Launch CoH as CoV (and bypass updater)

If you don't know already, Issuse 6 of City of Heroes contains the entire City of Villains game. This guide will teach you how to launch the CoH client with the new CoV theme.

1. Locate CityOfHeroes.exe, you can find this file in the folder where you've installed the game, the default is C:\Program Files\City of Heroes

2. Create a shortcut to CityOfHeroes.exe, name this shorcut "City of Villains"

3. Right click on the shortcut and choose "Properties"

4. In the Target field, append the following text: (where _ is a space)
_-project_coh_-cov

5. Now your Target field should look something like:
"C:\...\CityOfHeroes.exe" -project coh -cov

6. Click on "Change Icon..." and select the CoV icon

7. Press OK to close the properties window, copy this shortcut to your desktop (or where ever you like)

Now you can use this new shorcut to start the game as CoV!

Please note that this also bypass the updater, if the game yells at you and say something like "incorrect version", it means there is a new patch, and you will need to run the updater first.

This shortcut changes the "theme" (graphics and background music) of the login screen, so it doesn't matter if you want to play a hero or a villain.

Enjoy!

Just alter your existing City of Heroes "cohupdater" shortcut and add a -cov on the end

Right click on the shortcut and choose "Properties"

Alter the 'target' so it reads:
"C:\Program Files\City of Heroes\CohUpdater.exe" -cov
[Drive:\Path Name might be different on your machine]

Also you can alter your icon using the "Change Icon" button and have the CoV icon instead.

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If you don't know already, Issuse 6 of City of Heroes contains the entire City of Villains game. This guide will teach you how to launch the CoH client with the new CoV theme.

1. Locate CityOfHeroes.exe, you can find this file in the folder where you've installed the game, the default is C:\Program Files\City of Heroes

2. Create a shortcut to CityOfHeroes.exe, name this shorcut "City of Villains"

3. Right click on the shortcut and choose "Properties"

4. In the Target field, append the following text: (where _ is a space)
_-project_coh_-cov

5. Now your Target field should look something like:
"C:\...\CityOfHeroes.exe" -project coh -cov

6. Click on "Change Icon..." and select the CoV icon

7. Press OK to close the properties window, copy this shortcut to your desktop (or where ever you like)

Now you can use this new shorcut to start the game as CoV!

Please note that this also bypass the updater, if the game yells at you and say something like "incorrect version", it means there is a new patch, and you will need to run the updater first.

This shortcut changes the "theme" (graphics and background music) of the login screen, so it doesn't matter if you want to play a hero or a villain.

Enjoy!

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I love you man....

in that real evil villianous way

Never a good idea to bypass the updater...and as Scorp said, you don't have to do that to get what you're wanting.

Just add "-cov" to the end of the Target path of your City of Heroes shortcut and change the shortcut's icon from the same dialog. Problem solved...it will start the Updater with the CoV theme and proceed normally.

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Never a good idea to bypass the updater...and as Scorp said, you don't have to do that to get what you're wanting.


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There is no reason not to bypass the updater unless there is a new patch. Many people get stuck at "Connecting" frequently, and have to do constant DNS flushes to get the updater to connect. Rather than deal with that headache everytime you want to play CoH/CoV, you can happily bypass the updater.

I have been doing this for over a year and it has never caused me a problem with the game. Nor have any of the members of my SG that I have given this information to reported any problems.

With this method if you dont have the latest patches of CoH/CoV,when you click on a server you will get an error message telling you you have the wrong version and to run the updater.

Bypassing the updater will let you get into the game faster and fix all your "Connecting" fun. It does no harm, when there's a new patch (which doesn't appear very often) - you will only get an error message ("checksum error - verify client") and thats when you really need the updater.

What about people who have just CoV? Can they do the same?

If you just have CoV, I would think it would default to the CoV screens no?

As for bypassing the updater, yes you should be able to do it if you only have CoV. I imagine the .exe may be cityofvillains.exe instead of cityofheroes.exe, but since I have both I couldnt tell ya.

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What about people who have just CoV? Can they do the same?

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If all you have is CoV then CoV will load up not CoH. if you want CoH to come up then you have to have CoH to get the screens.

I wiped out my system a few weeks back and reinstalled with CoV so I didnt have to do all that funky property changing stuff.