LittleDavid
-
Posts
416 -
Joined
-
I'd been visiting the site via the link generated by the output, as well as the program's own link to the site to check for updates. But it was still coming up as a blank page.
I got the updated version now; turns out that, for some weird reason, Opera (my default browser) doesn't like that site. Internet Explorer displayed it just fine, though. Dunno why Opera wasn't ...
Here's what the current version of CoH Helper says:
---System information gathered by CoH Helper version 0.2.0.2---
DxDiag gathered at March 4, 2012 01:41 (-06:00)
Operating System: Windows XP Professional x64 Edition (5.2, Build 3790) Service Pack 2 (3790.srv03_sp2_gdr.101019-0340)
System Manufacturer: System manufacturer
System Model: System Product Name
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Central Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.4GHz
Memory: 4094MB
.Net Memory Report: 600MB out of 4094MB available
Page File: 2288MB (3603MB currently in use)
C Drive: (WDC WD3200AAKS-00L9A0) 11019MB out of 305234MB (3%) free
D Drive: (_NEC DVD_RW ND-1300A SCSI CdRom Device) zero-size drive
E Drive: (HL-DT-ST BD-RE BH12LS35) zero-size drive
L Drive: (QRYPMZ STMNCDIN8 SCSI CdRom Device) zero-size drive
Windows directory location: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DirectX Diag version: 5.03.3790.3959 (64-bit version)
Display Notes: No problems found.
Sound Notes: No problems found.
Input Notes: No problems found.
Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor's Max Resolution: 1600,1200
Video Device Name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti
Manufacturer / Chip: NVIDIA / GeForce GTX 560 Ti
Video Memory: 1024.0 MB
Driver Version: 6.14.0012.6760
Driver Date: 3/10/2011 7:00:22 AM
Driver Language: English
Sound Device Description: HD Audio rear output
Driver File: viahduaa.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.1560
Driver Date: 12/18/2008 9:43:30 PM
WMI Information
Motherboard Manufacturer: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
Motherboard Model: (empty)
Motherboard Product: P5Q PRO TURBO
Motherboard Version: Rev 1.xx
BIOS Manufacturer: American Megatrends Inc.
BIOS Name: Default System BIOS
BIOS Version: UNKNOWN
BIOS Release: 20090220******.******+***
Registry Information for Current User
Resolution: 1024x768
3D Resolution: 1024x768 (Not using renderscale)
Full Screen: Yes
Maximized: No
Screen Position: 0, 0
Refresh Rate: 60Hz
Vertical Sync Enabled: Yes
Physics Quality: High
Maximum Particles: 50000
Max Particle Fill? 10.000
Physics Card Enabled: No
Anti-aliasing: Off
Anisotropic Filtering: 2x
Texture LOD Bias: Smooth
Water Effects: Ultra quality
Bloom: 1.000 (turned on)
Depth of Field Enabled: Yes
Desaturation Effects (Sepia) Enabled: Yes
Shader Detail: High
World Texture Level: Very High
Character Texture Level: Very High
World Detail Level (Vis_Scale): 2.000
Entity Detail Level: 1.000
Shadows Enabled: Yes
Shadow Mode: Shadow maps
Shadow Map Shader: Low quality
Environmental Reflections: Ultra quality
Advanced Occlusion Settings: No
Ambient Occlusion: High performance
Occlusion Strength: Slight
Blur: Fast
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: 1.000
Music Sound Volume: 1.000
Show Advanced Graphics Options: Yes
Overall Graphics Quality: 0.750
Reverse Mouse Buttons: No
Save Login Username: Yes
Transfer Rate: 303660 bytes/second
Current Game Version: 2010.201105030029.1
Installation Directory: C:\Program Files\City of Heroes -
Quote:I was wondering if CoH Helper was even supported nowadays, because I noticed some of the data came back reported as "Unknown," but when I tried to visit the developer's site to check for updates, it came up blank.Originally Posted by Texas JusticeFirst of all, please run the most current version of CoH Helper, not a version that was made before Ultra Mode. The output you listed shows none of the Ultra Mode settings, so we can't tell if that is causing a performance problem. The old non-UM compatible versions of CoH Helper are of limited use.
Not sure what's going on. Is there a mirror somewhere?
... Oh man, I feel like a dork for not noticing that! It's in the PCIe 1.0 slot, yeah; I just put the thing in the same place where the 8800GT was without thinking about it. I'll move it down to the 2.0 slot and see how it goes.Quote:Originally Posted by Chad Gulzow-ManActually, not to double post, but I wanted to give a little more info on your board; I googled the specs and found that it DOES support PCIe 2.0, but only in the black card slot, not the blue one.
