WanderingAries

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  1. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Bill Z Bubba View Post
    Roger that and thanks, FX. I'll dive into it more tonight and see where it leads.
    So that's what you were upto the other nite :-p
  2. Actually, somewhere on the MSFT site there is a support page that has links to two files. One to disable the hiber and one to enable the hiber. Otherwise you have to go into the settings pretty deep.

    It just came to mind that this info is rather useless if one uses an SSD drive though.
  3. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Vishalicious View Post
    Hi JR,

    I haven't defragged, but I'll do that right now (as I'm about to run off, shower and get ready to go to work). This build is relatively new (I reinstalled Windows on Wednesday, last week) so I don't think its overly cluttered yet. I just moved files over from my old HD on Monday, and recently ran Windows Update, so I'll see if it helps.
    One thing to note with defrag, if you haven't done it in a while and it gets Bad enough, then it can cause all sorts of hell. I would see what percentage of fragmentation you have and if it's over 5-10% you may wanna do what I call a 'deep' defrag. Disable the swap & hibernation files, go into safe mode, shut down everything non-essential, defrag, reactivate your swap/hiber files. If this doesn't fix it, then your registry's probably fragged itself and that tends to be more problematic as registry cleaners have a bad habit of making things Worse. Worst case, backup your files and do a clean reinstall of the laptop(?).
  4. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Vishalicious View Post
    o, its probably my machine, since his didn't exhibit any of the problems that mine has, over the same connection. We tested separately, and together. At no time did he lag. I lagged with each test.
    Well, any New information is good new in its own way. :-/
  5. Quote:
    Originally Posted by DarkGob View Post
    Secretly embittered dev maybe?
    I say/see nossing!
  6. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Aggelakis View Post
    If you like build tweaking (and are on a Windows machine), install Mids' Hero Designer:
    http://www.cohplanner.com


    !!!!!WARNING!!!!!

    INSTALLING MIDS' MAY MAKE YOU SPEND ALL OF YOUR TIME PLAYING WITH POTENTIAL BUILDS INSTEAD OF PLAYING THE GAME!!!

    lol
    *hides character folder*
    no it woooon't O
    erm well...not any more than the character creator does with costumes. :-p
  7. I would go for a Super Strength/Willpower Tank/Brute honestly. If you want 'sneaky', then take the Stealth powers. Try something like this. Note: I'm giving this as a 'general' template using strictly the two primary powers plus the stealth and the final EPP. I intentionally left the slotting out because I'm sure someone has a more appropriate build. Additionally, I meant to put Invisibility where Stealth is listed, but looks like mids isn't up to date with being able to do that yet. Atleast I 'think' you can take Invisibility at that level...brain hurts right now so use your own judgement and the test server. :-p

    Code:
    Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.953
    http://www.cohplanner.com/
    Click this DataLink to open the build!
    Super Stealth: Level 49 Natural Brute
    Primary Power Set: Super Strength
    Secondary Power Set: Willpower
    Power Pool: Concealment
    Power Pool: Speed
    Power Pool: Flight
    Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery
    Villain Profile:
    Level 1: Jab -- Empty(A)
    Level 1: High Pain Tolerance -- Empty(A)
    Level 2: Punch -- Empty(A)
    Level 4: Fast Healing -- Empty(A)
    Level 6: Stealth -- Empty(A)
    Level 8: Haymaker -- Empty(A)
    Level 10: Hasten -- Empty(A)
    Level 12: Mind Over Body -- Empty(A)
    Level 14: Fly -- Empty(A)
    Level 16: Taunt -- Empty(A)
    Level 18: Indomitable Will -- Empty(A)
    Level 20: Hand Clap -- Empty(A)
    Level 22: Quick Recovery -- Empty(A)
    Level 24: Knockout Blow -- Empty(A)
    Level 26: Rise to the Challenge -- Empty(A)
    Level 28: Rage -- Empty(A)
    Level 30: Heightened Senses -- Empty(A)
    Level 32: Hurl -- Empty(A)
    Level 35: Resurgence -- Empty(A)
    Level 38: Foot Stomp -- Empty(A)
    Level 41: Strength of Will -- Empty(A)
    Level 44: Superior Conditioning -- Empty(A)
    Level 47: Focused Accuracy -- Empty(A)
    Level 49: Physical Perfection -- Empty(A)
    ------------
    Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
    Level 2: Health -- Empty(A)
    Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
    Level 2: Stamina -- Empty(A)
    Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
    Level 1: Fury 
    Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
    Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
    Level 4: Ninja Run
  8. Firstly, this game Will melt a netbook...

