LOL.. I think it's time someone took their meds...
else the men in white coats may want to give you a nice dinner jacket that ties in the back.
Funny tho...
Peace
Sharing kindness is kindness doubled; a burden shared is a burden halved...
I am not bigoted for race, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, or age... I do, however, have a big problem with stupidity, and stupidity knows no boundaries.
awesome. Now I just need to find some gear for what this has made me think of.
lol
thx for posting this =]
Brilliant. Just brilliant.
hah, this is awesome!
Level 50 is a journey, not a destination.
▲Scrapper Issues List - Going Rogue Edition▲
I'm happy to see everyone likes this guide so far, even if you do think I'm crazy. I've edited to add some more things I overlooked in the first posting. I'd love to hear stories from anyone who tries this out for real. I didn't put up a hand holding type guide to getting everything setup, so I hope it is enough guidance to get a working setup. Anyone with any useful feedback, please contact me so I can get this guide to where it should be.
And which would be more popular, the CoH workout guide or the Video Additions to the Dance Mat guide? A more detailed howto section would be possible, but there are so many possibilities as to how to set it up I didn't want to go into too much hardware specific talk.
I would enjoy a video of it in action, myself...
And I would enjoy a guide too.
So I vote "both!"
/not a bad idea... Hmm...
August 31, 2012. A Day that will Live in Infamy. Or Information. Possibly Influence. Well, Inf, anyway. Thank you, Paragon Studios, for what you did, and the enjoyment and camaraderie you brought.
This is houtex, aka Mike, signing off the forums. G'night all. - 10/26/2012
Well... perhaps I was premature about that whole 'signing off' thing... - 11-9-2012
First off my apologies for the broken link on the Gamepad Layout diagram. Afriend pointed it out, and now since I can't edit the guide I had to move the image. It seems to be wokring now. If anyone spots any other issues like that give me a yell.
A video is my next goal once I get the equipment together.
Dude, WIN!
I need to figure this out...
I am the 99%. Occupy the World.
Minister of Infinity's Secret Police, Official Mooch of dUmb and League, Official Purveyor of Free Straws, the Most Interesting Man in the World.
http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes
A shame the name "Cobalt Flux" is probably taken on every server. Because I have a Cobalt Flux pad, and I'd play with that.
One way to be able to chat is to get a wireless headset/microphone and use one of the programs like Ventrilo. Just a suggestion for those that want to try this. 
The first thing that came to mind when I saw this was Dual Blades - with the combo buttons lighting up it's practically a mini video game already. A DB Brute or Scrapper played this way sounds like a lot of fun.
I'm not sure I'd want to try it (except maybe on a dare) with any other AT though - just imagine the havoc and debt possible when operating a Storm Defender via dance moves! Hmm.... 
In any case, thanks for the guide and the crazy new idea, I might have a psychotic breakdown and try this someday...
Nice!
Adding my vote for a video guide... let's see your moves!
Does Coh still allow outside programs to do this? I tried that program and xpadder to use my xbox360 controller and it doesnt see the input at all.
<QR>
This sounds great! I'd love to budget for the set up.. I can certainly use the workout, that's for sure...
Now... Does anyone know if they can set up a Wii controller with the game?
Imagine the moves then...
Test Subject 42 - lvl 50 Sp/DA Scrapper
Oku No Te - lvl 50 MA/SR Scrapper
Borg Master - lvl 24 Bots/traps MM
Pinnacle
Nyghtfyre - lvl 50 DM/SR Scrapper
Champion
Have you ever wanted to burst out of your chair and really get into the action? Interested in a new challenge to bring a fresh spin on City of Heroes? Would a game workout make your life complete? Do you have a couple bucks to spend and a little too much free time?
If you answered yes to all these questions, you should seek professional help. Otherwise read on for a illustrated guide to taking City of Heroes to the next level which I have dubbed "Dance Dance Hero City of Revolution Villains." DDHCoRV combines the best aspects of DDR with CoH to provide an entirely new experience (except for all the stuff that's the same).
[u]Intro[u]
City of Heroes is an exciting game that puts you into the action of being a super hero, but that experience isn't complete tapping buttons on a keyboard and a mouse. Something beyond this was needed to bring the world to life, and all attempts at simulated zombie puke ended at the hospital. Say goodbye to the chair, keyboard, and mouse, and welcome the dance mat.
With a dance mat, a player can stomp their way to fame (or infamy) without being constrained to sitting. This setup brings the game to a different level of interaction and fun, but is not without it's problems. The remainder of this guide will explain why one might want to use a dance mat, and how to setup a dance mat and get the most out of it.
The Basics
With a combination of dance mat and game pad, all the basic functions needed to play City of Heroes are available. The keyboard and mouse still may be needed at times for specific tasks that don't work well with the dance mat Controls. Getting the player to stand and move is the main advantage to the setup, but it also lends itself nicely to play on large televisions and similar devices where the user would want to be at a greater distance than a normal computer monitor.
