Eltanin

Couple of questions...
1. Looked at the perma dom guide in the guide section...i'm assuming it's still relevant?
2. Is it worth chasing perma dom on my earth/earth dom?
3. If it is, could someone point me to a post which would make sense for me to look at?

i'm at work with only limited time to search...:S

Thanks

E

Yeah...this is the kind of high level thoughts I was looking for...

In terms of purpose, I already have a toon which farms just fine and is tough as nails...the problem is, I just like playing my earth/storm that much more. So, general use play, badging, runing task forces, stuff like that is what I plan on doing with her.

Sounds like from what I'm hearing, recharge is the way to go. I'm having occasional end issues when I'm letting it all hang out so I am sensitive to that.

Also, I think I've heard both of you in the past talk about procs for this combo...the reality is that I just don't know what much about them...hearing this tells its time for me to do some research and figure out just how those things work.

I have no idea how far 1.5b will take me...but yeah, I think this is the toon i'm going to invest in.

Thanks for the ideas. E

If this is covered elsewhere, a point in the right direction would be much appreciated (at work...not a lot time to comb...)

So...I figure it is time for me to do some IO slotting. I have a hunk of inf (1.5B) which I'd like to invest in one of my toons..not shabby but not great..it's all I have from all my toons. I have 50s in Tanks, Scrappers (including a farming type), and blasters. I also dusted off my earth/storm. Wow...how did I ever forget how much fun she is...and now I've picked up patron pools (for Water Spout of course!) I think I'm going to go with her for IOing...she's just sooo much fun (and she has more badges than I thought she did). She will be used for general play, Omissions, and badging.

I'm not looking for a build...what I'm looking for are some comments about a) the kind of potential she has for slotting (how much more awesome can I make her...really...; and, 2) what are some of the sets which are highly recommended for such an effort.

Is it really worth slotting her up and spending the time IOing out or would that inf get better leverage elsewhere.

Your thoughts much appreciated.

E

I have been having a terrible...terrible...time with black screen crashes and lock ups...i've been following all kinds of advice on these boards...and no luck. I don't have all my system information here other than my gpu with is a nvidia 285 gtx. I've been told I have a great chipset, my ram is great and more than enough power to run what I have. The machine I have, on paper, shouldn't have any issue running the game at all. I tried drivers, cleaning, system settings, heat/cooling settings, you name it.

I painstakingly went through every single setting in the video options to find a solution...low and behold I turned of Bloom and my problems disappeard (all my other settings are maxed except for AA which is at x4) and DoF is off. I'm not technical, and I don't really know squat about how all of this works...but the crashing scenario you've described sounds identical to what I was experiencing...and that stupid setting appears to have been what was creating problems for me. If I do crash now it's occasional at best and not hard like before.

my .02...this may be completely out to lunch...but offer it anyway.

E

I have been having a very similar problem...it's very frustrating. I've done the same kind of steps as you...and the problem persists.

I did allievate some of the crashing by turning off ambient occlusion because apparently there's a problem with it working with fsaa (so i've been told...i'm no expert).

Although i'm getting much longer play sessions (on the whole), I'm still plagued by these crashes.

Frankly, I'm about ready to throw in the towel.

Trying the ambient occlusion thing and see if that helps some.

best of luck,

E

um...I suppose I should post this as well...

---System information gathered by CoH Helper version 0.2.0.2---

DxDiag gathered at September 10, 2010 18:00 (-06:00)
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_gdr.100618-1621)
System Manufacturer: System manufacturer
System Model: System Product Name
BIOS: BIOS Date: 11/13/09 11:35:30 Ver: 08.00.15
Central Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80GHz (8 CPUs), ~2.8GHz
Memory: 4096MB
.Net Memory Report: 2492MB out of 4087MB available
Page File: 6195MB (1976MB currently in use)
C Drive: (ST3500418AS ATA Device) 370393MB out of 476837MB (77%) free
Q Drive: () zero-size drive
D Drive: (HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH22NS50 ATA Device) zero-size drive
G Drive: (ELBY CLONEDRIVE SCSI CdRom Device) zero-size drive
Windows directory location: C:\Windows
DirectX: DirectX 11
DirectX Diag version: 6.01.7600.16385 (64-bit version)

Display Notes: No problems found.
Sound Notes: No problems found.

No problems found.

No problems found.
Input Notes: No problems found.