    Secondly, are you hard core on a 'new' rig? There are alot of people/places out there looking to rid themselves of older toys for cheap. I got my backup laptop for a nice fraction and it runs ultra with decent settings.
  9. While copying files now and then I'll trip a false alarm like this because a file looks similar to that of what the current protection software has knowledge of. I'm quite sure that there's not going to be malware out there just 'hoping' that you're going to install the launcher. Well, unless of course it's someone who Really hates the game for whatever reason, but then they'd have to distribute it somehow. ;-)
  10. It really depends on the Alt. Sometimes I build an alt because of a new Costume set (IE: Barbarian) and other times I have this really cool background and match the costume pieces/set to that.
  11. For those smart-phone users out there. I've come to use a tools like Wifi Analyzer and Wifi Radar to see what channels are populated when configuring my network. I'm not sure how much it has helped, but I definitely haven't had any multiple device on same IP conflicts since!
  12. Not that anybody seems to be reading this, but I have confirmed that this does infact work without a hitch in windows 7x86! It even retained the custom launcher settings I set in my XP installation.
  13. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Rajani Isa View Post
    City of Heroes does not host ANY player files (avatars, sig images, etc) - so you'd either have to use a photo service or your own webspace (which is how most of us pull off the rotating avatar )
    Yeah, I used to use CoHFaces to store my avatar so it'll likely remain disabled :-/
  14. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Snow Globe View Post
    Well, I agree that it -should- have... It didn't, but it should have. It still downloaded stage one, then stage two and three once I started it.
    Here's that other guide I was working on!

    http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=282643
  15. Backing Up / Migrating City of Heroes

    This guide assumes that you have enough working knowledge of Windows to be able to Drag/Drop, Open/Close, and Edit files. I will discuss a couple registry related things, but the instructions are pretty straight forward. The purpose of the guide is to give a revised method for backing up &/or migrating your installation of City of Heroes. In the past this was rather problematic because of things like checksum files and read-only properties, but for once the Launcher is on our side! The most important thing to note about this guide is that I do Not have access to an intel Mac, so this will be for Windows/Bootcamp users only.

    Step One: Data Gathering

    The first thing you need to do is to find out where you have the game installed. You need to find the following folders: City of Heroes & Launcher. By default, I believe that they are both installed to: C:\Program Files\City of Heroes & C:\Program Files\NCSoft\Launcher. The locations should be similar in Vista and Windows 7, but I think they’re in C:\Program Files(x86)\. The following is where I have them installed so that’ll be what I reference here:
    D:\Games\NCSoft\Launcher (Houses the Launcher)
    D:\Games\NCSoft\City of Heroes (Houses the Live version of the game)
    D:\Games\NCSoft\CoHBeta (Houses the Beta version of the game)
    D:\Games\NCSoft\CoHTest (Houses the Test version of the game)
    Once you know where everything is, then you need to figure out how &/or where you’re going to back them up. If you decide on going the DVD-R option (because CD’s would be ridiculous :-p), then you need to keep in mind that while you may be able to squeeze say the Launcher & City of Heroes onto a single disc and CoHTest onto its own disc, the likelihood of getting CoHBeta to fit onto a single disc is going to be iffy. As it stands right now my Launcher & City of Heroes folders take up about 3.8Gb, CoHTest sits at 4.02Gb, and CoHBeta tops them all at 4.97Gb. Keep in mind that a single layer DVD-R can only hold 4.7Gb of data. This is why I highly suggest backing up to an external hard drive if you don’t already.

