SuperOz
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Posts
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Quote:Wow. Thank you again, Melancton. I agree with you, though...for any character to be interesting and sustainable, they have to be balanced. One of my favorite characters growing up on tv as a kid was Steve Austin aka The Six Million Dollar Man. I like him now as an adult because not only is he portrayed as the cool secret agent guy with robotic parts that can run in slow motion (Originally Posted by Melancton
I think you eloquently explain the process I came down to as well. It has to be done with any number of superheroes now.
For me, Batman is somewhere between the extremes of the mocking dufus of the 1960s TV series and the insane psychopath vigilante murderer of Tim Burton's movies. Obviously, some disbelief has to be suspended; the usual route for folks that want to protect others would be to join the police force or the Army, etc. But why can't Bruce Wayne's motivation simply be a noble desire that no other child will see their parents murdered on his watch?
As I said, I default to the Hickman Statesman and ignore the StrawMan Statesman that other writers so enjoyed knocking down. You have pretty well called it.
) but also as a caring human being who had to overcome his own direct trauma of being turned into a cyborg. He wasn't just one or the other, he was both. He suffered, he cried, he laughed, he learned.
I would never care for Statesman at all if he was just purely one-dimensional. I see Marcus Cole, the scared young man dying from mustard gas poisoning, and I see Statesman, doing his best to help protect his world, his heritage from falling to threats his original generation could never imagine.
But maybe I'm just too enamored of 'classic' superheroes; maybe I'm just of a generation where terrorism wasn't really terrifying, and heroes were people you wanted to emulate and be like, both in fiction and in real life. Maybe I want to see the best in my fictional characters as I do in my real life friends and others.
But I'll also be one of the first characters in the game to mourn the passing of someone who in many ways was a greater hero than a lot of us could hope to be. Someone who as you said had a thousand volunteers willingly give their lives to aid a cause. That kind of man I would follow to Hades and back.
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Quote:First of all, apologies for snippage.Originally Posted by Eva Destruction
I know how to not be a self-righteous jerk. I also know not to drop alien motherships onto populated areas. Me: 2, Statesman: 0.
If a significant number of players don't want to emulate the values he represents, then that also says something about those values, doesn't it? You can't dictate morality to your playerbase. We saw how well that turned out with Going Rogue.
This is the tactic that will be used to "force" us to react the way they want us to react to Statesman's death. Despite all the "I'm glad he's gone" and "I don't care" on the forums, our characters will be shocked and saddened. Even the ones who, in-character, would be either glad he's gone or wouldn't care.
Second of all, I hoped I had clarified that I felt the 'jerk' portrayal of Statesman isn't an accurate one, and I hold to that. As I said to Melancton, I couldn't reconcile the various portrayals of his personality and when I decided to make a choice on what I felt was a more rounded portrayal, I went with the more positive one. Is it selective reading? Yes. Do I feel I chose the better writing for the character? Also yes.
I think people have not taken the time to step back and ask 'hold on, he's written one way here, but another here. How does this work?' Ultimately it doesn't. The portrayals aren't reconciliable. The change in character is just too drastic. That's what I'm holding to, personally.
As for how we're 'going' to react...well, I'm going to exercise my freedom as a reader also and not let the text tell me how I should feel. If it moves me, well and good. But if it doesn't, then I'll go with that also. Being told what my emotions are is the worst form of manipulative writing to bring me to conclusions that may not be my own. And I'm old enough to work that out on my own.
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Quote:I never thought I'd be quoting you....but....first of all, thank you for changing the name of my thread back to the original title. I thought perhaps it was a little hasty to do so originally given how widespread as you say you made the news. So thank you.Originally Posted by Zwillinger
There's a reason we announced this ahead of time. There's a reason we decided that this would be the cadence of the reveals. Perhaps all is not presently clear, and overtime it will be made as such, but there is a reason.
We wanted you to know in advance that States would die.
We wanted you to know that this is coming.
This is part of the delivery of the story which will play itself out in the coming months.
It may just be difficult to see the forest for the trees right now.
However.
I can, with confidence, and at the age of 44 and having read comics my entire adult life, say I'm seeing the forest directly. I realise your position in this is to make it what it is meant to be, an event. And I don't begrudge yourself, Paragon Studios, or anyone else who makes a living from this game doing what they feel is right for the story direction and tone of their game.
