T_Immortalus

That's all true, but I would also note that the definition of "broadband" is not widely known if there even is an agreed upon standard.

Still, it does not hurt to make a program use as little bandwidth as possible such that it will have the best performance possible at all times.
Also, if a game did once run on dial-up then it could do so again with optimization. Maybe there is too much unnecessary network traffic and they should "trim the fat".


I just don't think it's smart design, even financially, to require more and more bandwidth for your program, because that means more and more bandwidth(and likely processing and RAM/HD space also) on the company's server side which costs more money on top of the poorer performance for users.
It's just much better all around to use less resources if you can.

The only thing that you can't really make less resource intensive is graphics because the whole point of those is to make them "more....".

Me? I've tried everything relating to my own computer.
The error is just because my connection to the game servers is often bottle-necked due to others here using the network and the fact that areas with a lot of players and powers(such as teams and leagues) cause even more information to be shoved down an already lower bandwidth connection.

I inevitably have packet loss that tends to lose essential information, but it only gets bad enough to make a crash likely under specific circumstances.
Normal rare low load packet loss doesn't seem to have any issues, because the odds of losing the specific packet and being unable to correct it(due to high load) isn't likely when under low load situations.





I've said it before. If they really want to put this game to the test, especially as far as network code, then they should use my internet connection(which gets under 60kbps downloads, and is rated at either 128k or 256k) to test it to the breaking point.
Or, they should try playing the game on dial-up(56k) which would be about as bad as my connection under heavily shared usage conditions.

They definitely should be trying to make it as reliable and playable as possible on the lowest bandwidth internet so that problems with the network are virtually nonexistent with better connections and under heavier load conditions.




Edit:
Purchasing better internet is out of the question, sadly.
Internet service is not exactly cheap, especially anything above the lowest tier of service. At least, it's not cheap in most areas, including where I live.

So, the best option for me is for the game to be better optimized and made more reliable because I can't afford to move or purchase better internet(even if I could justify the hefty price hike for "just a game").
That's the case for most people, likely. Most of your possible customers, especially those that like "free to play" games for their low mandatory cost, are not willing to, or maybe even able to, pay for better internet.

Oh yes, they will still get better computers though. Buying a really powerful computer is much cheaper(especially considering you need a computer to use the internet, even a smartphone is a computer and expensive enough) than paying expensive internet service every month, and it gets a lot more use than "just web browsing"(which could be done on cheap internet quickly) and "just a game", especially since most games don't require internet access yet require powerful computers.

1) "It happens most often in Lam or BAF runs"
Level-shifted characters run those all the time, every run likely. It also requires zoning into a VERY large outdoor zone, about as large as Imperial City(yes, I bugged to the center of the park in Imperial City just before a crash in there myself). It's that huge a map even if you normally can't access it.

(Edit FYI: I bugged "to the center of Imperial City" during quite a few BAF runs all because of my network lag/ping being high at the time and losing a character tracking packet. The game didn't know where I was so it "defaulted" to the "default center position" of the map. This is evident if you go to First Ward, make sure the Seed of Hamidon is active on on his northern route close to the center tower in the zone and open your costume slot window at that moment. The game will then generate a picture of your character at that moment that includes the Seed of Hamidon's big bubble aura visible due to the picture being generated by generating your character's images at the center of the "map" of the zone. I have already proven this with customer support as well. It causes a graphical pause when you open your costume slot window and a much more noticeable stutter for many seconds when you open up a very populated contact tab for a the first time after logging in a character. Test it yourself if you do not believe me since it is very easy to test.)

2) Yes, the league reforming is a different issue, but the fact that you change teams, including changing who you are side-kicked to and what your level may be due to their level or level-shift being different than the previous team, means it can cause the game to have a problem reconciling your new status with the expected status it had on record.
Pretty much, if you have just one network packet lost that contained the updated information then the game doesn't know what your status is and freezes/crashes(often not right away as it is able to reconcile it but not before starting a cascading issue that results in a delayed crash, which I have witnessed as my power trays and/or team window went blank and I crashed 1-2 minutes later, whether the blank UI parts fixed or not, and makes me think it had to fill my memory allocated tot he game before it would crash).



@newchemicals

1) I run Windows 7 64bit
2) I have slow slow internet that is shared among others often(so it pretty much slows to a stop sometimes).
3) I'm not the most advanced user who can make absolutely sure that everything is perfect to run the game(which you seem to be according to your graphics card driver test thread).


So of course, you won't see the problem as often as I do, if you see it at all, unless you are playing under the same "average user" conditions.

I play under those conditions so I see a crash about every time I team with a level shifted incarnate player leading the team when I have a network lag spike, but it is still random due to having to lose the right packet that contains essential information for the game to function without crashing(which should never be an issue as the essential functions should all be client side dependent but we all know that isn't true due to far too many crashes that aren't easily solved because they don't obviously point back to "essential code").


Call "shenanigans" all you want. I know I crash under certain circumstances that I can avoid(teaming with level-shifted players, during and after teaming even).

It's not my task to prove that I crash, though it could be done with a video camera recording my screen.
It is only my task to say I crashed and under what circumstances and for the game developers to figure out why.
(FYI, game crash, never computer crash or anything else)

Maybe the spot on the server where their data was stored is going bad. Server hard drives have the same issues that your own hard drives have, except likely more often because they are always on and always in use.
Moving them likely forced the data to finally update or moved it to an entirely new section of the same hard drive or another hard drive.


Edit:
These are just the "common sense logic" ideas for why this is.

Edit 2:
Also, good luck getting them to actually admit that the server's hard drive could have bad sectors and then getting them to test for it or replace it. They would rather blame your end for the error until the end of the universe, especially since they are "NCSoft support" and know very little facts about how City of Heroes runs.