    Note: For those that use any of the 3rd party addon content like custom maps, icons, Mids, etc; the impact of the related file sizes to your backup are negligible at most. You’re more likely to have more Mb in screenshots, custom costumes/powers, AE content, etc than those.

    I almost forgot about the Desktop Icons! I’m not sure what your system looks like, but I have atleast the following three game related icons: NCSoft Launcher, Titan Sentinel, and Mids Hero & Villain Designer. You will want to include these in your backup so that you can simply throw them back on the desktop during the restore.

    Step Two: Backing Up

    Once you decide on your backup method, then it’s simply a matter of copying the folders mentioned above. In my case, all I have to do is copy the entire contents of the D:\Games\NCSoft folder as it houses all related game content even my addons.

    Note: For those who use Mids, by default it saves your character files in My Documents\Hero & Villain Builds so you’ll want to copy that folder as well.

    Keep in mind that when it comes time to restore/migrate these files you must retain the original file locations in order for this to work properly. It is possible to change the file locations and still have it work, but it requires a number of corrections to a file we’re going to look at later. This is beyond the scope of this guide so I’m not going to go into that.

    Game Settings:

    Ever wonder how to keep those pesky graphics settings you finally had all worked out the last time you played? Well here’s the quick way to back those up too! Again, this assumes that you are not going to change the location of your installation during the restore. Windows UAC may ask for your approval (gotta love that built-in ‘protection’ Vista/7 have), but we’re not doing anything bad/harmful so go ahead and tell it yes.

    Make sure to follow these instructions to the letter!
    1. Hold the Windows Key and press R. This will bring up the Run command;
    2. Type regedit and hit enter. This will bring up the registry editor, but we’re not going to be editing just backing up a few keys;
    3. Hold the Control Key and press F. This will bring up the Find command within the registry editor;
    4. Type Cryptic in the box and hit Find Next. This will go to the key that houses the game’s general settings that it loads on startup;
    5. Right Click the cursor on the word Cryptic. This will bring up the list of options you have available for this key;
    6. Choose the Export option and it will give you a window that will let you both Name the file that you are exporting as well as choose where to export it too. A good place to export this would be within the NCSoft/Launcher folder that you’re backing up. I would name the file something like Cryptic just to make it easier to remember. The resulting file will read Cryptic.reg. Note: Make sure that the Export Range is set to Selected Branch otherwise you’ll be backing up the Whole registry! The Selected Branch should read something like HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Cryptic and shouldn’t be changed;
    7. Close the registry window and you’re all set!
    It’s important to note that while you don’t have to follow this step in order for this to work; if you don’t make a copy of these keys, then you’ll end up with the default graphics settings when you get to step four.

    Step Three: Restore/Migration

    Ok, so at this point you’ve backed up the folders as talked about above, you’ve got your system otherwise the way you want it, and you’re ready to enjoy a simple drag/drop experience. Keeping in mind that you must retain the same file paths that you had before in order for this to go smoothly. Simply goto the location that the files need to be (D:\Games\NCSoft\) and Drag/Drop them from your backup drive to their new home. Next, place your icons onto the desktop. Finally, Right Click the Cryptic.reg file you created and choose the Merge option. Windows will ask if you’re sure that you want to add the information to the existing registry and the UAC may popup as well, but it’s ok to go ahead and tell them both ok.

    Step Four: Play!

    If you followed all of that to the letter, then all you have to do now is run the launcher shortcut that you copied back to the desktop!

    Tech Notes:

    The launcher uses a combination of the GamesAddendum.xml file located in the D:\Games\NCSoft\Launcher\Config\Default folder and any settings listed in the registry to create a combined set of game settings updating both locations accordingly.