Actually, I did have a secondary drive in my rig, but it started malfunctioning a few days ago so I've had to unplug it until I can decide what to do about recovering the data off of it (it's not a mechanical failure, I can tell that much). I'm looking into getting another WD Caviar Blue if I can, something in the terabyte range so I can clear up room on the OS drive. (The secondary drive was six, seven years old, so it had even less space.)Quote:Originally Posted by Chad Gulzow-ManYour hard drive is very, VERY full. This can negatively impact the rate at which the game loads and can impact your frame rate as you move around and your system has to load new objects. Personally, I put multiple hard drives in my computers... one small-ish one for the operating system, one mid-size one for games and applications, and one large one for storage...
EDIT: Oh! You had mentioned the processor in your first post. Is it possible that, even putting aside the PCIe 2.0 bit, this could be a CPU bottleneck? -
Hey gang,
Yesterday I finally replaced my nVidia GeForce 8800GT for an N560GTX-Ti.
Now the deal is, I play City of Heroes with Ultra Mode on, with a lot of bells and whistles set to get the most from Ultra Mode, as well as maximum draw distance for the game world, without taking an unplayable hit in frame rate. With my 8800GT I was seeing average frame rates of around 20~15/sec in most outdoors areas, and around 15~10/sec in Praetoria (especially Imperial City).
I was expecting that this upgrade would have a positive impact on my frame rates in City of Heroes, considering how much more powerful a 560GTX is compared to the 8800GT, but ... it hasn't. I'm still getting the same frame rates I had when I was running with the 8800GT; the only difference is, the 560GTX isn't nearly as taxed as the 8800GT is, with CoH only putting 50% load on it, and causing it to heat up only a little bit.
I'm wondering if this is typical of the cards within the ballpark of the 560's performance in City of Heroes. If it isn't, what can I do to improve the frame rate yet still keep the same (or better) graphics quality settings? Or is there some issue that's preventing the full potential of the 560 from being used in CoH?
Here's what CoHHelper had to say. Mind you, I haven't installed the latest drivers from nVidia; I've been hearing their newest drivers are giving people problems, so right now my card is rolling with what came on the installation disc.
---System information gathered by CoH Helper version 0.1.1.8---
DxDiag gathered at March 3, 2012 21:10 (-06:00)
Operating System: Windows XP Professional x64 Edition (5.2, Build 3790) Service Pack 2 (3790.srv03_sp2_gdr.101019-0340)
System Manufacturer: System manufacturer
System Model: System Product Name
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Central Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.4GHz
Memory: 4094MB
.Net Memory Report: 2491MB out of 4094MB available
Page File: 4045MB (1846MB currently in use)
C Drive: (WDC WD3200AAKS-00L9A0) 11334MB out of 305234MB (3%) free
D Drive: (_NEC DVD_RW ND-1300A SCSI CdRom Device) zero-size drive
E Drive: (HL-DT-ST BD-RE BH12LS35) zero-size drive
L Drive: (QRYPMZ STMNCDIN8 SCSI CdRom Device) zero-size drive
Windows directory location: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DirectX Diag version: 5.03.3790.3959 (64-bit version)
Display Notes: No problems found.
Sound Notes: No problems found.
Input Notes: No problems found.
Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor's Max Resolution: 1600,1200
Video Device Name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti
Manufacturer / Chip: NVIDIA / GeForce GTX 560 Ti
Video Memory: 1024.0 MB
Driver Version: 6.14.0012.6760
Driver Date: 3/10/2011 7:00:22 AM
Driver Language: English
Sound Device Description: HD Audio rear output
Driver File: viahduaa.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.1560
Driver Date: 12/18/2008 9:43:30 PM
WMI Information
Motherboard Manufacturer: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
Motherboard Model: (empty)
Motherboard Product: P5Q PRO TURBO
Motherboard Version: Rev 1.xx
BIOS Manufacturer: American Megatrends Inc.