But I'll continue not to agree with your decision, both from a story perspective and as a player of the game. In some very real ways (having just watched the Ustream chat), there is a distinct lack of interest in Statesman and it is percieved by you (rightly or wrongly) that this is the right tack to take with this story.
I respectfully disagree for a number of reasons, most of which I have posted here. I had not up to this announcement tried to second guess or predict the writing; I had taken it on its merits. I felt a character that people cared about would be the one who dies (and they still may yet).
But killing off (in whatever form that takes, given that the superhero genre rarely leaves people dead) the flagship character of the game is both designed to attract media attention (hence all the media attention, ironically) and be an 'event'. I think it'd be hard to argue that it's not. I'd do it in Paragon Studios' position.
But, as I said, it's being done to a character that most people frankly don't care about (I am an exception) and giving it such a long lead time diminishes its impact and I feel breaks several cardinal rules of writing of which I at least adhere to.
I appreciate your position in this (which I know is more difficult than mine), but I feel the execution of this has been lacking, with all due respect.
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Heh....they do all the advertising and then say I spoiled? Man, I don't have their advertising department...but I'm cool with it. <shakes head with a chuckle>
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A few things spring to mind:
First Ward: ....so right, I'm going to leave an entire city of people to the mercy of the Seed of Hamidon, Cole's troops and assorted magical creatures. Uh...no. I'm going to organise disaster relief for the region, organise a task force to bring the Seed down and at least erect protections against the rift in the sky. And I'm sure as heck not leaving Katie to that fate.
Vanguard: Turn the whole organisation over to the authorities for a proper investigation to their often illegal, immoral and clearly at times specieist activities. Paragon City allows and welcomes aliens on this world and then subjects them to that group? Not on my watch.
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Quote:It's really hard to argue against any of your points (not that I think I wouldOriginally Posted by Melancton
Alas, the horrible writing in the Well of Furies lore spawns more bad writing leading to Statesman's death. BTW Azure, not YOUR writing-- you are just noting what the Devs have made a "fact."
I think you are spot on there. Troy Hickman's depiction of Statesman was one that had a lot of depth and potential. Troy's knack for scripting showed itself to best effect in that arc. The resolution was very moving-- hence the statue of Cyrus Thompson in-game. It was immediately washed away by the ham-handed writing in subsequent arcs showing Statesman as a petty, interrupting shouter, literally shown spewing spittle as he bellowed unreasonably at Manticore. As I have said before, in the background lore, 1,000 heroes willingly followed Statesman to what they knew would be almost certain death in the Alpha Gambit... and indeed, about 800 of them died. Nobody would follow Mr. ShutUpShutUpShutUp to the grocery store. It was abysmal writing.
I also think that Statesman dying falls under the "cheap gimmick" category, the same way killing Superman and Batman were handled. People slow down to look at traffic wrecks. Folks that would not read comics ordinarily apparently checked out Supes and Bats pushing up daisies, and that is what DC wanted. It is a gimmick for marketing, nothing more, and the dramatic quality of the piece be damned. And I also think that you are spot on that it is especially lousy writing to have an arc titled "Who Will Die?" and then ANNOUNCE THE ANSWER mid-way.
The Incarnate lore and mechanics have totally turned me off to them. That is okay, there is plenty of fun to be had in the 1-50 game. But it appears the same folks that gave us the Insane Sentient Possessing Well of Furies are now going to work their magic on the lore of all of the game. It will garner attention, no doubt, and that is what they want. Apparently Shakespeare should have titled any number of his plays, "______________ Dies!" because as we have learned, the mechanics of how it happens is what attracts people to the work. *groan*) simply because they all ring true. Troy Hickman and I crossed paths in a Statesman/Faultline 'shipping' thread and after some conversation, I took inspiration from him to go ahead and write an AE arc (which in the light of this announcement has left me feeling a bit deflated) as a genuine attempt to help put back some of the character that Troy had given so much dignity and strength to.
I did do my best to reconcile his characterisation and I felt the loss of his wife and then so many heroes in the Rikti War would make him distant, even callous. But loving a woman for fifty years, not being able to save her with all his power...then so many heroes...of course he's going to go off the rails a bit. I really honestly wish that'd been said or touched upon before this point, before people formed opinions either derived from hatred towards Mr. Emmert or the 'heroes are dumb, let's deconstruct them' thing came along courtesy of Batman Begins. I really honestly like Statesman for all his flaws and faults. Troy Hickman wrote that he saw Statesman like the late Silver Age Superman, who was still Superman but flawed, human. He couldn't solve everything, he struggled. He got it wrong.