Monitor:
Monitor's Max Resolution: (blank)
Video Device Name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285
Manufacturer / Chip: NVIDIA / GeForce GTX 285
Video Memory: 2793 MB
Driver Version: 8.17.12.5896
Driver Date: 07/09/2010 4:38:00 PM
Driver Language: English

Sound Device Description: Speakers (VIA High Definition Audio)
Driver File: viahduaa.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.7300
Driver Date: 07/10/2009 1:07:02 PM

Sound Device Description: Speakers (TASCAM US-122L)
Driver File: tscusb2a.sys
Driver Version: 2.00.0004.0000
Driver Date: 01/01/0001 12:00:00 AM

Sound Device Description: SPDIF Interface (TX0) (VIA High Definition Audio)
Driver File: viahduaa.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.7300
Driver Date: 07/10/2009 1:07:02 PM


WMI Information
Motherboard Manufacturer: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
Motherboard Model: (empty)
Motherboard Product: P7P55-M
Motherboard Version: Rev X.0x
BIOS Manufacturer: American Megatrends Inc.
BIOS Name: BIOS Date: 11/13/09 11:35:30 Ver: 08.00.15
BIOS Version: 111309 - 20091113
BIOS Release: 20091113000000.000000+000


Registry Information for Current User
Resolution: 1920x1080
3D Resolution: 1920x1080 (Not using renderscale)
Full Screen: Yes
Maximized: No
Screen Position: 0, 0
Refresh Rate: 60Hz
Vertical Sync Enabled: No


Physics Quality: High
Maximum Particles: 50000
Max Particle Fill? 10.000
Physics Card Enabled: No


Anti-aliasing: 4x
Anisotropic Filtering: 4x
Texture LOD Bias: Smooth
Water Effects: None
Bloom: 1.000 (turned on)
Depth of Field Enabled: No
Desaturation Effects (Sepia) Enabled: Yes
Shader Detail: Medium?


World Texture Level: Very High
Character Texture Level: Very High
World Detail Level (Vis_Scale): 1.000
Entity Detail Level: 2.000
Shadows Enabled: Yes
Shadow Mode: Unknown (4)
Shadow Map Shader: High quality
Environmental Reflections: Low quality
Advanced Occlusion Settings: Yes
Ambient Occlusion: High quality
Occlusion Strength: Strong
Blur: Trilateral
Ambient Resolution: High performance


Gamma Correction: 1.000
Geometry Buffers (VBOs) Enabled: Yes
Suppression of FX When Camera Close Enabled: No
Close Suppression Range: 3.000
Show Advertisements: Yes

Audio Mode: Performance
3D Audio: No
FX Sound Volume: 0.814
Music Sound Volume: 0.000

Show Advanced Graphics Options: Yes
Overall Graphics Quality: 0.500
Reverse Mouse Buttons: No
Save Login Username: Yes
Transfer Rate: 189912 bytes/second
Current Game Version: 1850.201007290124.28T4
Installation Directory: C:\Program Files (x86)\City of Heroes

Mod files in the Data directory
.\texture_library\MAPS\city has 1 file
.\texture_library\MAPS\Midnight_Squad has 1 file
.\texture_library\MAPS\Safeguard has 9 files
.\texture_library\MAPS\sewers has 44 files
.\texture_library\MAPS\static has 38 files
.\texture_library\V_MAPS\Outdoor_Missions has 9 files
.\texture_library\V_MAPS\Static has 16 files

You crash behaviour sounds almost identical to what I'm experiencing...although not for as long.

My screen simply goes blank...and I have to do a hard restart. I've just reinstalled the drivers (did the sweeper thing), temperatures seem fine, and it only happens with CoX.

Gawd...i hope this is the problem I've been having...I'll be playing, everything smooth and looking good...then my monitor goes black, says "No Signal Detected" and the sound starts looping...have to do a hard restart...Could this be happening because of heat? I have manually turned up my fan and the temperature never seems go get above 80c.
*shrugs*

Very very upsetting though...will try rolling back 8(

No, I don't have SLI...is it something that migh be inadvertantly turned on in the nvidia control panel? (i'm not at home atm...will have to check later)

thanks again for your suggestions..E

I'll double check about the monitor and refresh rate...it seems to all line up. We don't have this problem with any other games...certainly ones which seem to be much more demanding that CoX. Any other ideas would be helpful as I start working through this

Thanks

Hey all,

Crashing...everything just goes dark...I get my monitor telling me "No signal detected" and I have to hard restart since nothing else seems to work. I've been monitoring my temperatures and its always under 80...although I have manually set the fan to higher than it was kicking in for because things were running hot (had the same crashing problem then as well). Any help would be great...here's my stuff:

---System information gathered by CoH Helper version 0.2.0.2---

DxDiag gathered at August 21, 2010 22:12 (-06:00)
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_gdr.100618-1621)
System Manufacturer: System manufacturer
System Model: System Product Name
BIOS: BIOS Date: 11/13/09 11:35:30 Ver: 08.00.15
Central Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80GHz (8 CPUs), ~2.8GHz
Memory: 4096MB
.Net Memory Report: 2698MB out of 4087MB available
Page File: 6651MB (1520MB currently in use)
C Drive: (ST3500418AS ATA Device) 372444MB out of 476837MB (78%) free
Q Drive: () zero-size drive
D Drive: (HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH22NS50 ATA Device) zero-size drive
G Drive: (ELBY CLONEDRIVE SCSI CdRom Device) zero-size drive
Windows directory location: C:\Windows
DirectX: DirectX 11
DirectX Diag version: 6.01.7600.16385 (64-bit version)

Display Notes: No problems found.
Sound Notes: No problems found.