BIOS Name: Default System BIOS
BIOS Version: UNKNOWN
BIOS Release: 20090220******.******+***
Registry Information for Current User
Resolution: 1024x768
3D Resolution: 1024x768 (Not using renderscale)
Full Screen: Yes
Maximized: No
Screen Position: 0, 0
Refresh Rate: 60Hz
Vertical Sync Enabled: Yes
Physics Quality: High
Maximum Particles: 50000
Max Particle Fill? 10.000
Physics Card Enabled: No
Anti-aliasing: None
Anisotropic Filtering: 2x
Texture LOD Bias: Smooth
Water Effects: Unknown (4)
Bloom: 1.000 (turned on)
Depth of Field Enabled: Yes
Desaturation Effects (Sepia) Enabled: Yes
Shader Detail: Unknown (3)
World Texture Level: Very High
Character Texture Level: Very High
World Detail Level (Vis_Scale): 2.000
Entity Detail Level: 1.000
Shadows Enabled: Yes
Gamma Correction: 1.000
Geometry Buffers (VBOs) Enabled: Yes
Suppression of Extra Player FX Enabled: No
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: 1.000
Music Sound Volume: 1.000
Show Advanced Graphics Options: Yes
Overall Graphics Quality: 0.750
Reverse Mouse Buttons: No
Save Login Username: Yes
Transfer Rate: 303660 bytes/second
Current Game Version: 2010.201105030029.1
Installation Directory: C:\Program Files\City of Heroes
Thanks for the help in advance! -
Quote:I just now looked.Originally Posted by Pacur
There. I said it. What is up with it?
I think States is going to be haunting my nightmares tonight. -
Quote:That would dovetail nicely with the existing community injokes! I think it works well as positive nickname. Sure as heck beats the pants off the others I've seen in other games, like "fr00b."Originally Posted by DarkGob
I've been suggesting Freem. I can't believe it hasn't caught on yet, it's the most obvious thing.
-
Quote:Playing while not being subscribed would kind of suck, given my general playstyle is like this:Originally Posted by Bubbawheat
If you opted out of the VIP service for whatever reason, how would you pick your 2 characters? I know for some people, it would be pretty easy, but for many of us alt-o-holics, it would be quite difficult.
1. Work on a character until their salvage/recipes/enhancement inventories are filled up
2. Put what sells well onto the market
3. Burn off the salvage and recipes by inventing things, then auction what can't be used
4. Play another character, but keep checking back on the original character every few days and repeat steps 2 and 3 until the original character's inventories are reasonably empty.
Anyway, I'd be reserving access to my flagship Hero and Villain (Little David and Corrupted Haruspex). -
Quote:I don't necessarily have a problem with this new Freemium announcement, but there is one thing that is really worrying me.Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha
The 'VIP' servers, to my mind, are the escape for all the Elitists and down-their-nose lookers who would just alienate genuine nice players and others and stop them adding to the game.
Good riddance, I say. I'll be waiting on Union to welcome the next batch of RPers.
RMT Spambots.
What's going to keep them from setting up in popular areas and flooding local or broadcast with advertisements at five lines a second?
(Yes, I have seen this. In multiple MMOs. I am NOT exaggerating.) -
Quote:I tend to be like this on all my characters. Though I do help other people with their missions if they ask me, I tend to run my own missions alone.Originally Posted by Bright
There are people out there on non-50 characters, they're just not actively looking for teams.
And given I am an absolute masochist (I turn off EXP gain so I can exhaust the missions of every contact in my level range), well.
I gather that I'm a rare breed though; on Guardian, at least, I've seen Maria Jenkins and AE farms that get people to 50 in no time at all. I've hung out in some just to get an idea of what a farm is like, though I turn keep XP gain turned off when I do. -
Quote:*spams purples*Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha
FFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUuu-!
Okay okay okay! From now on, I'ma call you ... Technochocolate.
Oh. I don't have the Mac pack myself, so the only thing I could recognize from the outfit immediately was the skirt.Quote:Battle Maiden wears ALL of it
I still hope for the day that they can find the time to separate hats from hairstyles.Quote:The helmet also looks wrong (and she's bald?) -
Quote:I'll admit, your definition is clearer than mine was, heh. I was vague about it because I've played a lot of different games I consider MMOs, each which handle that social aspect differently.Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
I agree with your definition and it is a very good one, but I want to modify your second rule somewhat, as the way you define it is kind of... Non-specific.
-
Quote:Well, she is wearing some of it in Technobot's suggestion, like how Battle Maiden uses some of the set. I'm just saying, it's a subtle sight gag that she is.Originally Posted by ScottyB
Techbot's Valkyrie is amazing. (And you used the Valkyrie boots, but why not the Valkyrie belt? Did it end up looking bad?) Also, don't change the shoulders to Valkyrie "just because" (re:LittleDavid/Valkyrie set) - I like what you chose! Only change it if it actually looks better.
-
That ... is a really neat trick, Zombie Man!
Although it does make me wish we had a "hammock" flying pose now. -
Quote:Heck, Valkyrie should wear the Valkyrie costume set!Originally Posted by Xzero45
Easily one of the worst dressed contacts in game. I really wish they'd find someone new who's good at the costume creator and just let them redo every contact in the game.
I mean, Battle Maiden at least uses some of it.