    Quote:
    I forget if this process retains the individual game's or the launcher's properties so you may need to fix those. EX: you may need to add the -maxinactivefps 5 line to each of the game properties within the launcher.
    EDIT: I've found that if you follow the steps as listed, then the launcher retains your settings, but the game loses the UI settings so don't forget those Registry files or you'll have to re-edit them ingame (the first time you re-enter the game).

    General Notes:

    This process results in a backup that is current as of the moment you copy the files to the backup drive. Any patches that are pushed out between that moment and the moment that you restore them will be triggered to download when you run the launcher post-restore/migration.

    I hope this helps people understand the new way to do things and how easy it has become thanks to the launcher!
  16. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Snow Globe View Post
    Well, I agree that it -should- have... It didn't, but it should have. It still downloaded stage one, then stage two and three once I started it.
    Hey, chew on this for a bit and see if it helps while I work on a second one that's more like what you need.

    http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?p=4082469
  17. I really wish I knew why this made the paragraphs so wide on the screen. :-(
  18. Installing City of Heroes, Beta, & Test From Scratch, the Short(ish) Version
    This guide assumes that you haven’t done Anything at all beyond logging into the forums to read up on City of Heroes. IE: You don’t even have the NCSoft Launcher installed! I’m going to do this as if I was brand new to the game, but read enough on the forums ahead of time to do a more customized installation. The most important thing to note about this guide is that I do Not have access to an intel Mac, so this will be for Windows/Bootcamp users only.

    Installing the Launcher:

    Firstly, you’ll need to download the NCSoft Launcher so that we can pull down the current version of City of Heroes. As of this writing you can find it here:

    http://na.cityofheroes.com/en/my_acc..._of_heroes.php

    This will download the file COH_Installer.exe into a folder that you choose or have set to default for downloads. Once that is downloaded, then you need to decide where you want to install the Launcher, Live game, etc. Personally, I find it better for me to have my games separated from the rest of my apps into a Games folder and not the standard Program Files folder that XP likes to use. I also do this for Windows 7 (when I was using it) because of other issues that I read about on here related to permissions or some other OS related game issues.

    Basically this is what my directory looks like with windows being on its own partition (C:) and my applications/games on a separate partition (D:). You can still do this with a single partition just make sure to change the drive letter to C: where I’ll have D: listed below. I would go ahead and create these folders ahead of time so that you can simply point the game’s installation to them.
    D:\Games\NCSoft\Launcher (Houses the Launcher)
    D:\Games\NCSoft\City of Heroes (Houses the Live version of the game)
    D:\Games\NCSoft\CoHBeta (Houses the Beta version of the game)
    D:\Games\NCSoft\CoHTest (Houses the Test version of the game)
    Now that those are setup, go ahead and run the COH_Installer.exe file. The first thing it talks about is system requirements (you need .Net 2.0 and the Launcher) so you can go ahead and hit the next button. The second screen is the User License Agreement, you’re obviously agreeing because you want to play the game! IE: Hit the “I accept” and then Next button again. Now it asks where you want to install the Launcher. This is where you point it to the folder we created above (D:\Games\NCSoft\Launcher). Once you have that entered hit the Install button (I think that’s what it says) and let it finish. It will complete by having the Launcher loaded in front of you.

    Next step is to download and install the Live version of City of Heroes. Notice that it gives you a Customize option on the screen. This is where you can tell it to point to the folder we created above (D:\Games\NCSoft\City of Heroes). It also seems to want to create a desktop shortcut for the game. I don’t use it because that’s one less icon on the desktop, but that’s up to you whether you want it or not. Personally, I have the default Launcher shortcut on the desktop and use it instead of having three different icons primarily because it makes controlling patch downloads easier. Once you have it pointing to the right folder, then let it download/install the game. While it is true that you can gradually use the game while it downloads (in stages) I would recommend just letting it finish the download uninterrupted.