When people write 'no, I want to be the hero,' I wonder what it is they're asking for, and I think it's to have all of the benefits with none of the downside. Heroism to me carries self-sacrifice with it, and Statesman has fought a World War, staved off a third, helped hold off an alien invasion and so much more, all the while seeing his loved ones die around him. I wonder how many people would count that in being 'the hero'.
I agree, it's a gimmick. The Statesman and Recluse helms are gimmicks also to keep our interest away from a galaxy far far away...and I'm really sad that it's coming off that way to me, because I want it to be different. Instead, declaring your big plot point (final one or no) instead of relying on the quality of the work screams gimmick to me. It's funny; I always thought of CoH as the 1980's super-high quality equivalent of DC Comics when they were great...not the 1990's 'Who Will Die? Buy the polybag' DC....
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Nah, more like Crocodile Dundee and his sheila to the sounds of Rolf Harris.
CROIKEY!
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I don't think it'll get renewed. I had a vested interest in the show; it's filmed in my home state of Queensland here in Australia, and I recognized a number of Aussie actors in lead roles. And the location is fantastic, up near rainforest country.
But like the show it was paired with out here, Ringers, it continued to fall flat every other week whilst forgetting there was a big sub-plot about a war to control the future from the past. We kept getting wet melodrama with the teens (Spielberg was producer on this; was his mandate 'family programming at all costs, let's get the Twilight market?'), only occasional thought about just how tough it would be to live in this era of history and barely enough conflict to keep the show running.
The only plot with the son betraying not only his family but potentially the colony for his girlfriend was a damp squib, being written off as 'oh, just don't lie again son, it's alright' after a build of tension.
The dinosaur era is dangerous, tense, survival territory stuff. Not 'family drama, isn't it great to live in an unpolluted Pand...I mean, Earth' business.
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My apologies for the flood of replies my end, but I went to the movies and saw Puss in Boots (try killing him off! ) and have only just gotten back to this in a more positive frame of mind.
To those offended by the title, I apologise; but in all honesty there is an announcement on the front page, on the launcher, on Facebook, on mmorpg.com, a discussion about the announcement and already speculation on who will get Statesman's power after he dies all posted long before I posted up this thread.
You would honestly have to avoid all mention of this game for the next month to miss it in its ten-foot high neon glory.
In any event, I do apologise and did not mean to be callous or disrespectful.
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Quote:Originally Posted by Tenzhi
It's holding to the general rules of comic book writing: much of the time when a major character is going to 'die' in comics it's announced well in advance.
Hogwash. Columbo did it all of the time. Matlock did it sometimes as well.
If my interest in the story hinges on not knowing a particular detail, it's ultimately not a very good story.As you said, that's your mileage. I sat down and went through those contradictory characterisations of Statesman, and made a choice as a player and a reader about what rang true better. Consider this; is a character being portayed as an egotistical jerk being written well as such, or is it just simply bad writing? If it's bad writing, then you are entitled as a reader to treat it as such and disregard it.Quote:Originally Posted by Aura_Familia
I don't find Statesman to be a paragon of anything. A complete waste of space, sure.
There are other heroes in the Freedom Phalanx and Paragon City (npcs AND player characters) that better define what a hero is.
If the devs wanted us to see him that way he should have been better written as that in the in-game and out of game lore.
Your mileage WILL vary.
It's our right to do that with any media we encounter. It's the very reason remakes and parodies and all manner of 'adaptations' exist. I prefer the writing and characterisation of Statesman that makes him live up to that name because I feel it's more in keeping with the character. Yes, this is my personal interpretation, and it doesn't make it any more right or wrong than yours.
But I'm not going to hang mine or anyone else's personal interpretations on the character; I did my best as a writer and a reader to judge the character on his merits and sort through what simply was mischaracterisation, the bane of all fictional characters. When I did that, I found a character with what I felt was an unfairly deserved reputation. And on that basis, not deserving of his fate.