And yeah, I do agree--where Going Rogue updated the costumes of the Praetorians, they look awesome. Especially Marauder and Mother Mayhem. Though I will say, Tyrant's pre-GR costume was just as cool as his current one(s). -
I remember back on TV Tropes there was a guy trying to remove examples from the MMORPG list and put them in completely inappropriate genres (like Roguelikes) because of his extremely narrow personal definition of an MMO. My own personal definition of "what is an MMO" is very basic, since I consider the "MMO" part to be something like a modifier or categorization of other genres, rather than a genre unto itself. The two elements I consider:
1. The game world needs some form of persistence; in other words, the game world doesn't disappear when you shut your own client down, and there needs to be a portion of the game that remains accessible to everyone, even if the "meaty" areas are instanced. Or as one of the early companies put it for their first (now dead, ironically) MMO: "The (game world) lasts for an eternity. Visit this world whenever you want, as long as you want, and do whatever you want."
This is set apart from, say, an FPS multiplayer server. While the server may be persistent, the world isn't; it's just a series of maps that are cycled through on certain conditions.
2. The game needs to make it possible for players to meet and socialize with others on a scale bigger than just a few people, in at least one part of the game world. Even if you can only party with four people at a time, for me to consider a game to be an MMO you need a place where more people than that can come together, hang out, socialize, interact, etc.
Because of that, my definition of what an MMO is, is, well, pretty broad. I've played MMO Adventure Games, MMO Action RPGs, MMO Arcade Flight Simulators, MMO Real Time Strategy Games, MMO Beat 'Em Ups ...
But anyway, the point I was making!
For something to be called an MMO, it does not need to follow the current trends as far as features go. An MMO doesn't need to have "epic" purple-name rares to be considered an MMO. Really, they only do that because the most successful examples are doing it.
Quote:In a way, MU*s are the grandfathers of the MMO genre, at least in the sense that many of the basic design elements of MMOs are present in game and roleplay-oriented MU*s; but even then, many of the gaming-oriented MU*s have stats, items, loot, and dungeons. Those kind of things, well, they transcend genre lines and they've been around as long as modern tabletop and video gaming.Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
If the Wikipedia article on this acronym is anything to go by, those look like games (or "games") that lack any graphics. Not really what I'm after.
There's a few examples which mostly or completely buck the trend, though. They're out there. They've just got their own lingo and jargon you have to absorb while playing, heh. -
Just wait until we get more stuff like this. That'll really make your head spin!
-
Quote:Sure.Originally Posted by Greyhawke
Could you provide these examples again, or a link?
I'm not totally opposed to Cryptic's method, but I do see its flaws. I might be willing to live with those flaws, but I am not convinced. However, if there is a better solution then I would like to ponder that as well.
The best global ID method I've seen involved giving every player a unique ID number. In the game, characters added each other to their friends' list through ID cards, which had the character's information along with their global ID number visible.
The friend cards were account-based, so if you friended someone as one character, their character's friend cards would appear for all your characters. You could also easily find out who their alts were this way, as it would list them for you if you so chose.
It was also possible to display the global ID numbers of people around you with a single button press. The game let you use that button to cycle through having the character names displayed above people, having their class and level displayed, or having their account IDs displayed--or nothing at all.
It was a good way of making it easy to view people's global IDs without having them in your face all the time.
For City of Heroes, they could model the displaying of global names (or some other kind of global ID) similarly. Make it so that all you have to do is press a key and people's names are replaced by their global IDs, and pressing the key again would switch it back. That would keep everyone's names from reading like an e-mail address.
As for friending, all they'd have to do is display the global name (or global ID, if they don't use global names) of the friend in a separate column of the Server Friends list. -
You know what I'd love to see (but will never happen)?
The option to use Flash files for our signatures.
There was a forum where, for a few years, they let people use Flash in their sigs (at least until they upgraded to different software that disallowed it). They had pretty strict file size restrictions and text line restrictions; no images larger than 450x180 pixels and 35 KB, no more than three or so lines of text.
I got permission to use Flash for my signature and I was able to, with a 33 KB Flash file, make an animated signature that was low-impact, had links to various game-related or personal sites, and detailed character information, all displayed through different buttons. I could cram a lot of stuff into that, more than I ever could through pure text or images!
It's just a shame that Flash can be too easily exploited for nefarious ends, because I'd love to make signatures like that again. -
Quote:Not all Global ID systems are created equal. I've described other systems in my past posts because of those who point to Cryptic's method and say that all global ID systems are just as bad.Originally Posted by ArcticFahx
With reference to the name@global scheme, I've played Cryptic's offering, and the first thing I noticed was when it was on, how much visual clutter it really is.