    At this point you should have the most current version of the Live game installed. With the launcher still open, let’s go ahead and make some tweaks to the Launcher’s/Game’s settings that’ll pre-empt future headaches. These adjustments should make it so that your overall game experience includes fewer headaches related to stuff like memory leaks and GPU woes.

    On the Launcher, go to the File menu and choose Settings. It seems that most people recommend Not having the Launcher running after you load the game so I’ll give you those adjustments even though that’s not what I have. To do this, on the General Tab, make sure that nothing is checked (there are two boxes) and in the “After Launching Game” section choose “Exit Launcher”.

    The Auto Update Tab is kind of a personalization thing. You can either leave it alone and it’ll automatically trickle-download game updates while the launcher is open or you can go as far as telling it Not to download giving you full control over the times that you update the game. Again, I leave this one alone.

    The Advanced Tab is where one would tell the game to allow you to run “Multiple Instances” or to put it another way, Dual-Box on the same system, thus allowing you to run more than one game account at the same time on the same computer. While I don’t do it often, I do have that option checked. The other option listed talks about sending usage data to NCSoft so that they can troubleshoot issues with the Launcher, etc. Most seem to leave this unchecked, but honestly I’m not sure how big of a system resource impact this poses. Either way I’ll leave that one up to you.

    Customizing the Live game settings

    Right clicking the arrow next to the City of Heroes button in the Launcher will bring up the options for the game. At this point you want to select Properties so that we can make a tweak that’ll save you headaches later as most of us tend to do things like run to the forums for help or youtube when somebody posts a funny link ingame channel. Under the Extra Command section you’ll want to put the following exactly as written and then hit the OK button:
    -maxinactivefps 5
    Take my word for it, this will be a good thing!

    So at this point you have both the Launcher and Live game installed. From here you can either go play the Live game or follow the next set of steps to do a patch-install of the Beta and Test versions of the game. I say patch-install because the game will patch the pigg files accordingly, but it’s still faster!

    Installing Beta

    Our first step to installing the Beta version of the game is actually to Copy to Live version into the Beta folder we created above (D:\Games\NCSoft\CoHBeta). Open up the City of Heroes installation folder as well as the CoHBeta folder in two separate windows. Now you want to Copy (not Move!) the files from the Live folder into the Beta folder. Once that is done, then we need to change a file in the Beta folder. Find and open the file named Launcher.ini as we need to change this to reflect the fact that this is located in the CoHBeta folder. This step is quite simple, where it says City of Heroes change it to say CoHBeta (which happens to be the name of the folder you’re in BTW). Save and Close the file as we are done with this part.

    Next we need to open the Launcher again. You should see the COH Subscriber Beta option listed. Right click the arrow next to this like we did with the Live version and open the Properties window. Go ahead and put in the same Extra Command like above. The Installation Location should say “Not Installed” at this point so go ahead and click the Browse button to make it point to our newly populated CoHBeta folder. Once all the changes are made, go ahead and hit the Ok button and it will ask if you want to install the Beta version. Obviously we do or we wouldn’t have gone this far so go ahead and hit Ok. Let it do what it wants to do until it’s completed and that will set us up with both the Live and Beta versions installed.

    Installing Test

    As with the Beta folder, you need to copy the contents of the Live folder into your Test folder (D:\Games\NCSoft\CohTest) and change the LauncherID.ini file within the Test folder so that it refers to CoHTest. This one’s a little trickier as it’s going to involve editing an XML file, but I’ve found that this saves playing with the registry. Assuming you’ve followed this guide as written, then you should find the file named GamesAddendum.xml in the following folder:
    D:\Games\NCSoft\Launcher\Config\Default
    We don’t want to Open the file, but actually edit it as opening the file will simply display its contents in a browser. Right click the file and choose Edit. This should open up the file in Notepad so that we can edit it. I found this rather eye straining, but it is a little safer than the registry. Look for the line that talks about CoHBeta. It should read something like this:
    Code:
     