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Quote:Which made for predictable, 'safe' storytelling. It's a gimmick for sales' sake. It 'supposedly' guarantees higher sales, more interest in the character. It doesn't change the fact that by writing standards, it's also a guaranteed way to kill interest.Originally Posted by Tenzhi
It's holding to the general rules of comic book writing: much of the time when a major character is going to 'die' in comics it's announced well in advance.
Hogwash. Columbo did it all of the time. Matlock did it sometimes as well.
If my interest in the story hinges on not knowing a particular detail, it's ultimately not a very good story.
Did you ever care about these events? And it's telling that I choose the word 'events' because that is how they came to be seen: inevitably it was accepted that they were sales stunts, the deaths had no consequence and therefore no meaning and the characters would return. If these things are not the definition of why you do not reveal plot points and therefore a well-reasoned rule, I cannot see what would be.
It's built into the story with the title 'Who Will Die?' You play to see and join in the guessing game. Not knowing 'Who Will Die' is built into the maintaining of interest. If the story isn't about 'Who Will Die', then what other aspect are we the most concerned about?
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Quote:Hold on. You're trying to compare a visual medium where the tricks employed to foreshadow and telegraph a story event to this game? First of all though, you're right. Good writers can do this. Bad writers use it as a gimmick (The Death of Superman, the 'new' Batman) as a means of manipulating their audience into paying attention to the product. But none of the examples you cited came out and said before the story was told that x, y and z was going to happen. Before. That's not only breaking a fundamental of writing (build suspense) but also destroys any foreshadowing.Originally Posted by Venture
There is no such rule. Good writers do this all the time. A respondent in the official thread already mentioned J. Michael Stracynzski doing it in Babylon 5. It was most obvious with Londo Mollari's death premonition (related in the first episode, actually seen in the middle of the second season, and then the actual event took place in a time-travel story in the middle of the third and it wasn't what it looked like originally) but fairly often he telegraphed a move and then delivered it in a surprising way. (Arguably he overused the trick to the point of becoming predictable, in fact.) There are many, many other examples -- just off the top of my head Sunset Boulevard, Citizen Kane, American Beauty and Road to Perdition all "begin at the end". Of course, Paragon Studios doesn't have Sam Mendes, Orson Wells or even JMS working for them so this is probably going to suck, but that's another rant.
It doesn't affect me in the slightest. It's virtually certain that I'll see the ending coming a mile away anyway. (The Sixth Sense was the last movie that actually surprised me; I woefully underestimated Shyalmalan.)
No, the question is "what's right with him?". He's practically a part of the scenery in the game, a swaggering tin-plated dictator with delusions of godhood in the comics and a self-centered jerk in the novels. He might be the most powerful hero in the setting but he's certainly not the greatest, or even great. His status in the setting is an example of an Informed Attribute. Of course, much the same could be said about any of the "signature characters".
I wasn't moved. I facepalmed my way all through that story. Breakneck died because the Freedumb (sic) Phalanx was bloody incompetent.
Of course you're being told how to feel! We were told how to feel about all of these characters the whole time!
I believe your ability to guess the events of this story have been called into question already and I see no reason to dissuade you of that notion nor bolster a belief in your own abilities. I do not claim to second-guess a writer...unless they reveal their plot points to me.
As to your attributions of Statesman's character, I disagree. I doubt anything I will say will change your opinions, and your tone suggests any argument I may make to the contrary would be dismissed. You hate the character, you wish to see him gone, so in your mind this is not only a justified but welcome move. Would I be right?
As to being told how we feel, do you feel that's good storytelling? Good storytelling engenders those emotions in me. I don't by right as being a player react 'as written'. Bad writing tries to inform your character, good writing encourages you.
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Quote:Based on that logic alone, it comes off as a cheap gimmick to kill him off, then. Every MMO has its powerful NPC's. It gives you something to aspire to. I don't want the players to be the premiere heroes, because quite frankly not many of us know or want to emulate the values involved.Originally Posted by Golden Girl
Nothing's wrong with him - and even if he does die, he'll still always be the premier hero of the game.
And why? Because an NPC can be a Paragon. Players can try and emulate them.
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Spot on, Chyll. That sums up the entirety of my feeling about this reveal, which was completely unnecessary. People were interested. People were curious about the hooks, and they were speculating in a good way about what was coming and who was going to die.
