T_Immortalus

1) Chrome is Google's baby.
They're trying to take a piece of the Firefox modability pie with official options. This has bad results with their official functions, such as keyboard macros set within the browser(whether you want them or not).
This is what you get with big companies trying to make the next "popular go to product" for consumers to "one-up" the competition.

2) How crappy is your system that Firefox's really low performance requirements are actually causing you an issue?!?!
A) Chrome likely has the same issue, or(as your above post shows) other issues.
B) The browser, any browser, should not be causing "performance issues" with your computer. If it is then it is time to upgrade to something that can actually handle internet and gaming at the same time.



Edit:
Nothing against Chrome, but I am not going to be won over by a "brand name" copycat of a very good competing product.
Brand names sometimes mean "better product", but, especially these days, they tend to just mean "more expensive" and "relying on advertising rather than actual performance to sell(or give away) the product".
Firefox works at least as good as Chrome, especially for anybody who isn't "pushing the boundaries of internet browser usage", so Chrome is just a shoddy knock-off.

This is because the default power bars always open above the previous open bar.

It's the same problem when you open your friends list and place it at the right side of your screen, expand it fully and contract it to see it has moved left to the extent it expanded to.

They coded the UI windows to only work properly in their default positions.
The ability to move the UI windows around was a alter addition, which keeps changing with each UI addition/modification, and won't ever function properly.

The only way to solve that issue would be to recode how the UI windows and their placement works to be more like the newer UI elements such as the extra custom power bars.

LOL

We all share the same game and code for that game, City of Heroes.



This problem started with issue 22 only. Nothing else has changed on my computer.
Therefore, this problem is only in this game and caused by this game.

Common sense and logical deductions point to the simple and obvious answer of "CoH is a buggy mess of code that definitely needs a recompile/simplification/optimization pass".

Could be because you may have turned the "Aero" visual options off, making using alt-tab easier on the system, but I never could find all the options to make that work right.


I guess what I am saying is that this game isn't well coded and Windows is also a bloated messy program with a bunch of unnecessary interfering fluff as well.

I wish there was a simpler, more user-friendly, popular operating system that developers would make programs for(and make their own programs better).

So I guess this is "incompetent development accepted as working as intended" then?

I don't think it would take more than 5 minutes to fix just by changing the level requirements of the arcs either, which makes it even more odd that it has not been fixed yet.

It's still antiquated now.

The only reason I can think of for why people keep it up is because we're accustomed to it.
But that reason is silly when you consider that we are not under DST for a rather large chunk or the year. We're both accustomed to having it and not having it.

Sounds, to me, like you may need to set the page file to a higher limit. Sorry, I can't remember how or where, but I think that is it.

Either that or, you may have a bad spot on your hard drive or RAM that the game is written to which causes a crash every time whatever is written there is loaded.
This would likely require new hardware then.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

My GTX 465 will run ultra mode, with /maxfps 30 command in game, smoothly so long as I keep ultra a notch down from the top, keep shadow settings a bit lower and keeps AA and AF really low, but it has trouble when a lot is going on in a zone(or the usual inefficiencies with CoH that crop up over time and age).

I had to use this program to manually set my GPU fan speed higher to be able to do it though:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/nvidia-...08-driver.html

I recommend lower settings for smoother and more reliable play, especially with a lesser card than mine:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814133323



Edit:
It seems the two worst performance killers for this game are the buff numbers that the game has to keep track fo and the particle effects(whether you have them turned down or not doesn't matter, they still load it up).
It's just safer to keep the settings lower in case there are people going nuts with the particle effects(more nuts than the always on ones even).

One good rule of thumb is to assume that power supplies will only provide 80% of their rated power reliably, even if they do provide better.

That way you have room for any parts that may draw more power than their recommended PSU rating.


Edit:
My XFX brand PSU is servign me well, but I don't know many other good brands aside from Thermaltake(I think).



Edit 2:

These are my parts on my computer, built in September 2010 for right around $1000(probably lower, definitely would be lower now for similar parts) in these parts(hope the links all post).

Motherboard(think this was $170):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-13130261-L09C
CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115222
PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-17207003-L03A
GPU(think this was $250):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814133323
Hard Drive(holy crap the price went up a lot, was below $80):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc..._-22136283-L0D
RAM(was $200):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227541

That would be your graphics driver failing and resetting due to overheating. The screen goes blank and then comes back up(sometimes doesn't until restart).
(Edit: Yes sadly, I had this happen before with this very computer that now works perfectly, aside from rare driver resets due to only CoH and their crappy coded engine.)

You want to keep the GPU under 70C; 80C is pushing danger and 100C is meltdown(212F, boiling point of water, so that's "toasty").



1) This could be the card failing, but not likely. It definitely will lead to failure if the heat is not managed though.

2) Nvidia cards have trouble ramping up their onboard fan to cool the GPU. This may be fixed with newer drivers, but it still waits until it heats up higher to ramp it up.


I solved this issue on my own computer with 2 things.

1) Turn down the settings some. It's better to sacrifice ultra mode than to overheat and have to buy new hardware.
Even my GTX 465 can only barely run ultra mode(at not quite full tilt settings) at 30 fps(using /maxfps 30, command in game to reduce the load from trying to go higher) smoothly. I turned it even lower(ultra off) to run at 60 fps and it still looks great.

2) Use this program direct from Nvidia to manually set your fan speed on your GPU to at least 65%, but monitor it and crank it higher(it will no longer automatically do it, unless maybe you get even more technical into the software) if your temps push 70C while gaming:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/nvidia-...08-driver.html

That program will provide you with a "Performance" program that you can open and click, on the left, on "performance-device settings" to set the "cooling" option to manual and choose the speed. Click apply to set it in the lower right.
I think that will work for your card.