Global ID systems can be both effective and yet unobtrusive. I've seen it happen.
"Do nothing" is a nice third option, but as we've seen, there are people who really want taken character names and want something done about it. In light of that, I would much rather some sort of global ID system than name purges.Quote:The main reason I don't feel the devs would ever adopt such a system, though, is that they don't have it already. An old saying comes to mind, "better the devil you know than the one you don't". Basically, in this case, if people are complaining about the current naming system, but a roughly equal number of people would dislike the new suggestion put forward, it is better to do nothing.
We could all gather around a grey-con Freakshow faking dead in Brickstown and /em picklock him!Quote:Originally Posted by Bloodspeaker
As opposed to a "Beat dead (nemesis?) horse" emote.
We have baseball bats, maces, sledgehammers, humungous tibia... when are we getting our dead horse? -
Quote:... That's what City of Heroes needs! A popcorn emote!Originally Posted by Electric-Knight
If you head out for a quick snack, be sure to be back in time to catch the retreading previous arguments portion of our show, along with continued ignoring of logic!!
-
Quote:True, but on the other hand, that which you call "the other extreme" is practiced by most other MMOs I've seen. I've seen few games that treat character names like a valuable resource to be managed and purged.Originally Posted by TonyV
Which is the opposite extreme of people advocating that people who have left the game deserve to have names reserved in perpetuity.
There was one game that instituted a idle character deletion mechanic a while after it got started, though. It happened to me--which I found out after trying to pick up where I left off--and because of that, I never looked at the game again.
Ehhhh, maybe. Recognizing veterancy would be nice if it has to be done. Though I imagine people would still complain about not getting the character names they wanted, because the guy who has them is a frequent customer with a long veterancy record.Quote:Which is also why I advocate a middle-of-the-road position that boils down to a couple of simple concepts: 1) If you are really attached to a name, you never have to lose it, and 2) the more you play, the more your attachment to characters is recognized by earning longer-term (even for throwaway characters) and permanent (for your cherished few) reservations.
Was that what you were asking? I read your post as "anyone who has played the game and has been gone for longer than one month but returned."Quote:Originally Posted by Electric-Knight
Have you been away for 2 years straight?
Still, I've barely got over one consecutive year of play time since four years ago when I started playing this game. -
Quote:That's the beauty of superherodom, though. Silver Age Silliness.Originally Posted by Eva Destruction
I'm having a hard time thinking of any character concept that could have "Carrot" in the name that isn't silly, regardless of the setting.
-
Quote:Hello, my name is Inig0 Mont0ya. You took my name. Prepare to die.Originally Posted by Yogurt
So it means we're getting a Name Purge???
-
Quote:Me, for starters. A number of times, I have been out of the game for over three months.Originally Posted by Electric-Knight
I just wonder what amount of former subscribers come back to a paid subscription (for longer than one month) after taking an extended leave.
[...]
So far, the arguments against name purges have been almost entirely focused on the few hypothetical cases of the small number of former-subscribers who might come back and might lose the name of one or more of their characters (on that single server that the character was on). -
Quote:It's been made pretty clear that there are people who don't care how short a time someone has been out of the game, nor care what the reasons might be for that. They believe anyone not actively paying a subscription, no matter how short a time they've been away nor their reasons for being away, is a non-person and doesn't deserve to keep their character data.Originally Posted by Emberly
No they don't. They have the subtext of "noncustomers don't matter as much as customers do."
Which is pretty much the same thing as "nobody matters as much as me."
True Gentleman has spent a lot of time trying to argue the basic point that companies can't afford to treat former, potentially returning customers the way some people advocating the name purge are doing.
That's a mold I don't fit.Quote:Originally Posted by Emberly
*if you don't agree names are a valuable resource, then why argue against their release? If you do agree they are a valuable resource, why should they be held by people who do not pay a sub fee?
You're setting up the assumption that anyone who doesn't agree that names are a valuable resource which must be "managed" through name purges must also believe that character names are worthless, and therefore have no business objecting to losing them to someone else.
My opinion is that no one should have to give up a character name just because someone else wants it. I do not agree that people should be allowed to take the names of inactive characters, no matter the circumstances keeping the player out of the game.
If people want names already taken by others so badly, then I think there needs to be a different method in managing what is unique, which I've brought up many times before in this thread. It shouldn't have to come down to declaring open season on inactive characters. -
Quote:Aww. Sucks that it would have lagged too much; that woulda been nice.Originally Posted by Tymers_Realm
The City Vault was an attempt to create a out of game player database. It failed.
Thank you for the time...