When you put the signature character of the game up in an ad and say 'oh, he's dying, but the how matters more than the who', then you automatically devalue the story. There's nothing to look forward to in this part, I already know what's happening. It doesn't matter how emotional, or engaging the scene might be, the fact that we know it is before the fact devalues it.
Part Five won't get discussed beyond 'oh, wasn't the death scene well done?' Those who want him dead will have been done celebrating, those who want him around (like myself) will have gotten over our disappointment, and the anticipation of the story will have faded.
Like I said before with movies and television and books: if you spoiled a big plot moment (no matter how telegraphed) in those media, you would be disappointing your audience. I hold its the same here.
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I'm sorry to say Golden Girl that it doesn't feel epic anymore. But then noone actually seems to think he was anything other than a jerk, so that's ringing false as well....it's deflated a lot of how I felt the writers of the game arcs thought about these things, to be honest.
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Hi all.
I think the title here suggests the level of disappointment I had in reading the announcement that in some form is being 'killed off', whether that's temporary or permanent. I have to admit to eye-rolling at those who thought this was a victory for (well...what? 'Realistic' superheroes? So we all want to live in a Christopher Nolan-verse where we're all hunted vigilantes?) their cause or that this was somehow the death of the representation of a person who for years hasn't even been associated with the game company.
I already mentioned in the discussion about the announcement that I felt it broke a cardinal rule in writing, and I hold to that. You can't create any suspense or even hold it if you announce what most people think the story is actually about, true or not. It destroys anticipation for the story because you've already given away the biggest part of it. It's like giving away the key plot points from the last Harry Potter novels or the last five minutes of Inception. If people told you the outcome, however percieved, your interest in the story and its outcome decreases accordingly. I only speak for myself when I say the story will have to do a lot to recapture my interest.
Why, some may ask? Because I don't carry any preconceptions into the story or the game about Statesman. I saw enough in the character to write an AE arc celebrating him because the Praetorian storyline had disaffected me for such a long period, and his actions had been maligned to the point of self-parody it'd become ridiculous. The nadir of this was the 'shipping' threads created, because some had devalued the character to a point in their minds where it was fine to characiture Statesman as having no consequence.
But what's wrong with him? If we live in a city called Paragon, shouldn't there be a Paragon of virtue to look up to? Or are we sufficiently 'mature' enough to say 'no, we can be our own paragons, we don't need some 1950's flag-waver', which is deeply ironic considering how bandyed about patriotism can be even today and how genuinely and seriously it is taken by significant sections of the community, such as the military.
There's no apparent concern for the loss of Statesman; but then there wasn't much apparent concern for the loss of another supporting character last month, either. I know as a writer someone invested themselves in the creation of these characters with lives and foibles and emotions of their own and to see them brushed aside with joke banners or simple speculation of 'oh, can we have his power now instead?' seems to cheapen the very experience.
Noone I know who has played the story arc of an older hero written by Troy Hickman has failed to be moved by both the actions of that hero and Statesman's reaction to his passing. If the passing of Statesman hadn't been so painfully overstated, I may've gone into it feeling something for a character that I personally respect and like. Instead, I feel like I'm being told how I should feel and react instead of coming into it naturally.
Does Statesman deserve this 'killing off'? I disagree. And I disagree because I feel the character serves a purpose and has a place in the game, and because I think people have become so self-absorbed in what's self-referential and 'appropriate' for 'modern superheroes' that fundamental and lasting values and defining traits are being treated as 'childish' and immature.
Maybe I'm alone. I hope I'm not.
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Well, as a writer myself, I'm extremely disappointed in the manner which this supposed reveal/spoiler/whatever has been dropped. The whole point of these arcs has been teasing and leading into a big reveal, and to maintain interest in the structure of these stories, this being the first.
How does openly advertising and declaring this encourage people to play? Zwillinger, I appreciate your position as Community Rep, but you can't spin somethingt that won't spin. To go on and say 'well, the interest is in why he dies and what comes out of it' is rendered moot by the fact that pretty much anyone who plays this bit of the story now knows what's coming and there'll have been at least a month of speculation (including what's started right now) as to the implications and fallout.
Because of this, I'm sitting here and wondering 'well, what's my incentive to play out the arc?' Tagging it Who Will Die and then telling us just that defeats the purpose of setting up the suspense!