No problems found.

No problems found.
Input Notes: No problems found.

Monitor:
Monitor's Max Resolution: (blank)
Video Device Name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285
Manufacturer / Chip: NVIDIA / GeForce GTX 285
Video Memory: 2793 MB
Driver Version: 8.17.12.5896
Driver Date: 07/09/2010 4:38:00 PM
Driver Language: English

Sound Device Description: Speakers (VIA High Definition Audio)
Driver File: viahduaa.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.7300
Driver Date: 07/10/2009 1:07:02 PM

Sound Device Description: Speakers (TASCAM US-122L)
Driver File: tscusb2a.sys
Driver Version: 2.00.0004.0000
Driver Date: 01/01/0001 12:00:00 AM

Sound Device Description: SPDIF Interface (TX0) (VIA High Definition Audio)
Driver File: viahduaa.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.7300
Driver Date: 07/10/2009 1:07:02 PM


WMI Information
Motherboard Manufacturer: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
Motherboard Model: (empty)
Motherboard Product: P7P55-M
Motherboard Version: Rev X.0x
BIOS Manufacturer: American Megatrends Inc.
BIOS Name: BIOS Date: 11/13/09 11:35:30 Ver: 08.00.15
BIOS Version: 111309 - 20091113
BIOS Release: 20091113000000.000000+000


Registry Information for Current User
Resolution: 1920x1080
3D Resolution: 1920x1080 (Not using renderscale)
Full Screen: Yes
Maximized: No
Screen Position: 0, 0
Refresh Rate: 60Hz
Vertical Sync Enabled: No


Physics Quality: High
Maximum Particles: 50000
Max Particle Fill? 10.000
Physics Card Enabled: No


Anti-aliasing: 4x
Anisotropic Filtering: 4x
Texture LOD Bias: Smooth
Water Effects: None
Bloom: 1.000 (turned on)
Depth of Field Enabled: No
Desaturation Effects (Sepia) Enabled: Yes
Shader Detail: Medium?


World Texture Level: Very High
Character Texture Level: Very High
World Detail Level (Vis_Scale): 1.000
Entity Detail Level: 2.000
Shadows Enabled: Yes
Shadow Mode: Unknown (4)
Shadow Map Shader: High quality
Environmental Reflections: Low quality
Advanced Occlusion Settings: Yes
Ambient Occlusion: High quality
Occlusion Strength: Strong
Blur: Trilateral
Ambient Resolution: High performance


Gamma Correction: 0.936
Geometry Buffers (VBOs) Enabled: Yes
Suppression of FX When Camera Close Enabled: No
Close Suppression Range: 3.000
Show Advertisements: Yes

Audio Mode: Performance
3D Audio: No
FX Sound Volume: 0.814
Music Sound Volume: 0.000

Show Advanced Graphics Options: Yes
Overall Graphics Quality: 0.500
Reverse Mouse Buttons: No
Save Login Username: Yes
Transfer Rate: 180309 bytes/second
Current Game Version: 1850.201007290124.19T2
Installation Directory: C:\Program Files (x86)\City of Heroes

Mod files in the Data directory
.\texture_library\MAPS\city has 1 file
.\texture_library\MAPS\Midnight_Squad has 1 file
.\texture_library\MAPS\Safeguard has 9 files
.\texture_library\MAPS\sewers has 44 files
.\texture_library\MAPS\static has 32 files
.\texture_library\V_MAPS\Outdoor_Missions has 9 files
.\texture_library\V_MAPS\Static has 16 files

Just bumping...

Presence needs love.

I really like the what the Slate argument has to say. At the end of the day, what it's really saying is "employees aren't morons" and can sniff out management BS like nobody's business. Business games, simply put, are about getting more out of you as an employee. Skill development is first, and if its fun...well...fun is optional. From a social theory perspective, the use of computer games to develop business competencies is really rather complex. I won't get into a dissertation on the whole thing...but it's not unlike putting child care and workout facilities in office buildings. It's not done because companies *like* you. They do it because they will get more *work* out of you. If it appears you're liked...that's gravy. Now sure I'm sounding a bit cynical and to a degree I am, there are management teams who genuinely care about their employees...but the balance sheet justification for quality of life improvements are made with productivity arguments...not compassion.

