised?

I've come up with something of a workaround that seems to do the trick.

When you're done playing the game, quit to the login screen. At the login screen press Ctrl-Alt-Del and bring up the Task Manager. Click on the Processes tab, right click on CityofHeroes.exe and select End Process. This will force the game to shut down.

I've discovered when you do it this way it doesn't bork the X-Fi nor does it require a verification when you next play the game.

By no means a perfect solution, but better than any others I've found.

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Speaking of new powers, weren't we supposed to get more APPs/PPPs?

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Not sure I heard anything about whole new options. We did already get new powers in the current APPs/PPPs, however.

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Only certain APP/PPP sets got an extra power and I'm pretty sure I remember Castle saying the other sets would be getting extra powers as well.

Speaking of new powers, weren't we supposed to get more APPs/PPPs?