And to the rest of you discussing it...shouldn't this be your actual concern? I don't have a lot of faith in a storytelling team who can't at least try to maintain an air of mystery about it. Does it actually matter if there were signposts? Weren't people actually more interested in playing the story every month to see what happened and reacting to that on its merits? I was. I didn't try and second-guess the story, I didn't try and put any pre-supposed notions of like or dislike on a given NPC because of non-game reasons (and it saddens me to see so many going 'yay, Statesman's gonna die because Jack Emmert was an idiot', etc) and importantly, I was happy to let the story surprise me as it came along.
Now I'm thrust into a situation where the speculation becomes when/if he returns (I'm sorry, but until the actual advertising for the game changes, it's not a done deal) and why we should continue to maintain an interest in the story.
I'm really genuinely saddened by the spoiling of the story, and it'll take a bit to get my interest back in it.
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Too late! It is done, muahhahahahahaha.
Okay, updated to 11.9 and fixed up my audio. Haven't had a chance to get in-game and see how she plays...will update you. Thanks in advance though, guys.
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Thanks for the responses, folks....those suggestions are cool, but I was wondering what you'd sacrifice that we have now to get something better. It seems as far as powers are concerned, people would happily give up the older ones for a 2.0 of the same set?
With that in mind, would you let the old base system go completely for better features?
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I checked in my Dx Diag and they were reporting the correct date...Win7 presumably just downloaded the default drivers on install, I had no control over that one. But thanks.
Hm. Win7 seems to be controlling my driver downloads. I'm still negotiating my way around it (don't like how i have to set 'Run as Admin' for seemingly everything), so should I just be doing a search for current Realtek/ATI drivers?
Update: ARGH! Every time I try and update to 11.9, the stupid Install Manager pushes it back to the 8 drivers! How do I get around this?
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HiJack This info:
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O2 - BHO: URLRedirectionBHO - {B4F3A835-0E21-4959-BA22-42B3008E02FF} - C:\PROGRA~2\MICROS~1\Office14\URLREDIR.DLL
O2 - BHO: CStat - {DD92DE22-ED91-4560-B788-DEE2B26612E6} - C:\Program Files (x86)\DeviceVM\Browser Configuration Utility\IEHelper.dll
O3 - Toolbar: AVG Security Toolbar - {95B7759C-8C7F-4BF1-B163-73684A933233} - C:\Program Files (x86)\AVG Secure Search\8.0.0.40\AVG Secure Search_toolbar.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [JMB36X IDE Setup] C:\Windows\RaidTool\xInsIDE.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AVG_TRAY] "C:\Program Files (x86)\AVG\AVG2012\avgtray.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [vProt] "C:\Program Files (x86)\AVG Secure Search\vprot.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [DivXUpdate] "C:\Program Files (x86)\DivX\DivX Update\DivXUpdate.exe" /CHECKNOW
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Adobe Reader Speed Launcher] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Reader 9.0\Reader\Reader_sl.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Adobe ARM] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\ARM\1.0\AdobeARM.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [APSDaemon] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Apple\Apple Application Support\APSDaemon.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [iTunesHelper] "C:\Program Files (x86)\iTunes\iTunesHelper.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QuickTime Task] "C:\Program Files (x86)\QuickTime\QTTask.exe" -atboottime
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [WinampAgent] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Winamp\winampa.exe"
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [AutoStartNPSAgent] C:\Program Files (x86)\Samsung\Samsung New PC Studio\NPSAgent.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Sidebar] C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe /autoRun
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Messenger (Yahoo!)] "C:\PROGRA~2\Yahoo!\MESSEN~1\YahooMessenger.ex e" -quiet
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\Run: [Sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /autoRun (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\RunOnce: [mctadmin] C:\Windows\System32\mctadmin.exe (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-20\..\Run: [Sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /autoRun (User 'NETWORK SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-20\..\RunOnce: [mctadmin] C:\Windows\System32\mctadmin.exe (User 'NETWORK SERVICE')
O4 - Global Startup: Adobe Gamma Loader.lnk = C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\Calibration\Adobe Gamma Loader.exe
