Pelonius_Zhintel

First things first: TonyV, thank you for providing us with a direct means by which to contact those in charge. I only hope that you didn't give up a majority share in your soul to obtain those addresses. I agree with you, too, in that the two week delay was a very good thing, as there were some incredible tempers rising early on... as expected, really. (Still are, really.) I'll be sending a mail or three myself, once I'm in a reasonably sensible frame of mind.

Second, my own two cents to folks here, a reiteration of what's already been said a dozen times. This probably doesn't need to be said - CoH has one of the most remarkable playerbases I've ever seen - but always remember, no matter how angry you might be, no matter how betrayed you feel, no matter how much you might want to fill a few buckets with tar and a few pillowcases with feathers, please don't abuse this. Rudely severing our link with the folks in charge would be roughly akin to stabbing ourselves through the heart... or, to put it in a much more pretentious way:

Politeness has a minute initial investment, and earns dividends by the second.

CoH Helper is a program that grabs all the setting information for City of Heroes/Villains, and can be found here.

Solgath, there are a few possibilities currently being discussed in relation to this issue. If you have the ability to, please check the Test Server - there's a recent fix which may cause this issue to disappear, but I believe that the more feedback, the better.

From what we (the players) have discerned, CoH at above-average or high priority (which it sets itself to automatically, after Issue 17) doesn't play nicely with certain motherboards and configurations, especially on Windows 7.

For more information, check here.

Also, yes, as stated above: Update all the drivers you possibly can. You never know what might be causing the problems...

In an earlier thread, the Television stated that there was a chance that this issue had been fixed on the Test Server in a recent patch. A few people have noted that this was the case - I'm one of those who now has NO disconnection issues - and therefore, a workable fix MIGHT be in the next patch or two. You can find the thread here, and if you folks can check the Test Server and provide feedback, that'd likely help out the devs.

This, I think, has pretty much been identified as one of the major issues with the Issue 17 release: when the CoH window is in focus, it switches to a higher priority (above normal, if I recall correctly), even if it doesn't actually need to. When it's out of focus, it goes to 'low'. This can probably be tied to your issues with Hulu, as well as problems with Ventrilo and Skype - and, for more than a few of us, crippling mapserver disconnections. I don't know the exact reasoning for the change, but it may be related to a need for a higher priority with Ultra Mode on.

To test whether this is, in fact, the issue, head to the Task Manager, and switch the priority of whatever browser you're using (Firefox, Opera, IE) to 'Above Normal', then see if the problem still occurs. Bear in mind that this will probably make everything else run a bit oddly, though.

From what I've heard, the DevTeam is aware of these issues, but remember that this is hearsay; I can't speak for them.

Also... how interesting that those changes occur with the options menu open.

To add a bit more information (beyond that provided by previous posts), I'm having the exact same issues. I could not find a wireless connection with another ISP - as far as I know, everyone around here is stuck with Time/Warner, which has, effectively, a monopoly in the area. However, I was able to test with my own router/cable modem (a Motorola SBG900) and the neighbors' (a Linksys of some sort), and the issue was the same on each.

So, note to Tech Support: This problem is not dependent on the router, as far as my limited testing shows. This is supported by the fact that, even while CoH was having these issues, no other person on the network encountered anything amiss, in any way. As The_Cheeseman mentioned, it seems to be something substantially wrong with how CoH reacts to a device on the system, or something of that nature.

This issue hasn't been linked, thus far, to having anything to do with Ultra Mode - though it's also not entirely ruled out. From what we know, it definitely has to do with some wireless network cards, it's detrimental to other programs as well as City of Heroes (Ventrilo and Skype are the most notable offenders due to their high dependence on a quick connection, and even the 'ping' command is affected), and the problems with other programs only appear when City of Heroes is the active window.

The following two threads contain the most information thus far:
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=219437
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=219558

Hope this helps.

I have to admit, I really do hope that it's not necessary to use an actual ethernet cable for this. It'd be a major case of 'absolute failure', for those of us who are forced through circumstance to use wireless.

As I mentioned in another thread, these circumstances are familiar to me, though... I have had similar issues, right down to the 'a few lag spikes and the router just goes futzy' bit, in the past. The culprit? BitTorrent.

(Added info) A few quick checks show that the lag spikes and whatnot only apply when City of Heroes is the active window. Disabling sound did not affect this, so I have to wonder...

I believe that everyone's pretty much pinpointed the question: regardless of pre- or post-i17, I've noticed few to no graphical errors, even on an old 7600 GT. I may not have been around other players much, but as Zombie Man noted, it's clearly not a graphical issue with the newest patch - at least as far as this problem is concerned.