Dance Mat
Dance mat in this guide refers to a game controller designed for Dance Dance Revolution (about DDR from ddrfreak.com ) and other similar games. It consists of a flat mat that can lay on the floor, and buttons can be activated by stepping into specific areas of the mat. These mats generally have 6-10 buttons that are arranged in a similar way to a numpad for a computer with the center area as a rest location where most of the time no sensor is placed. The player stands in the center of the mat, and then can activate one of the buttons on the ground with his or her feet. This can be exciting and challenging especially because other controls must be used with the hands during this time. At a basic level the game may just be standing and tapping feet onto a mat, but with practice more interesting and demanding techniques are possible.
Choosing a dance mat can be a bit complex since few are designed for the PC. Console game systems have a much greater number of mats made for them, but they require special equipment to connect to a PC. Much more detail about mats can be found at the StepMania Guide to Dance Pads . The main suggestion is to find a mat that has 10 buttons, and one that can be easily setup with a PC.
Gamecube and Playstation mats need a special converter box. Xbox mats need a converter cable or some surgery. The USB mats made for connecting directly to computers are fairly rare, and generally more costly. I've seen USB mats from Gamesis, BNS, Red Octane, Digital Praise, and even Kraft (yes that Kraft). Any of these mats should work fine with City of Heroes when properly setup.
Game Pad
City of Heroes is far too complex to be controlled with only 10 buttons under ones foot. This means that the hands must be used for the remainder of the controls. Finding a game pad with at minimum 6 buttons, 2 Analog Sticks, and two triggers is essential. Every additional button is of great importance. A Saitek P990 (or P2900 for wireless) controller is going to be used as an example. It's a fairly cheap controller with a lot of input possibility. Two analog sticks, 4 Triggers, 1 D-pad, 6 buttons, along with a mode swap button make for a lot of control.
Wireless controllers should also be considered to free the player from any constraints. A wire dangling around and tethering one to the computer is dangerous and just not fun. Batteries can be an issue and should be considered with wireless controllers. Make sure you do your research when considering wireless so you aren't left wondering why your controller barely functions.
Xbox 360 controllers should work with computers, so this is another possibility. Console controllers generally are limited to a set number of buttons for all controllers. PC controllers can have as many buttons as the manufacturer and fit.
Display
A computer monitor from a standard keyboard/mouse setup can be perfectly reasonable as a display device for a dance mat setup, but can create some problems depending on eyesight and distance required. A player with a good understand of what is going on in City of Heroes should have no issue player on a 19" monitor at normal dance mat range. Closing in distance for reading what contacts have to say or other situations like that is not a big issue.
Problems can arise using standard definition TV-out or a smaller monitor with the increased distance a dance mat requires. Knowing what powers are in what tray slots without needed to look becomes very important. The UI scaling options in City of Heroes allows the player to increase of decrease the size of the normal windows for powers, health, and navigation. Fine tuning this for a specific setup can greatly increase the ability to see important information, while still maintaining enough space to see what else is on the screen.
The real magic of the Dance Mat setup is when it is paired with a high definition large screen display. A big HDTV or projector can really change the immersion level. This requires a video card and display device that talk the same language. Either a TV that inputs a DVI (Best) or VGA signal and the proper cable, or a computer that can output Component Video. HDMI inputs in TVs are almost pretty common now, and with a converter cable can be treated as a DVI input for our purposes. Playing video games on some of these displays can cause some problems when one image (like the power tray) is shown over the same part of the screen constantly. So please make sure you aren't going to destroy anything before you get started.
[u]Setting it up[u]
At this point I will assume you have a Dance Mat with a way of connecting it to a computer, and a game pad with a bunch of buttons. A few more pieces of the puzzle may be required to duct tape this system together, but those two basic controllers are the only specific requirements.
The standard setup is to have the ten buttons of the Dance Mat correspond to the 10 power slots. All movement and targeting are left to the game pad. This setup lets one get into a rhythm of power activations, and makes finding the buttons for powers easiest. An alternative is to have movement on the Dance Mat, but this requires more thought into where to find room for some power buttons on the Game Controller.
Setup Overview
City of Heroes has some basic Joystick support, but I have in the past had no luck with it and will bypass it entirely. The steps after this are designed to get the Dance Mat buttons corresponding to the number keys on the keyboard, and to get the game controller to have the ability for movement, targeting, and various other operations.
City of Heroes requires some basic functionality to be playable, and many buttons to really have full potential. Being able to activate 5 power slots, some inspirations, move in 4 directions, and be able to target things are the absolute minimum needed to play. Getting all 30 power slots, all inspiration slots, 6 directions of movement, some control over targeting, and the ability to use the mouse when needed are the real goal for the setup.