I haven't messed with the settings on that tab in forever, so this setting is new to me.
It's good to know there are options though.


Edit:
I can't find that option in Windows 7 64bit, but it could possibly be because I use a Logitech cordless optical trackball mouse with its own drivers that do not have the option.

Reread the original post. He said:
He is also talking about "reoccurring crashes", which just so happen to be what I was talking about that also happen to be on BAF and Lambda trial runs(or any other league, and often team, with incarnate level shifted players).


Seriously, don't spout "irrelevant" like you're "all-knowing" when you didn't even read thoroughly.

Actually now that I think about it, that could be very useful for City of Heroes.

Honestly, I lose my cursor on the screen very often when there are big/many effects going on(which is a hallmark of this game), so having a trail behind my cursor would make it much easier to find it in the see of effects since it is effectively "making the cursor bigger/longer/more obvious".

Really though, I would rather just have better control and UI stuff so that losing the cursor in the graphics wouldn't be an issue.

No, the issue is not overheating when it affects only specific characters under relatively specific circumstances.

Let's recap:
1) Only characters made before issue 22 have the error, and only on one computer.
2) They crash after 20-30 minutes, usually after running an instance which is why /leaveteam temporarily worked somewhat.


I also have this issue, but a lot less often. I am guessing it is a 64bit Windows 7 issue combined with the fact that the game is rather old, buggy and susceptible to network packet loss(which it may be causing itself and certainly makes worse).

I'm not sure how to solve it, especially since I haven't solved the more rare version I have, but I know it is tied to character tracking and team status. I also know this was never an issue before the league function and incarnate level shifts were added to the game.


Like I said, incarnates and the league system appear to be a very messy coding trick that just barely works. Get a little network packet loss and suddenly the whole thing breaks(possibly apparently treating you as if you have switched to an alternate build, are level 0 or 1 and makes your trays and team/league windows blank/screwy) ultimately resulting in a crash.





Sooner or later, they are going to have to fix the team status bug(where you are on a team if you enter an instance whether you have a team or not, and stay on that team until you use /leaveteam after quitting it), make the league grouping function more reliable and find a way for the game to more reliably deal with level shifts, especially under packet loss conditions(which are all too common when teaming).

I knew it was an issue with the game not knowing how to display the Windows cursor option.

There still is a bit of a bug with targeting while moving, related to the "lag" I described, but there definitely is a sort of "leading the target" action necessary when a target is off to the left or right side of the screen.

If there is a target half way between the center of the screen and the edge then it seems I need to put my cursor all the way to the edge of the screen for the game to "think" that ti is on that target.

Something is very wrong with mouse targeting now.



Edit:
Yes, it is very important. I know we can use "tab" for targeting, and the other similar functions, but I find it fastest and easiest, when I need to target a precise enemy, to use the mouse cursor.

I run on the admin account of my computer with no other user accounts. The guest account is even disabled(maybe even deleted or not set up for one in the first place, can't remember).

Maybe that is the problem for Lucretia. Maybe she is running on an account that is limited in some small obscure way that affects CoH.
After all, it's just the desktop that has issues and only with the older characters. Maybe the game is unable to update the old character files on the desktop due to lacking permission.

Actually, it may fix itself, but, whether it fixes or not, it usually leads to a game crash for me, even after it fixes itself.
It's like it causes a memory leak that causes a delayed crash.

Odd, I don't have that process show up on my computer with Windows 7 64bit ever. I do have csrss.exe, but conhost is not there.
Interesting. Maybe it is the issue?

Crashing when lagging(high ping) is when crashes are most likely, honestly.
This game has gained some nasty issues with lost/out of order network packets(information such as character position), over the past 2 years especially, that will cause crashes.

That is why the /leaveteam function worked, at least temporarily, for you as the team status not updating caused a serious error.


As for the image....

I don't know what "ubd.exe" is, but I do not have it on my computer active. You actually have fewer processes active than I do, though.
I don't have "WinMsgBalloonClient.exe" active either, and am unsure what that actually does.

I notice by "Symantec Service Framework", in the far right column, that you must be running a Norton product, or other product from Symantec, which has a reputation for being both a bandwidth and system resources hog, at least occasionally.
I use "avast!", since at least 3 years ago, without any issues and have never regretted it. It's the free version I use as well.(got to love free AV software )

Your "conhost.exe", "Console Window Host", is something I don't know, either.
I don't know what "dstnoted.exe" is.
I'm guessing "beats64.exe", "HP beats", is a music program, but is it streaming off the internet or something entirely on your own computer? If it is a streaming music program(the iTunes program could also have this issue) then it may be causing you more lag by eating your bandwidth.


Other than those things, everything else seems good or is identical to my own computer, and I experience the issue with crashes only randomly when teaming(with incarnates also I believe), which is a lot less than you have the crash issue apparently.




Edit:
There may be some misplaced/leftover data on those old characters that is causing them to experience the issue.
1) Do they still have the old Fitness pool form before it was made inherent? A respec would fix that.
2) Is there anything that jumps out as being something that had changes or was reorganized, such as the costume options? They did reorder a few large sections of the tailor interface, changing the reference calls in the programming slightly(likely, not sure).

It would not be surprising that there is something that was changed considering the fact that our combat attributes were reorganized/reprogrammed a bit such that our monitors needed to be reset after issue 22.


I would also run the repair/check for consistency option on CoH and probably defragment your hard drive. That could help. Don't forget to run the check after defragmenting as well.

Why does the "in use" portion read as higher than the, I'm assuming, available portion?
Is that how ti is supposed to be?