What is, unfortunately, a problem, is that City of Heroes is throwing off the network connection periodically, if not continuously. (I'm encountering redbars and connection 'loss' every five seconds, for between two and three each time.) This may be a function of how it moves data: on some ISPs (I'm looking at you, unnamed giant media conglomorate) the routers provided are pathetic, and incapable of handling a large number of simultaneous connections. This is especially noticable when torrents and the like are active.

I've encountered effectively the same issues as the others here, and found that a variety of things don't seem affect how the packets are being (mis)handled:
- Turning off both Windows Firewall, and any others currently running,
- Setting my IP to the Demilitarized Zone on my router, and
- Opening the appropriate ports for City of Heroes, with or without DMZ active.

So, this is pretty much equivalent to the issues which show up on my network connection when a torrent is being run. Unfortunately, if the manner in which the server handles connections has changed to something akin to this, then a great number of customers may full well be having an enormously hard time.

For a picture of what this effect looks like, I present this. To view this on your own, type '/netgraph 1' (no quotes) into your chat bar. Additionally, you can type 'ping google.com -n 100' into your Run menu while City of Heroes is running, and see how the number and timing of dropped/delayed packets coincides precisely with the game.

Finally, much like the OP, I'm running Windows 7 with an AMD and nVidia setup. Attempting to reduce City of Heroes to XP Compatibility Mode (SP 2 and 3 both) was fruitless.

Hope this helps.

Ostensibly, this issue seems to be working fine for me thus far - I haven't noticed any graphical, powers-related, consignment house, or contact-related issues. Unfortunately... that's because I haven't really had the opportunity to test them.

I don't know, for certain, if this is related to some lack of testing viz. Windows 7 - or if this is related to some new client code which wasn't dummied out - or if this is related to the sheer quantity of connections currently active on the server (though this is unlikely, see below...) ... but I've been absolutely unable to play on Guardian.

For the sake of explanation, I'm an East Coast (well, mideast - e.g. Ohio) player on the Guardian server, and have, since the latest patch, been unable to move 20 metres, in-game, without some manner of 'rubberband effect' taking place. Hardly three minutes go by without a 'disconnected from mapserver' error appearing, however briefly, and every other use of the "Speed Boost" power on my character results in a 5-second wait before it activates.

In short, at this point, I fear that the game is simply unplayable, and I imagine it's even worse for Controllers, Corruptors, and similar 'support archetypes'. In THIS case, though, I doubt it's actually the devteam's fault, and here's why: it's simply impossible to predict a spectacular server load, or what will actually result from such, in a game like this. Issue 17 is a big change in a number of ways, and the test server probably never encountered a load like what's going on now.

That said... I really, really hope that there'll be a patch within a few days, one which could pinpoint, to phrase Sgt. Hartman, "Your major malfunction", and eliminate it. I look forward to seeing Issue 17 in its full glory.

Name: The Blue Tower Guardians
Motto: Bringing out the world's potential...one teacup at a time.
Leaders: @Theogrin

Player Type: Any player willing to join and contribute to a new SG, and willing to assist newbies in their endeavors. Newbies looking to team up on a regular basis are welcome, as are random alts, at least for the time being.
Roleplay Status: If you can and are willing to roleplay, excellent, and at worst, I'll try to accommodate you. (This group has relatively few members at this point.) If you've no interest, you should be fine - just don't speak in 'l33t', or textspeak, please.
Membership Colours: Blue and Brass. An odd mixture, I admit, but it seems to fit a great number of costumes, to varying degrees.
Normal Gameplay Time: Pretty much whenever, but likely around 6-12, GMT -05:00. The goal here is not to collect a group of powergamers, but rather a casual group of folks who can then collect a team at their leisure - and who have the SG Base as a central meeting point. Raids aren't a major concern.

Rules: Try to put at least some time in over at Atlas Park or Galaxy City - or on global channels, what few we have - just helping out new players, trying to give them tips or ideas, that sort of thing. And, of course, take a look at the Wiki - sometimes, there are things you never even suspected. Finally, just...just don't speak in 'l33t', for obvious reasons. Oh yeah, and this one should go without saying, but... don't be a dick.
Recruiting: To be honest, there's no reason to spam Atlas Park or Galaxy City for new members. We are here. If you see an interesting new player, and feel they'd be an asset after having run a mission or two, then feel free to recruit 'em, though it may take a bit before they get access to guild storage.
Joining: Send a mail to @theogrin, or, on the Guardian server, to "Pelonius Zhintel".

Other Information / Assets: Our SG's base is centered around something of a 'Parum' feeling, named after an entirely different MMO. Image is everything, and what not. That said, we have at our disposal a teleporter or two, to be extended when we see fit, and a workstation, for when you don't want to drop by Steel Canyon on a whim. More will quite definitely follow.