It really is counter-intuitive...but I believe it works. Make games fun. Learning will be the tertiary benefit. Rather than learn/have fun...make it fun/learn.

The other things about these business computer games is that they are terribly insulting to anyone over the age of 6. The ice cream scooping game the author describes in the slate piece is just such an example. That's not learning...that's a condescending chore. These kinds of activities insult not only employees but my profession as a whole.

But...what if you had an ice-cream shop in an MMO space? Your ability to operate the business effectively and efficiently generates capital for you to expand your business or branch off into other business. Perhaps you grow do dominate your competitive landscape...driving other players out of business or making hard fought acquisitions...and kind of Ice-Cream PVP! The game is not about ice-cream...it's about efficiency and market domination. Sounds a lot more interesting to me. Oh...and by the way, you actually learn about how to operate a business effectively in a competitive environment. Not a bad side benefit.

Think that sounds absurd. Sure...but then I remember all the money people began making in games like UO and EQ, selling accounts, equipment, land and housing. I think about the bane of gold farming...we may not like it...and plenty of reasons to dispise it...but hey...that's capitalism. Heck, I can think of "games" out there where you're entire MMO success can be based almost entirely on your ability engage the economy...forget all the other "stuff" there is to do.

Business games on the whole...are "teh suck". Do I think there is potential: yes.

And lastly, because I really have a burr in my blanket thinking about it now. There is a really sick assumption out there that learning doesn't happen unless learning was built into the design. What a load of crap. Learning happens...all the time...inside and outside classrooms, on job sites, between experienced and inexperienced workers, in your home, all the time. What these learning business companies do is legitimize their products and commodify "their" learning. What they do is prioritize and privilege some kinds of learning over other kinds.

Your learning matters and has value. And if you get it playing MMOs...it matters.

Hehe...I love these kinds of topics.

When I'm not actually playing CoX I'm the director of Learning & Organizational Development for the largest company of its kind in the Great White North. The very soul of my work is leadership development.

Bottom line is that there is a great deal skill which can be learned and developed playing MMORPGs. Leadership, people management, planning & organizing, dealing with others, role execution, communication, anticipation, to name only a few. Consider one of the things that makes a good Tank great: communication. They say all kinds of things about what they're doing, where they're going, what their status is, etc etc. They say those things not expecting a response but simply to inform the team. That kind of proactive communication is great...and you sure notice it when its not there. In my world, cloning that behaviour would be fantastic. I could continue for pages coming up with similar examples.

To see a company like IBM take it seriously certainly is exciting news because it helps to help lighten some of the stigma associated with being a gamer. I'm sure where I'm not the only professional manager out there who is discrete about their gaming passion.

Also, there's some real interesting benefits from adult learning point of view as well. Ultimately, the game is a simulation, but the skills which are demonstrated are real and significant. Furthermore, those skills can be exercised in a safe environment where you can change and modify your approach on the fly. You can experiment with your leadership style. You can play.

There are a few reservations I have...well...more than a few. Chiefly, though, my opinion is that in order to make it work...it must be reflexive learning. Given some thought and attention, MMORPGs activity could be put into an experiential learning framework.

However, I would also argue that there are a *lot* of other effective ways to develop leadership skills...so I'm actually more interested in the questions about how MMORPGs compare to other leadership development opportunities.

I'd also comment on Anti-Proton's reply. I get these sense you are a military man/woman yourself. I, too, have admiration for how the armed forces develops leadership skills. As a former naval officer, I'm familiar with the process. And, while I agree they do many things well, they are also masters at replicating dysfunction. It would be unfair to describe modern military leadership as being a purely command and control environment...but it is still the dominant modus operandi for military leaders. It is a style of leadership which is appropriate for certain organizational cultures and contexts. It is also why so many former military leaders meet with disaster when they attempt to demonstrate their leadership skills in more traditional corporate environments. In fact, I think we can both think of examples of how the military cheapens leadership all on its own. If we follow the logic of your statement about gamer's inability or unwillingness to follow orders...a leader of gamers must use some pretty sophisticated skills in order to lead...they aren't equipped with the crutch of organizational position. People follow...because they want to. Personally, I can't think of a much better endorsement...

Find and develop leadership skills where you can find them.

Just my .02 in passing....

A world event! Weee!

Someone mentioned dropping 35s in the middle of AP. *Great* idea! High level toons having to race across zones to limit threats to other players certainly would go a long way to making us feel "super". Come on! Who doesn't love it when the call goes out on broadcast that a high level ambush spawn is roaming and causing havoc in a low level zone and the supers come out to neutralize the threat!

Not only does this issue seem really cool...it's also, potentially, a *great* way to up "the pucker factor".

Woot!