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\Office14\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O8 - Extra context menu item: Se&nd to OneNote - res://C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\Office14\ONBttnIE.dll/105
O9 - Extra button: Send to OneNote - {2670000A-7350-4f3c-8081-5663EE0C6C49} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\ONBttnIE.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Se&nd to OneNote - {2670000A-7350-4f3c-8081-5663EE0C6C49} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\ONBttnIE.dll
O9 - Extra button: OneNote Lin&ked Notes - {789FE86F-6FC4-46A1-9849-EDE0DB0C95CA} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\ONBttnIELinkedNotes.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: OneNote Lin&ked Notes - {789FE86F-6FC4-46A1-9849-EDE0DB0C95CA} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\ONBttnIELinkedNotes.dll
O9 - Extra button: Skype Click to Call - {898EA8C8-E7FF-479B-8935-AEC46303B9E5} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Skype\Toolbars\Internet Explorer\skypeieplugin.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Skype Click to Call - {898EA8C8-E7FF-479B-8935-AEC46303B9E5} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Skype\Toolbars\Internet Explorer\skypeieplugin.dll
O11 - Options group: [ACCELERATED_GRAPHICS] Accelerated graphics
O16 - DPF: {D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000} (Shockwave Flash Object) - http://fpdownload2.macromedia.com/ge...sh/swflash.cab
O18 - Protocol: linkscanner - {F274614C-63F8-47D5-A4D1-FBDDE494F8D1} - C:\Program Files (x86)\AVG\AVG2012\avgpp.dll
O18 - Protocol: skype-ie-addon-data - {91774881-D725-4E58-B298-07617B9B86A8} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Skype\Toolbars\Internet Explorer\skypeieplugin.dll
O18 - Protocol: viprotocol - {B658800C-F66E-4EF3-AB85-6C0C227862A9} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\AVG Secure Search\ViProtocolInstaller\8.0.1\ViProtocol.dll
O18 - Filter hijack: text/xml - {807573E5-5146-11D5-A672-00B0D022E945} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\OFFICE14\MSOXMLMF.DLL
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\Alg.exe,-112 (ALG) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\alg.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: AMD External Events Utility - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\atiesrxx.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Apple Mobile Device - Apple Inc. - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\AppleMobileDeviceService.exe
O23 - Service: ASP.NET State Service (aspnet_state) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspn et_state.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: AVG Firewall (avgfws) - AVG Technologies CZ, s.r.o. - C:\Program Files (x86)\AVG\AVG2012\avgfws.exe
O23 - Service: AVGIDSAgent - AVG Technologies CZ, s.r.o. - C:\Program Files (x86)\AVG\AVG2012\AVGIDSAgent.exe
O23 - Service: AVG WatchDog (avgwd) - AVG Technologies CZ, s.r.o. - C:\Program Files (x86)\AVG\AVG2012\avgwdsvc.exe
O23 - Service: Browser Configuration Utility Service (BCUService) - DeviceVM, Inc. - C:\Program Files (x86)\DeviceVM\Browser Configuration Utility\BCUService.exe
O23 - Service: Bonjour Service - Apple Inc. - C:\Program Files\Bonjour\mDNSResponder.exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\efssvc.dll,-100 (EFS) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\fxsresm.dll,-118 (Fax) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\fxssvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: FLEXnet Licensing Service - Macrovision Europe Ltd. - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Macrovision Shared\FLEXnet Publisher\FNPLicensingService.exe
O23 - Service: iPod Service - Apple Inc. - C:\Program Files\iPod\bin\iPodService.exe
O23 - Service: @keyiso.dll,-100 (KeyIso) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @comres.dll,-2797 (MSDTC) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\msdtc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\System32\netlogon.dll,-102 (Netlogon) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\psbase.dll,-300 (ProtectedStorage) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\Locator.exe,-2 (RpcLocator) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\locator.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\samsrv.dll,-1 (SamSs) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\snmptrap.exe,-3 (SNMPTRAP) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\snmptrap.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\spoolsv.exe,-1 (Spooler) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\spoolsv.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\sppsvc.exe,-101 (sppsvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\sppsvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\ui0detect.exe,-101 (UI0Detect) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\UI0Detect.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\vaultsvc.dll,-1003 (VaultSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\vds.exe,-100 (vds) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\vds.