The program can also be used for overclocking, but it works fine for just simply setting the fan speed.




Edit:
CCleaner helps as well as deactivating unnecessary programs and graphics load(such as Aero in Windows 7). Run CCleaner weekly and defrag every month, or less if you install something or patch the game.

I have a similar arrangement to my own UI, but I don't make it completely transparent because that makes chat hard to see.
I can't remember if I can make the main chat box more opaque than everything else, but it doesn't matter.

The worst offenders are the fully expanded league window(which thankfully doesn't need to be open unless it needs rearranging), the map(which is all too necessary for all the little things to find on the map and most reliably know where you are going) and the inspiration tray(which I would love to do without inspirations, and the tray, forever) which display all completely opaque(I think) information.



If I had the opportunity to redesign the UI for this game, here is what I would do:

1) I would make a very small true compass(circular and spins with your direction) with 2 functions(little buttons or something), one for a map(huge and hidden most of the time, which shouldn't be all black ever, at least have the blue "points of interest" indicators and the walls visible, since it doesn't make sense "creating our own map" that happens to look like a satellite picture, especially in a world with satellites doing it for us) and the other for a "quick locator" button that gives us a list of what we may be looking to head to in the zone, without opening a map, for us to click and activate a way-point on the compass and on screen as it does now.
It would make it a lot easier to navigate with very little screen space occupied.

2) I would reduce the chat channels necessary as much as possible. We really need to figure out exactly what text information we need to see at all times to cut down on chat spam and reduce the necessary tabs down to 1 or 2. It would also likely be good to make an automated global LFG function, like a bulletin board where you list your "looking for team" or "looking for member" status, that you could use without having to deal with chat spam.
I'm not really sure how best to minimize the space given to each chat tab currently though because chat is too hard to read if made smaller, or gets cut off if too long.

3) I would reduce the necessary powers and other actions, through redesigns likely, that need to be watched and activated down to a single 10 spot bar or two. Any more bars than that really takes up a lot of space.

4) The inspiration tray should be part of number 3 above as well. It should not be its own visible tray.
It would likely be better as different buttons(1 for health, 2 for endurance, 3 for defense, 4 for resistance, 5 for damage) with counters showing you how many inspirations you have of each type(should only be one type of heal inspiration...etc)
Though there are probably too many different inspiration types(defense, health, endurance, damage...).
That inspiration tray is a pain in the butt.



Do all 4 of those and suddenly you have a LOT more screen space devoted to that little thing called...."beautiful graphics" that customers want so much and game companies work so hard on.

It's pretty bad to work so hard on pretty visuals and then cover them up with a way too prominent user interface.



Edit:
5) Make the friends list better.
You could possibly do this through having just a little circle, like the market button, that has a number on it which indicates how many friends(probably global count) are actually online at all times. You could push the button to actually open the list of your friends, each with a button for "send a message" next to the name(which closes the window and begins chat).

I would like to see that as well since I always have my friends list open, rather than adding every character they play to my "server friends" list(hoping they aren't hidden since anybody can add anybody there) and running out of room before I have added half of their characters.

6) Make the netgraph and showfps functions part of a unified very small monitor, showing instantaneous current statistics and 5-10 seconds of history, which can be clicked for a long term history(stored on the client side as a text file maybe, to cut down on necessary server requests).
Make it movable around the screen as well instead of stuck in the lower right corner permanently. Guild Wars has one that works rather well as just a colored dot(red for bad, yellow for getting bad, and green for good ping).

I always keep the netgraph open(due to a slower connection I share with many people that can result in character death if not monitored) so this would greatly improve things.



This is all born out of the simple realization "there has to be a better way", and I would really like to see it doen to make this game more enjoyable.

The thing you want to look for, even on new parts, is discoloration, especially what looks like burn marks. Those are the telltale sign of fried parts.
If it all looks similar colors to other parts then you're fine....or the whole board was cooked in a kiln.

Although, sometimes things show no outward sign of problems, even new products such as the one EVGA motherboard I tried with a Foxconn CPU socket, and still don't work. Those times are a pain.

Been there;done that; regretted it.

I built my own first desktop. I found it was a little bit of a hassle, but very manageable even the first time.
I decided to buy an already built computer the next time. I ended up with less performance than I could have gotten, and it cost me more due to labor costs. The computer also came with the usual crapware they load onto it.

Essentially, they're for complete novices who would rather spend money than effort that they are unsure of.


I built my latest computer, which performs great and had no crapware. I did it for a very reasonable price, and I'm very happy with it.
Always build your own if you can.



Edit:
Though, if you are going with a cheaper computer, sometimes the previously assembled ones can be cheaper from big vendors due tot he bulk discount on lower powered parts, compared to the newest, they get.

I wonder if they are treated as separate cards by the system?
That would probably mean there is a setting to choose which card is used for the default, but it would likely deactivate the power saving hybrid system.

I don't have one to test my idea, but I am guessing that would be a possible answer.

I was guessing your USB control chip on the board being fried too.

I'm quite enjoying the performance of my motherboard, and at a good price even when I bought it almost 2 years ago:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-13130261-L09C

Darn, it seems it's out of stock at Newegg. I would recommend MSI boards though.
I don't recommend EVGA boards. The first and only one I bought from them, more expensive than the above MSI, had a Foxconn CPU socket that rendered the motherboard completely dead.

City of Heroes: 7-8+ years old(counting development)
Steam: newer than that(I think)
their interaction: really new

I'm not surprised that CoH, with the strange way it seems to be coded and a thousand longstanding annoying bugs, doesn't work with Steam for at least some people, especially considering that every other AMD/ATI driver update seems to break the graphics for people who had it running fine with supposedly "worse drivers".