If your Dance Mat drivers can already be setup to output presses on the mat as the number keys on the keyboard, you're pretty much done setting it up. Otherwise we are going to need that first piece of duct tape to get this all together. A program that listens for joystick presses and outputs key presses is what is required. JoystickCursor is what I found that worked with the least setup. It's interface allows you to look at a chart of joystick buttons and attach them to keyboard buttons. It's a bit confusing to make sure you get the correct dance mat buttons, but you can press the buttons on the pad and see lights blink on the screen. My personal preference is to have the Mat laid out as follow shown.Dance Mat Layout
The Game Controller setup can get complex, and I can only cover the controller I have. If you also have a Saitek P990, you can download the setup I list with no changes. I'll try to find a way to get the saved setup file from the drivers at some point. The general setup is as shown in the diagram.
Game Pad Layout
The D pad controls autorun (R) and follow (F) with up and down. Tab/Tilde are used for various targeting options. Tab enemy next, Shift Tab enemy previous, Tilde Enemy Near, Shift Tilde Enemy Far. The buttons of the face are for Inspiration slots and Escape to cancel targets/powers. The left analog stick for movement, with the directions turned into Up, Down, A, and D. This allows the stick to be used for up and down arrows outside of CoH which I find handy sometimes. When you push in the stick, it acts as a button to activate mouse look mode. The other stick is purely mouse with the button as the first mouse button.
There are a few pitfalls to watch out for along the way. JoystickCursor will listen to a specific Joystick, so make sure you choose the one that corresponds to your dance mat. If you change what port you plug your game pad or dance mat into, there is a possibility it will need to be setup again (or you can plug it in where you normally plug it in again and be fine). You should be able to type the letters which each key is attached to in a normal program like Notepad. This can aid in debugging your setup if it's almost working. If button 1 should be forward (normally the Up arrow or W), then the normal action should be taken as if you pressed that on the keyboard. This should let you test without starting and stopping City of Heroes all the time.
[u]Playing the Game[u]
How to play
I know this sounds like something that shouldn't really need to be addressed, but there is a good chance you will need some real time to adjust to this new setup. Buttons seem to be everywhere, you will trip over yourself trying to punch enemies, you don't have the mouse to fall back on to click things, but eventually you should be able to play well assuming you pay attention you the limitations. Targeting is far more difficulty without the ability to click on a single enemy out of a pack. You should have buttons for specific targeting like closest and next enemy. Learning to use all these buttons is very important.
Some buttons may be very hard for you to press at the same time. In my setup, walking forward and targeting are both left hand functions so very hard to do and once. Autorun and follow can work around this, but be careful when using them both.
Another consideration are powers that are not easy to use. Wormhole is one obvious example that comes to mind. To use Wormhole effectively it requires accurate targeting, plus the use of the mouse for a targeting reticle. Both these operations can be tough with the game pad. My best advice is to either avoid powers and power sets that require this much accuracy, or just practice a lot and accept whatever results you get.
I suggest using the first two power trays for the majority of powers, and having the third tray be filled with handy macros. In the last slot for this tray, put a macro that to go to the next tray (for tray #3 moving to tray #4, "/macro Goto4 goto_alt_tray2 4"). This will let you get a decent number of chat features, combat talk, and just helpful things. Dialog_yes, dialog_no, and gamereturn fit into this handy category. Don't forget your favorite emotes!
Communication
City of Heroes is best played in a team. Communication is the most important part of a team. Chat macros can be used for the basics, but they are very limited in their versatility. A keyboard still generally needs to stay nearby for unexpected things. Slash commands, complex chatter, and things that should really be typed (like a password) are very unlikely to ever be possible with the dance mat.
The best way of communication is voice chat if it's possible. This may add a wire to the player in many situations which is less than ideal. Also getting voice chat organized with anyone but friends and supergroup mates will not be easy. I have heard of using a voice recognition program with a microphone for chatting, but have no information or experience on this subject other than to say it sounds possible.
Music
Without music, you will feel as something is wrong or missing while playing CoH with a dance mat. Finding a source of songs with the right sort of beat for your style is key. Internet radio is usually fun, but can sometimes be a little to all over the place in it's music selection. Also any talk will take away from your gameplay. A simple metronome is always possible if no music will fit your mood or situation.
You may end up making different playlists for different characters, or some for high intensity play and others for more subdued dance mat use. An important thing to remember is to not let the music take you at a pace that isn't going to work for your game play. A Brute may be able to get away with a frenetic pace, but be carefuly trying the same thing with a Defender (Feel free to flame, but I'm using this as an example more than anything else).
[u]Conclusion[u]
This guide should give you an idea of what you are getting into trying CoH with a dance mat, but should be considered far from complete. New and better ideas for button layouts, macros, software, and controllers are going to show up. I am going to consider this just the first draft of an incomplete guide. In the future expect to see a video guide/demo, and a CoH Workout Guide using the dance mat setup.
So go now and dance!
Feel free to complain to me by PM here to Chriffer, @Chriffer in game, or Chriffer@gmail.com.
**Edited for Contact info and addition of Communication/Music sections **