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\vssvc.exe,-102 (VSS) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\vssvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: vToolbarUpdater - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\AVG Secure Search\vToolbarUpdater\8.0.1\ToolbarUpdater.exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\Wat\WatUX.exe,-601 (WatAdminSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\Wat\WatAdminSvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\wbengine.exe,-104 (wbengine) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\wbengine.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%Systemroot%\system32\wbem\wmiapsrv.exe,-110 (wmiApSrv) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\wbem\WmiApSrv.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%PROGRAMFILES%\Windows Media Player\wmpnetwk.exe,-101 (WMPNetworkSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Media Player\wmpnetwk.exe (file missing)
--
End of file - 11308 bytes
(I should note I got the Hosts error on this one, so I'm not too worried about the (file missing) entries). -
CoH Helper info:
---System information gathered by CoH Helper version 0.2.0.2---
DxDiag gathered at December 11, 2011 20:01 (+10:00)
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.110622-1506)
System Manufacturer: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
System Model: P55-UD3R
BIOS: Award Modular BIOS v6.00PG
Central Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU 750 @ 2.67GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.0GHz
Memory: 4096MB
.Net Memory Report: 2589MB out of 4091MB available
Page File: 6298MB (1882MB currently in use)
C Drive: (ST31000524AS ATA Device) 843868MB out of 953766MB (88%) free
D Drive: (HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH22NS50 ATA Device) zero-size drive
Windows directory location: C:\Windows
DirectX: DirectX 11
DirectX Diag version: 6.01.7601.17514 (64-bit version)
Display Notes: No problems found.
Sound Notes: No problems found.
Input Notes: No problems found.
Monitor:
Monitor's Max Resolution: (blank)
Video Device Name: ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series
Manufacturer / Chip: ATI Technologies Inc. / ATI display adapter (0x68B8)
Video Memory: 2804 MB
Driver Version: 8.850.0.0
Driver Date: 1/01/0001 12:00:00 AM
Driver Language: English
Sound Device Description: Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Driver File: RTKVHD64.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.5874
Driver Date: 1/01/0001 12:00:00 AM
WMI Information
Motherboard Manufacturer: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
Motherboard Model: (empty)
Motherboard Product: P55-UD3R
Motherboard Version: x.x
BIOS Manufacturer: Award Software International, Inc.
BIOS Name: Award Modular BIOS v6.00PG
BIOS Version: GBT - 42302e31
BIOS Release: 20100211000000.000000+000
Registry Information for Current User
Resolution: 1366x768
3D Resolution: 1366x768 (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: 4x
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): 1.000
Entity Detail Level: 1.000
Shadows Enabled: No
Shadow Mode: Unknown (4)
Shadow Map Shader: High quality
Environmental Reflections: High quality
Advanced Occlusion Settings: Yes
Ambient Occlusion: Quality
Occlusion Strength: Medium
Blur: Trilateral
Ambient Resolution: Quality
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: 0.600
Music Sound Volume: 0.600
Show Advanced Graphics Options: Yes
Overall Graphics Quality: 1.000
Reverse Mouse Buttons: No
Save Login Username: Yes
Transfer Rate: Unknown bytes/second
Current Game Version: ?
Installation Directory: C:\Program Files (x86)\City of Heroes
Mod files in the Data directory
.\fonts has 2 files
.\sound\Ogg\FrontEnd has 2 files
.\sound\Ogg\Rave has 7 files
.\sound\Ogg\V_FrontEnd has 2 files
.\texture_library\GUI\CREATION\common\Backgrounds has 2 files
.\texture_library\GUI\CREATION\Login has 2 files -
Hi all. This seems like it's a post-patch issue given that a lot of people are reporting errors in game at the moment, but I've had a number of little things, such as:
Costume parts not showing or invisible
Menu boxes displaying garbled or no text
Geometry in game not displaying
Large slowdown of framerate
High RAM usage
At one stage today, with my machine having 4gig of RAM (I realise I should have more using Win7, 64-bit) I was using up to 85% of the available RAM. Never had it that high with CoH before. CoH Helper and HiJack This info to follow.
I should say that upon closing and restarting the game, all of these issues went away, which was suggesting a memory leak more than anything else.
S. -
I love the list, just a little disappointed that you may've elminated some of the old great serials from yesteryear. The old Batman/Superman/Captain America/Captain Marvel stuff is corny as heck, but a fun watch.
S. -
I understand the scientific response, but I prefer the whacky one.
I for one welcome our new alien overlords.
S.