    <ID>CoHBeta</ID>
    <LastStartLocation>D:\Games\NCSoft\CoHBeta</LastStartLocation>
    <UserGameArguments xsi:nil="true" />
    If you look a little higher, then you’ll see something like this referring to CoHTest:
    Code:
     
    <ID>CoHTest</ID>
    <LastStartLocation xsi:nil="true" />
    <UserGameArguments xsi:nil="true" />
    This is where things are easier than the registry. Copy the line that talks about the LastStartLocation for Beta and replace the corresponding line in Test so that test now reads like this:
    Code:
     
    <ID>CoHTest</ID>
    <LastStartLocation>D:\Games\NCSoft\CoHTest</LastStartLocation>
    <UserGameArguments xsi:nil="true" />
    Save and close this file as you are almost done with Test. Now open the Launcher again so that we can tweak Test just like we did with Live and Beta. Right click the Test link and change the Properties so that the Extra Command matches what we put for Live and Beta. Click Ok when done and Right click Test once more. This time choose Repair instead of Properties as this will update the files within the Test folder as well as make sure the rest of the files are correct. Once that is completed, then you have all three versions of the game installed!

    I realize that this was a bit of a read and I said Short(ish) Version, but I feel that this is much easier and faster than messing with the icons and letting the game patch stuff the old way.

    Important Notes:

    Hyperstrike made a wonderful quick reference Guide to the launcher here: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=254442

    If you’re like me and have downloaded the unofficial map add-ons and icon replacements from BadgeHunter.com, then it will save you time if you actually install them right after installing the Live version of the game. This way when you copy those files into Beta/Test, then you’re only installing the add-ons Once! Well, atleast until the i22 related maps are updated, then you’ll need to manually install those files in each folder. Additionally, since I also use things like Mids Hero Designer and Titan Sentinel, I find it easier to install those in either the NCSoft Folder (under Mids/Titan accordingly) or directly in the City of Heroes folder (also using the corresponding Mids/Titan subfolders) just to keep things along the same logic as why I chose the custom folders in the first place.

    BadgeHunter: Host to the custom ingame/online Maps and icon packs that likely everyone uses as well as the original(?) badge hunting utility site.
    http://www.badge-hunter.com/index.php?app=uportal

    Titan Network: Host to everything from the unofficial Paragon Wiki to the popular Mids Hero Designer.
    http://www.cohtitan.com/

    Thanks for reading! Please be gentle with comments as this is my first attempt at a Guide for CoX. >.<
  19. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Aggelakis View Post
    Free and Premium players are fully capable of editing bases, because it has nothing to do with the SG registrar.
    They can? Sweet, I was worried about that!
  20. don't forget that the first 15(?) toons in an SG give a prestige bonus that can get your base a good starting boost. unless they've changed that :-/
  21. Both of those suggestions are good, but keep in mind that sometimes it simply takes a bit before your base rent kicks in. I've had it take upto an hour or two and sometimes even relogging works for some reason.
  22. Besides reduced activity of smaller SG's in general, the only thing that's really stone age with bases is the lack of updated content. It's all fine and good that they're working on the functional parts now and then, but the current 'parts list' is as one sided as some of the costume parts for male/female. The really could afford to spend some time on bases, but I'm not sure how likely it'll be since not everybody feels the need to be part of an SG.
  23. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Rajani Isa View Post


    Basically, use the red circled one to link pics into the post. Blue to just link to the pictures.

    Not sure what/if there is attributes to add to the [IMG] tag for sizing.
    That much I figured (never tried yet), but IF I were to add pics, then I'd want them to be uploaded/hosted here as I don't use an online photo service (because anywhere Else I post store the pics).
  24. WanderingAries

    CoH 2 Instances

    so what happens when you startup the game (all the way to the login screen) and then tell the launcher to startup another?
  25. My Badger was my first toon, a Pure Dark Scrapper (DM/DA/DM....). The only trouble would be healing badges, but once you get to the incarnates, then you could grab a group heal ability as well as crafting healing temps.